bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Late Eocene – Early Miocene facies and stratigraphic development, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand: the transition to plate boundary tectonics during regional transgression
Authors: Strogen Dominic P. , Higgs Karen E. , Griffin Angela G. , Morgans Hugh E. G.
Published: March 2019

Eight latest Eocene to earliest Miocene stratigraphic surfaces have been identified in petroleum well data from the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. These surfaces define seven regional sedimentary packages, of variable thickness and lithofacies, forming a mixed siliciclastic–carbonate system. The evolving tectonic setting, particularly the initial development of the Australian–Pacific convergent margin, controlled geographic, stratigraphic and facies variability. This tectonic signal overprinted a regional transgressive trend that culminated in latest Oligocene times. The earliest influence of active compressional tectonics is reflected in the preservation of latest Eocene – Early Oligocene deepwater sediments in the northern Taranaki Basin. Thickness patterns for all mid Oligocene units onwards show a shift in sedimentation to the eastern Taranaki Basin, controlled by reverse movement on the Taranaki Fault System. This resulted in the deposition of a thick sedimentary wedge, initially of coarse clastic sediments, later carbonate dominated, in the foredeep close to the fault. In contrast, Oligocene active normal faulting in a small sub-basin in the south may represent the most northerly evidence for rifting in southern Zealandia, related to Emerald Basin formation. The Early Miocene period saw a return to clastic-dominated deposition, the onset of regional regression and the southward propagation of compressional tectonics.
CLAUDIUS’ HOUSEBOAT
Authors: Roncaglia Carolynn
Published: March 2019

In the first months of 44 ce, the Roman emperor Claudius, after spending as few as sixteen days in Britain, returned to Rome to celebrate his triumph. On his journey back to Rome, he stopped near the mouth of the Po river to take a cruise, as Pliny the Elder describes:

The Po is carried to Ravenna by the Canal of Augustus; this part of the river is called the Padusa, formerly called the Messanicus. Nearby it forms the large harbour Vatrenus; from here Claudius Caesar, when celebrating his triumph over Britain, sailed out into the Adriatic, in what was more a domus than a ship.

Pliny describes a vessel that was less a boat than a floating domus, a somewhat ambiguous word which denotes a structure ranging in size from a modest house to a palace. The cruise, like his time in Britain, was short, and yet this cruise was a part of meticulously planned campaign, a campaign not just for conquest but also for Claudius’ reputation. Aulus Plautius, the experienced commander and suffect consul of 29 ce, had been sent ahead with the army, and Claudius’ freedman Narcissus was also on hand to oversee the invasion. The Roman army achieved initial successes and then halted until the emperor could arrive to command the final assault on the stronghold at Camulodunum (Colchester). While Claudius only spent around two weeks in Britain, his journey to and from the island took six months. Claudius travelled to Britain with a huge entourage, including senators, relatives, and even elephants. This was a mammoth undertaking, and one that seems to have very carefully planned, to ensure military success and a positive reputation for a new emperor of still uncertain legitimacy.
FEAR AND HEALING: SENECA, CAECILIUS IUCUNDUS, AND THE CAMPANIAN EARTHQUAKE OF 62/63ce
Authors: Trinacty Christopher
Published: March 2019

The earthquake of 62/63cewas a catastrophic event for Pompeii and Campania. The destruction and death toll were extensive and it is clear that the city of Pompeii was still recovering and rebuilding when the eruption of Vesuvius happened. This article takes into consideration the mental and emotional damage that the earthquake caused and the way in which Seneca and the archaeological record help us to perceive strategies of consolation and therapy. Seneca discusses this earthquake in Book 6 of hisNaturales quaestionesand hopes to lead his reader from the shock of the earthquake to a more comprehensive understanding of the physical causes of the tremor. The cultural memory of events not witnessed directly (such as Seneca's write-up of the Pompeii earthquake) makes us all survivors and ‘turn[s] history into a memory in which we can all participate’. If trauma ‘spreads via language and representation’, Seneca wants to limit what exactly is traumatic about this event and employs his creative rhetoric to do so. His account demonstrates how Stoic physics and ethics are connected and moves the reader from his or her fear of earthquakes to the fear of death at the root of the anxiety. Seneca carefully alters the valence of certain terms as well as selected memories of the earthquake to encourage his reader to transcend his or her fear and view earthquakes as natural occurrences, not anomalies to be dreaded. He does this through strategies identified in modern trauma theory as useful for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and this article investigates how contemporary trauma theory can help us understand aspects of Seneca's remedy. Seneca's repetitions of certain events and terminology works to reassess and renovate them from a philosophical angle – in essence it turns potential ‘flashbacks’ and ‘triggers’ into beneficial sites of memory and the means of recovery. Survivors often relive the trauma again and again – Seneca's work alludes to this, but now makes the victim actively revise how to make such iterations part of the recovery.
Philosophy
Authors: Bryan Jenny
Published: March 2019

Shaul Tor presents an illuminating and wide-ranging treatment of the relation between the epistemology and theology of Hesiod, Xenophanes, Parmenides, and, to a lesser extent, Empedocles. Over six detailed chapters, he combines philosophical innovation with philological and cultural sensitivity to offer new and fascinating insights on several widely discussed and difficult issues of early Greek philosophy. In his first chapter (‘Rationality and Irrationality, Philosophy and Religion’), Tor surveys the scholarly division between ‘rationalizing’ and ‘mysticizing’ readings of early Greek philosophers. His treatment is thorough and nuanced and helps to render with great clarity the assumptions underlying much modern analysis. Starting from the observation that reason and inspiration are generally treated as dichotomous, he begins with a consideration of some traditional ‘rationalizers’ (the Milesians, Hecataeus, the Hippocratics, etc.) and notes that none provide the sort of straightforward separation and rejection of the divine that standard accounts might lead one to assume. He provides a particularly useful critique of the distinction between the rational and irrational and the philosophical and the religious, arguing that the epistemological developments of early Greek philosophy are ‘an essentially theological enterprise’ (48).
Bridging the Gap: Lottery-Based Procedures in Early Parliamentarization
Authors: Cirone Alexandra , Van Coppenolle Brenda
Published: March 2019

How is the use of political lotteries related to party development? This article discusses the effects of a lottery-based procedure used to distribute committee appointments that was once common across legislatures in nineteenth-century Europe. The authors analyze the effects of a political lottery in budget committee selection in the French Third Republic using a microlevel data set of French deputies from 1877 to 1914. They argue that the adoption and benefit of lottery-based procedures were to prevent the capture of early institutions by party factions or groups of self-interested political elites. The authors find that partial randomization of selection resulted in the appointment of young, skilled, middle-class deputies at the expense of influential elites. When parties gained control of committee assignments in 1910, selection once again favored elites and loyal party members. The authors link lottery-based procedures to party development by showing that cohesive parties were behind the institutional reform that ultimately dismantled this selection process. Lottery-based procedures thus played a sanitizing role during the transformation of emerging parliamentary groups into unified, cohesive political parties.
Topos points of quasi-coherent sheaves over monoid schemes
Authors: PIRASHVILI ILIA
Published: March 2019

Let X be a monoid scheme. We will show that the stalk at any point of X defines a point of the topos of quasi-coherent sheaves over X. As it turns out, every topos point of is of this form if X satisfies some finiteness conditions. In particular, it suffices for M/M× to be finitely generated when X is affine, where M× is the group of invertible elements.

This allows us to prove that two quasi-projective monoid schemes X and Y are isomorphic if and only if and are equivalent.

The finiteness conditions are essential, as one can already conclude by the work of A. Connes and C. Consani [3]. We will study the topos points of free commutative monoids and show that already for ℕ∞, there are ‘hidden’ points. That is to say, there are topos points which are not coming from prime ideals. This observation reveals that there might be a more interesting ‘geometry of monoids’.
Crystal structure of bumetanide, C17H20N2O5S
Authors: Diulus Samantha C. , Kaduk James A. , Gindhart Amy M. , Blanton Thomas N.
Published: March 2019

The crystal structure of bumetanide has been solved and refined using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data, and optimized using density functional techniques. Bumetanide crystallizes in space group P-1 (#2) with a = 5.00168(4), b = 9.22649(3), c = 19.59924(14) Å, α = 80.7941(5), β = 82.8401(7), γ = 86.8148(7)°, V = 885.268(9) Å3, and Z = 2. The crystal structure is layered with the double layers parallel to the ab plane. The exterior of the layer is composed of hydrocarbon portions of the molecule, both phenyl rings and butyl side chains. The central portion of the bilayer contains the hydrogen-bonding regions, both the carboxylic acid dimers and the hydrogen bonds involving the sulfonamide groups. The molecular conformations of bumetanide in this current triclinic structure and the previously-determined monoclinic polymorph FEDGON are very similar, as are the energies of the two polymorphs. The powder pattern is included in the Powder Diffraction File™ as entry 00-066-1609.
On a model for phase separation on biological membranes and its relation to the Ohta–Kawasaki equation
Authors: ABELS H. , KAMPMANN J.
Published: March 2019

We provide a detailed mathematical analysis of a model for phase separation on biological membranes which was recently proposed by Garcke, Rätz, Röger and the second author. The model is an extended Cahn–Hilliard equation which contains additional terms to account for the active transport processes. We prove results on the existence and regularity of solutions, their long-time behaviour, and on the existence of stationary solutions. Moreover, we investigate two different asymptotic regimes. We study the case of large cytosolic diffusion and investigate the effect of an infinitely large affinity between membrane components. The first case leads to the reduction of coupled bulk-surface equations in the model to a system of surface equations with non-local contributions. Subsequently, we recover a variant of the well-known Ohta–Kawasaki equation as the limit for infinitely large affinity between membrane components.
Therapeutic effect of Vitamin E in preventing bone loss: An evidence-based review
Authors: Nazrun Shuid Ahmad , Das Srijit , Mohamed Isa Naina
Published: March 2019

Abstract. The present review explored the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of vitamin E, which has protective action against osteoporosis. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify the published bone studies on vitamin E. The studies included inflammatory or immunology-related parameters. Medline and Scopus databases were searched for relevant studies published from 2005 till 2015. Research articles published in English and confined to the effect of vitamin E on bone were included. It is pertinent to mention that these studies took into consideration inflammatory or immunology parameters including interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL), inducible nitric oxide synthases (iNOS), serum amyloid A (SAA), e-selection and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). An extended literature search yielded 127 potentially relevant articles with seven articles meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Another recent article was added with the total number accounting to eight. All these included literature comprised five animal studies, one in-vitro study and two human studies. These studies demonstrated that vitamin E, especially tocotrienol, was able to alleviate IL-1, IL-6, RANKL, iNOS and hs-CRP levels in relation to bone metabolism. In conclusion, vitamin E exerts its anti-osteoporotic actions via its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects.
Evaluating the Acceptability and Validity of Assessing Pain and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in an Adaptable eHealth System for School-Age Children
Authors: Kassam-Adams Nancy , Kohser Kristen L. , McLaughlin Jeffery , Winston Flaura , Marsac Meghan L.
Published: March 2019

Objective: The objective of this study is to provide initial evaluation of the acceptability of a new eHealth system incorporating personalized self-report assessment of multiple health domains in school-age children and assess convergent validity of two brief measures presented via this system. Methods: Ill or injured children ( N = 167) ages 6–14 recruited in two pediatric health care systems used the prototype eScreen interface on a mobile device to select an avatar and complete brief assessments of pain and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Children rated technology acceptability and completed validated measures for pain and PTSS. Results: Children’s ratings indicated they found the eScreen interface easy to use (mean rating 4.4 on a 1–5 scale), potentially useful in helping them recover ( M = 3.7), and would use/recommend it ( M = 4.0). Among children ages 6–8, mean ratings were as follows: easy to use (3.7), usefulness (3.3), and would use/recommend (3.4). Acceptability was largely consistent across child gender, family income, or usual access to mobile devices. eScreen measures showed strong convergent validity with established measures. The eScreen Pain Screener was highly correlated ( r = .86–.92) and evidenced strong agreement with two validated pain measures. eScreen PTSS scores were strongly correlated with a validated PTSS measure ( r = .67); a positive PTSS screen was associated with significantly higher PTSS severity. Conclusions: Study results support the acceptability (ease of use, intention to use/recommend, perceived usefulness) of these tools for older school-age children and provide strong initial evidence for the validity of two brief measures presented in a novel digital modality.

Implications for Impact Statement

Key parts of an adaptable eHealth screening system were rated positively by children ages 9–14; younger children’s ratings suggest the need for additional development for their use. Results support the validity of brief pain and posttraumatic stress measures presented via this system and personalized with an avatar chosen by the child.
Iterative Development of a Web-Based Intervention for Families of Young Children With Type 1 Diabetes: DIPPer Academy
Authors: Marker Arwen M. , Monzon Alexandra D. , Goggin Kathy J. , Clements Mark A. , Patton Susana R.
Published: March 2019

Objective: A new diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) can be stressful for families as they are expected to learn a large amount of information regarding disease management and treatment in a short period of time. Currently, parents complete diabetes education at the time of diagnosis. However, this format may not be sustainable as rates of T1D climb. The current study aimed to develop an online platform to provide educational material in the form of video microlectures using an iterative, user-centered design process. Methods: In the first stage of development, parents of young children with T1D identified information they felt was most important to their child’s T1D care. In the second stage, health care providers contributed qualitative and quantitative feedback regarding the educational material and video mock-ups. The third stage involved parents of young children with T1D providing feedback on the completed video microlectures. Results: Providers and parents reported that the videos were highly useful, important to T1D care, and the majority would recommend them to other parents. Conclusions: The iterative design process used by the research team incorporated multiple perspectives and ultimately developed educational resources that were well-received by providers, researchers, and parents.

Implications for Impact Statement

This study used an iterative, user-centered design to develop a series of web-based videos for parents of young children with type 1 diabetes. Primary stakeholders, both health care providers and parents, described videos as highly important, useful, enjoyable, and would recommend these resources to others. Parents rated videos highly across a variety of presentations that ranged in development time and cost, indicating that researchers can feasibly and cost-effectively create web-based resources for parents.
Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effectiveness of an Adaptive Text Messaging Intervention for Adolescent Weight Control in Primary Care
Authors: Jensen Chad D. , Duraccio Kara M. , Barnett Kimberly A. , Fortuna Christopher , Woolford Susan J. , Giraud-Carrier Christophe G.
Published: March 2019

Objective: Behavioral interventions for adolescent weight control are often difficult to access because they are rarely provided in primary health care. This study was designed to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of a motivational interviewing plus adaptive text messaging intervention for adolescent weight control delivered in primary care. Methods: Forty-seven overweight adolescents (aged 13–18 years) participated in a single, hour-long, in-person motivational interviewing session in their primary care pediatrician’s office with a clinical psychology doctoral student. All participants monitored diet, physical activity, and weight over 6 months and reported this information nightly via text message. Participants were selected randomly to receive computer-tailored adaptive text messages 3 times per day at mealtimes as an additional intervention component. Results: Participants found the intervention to be acceptable and beneficial for promoting weight-related behavior change. Adherence to self-monitoring was significantly higher in the adaptive text messaging group. Although body mass index z-score (zBMI) change was not significantly different across treatment groups, participants receiving the adaptive text message intervention demonstrated a reduction of .32 zBMI standard deviation units from before to after intervention, t(28) = −2.84, p < .01, d = .54, whereas zBMI did not change for individuals receiving the control intervention. Several domains of weight-related quality of life improved during the intervention period irrespective of treatment assignment. Conclusions: Study findings suggest that a behavioral weight control intervention delivered in a primary care is acceptable/feasible and may produce reductions in zBMI. Fully powered studies to further evaluate this intervention approach are warranted.

Implications for Impact Statement

This pilot trial demonstrates that adaptive text messaging is a feasible, acceptable method for delivering weight control intervention content as an addition to in-person treatment for overweight adolescents. Furthermore, our findings suggest that interventions including adaptive text messages may improve self-monitoring adherence and produce superior weight loss outcomes.
Privacy Perceptions and Norms in Youth and Adults
Authors: Bietz Matthew J. , Cheung Cynthia , Rubanovich Caryn Kseniya , Schairer Cynthia , Bloss Cinnamon S.
Published: March 2019

Objective: This exploratory study examines privacy perceptions and preferences among adolescent and young adult (AYA) and adult individuals with an emphasis on health-related information. Method: Participants ( N = 112) completed surveys including measures of privacy concern, consumer control of information, online privacy concern and behavior, and sensitivity of personal information. Results: AYAs ( n = 36) and adults ( n = 76) showed similar levels of general privacy concern; specifically, their ratings of the sensitivity of non-health-related personal data did not differ. AYAs’ ratings of various health information sensitivities were lower than adults’ ratings, and AYAs reported less concern on subscales addressing online and consumer data collection. Conclusion: Discrepancies between AYA and adult responses to different privacy scales suggest contextual integrity at work. That is, AYAs’ and adults’ privacy perceptions differ based on the type of information being shared, and they draw on different norms to govern information flow. AYAs are more likely to feel they have control over their personal information and feel comfortable employing privacy protecting strategies. AYAs are less likely to see online information collection as a violation of an implied social contract. This study highlights differences in AYA and adult attitudes toward privacy and suggests that AYAs care about privacy but perceive certain types of information collection as less threatening than adults.

Implications for Impact Statement

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) and adults follow different norms with regards to appropriate information flow. Policymakers, parents, educators, and others who are charged with protecting young people should be aware that AYAs may be more open to information flows that they perceive as appropriate, including health information flows. Healthcare providers who encourage AYAs to use mobile health apps and devices should be mindful of privacy concerns as they work to serve their patients’ best interests.
ADP-Ribose and oxidative stress activate TRPM8 channel in prostate cancer and kidney cells
Authors: Baş Ercan , Nazıroğlu Mustafa , Pecze László
Published: March 2019

Activation of TRPM8 channel through oxidative stress may induce Ca2+ and pro-apoptotic signals in prostate cancer and kidney cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate activation of TRPM8 can increase apoptosis and oxidative stress in the prostate cancer (Du145M8), TRPM8 knock out (Du 145M8KO), transfected (HEK293TM8) and non-transfected human kidney (HEK293) cells. Intracellular Ca2+ responses to TRPM8 activation were increased in the Du145M8 and HEK293TM8 cells from coming cumene hydrogen peroxide (CHPx), menthol, ADP-Ribose (ADPR), but not in the HEK293 and Du 145M8KO cells. The intracellular Ca2+ responses to both ADPR and CHPx were totally inhibited by the thiol cycle antioxidant glutathione, and TRPM8 blockers (N-(p-amylcinnamoyl)anthranilic acid and capsazepine). Apoptosis, Annexin V, mitochondrial membrane depolarization, intracellular ROS, caspase 3 and 9 values were increased through TRPM8 activation in the Du 145M8 but not in the Du 145M8KO and non-transfected HEK293 cells by CHPx and hydrogen peroxide. In conclusion, apoptotic and oxidant effects on the cells were increased activation of TRPM8 by oxidative stress and ADPR. Activation of TRPM8 through oxidative stress and ADPR in the cells could be used as an effective strategy in the treatment of prostate cancer cells.
Enabling Covert Body Area Network using Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication
Authors: Das Debayan , Maity Shovan , Chatterjee Baibhab , Sen Shreyas
Published: March 2019

Radiative communication using electro-magnetic (EM) fields amongst the wearable and implantable devices act as the backbone for information exchange around a human body, thereby enabling prime applications in the fields of connected healthcare, electroceuticals, neuroscience, augmented and virtual reality. However, owing to such radiative nature of the traditional wireless communication, EM signals propagate in all directions, inadvertently allowing an eavesdropper to intercept the information. In this context, the human body, primarily due to its high water content, has emerged as a medium for low-loss transmission, termed human body communication (HBC), enabling energy-efficient means for wearable communication. However, conventional HBC implementations suffer from significant radiation which also compromises security. In this article, we present Electro-Quasistatic Human Body Communication (EQS-HBC), a method for localizing signals within the body using low-frequency carrier-less (broadband) transmission, thereby making it extremely difficult for a nearby eavesdropper to intercept critical private data, thus producing a covert communication channel, i.e. the human body. This work, for the first time, demonstrates and analyzes the improvement in private space enabled by EQS-HBC. Detailed experiments, supported by theoretical modeling and analysis, reveal that the quasi-static (QS) leakage due to the on-body EQS-HBC transmitter-human body interface is detectable up to <0.15 m, whereas the human body alone leaks only up to ~0.01 m, compared to >5 m detection range for on-body EM wireless communication, highlighting the underlying advantage of EQS-HBC to enable covert communication.
Five-month-old infants detect affiliation in colaughter
Authors: Vouloumanos Athena , Bryant Gregory A.
Published: March 2019

Colaughter–simultaneous laughter between two or more individuals–allows listeners across different cultures and languages to quickly evaluate affiliation within a social group. We examined whether infants are sensitive to acoustic information in colaughter that indicates affiliation, specifically whether they can differentiate colaughter between friends and colaughter between strangers. In the first experiment, infants who heard alternating trials of colaughter between friends and strangers listened longer to colaughter between friends. In the second experiment, we examined whether infants were sensitive to the social context that was appropriate for each type of colaughter. Infants heard colaughter between friends and colaughter between strangers preceded by a silent visual scene depicting one of two different social contexts: either two people affiliating or turning away from each other. Infants looked longer when the social scene was incongruent with the type of colaughter. By 5 months, infants preferentially listen to colaughter between friends and detect when colaughter does not match the valence of a social interaction. The ability to rapidly evaluate acoustic features in colaughter that reveal social relationships between novel individuals appears early in human infancy and might be the product of an adaptive affiliation detection system that uses vocal cues.
A continued fraction based approach for the Two-photon Quantum Rabi Model
Authors: Lupo Elena , Napoli Anna , Messina Antonino , Solano Enrique , Egusquiza Íñigo L.
Published: March 2019

We study the Two Photon Quantum Rabi Model by way of its spectral functions and survival probabilities. This approach allows numerical precision with large truncation numbers, and thus exploration of the spectral collapse. We provide independent checks and calibration of the numerical results by studying an exactly solvable case and comparing the essential qualitative structure of the spectral functions. We stress that the large time limit of the survival probability provides us with an indicator of spectral collapse, and propose a technique for the detection of this signal in the current and upcoming quantum simulations of the model.
Intraseasonal oscillation of deep currents influenced by mesoscale eddies in the Kuroshio Extension Region
Authors: Liu Yansong , Yu Fei , Nan Feng , Zhou Wenzheng
Published: March 2019

Intraseasonal oscillation of deep currents in the Kuroshio Extension region is examined using observations from a collection of current meter moorings. The moored observations reveal variability with characteristic time scales of 23–38 days for velocity time series and of 38–99 days for temperature time series. The time series of normalized temperature (NT) in the deep ocean change correspondingly with sea level anomaly (SLA). The maximum correlation coefficient between NT in the deep ocean and SLA is also up to 0.7. Positive correlation is observed between deep currents and surface geostrophic current. Furthermore, the influence of mesoscale eddies on deep currents is examined by analyzing the data collected when cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies crossed the current meter mooring. Whether anticyclonic or cyclonic eddy intensified the deep currents from 2000 m to 4000 m in the same direction and increased the amplitude. These results provide observational evidence of intraseasonal oscillation in the deep ocean and the effect of mesoscale eddies on deep currents in the Kuroshio Extension region.
Fast quantum control in dissipative systems using dissipationless solutions
Authors: Impens François , Guéry-Odelin David
Published: March 2019

We report on a systematic geometric procedure, built up on solutions designed in the absence of dissipation, to mitigate the effects of dissipation in the control of open quantum systems. Our method addresses a standard class of open quantum systems that encompasses non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. It provides the analytical expression of the extra magnetic field to be superimposed to the driving field in order to compensate the geometric distortion induced by dissipation for spin systems, and produces an exact geometric optimization of fast population transfer. Interestingly, it also preserves the robustness properties of protocols originally optimized against noise. Its extension to two interacting spins restores a fidelity close to unity for the fast generation of Bell state in the presence of dissipation.
Tissue-specific extracellular matrix accelerates the formation of neural networks and communities in a neuron-glia co-culture on a multi-electrode array
Authors: Lam Doris , Enright Heather A. , Cadena Jose , Peters Sandra K. G. , Sales Ana Paula , Osburn Joanne J. , Soscia David A. , Kulp Kristen S. , Wheeler Elizabeth K. , Fischer Nicholas O.
Published: March 2019

The brain’s extracellular matrix (ECM) is a macromolecular network composed of glycosaminoglycans, proteoglycans, glycoproteins, and fibrous proteins. In vitro studies often use purified ECM proteins for cell culture coatings, however these may not represent the molecular complexity and heterogeneity of the brain’s ECM. To address this, we compared neural network activity (over 30 days in vitro) from primary neurons co-cultured with glia grown on ECM coatings from decellularized brain tissue (bECM) or MaxGel, a non-tissue-specific ECM. Cells were grown on a multi-electrode array (MEA) to enable noninvasive long-term interrogation of neuronal networks. In general, the presence of ECM accelerated the formation of networks without affecting the inherent network properties. However, specific features of network activity were dependent on the type of ECM: bECM enhanced network activity over a greater region of the MEA whereas MaxGel increased network burst rate associated with robust synaptophysin expression. These differences in network activity were not attributable to cellular composition, glial proliferation, or astrocyte phenotypes, which remained constant across experimental conditions. Collectively, the addition of ECM to neuronal cultures represents a reliable method to accelerate the development of mature neuronal networks, providing a means to enhance throughput for routine evaluation of neurotoxins and novel therapeutics.
Effects of bowel preparation on the human gut microbiome and metabolome
Authors: Nagata Naoyoshi , Tohya Mari , Fukuda Shinji , Suda Wataru , Nishijima Suguru , Takeuchi Fumihiko , Ohsugi Mitsuru , Tsujimoto Tetsuro , Nakamura Tomoka , Shimomura Akira , Yanagisawa Naohiro , Hisada Yuya , Watanabe Kazuhiro , Imbe Koh , Akiyama Junichi , Mizokami Masashi , Miyoshi-Akiyama Tohru , Uemura Naomi , Hattori Masahira
Published: March 2019

Large bowel preparation may cause a substantial change in the gut microbiota and metabolites. Here, we included a bowel prep group and a no-procedure control group and evaluated the effects of bowel prep on the stability of the gut microbiome and metabolome as well as on recovery. Gut microbiota and metabolome compositions were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing and capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry, respectively. Analysis of coefficients at the genus and species level and weighted UniFrac distance showed that, compared with controls, microbiota composition was significantly reduced immediately after the prep but not at 14 days after it. For the gut metabolome profiles, correlation coefficients between before and immediately after the prep were significantly lower than those between before and 14 days after prep and were not significantly different compared with those for between-subject differences. Thirty-two metabolites were significantly changed before and immediately after the prep, but these metabolites recovered within 14 days. In conclusion, bowel preparation has a profound effect on the gut microbiome and metabolome, but the overall composition recovers to baseline within 14 days. To properly conduct studies of the human gut microbiome and metabolome, fecal sampling should be avoided immediately after bowel prep.
Independent and combined effects of dietary iron composition and selected risk factors on the risk of NAFLD in a Chinese population
Authors: Peng Xian-E. , Xu Shang-Hua , Liu Wenjuan , Hu Zhijian , Lin Zheng , Lin Xu
Published: March 2019

Iron is an essential mineral required for most forms of life. However, very little is known in relation to the different forms of dietary iron on the development of NAFLD. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of iron intake from different food types on risk of NAFLD and whether this effect may be modified by other factors. We conducted a hospital-based case–control study including 1,273 NAFLD cases and 1,273 gender and age-matched controls. We conducted in-person interviews while participants completed a questionnaire on food habits. We assessed animal- and plant-derived intake of iron and fat. We observed that animal-derived iron intake (>4.16 mg/day) was positively associated with augmented NAFLD risk in a Chinese population (ORadjusted = 1.66 in the highest quartile compared with the lowest, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01–2.73). In contrast, a high consumption of iron (>16.87 mg/day) from plant-based foods was associated with a decreased NAFLD risk (ORadjusted = 0.61 in the highest quartile compared with the lowest; 95% CI = 0.40–0.935). In addition, high intake of fat or being overweight may exacerbate this effect. Reduced consumption of iron and fat from animal sources could reduce NAFLD risk, as would weight loss.
Spin to orbital light momentum conversion visualized by particle trajectory
Authors: Arzola Alejandro V. , Chvátal Lukáš , Jákl Petr , Zemánek Pavel
Published: March 2019

In a tightly focused beam of light having both spin and orbital angular momentum, the beam exhibits the spin-orbit interaction phenomenon. We demonstrate here that this interaction gives rise to series of subtle, but observable, effects on the dynamics of a dielectric microsphere trapped in such a beam. In our setup, we control the strength of spin-orbit interaction with the width, polarization and vorticity of the beam and record how these parameters influence radius and orbiting frequency of the same single orbiting particle pushed by the laser beam. Using Richard and Wolf model of the non-paraxial beam focusing, we found a very good agreement between the experimental results and the theoretical model based on calculation of the optical forces using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory extended to a non-paraxial vortex beam. Especially the radius of the particle orbit seems to be a promising parameter characterizing the spin to orbital momentum conversion independently on the trapping beam power.
Degradation pathways in standard and inverted DBP-C70 based organic solar cells
Authors: Sherafatipour Golnaz , Benduhn Johannes , Patil Bhushan R. , Ahmadpour Mehrad , Spoltore Donato , Rubahn Horst-Günter , Vandewal Koen , Madsen Morten
Published: March 2019

Achieving long-term stability in organic solar cells is a remaining bottleneck for the commercialization of this otherwise highly appealing technology. In this work, we study the performance and stability differences in standard and inverted DBP/C70 based organic solar cells. Differences in the charge-transfer state properties of inverted and standard configuration DBP/C70 solar cells are revealed by sensitive external quantum efficiency measurements, leading to differences in the open-circuit voltages of the devices. The degradation of standard and inverted solar cell configurations at ISOS aging test conditions (ISOS-D-3 and ISOS-T-3) was investigated and compared. The results indicate that the performance drop in the small molecule bilayer solar cells is less related to changes at the D-A interface, suggesting also a pronounced morphological stability, and instead, in the case of inverted cells, dominated by degradation at the electron transport layer (ETL) bathocuproine (BCP). Photoluminescence measurements, electron-only-device characteristics, and stability measurements show improved exciton blocking, electron transport properties and a higher stability for BCP/Ag ETL stacks, giving rise to inverted devices with enhanced performance and device stability.
Interpretable genotype-to-phenotype classifiers with performance guarantees
Authors: Drouin Alexandre , Letarte Gaël , Raymond Frédéric , Marchand Mario , Corbeil Jacques , Laviolette François
Published: March 2019

Understanding the relationship between the genome of a cell and its phenotype is a central problem in precision medicine. Nonetheless, genotype-to-phenotype prediction comes with great challenges for machine learning algorithms that limit their use in this setting. The high dimensionality of the data tends to hinder generalization and challenges the scalability of most learning algorithms. Additionally, most algorithms produce models that are complex and difficult to interpret. We alleviate these limitations by proposing strong performance guarantees, based on sample compression theory, for rule-based learning algorithms that produce highly interpretable models. We show that these guarantees can be leveraged to accelerate learning and improve model interpretability. Our approach is validated through an application to the genomic prediction of antimicrobial resistance, an important public health concern. Highly accurate models were obtained for 12 species and 56 antibiotics, and their interpretation revealed known resistance mechanisms, as well as some potentially new ones. An open-source disk-based implementation that is both memory and computationally efficient is provided with this work. The implementation is turnkey, requires no prior knowledge of machine learning, and is complemented by comprehensive tutorials.
Quantitative reconstruction of time-varying 3D cell forces with traction force optical coherence microscopy
Authors: Mulligan Jeffrey A. , Feng Xinzeng , Adie Steven G.
Published: March 2019

Cellular traction forces (CTFs) play an integral role in both physiological processes and disease, and are a topic of interest in mechanobiology. Traction force microscopy (TFM) is a family of methods used to quantify CTFs in a variety of settings. State-of-the-art 3D TFM methods typically rely on confocal fluorescence microscopy, which can impose limitations on acquisition speed, volumetric coverage, and temporal sampling or coverage. In this report, we present the first quantitative implementation of a new TFM technique: traction force optical coherence microscopy (TF-OCM). TF-OCM leverages the capabilities of optical coherence microscopy and computational adaptive optics (CAO) to enable the quantitative reconstruction of 3D CTFs in scattering media with minute-scale temporal sampling. We applied TF-OCM to quantify CTFs exerted by isolated NIH-3T3 fibroblasts embedded in Matrigel, with five-minute temporal sampling, using images spanning a 500 × 500 × 500 μm3 field-of-view. Due to the reliance of TF-OCM on computational imaging methods, we have provided extensive discussion of the equations, assumptions, and failure modes of these methods. By providing high-throughput, label-free, volumetric imaging in scattering media, TF-OCM is well-suited to the study of 3D CTF dynamics, and may prove advantageous for the study of large cell collectives, such as the spheroid models prevalent in mechanobiology.
The NLRP3 inflammasome modulates glycolysis by increasing PFKFB3 in an IL-1β-dependent manner in macrophages
Authors: Finucane Orla M. , Sugrue Jamie , Rubio-Araiz Ana , Guillot-Sestier Marie-Victoire , Lynch Marina A.
Published: March 2019

Inflammation and metabolism are intricately linked during inflammatory diseases in which activation of the nucleotide-binding domain–like receptors Family Pyrin Domain Containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, an innate immune sensor, is critical. Several factors can activate the NLRP3 inflammasome, but the nature of the link between NLRP3 inflammasome activation and metabolism remains to be thoroughly explored. This study investigates whether the small molecule inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome, MCC950, modulates the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -and amyloid-β (Aβ)-induced metabolic phenotype and inflammatory signature in macrophages. LPS + Aβ induced IL-1β secretion, while pre-treatment with MCC950 inhibited this. LPS + Aβ also upregulated IL-1β mRNA and supernatant concentrations of TNFα, IL-6 and IL-10, however these changes were insensitive to MCC950, confirming that MCC950 specifically targets inflammasome activation in BMDMs. LPS + Aβ increased glycolysis and the glycolytic enzyme, PFKFB3, and these effects were decreased by MCC950. These findings suggest that NLRP3 inflammasome activation may play a role in modulating glycolysis. To investigate this further, the effect of IL-1β on glycolysis was assessed. IL-1β stimulated glycolysis and PFKFB3, mimicking the effect of LPS + Aβ and adding to the evidence that inflammasome activation impacts on metabolism. This contention was supported by the finding that the LPS + Aβ-induced changes in glycolysis and PFKFB3 were attenuated in BMDMs from NLRP3-deficient and IL-1R1-deficient mice. Consistent with a key role for PFKFB3 is the finding that the PFKFB3 inhibitor, 3PO, attenuated the LPS + Aβ-induced glycolysis. The data demonstrate that activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, and the subsequent release of IL-1β, play a key role in modulating glycolysis via PFKFB3. Reinstating metabolic homeostasis by targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome-PFKFB3 axis may provide a novel therapeutic target for treatment of acute and chronic disease.
Invasive shrub re-establishment following management has contrasting effects on biodiversity
Authors: O’Loughlin Luke S , Gooden Ben , Foster Claire N. , MacGregor Christopher I. , Catford Jane A. , Lindenmayer David B.
Published: March 2019

Effective control of an invasive species is frequently used to infer positive outcomes for the broader ecosystem. In many situations, whether the removal of an invasive plant is of net benefit to biodiversity is poorly assessed. We undertook a 10-year study on the effects of invasive shrub management (bitou bush, Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata) on native flora and fauna in a eucalypt forest in south-eastern Australia. Bitou bush eradication is a management priority, yet the optimal control regime (combination of herbicide spray and fire) is difficult to implement, meaning managed sites have complex management histories that vary in effectiveness of control. Here we test the long-term response of common biodiversity indicators (species richness, abundance and diversity of native plants, birds, herpetofauna and small mammals) to both the management, and the post-management status of bitou bush (% cover). While average bitou bush cover decreased with management, bitou bush consistently occurred at around half of our managed sites despite control efforts. The relationship between biodiversity and bitou bush cover following management differed from positive, neutral or negative among species groups and indicators. Native plant cover was lower under higher levels of bitou bush cover, but the abundance of birds and small mammals were positively related to bitou bush cover. Evidence suggests that the successful control of an invader may not necessarily result in beneficial outcomes for all components of biodiversity.
Hydrogen ventilation combined with mild hypothermia improves short-term neurological outcomes in a 5-day neonatal hypoxia-ischaemia piglet model
Authors: Htun Yinmon , Nakamura Shinji , Nakao Yasuhiro , Mitsuie Tsutomu , Nakamura Makoto , Yamato Satoshi , Jinnai Wataru , Koyano Kosuke , Ohta Kenichi , Morimoto Aya , Wakabayashi Takayuki , Sugino Masashiro , Fujioka Kazumichi , Kato Ikuko , Kondo Sonoko , Yasuda Saneyuki , Miki Takanori , Ueno Masaki , Kusaka Takashi
Published: March 2019

Despite its poor outcomes, therapeutic hypothermia (TH) is the current standard treatment for neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). In this study, due to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties, the effectiveness of molecular hydrogen (H2) combined with TH was evaluated by means of neurological and histological assessments. Piglets were divided into three groups: hypoxic-ischaemic insult with normothermia (NT), insult with hypothermia (TH, 33.5 ± 0.5 °C), and insult with hypothermia with H2 ventilation (TH-H2, 2.1–2.7%). H2 ventilation and TH were administered for 24 h. After ventilator weaning, neurological assessment was performed every 6 h for 5 days. On day 5, the brains of the piglets were harvested for histopathological analysis. Regarding the neurological score, the piglets in the TH-H2 group consistently had the highest score from day 2 to 5 and showed a significantly higher neurological score from day 3 compared with the NT group. Most piglets in the TH-H2 group could walk at day 3 of recovery, whereas walking ability was delayed in the two other groups. The histological results revealed that TH-H2 tended to improve the status of cortical gray matter and subcortical white matter, with a considerable reduction in cell death. In this study, the combination of TH and H2 improved short-term neurological outcomes in neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic piglets.