bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A mechanistic understanding of hyperstability in catch per unit effort and density-dependent catchability in a multistock recreational fishery
Authors: Ward Hillary G.M. , Askey Paul J. , Post John R.
Published: October 2013

Mechanisms resulting in hyperstability (where catch per unit effort (CPUE) remains high as fish density declines) in recreational fisheries are poorly understood owing to a lack of experimental data. We collected data on angler CPUE and fish density to determine whether hyperstability exists in the rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss) lake fishery of British Columbia. We contrasted the relationship between CPUE and fish density in an open-access recreational fishery with an experimental fishery (a set of lakes that had restricted access, standardized fishing methods, and no heterogeneity in angler experience) to assess the mechanistic cause of hyperstability. We detected no evidence of hyperstability in the experimental fishery, but significant hyperstability in the open-access fishery. In the open-access fishery, the composition of the angler population varied among lakes: anglers who fished at low-density lakes were more experienced than anglers fishing at high-density lakes. This segregation of angler experience across lakes appeared to explain the observed hyperstability in this fishery. Our results provide a mechanistic understanding of hyperstability in an open-access recreational fishery and suggest that CPUE data be used in conjunction with data on angler experience when assessing the status of a fishery.
DECIDING TO CHANGE: AN EVENT SEQUENCE ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION BEHAVIOR IN CONSUMERS
Authors: ZENOBIA BRENT A. , WEBER CHARLES M.
Published: October 2013

Existing, staged models of consumer adoption behavior offer little in the way of theoretical justification, and their empirical validity is in doubt. A qualitative empirical study provides another view by exploring the behavioral decision process by which transportation consumers adopt alternatives to single occupancy vehicles. The study finds that adoption behavior consists of interplay between three conscious, cognitively distinct processes: selecting, evaluating and maintaining. All three processes are characterized in detail in this study. What emerges from the study's data is the first theory to explain the "how" of technology adoption in terms of endogenous mental processes. The study lays the foundation for a more comprehensive causal theory of the adoption process that will provide a step-by-step explanation of how events or life experiences cause a consumer's beliefs about a technology to change over time. It also identifies evaluating, selecting and maintaining as fundamental "microlaws" of innovation: regular rules that describe the generating processes of emergent innovations.
WAVELET-BASED ANALYSIS OF CEREBROVASCULAR DYNAMICS IN NEWBORN RATS WITH INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGES
Authors: PAVLOV ALEXEY N. , NAZIMOV ALEXEY I. , PAVLOVA OLGA N. , LYCHAGOV VLADISLAV V. , TUCHIN VALERY V. , BIBIKOVA OLGA A. , SINDEEV SERGEY S. , SEMYACHKINA-GLUSHKOVSKAYA OXANA V.
Published: October 2013

Intracranial hemorrhage (IH) is a major problem of neonatal intensive care. The incidence of IH is typically asymptomatic and cannot be effectively detected by standard diagnostic methods. The mechanisms underlying IH are unknown but there is evidence that stress-induced disorders in adrenergic regulation of cerebral venous blood flow (CVBF) are among the main reasons. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of CVBF could significantly advance understanding of the nature of IH in newborns. In this work, we analyze variations of CVBF in newborn rats with an experimental model of stress-induced IH and adrenaline injection. Our analysis is based on the Doppler optical coherence tomography (DOCT) and a proposed adaptive wavelet-based approach that provides sensitive markers of abnormal reactions of the sagittal vein to external factors. The obtained results demonstrate that the incidence of IH in newborn rats is accompanied by a suppression of CVBF with the development of venous insufficiency and areactivity to adrenaline. We introduce a numerical measure θ, quantifying reactions of CVBF and show that the values θ < 1.23 estimated in the low-frequency (LF) spectral range corresponding to the sympathicus indicate abnormal reactions associated with the development of IH. We conclude that the revealed areactivity of the cerebral veins to adrenaline represents a possible mechanism responsible for pathological changes in CVBF.
Hardware architectural support for control systems and sensor processing
Authors: Vyas Sudhanshu , Gupte Adwait , Gill Christopher D. , Cytron Ron K. , Zambreno Joseph , Jones Phillip H.
Published: October 2013

The field of modern control theory and the systems used to implement these controls have shown rapid development over the last 50 years. It was often the case that those developing control algorithms could assume the computing medium was solely dedicated to the task of controlling a plant, for example, the control algorithm being implemented in software on a dedicated Digital Signal Processor (DSP), or implemented in hardware using a simple dedicated Programmable Logic Device (PLD). As time progressed, the drive to place more system functionality in a single component (reducing power, cost, and increasing reliability) has made this assumption less often true. Thus, it has been pointed out by some experts in the field of control theory (e.g., Astrom) that those developing control algorithms must take into account the effects of running their algorithms on systems that will be shared with other tasks. One aspect of the work presented in this article is a hardware architecture that allows control developers to maintain this simplifying assumption. We focus specifically on the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller. An on-chip coprocessor has been implemented that can scale to support servicing hundreds of plants, while maintaining microsecond-level response times, tight deterministic control loop timing, and allowing the main processor to service noncontrol tasks.

In order to control a plant, the controller needs information about the plant's state. Typically this information is obtained from sensors with which the plant has been instrumented. There are a number of common computations that may be performed on this sensor data before being presented to the controller (e.g., averaging and thresholding). Thus in addition to supporting PID algorithms, we have developed a Sensor Processing Unit (SPU) that off-loads these common sensor processing tasks from the main processor.

We have prototyped our ideas using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. Through our experimental results, we show our PID execution unit gives orders of magnitude improvement in response time when servicing many plants, as compared to a standard general software implementation. We also show that the SPU scales much better than a general software implementation. In addition, these execution units allow the simplifying assumption of dedicated computing medium to hold for control algorithm development.
Design-space exploration and runtime resource management for multicores
Authors: Mariani Giovanni , Palermo Gianluca , Zaccaria Vittorio , Silvano Cristina
Published: October 2013

Application-specific multicore architectures are usually designed by using a configurable platform in which a set of parameters can be tuned to find the best trade-off in terms of the selected figures of merit (such as energy, delay, and area). This multi-objective optimization phase is called
Design-Space Exploration
(DSE). Among the design-time (hardware) configurable parameters we can find the memory subsystem configuration (such as cache size and associativity) and other architectural parameters such as the instruction-level parallelism of the system processors. Among the runtime (software) configurable parameters we can find the degree of task-level parallelism associated with each application running on the platform.

The contribution of this article is twofold; first, we introduce an evolutionary (NSGA-II-based) methodology for identifying a hardware configuration which is robust with respect to applications and corresponding datasets. Second, we introduce a novel runtime heuristic that exploits design-time identified operating points to provide guaranteed throughput to each application. Experimental results show that the design-time/runtime combined approach improves the runtime performance of the system with respect to existing reference techniques, while meeting the overall power budget.
Parallel architectures for the kNN classifier -- design of soft IP cores and FPGA implementations
Authors: Stamoulias Ioannis , Manolakos Elias S.
Published: October 2013

We designed a variety of k-nearest-neighbor parallel architectures for FPGAs in the form of parameterizable soft IP cores. We show that they can be used to solve large classification problems with thousands of training vectors, or thousands of vector dimensions using a single FPGA, and achieve very high throughput. They can be used to flexibly synthesize architectures that also cover: 1NN classification (vector quantization), multishot queries (with different
k
), LOOCV cross-validation, and compare favorably to GPU implementations. To the best of our knowledge this is the first attempt to design flexible IP cores for the popular kNN classifier.
Improving contextual advertising by adopting collaborative filtering
Authors: Vargiu Eloisa , Giuliani Alessandro , Armano Giuliano
Published: October 2013

Contextual advertising can be viewed as an information filtering task aimed at selecting suitable ads to be suggested to the final “user”, that is, the Web page in hand. Starting from this insight, in this article we propose a novel system, which adopts a collaborative filtering approach to perform contextual advertising. In particular, given a Web page, the system relies on collaborative filtering to classify the page content and to suggest suitable ads accordingly. Useful information is extracted from “inlinks”, that is, similar pages that link to the Web page in hand. In so doing, collaborative filtering is used in a content-based setting, giving rise to a hybrid contextual advertising system. After being implemented, the system has been experimented with about 15000 Web pages extracted from the Open Directory Project. Comparative experiments with a content-based system have been performed. The corresponding results highlight that the proposed system performs better. A suitable case study is also provided to enable the reader to better understand how the system works and its effectiveness.
Semantic content-based recommendation of software services using context
Authors: Liu Liwei , Lecue Freddy , Mehandjiev Nikolay
Published: October 2013

The current proliferation of software services means users should be supported when selecting one service out of the many which meet their needs. Recommender Systems provide such support for selecting products and conventional services, yet their direct application to software services is not straightforward, because of the current scarcity of available user feedback, and the need to fine-tune software services to the context of intended use. In this article, we address these issues by proposing a semantic content-based recommendation approach that analyzes the context of intended service use to provide effective recommendations in conditions of scarce user feedback. The article ends with two experiments based on a realistic set of semantic services. The first experiment demonstrates how the proposed semantic content-based approach can produce effective recommendations using semantic reasoning over service specifications by comparing it with three other approaches. The second experiment demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed context analysis mechanism by comparing the performance of both context-aware and plain versions of our semantic content-based approach, benchmarked against user-performed selection informed by context.
Bacterial Mg2+Homeostasis, Transport, and Virulence
Authors: Groisman Eduardo A. , Hollands Kerry , Kriner Michelle A. , Lee Eun-Jin , Park Sun-Yang , Pontes Mauricio H.
Published: October 2013

Organisms must maintain physiological levels of Mg2+because this divalent cation is critical for the stabilization of membranes and ribosomes, for the neutralization of nucleic acids, and as a cofactor in a variety of enzymatic reactions. In this review, we describe the mechanisms that bacteria utilize to sense the levels of Mg2+both outside and inside the cytoplasm. We examine how bacteria achieve Mg2+homeostasis by adjusting the expression and activity of Mg2+transporters and by changing the composition of their cell envelope. We discuss the connections that exist between Mg2+sensing, Mg2+transport, and bacterial virulence. Additionally, we explore the logic behind the fact that bacterial genomes encode multiple Mg2+transporters and distinct sensing systems for cytoplasmic and extracytoplasmic Mg2+. These analyses may be applicable to the homeostatic control of other cations.
Resurrecting the Ecological Underpinnings of Ocean Plankton Blooms
Authors: Behrenfeld Michael J. , Boss Emmanuel S.
Published: October 2013

Nutrient and light conditions control phytoplankton division rates in the surface ocean and, it is commonly believed, dictate when and where high concentrations, or blooms, of plankton occur. Yet after a century of investigation, rates of phytoplankton biomass accumulation show no correlation with cell division rates. Consequently, factors controlling plankton blooms remain highly controversial. In this review, we endorse the view that blooms are not governed by abiotic factors controlling cell division, but rather reflect subtle ecosystem imbalances instigated by climate forcings or food-web shifts. The annual global procession of ocean plankton blooms thus represents a report on the recent history of predator-prey interactions modulated by physical processes that, almost coincidentally, also control surface nutrient inputs.
Ectonucleotidase NTPDase3 is abundant in pancreatic β-cells and regulates glucose-induced insulin secretion
Authors: Syed Samreen K. , Kauffman Audra L. , Beavers Lisa S. , Alston James T. , Farb Thomas B. , Ficorilli James , Marcelo Marialuisa C. , Brenner Martin B. , Bokvist Krister , Barrett David G. , Efanov Alexander M.
Published: October 2013

Extracellular ATP released from pancreatic β-cells acts as a potent insulinotropic agent through activation of P2 purinergic receptors. Ectonucleotidases, a family of membrane-bound nucleotide-metabolizing enzymes, regulate extracellular ATP levels by degrading ATP and related nucleotides. Ectonucleotidase activity affects the relative proportion of ATP and its metabolites, which in turn will impact the level of purinergic receptor stimulation exerted by extracellular ATP. Therefore, we investigated the expression and role of ectonucleotidases in pancreatic β-cells. Of the ectonucleotidases studied, only ENTPD3 (gene encoding the NTPDase3 enzyme) mRNA was detected at fairly abundant levels in human and mouse pancreatic islets as well as in insulin-secreting MIN6 cells. ARL67156, a selective ectonucleotidase inhibitor, blocked degradation of extracellular ATP that was added to MIN6 cells. The compound also decreased degradation of endogenous ATP released from cells. Measurements of insulin secretion in MIN6 cells as well as in mouse and human pancreatic islets demonstrated that ARL67156 potentiated glucose-dependent insulin secretion. Downregulation of NTPDase3 expression in MIN6 cells with the specific siRNA replicated the effects of ARL67156 on extracellular ATP hydrolysis and insulin secretion. Our results demonstrate that NTPDase3 is the major ectonucleotidase in pancreatic β-cells in multiple species and that it modulates insulin secretion by controlling activation of purinergic receptors.
Nanostructured CuO Thin Films Prepared through Sputtering for Solar Selective Absorbers
Authors: Karthick Kumar Senthuran , Murugesan Sepperumal , Suresh Santhanakrishnan , Paul Raj Samuel
Published: October 2013

Nanostructured cupric oxide (CuO) thin films have been deposited on copper (Cu) substrates at different substrate temperatures and oxygen to argon gas ratios through direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering. The deposited CuO thin films are characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), profilometry, and spectrophotometry techniques. The crystalline phases, morphology, optical properties, and photothermal conversion efficiency of the CuO thin films are found to be significantly influenced by the change in substrate temperature and oxygen to argon gas ratio. The variations in the substrate temperature and oxygen to argon gas ratio have induced changes in Cu+ and Cu2+ concentrations of the CuO thin films that result in corresponding changes in their optical properties. The CuO thin film prepared at a substrate temperature of 30°C and O2 to Ar gas ratio of 1 : 1 has exhibited high absorptance and low emittance; thus, it could be used as a solar selective absorber in solar thermal gadgets.
A Single-Culture Bioprocess ofMethanothermobacter thermautotrophicusto Upgrade Digester Biogas by CO2-to-CH4Conversion with H2
Authors: Martin Matthew R. , Fornero Jeffrey J. , Stark Rebecca , Mets Laurens , Angenent Largus T.
Published: October 2013

We optimized and tested a postbioprocessing step with a single-culture archaeon to upgrade biogas (i.e., increase methane content) from anaerobic digesters via conversion of CO2into CH4by feeding H2gas. We optimized a culture of the thermophilic methanogenMethanothermobacter thermautotrophicususing: (1) a synthetic H2/CO2mixture; (2) the same mixture with pressurization; (3) a synthetic biogas with different CH4contents and H2; and (4) an industrial, untreated biogas and H2. A laboratory culture with a robust growth (dry weight of 6.4–7.4 g/L; OD600of 13.6–15.4), a volumetric methane production rate of 21 L/L culture-day, and a H2conversion efficiency of 89% was moved to an industrial anaerobic digester facility, where it was restarted and fed untreated biogas with a methane content of ~70% at a rate such that CO2was in excess of the stoichiometric requirements in relation to H2. Over an 8-day operating period, the dry weight of the culture initially decreased slightly before stabilizing at an elevated level of ~8 g/L to achieve a volumetric methane production rate of 21 L/L culture-day and a H2conversion efficiency of 62%. While some microbial contamination of the culture was observed via microscopy, it did not affect the methane production rate of the culture.
The Effects of Acupuncture on Bladder Interstitial Cells of Cajal Excitability in Rats with Overactive Bladder
Authors: Feng Qi-fan , Hou Yuen-hao , Hou Wen-guang , Lin Zhi-xian , Tang Kang-min , Chen Yue-lai
Published: October 2013

It is well known that acupuncture treatment has an effect on patients with an overactive bladder, but the mechanism of its action remains to be clarified. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of acupuncture on bladder overactivity, and the excitability of interstitial cells of Cajal of the bladder in a rat model of partial bladder outlet obstruction. Electroacupuncture (continuous wave, 30 Hz, 1 mA) was applied to stimulate the Ciliao point (BL32) and the Huiyang point (BL35) of rats for 20 min, 3 days. Results showed that acupuncture suppressed detrusor unstable contraction frequency and decreased detrusor maximum pressure in the bladder filling period. Compared with the normal control rats, HCN2 mRNA and protein expression within the bladder were upregulated and were reversed by electroacupuncture in overactive bladder rats as determined by RT-PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, in-vitro cell-cultured OAB rats bladder interstitial cells of Cajal intracellular Ca2+concentration were higher than normal control rats, which were lowered after acupuncture treatment. These findings suggest that acupuncture stimulation can suppress bladder overactivity, and regulate the excitability of bladder interstitial cells of Cajal in treatment of overactive bladder myogenic mechanism.
Antibody‐Conjugated Rubpy Dye‐Doped Silica Nanoparticles as Signal Amplification for Microscopic Detection of Vibrio cholerae O1
Authors: Thepwiwatjit Nualrahong , Thattiyaphong Aree , Limsuwan Pichet , Tuitemwong Kooranee , Tuitemwong Pravate
Published: October 2013

This study demonstrated the potential application of antibody‐conjugated Rubpy dye‐doped silica nanoparticles for immunofluorescence microscopic detection of Vibrio cholerae O1. The particle synthesis of 20X of the original ratio was accomplished yielding spherical nanoparticles with an average size of 45 ± 3 nm. The nanoparticles were carboxyl functionalized and then conjugated with either monoclonal antibody or polyclonal antibody against V. cholerae O1. The antibody‐conjugated nanoparticles were tested with two target bacteria and three challenge strains. The result showed that monoclonal antibody‐conjugated Rubpy dye‐doped silica nanoparticles could be effectively used as signal amplification to detect V. cholerae O1 under a fluorescence microscope. Their extremely strong fluorescence signal also enables the detection of a single cell bacterium.
Effects of Meditation on Temporal Processing and Speech Perceptual Skills in Younger and Older Adults
Authors: Kumar Uppunda Ajith , Sangamanatha A. V. , Vikas Jai
Published: October 2013

The purpose of this study was to assess the temporal processing and speech perception abilities in older adults who were practicing meditation for more than five years. Participants were comprised of three groups, 30 young adults (“YA”) in the age range of 20–30 years, 30 older adults in the age range of 50–65 years who practiced meditation for a period of five years or more (effective meditators “EM”), and 51 age matched older adults who did not have any experience of meditation (non-meditators “NM”). Temporal processing was evaluated using gap detection in noise, duration discrimination, modulation detection, and backward masking and duration pattern tests. Speech perception was measured in presence of a four-talker babble at −5 dB signal to noise ratio and with the vocoded stimuli. Results revealed that EM group performed significantly better than NM group in all psychophysical and speech perception tasks except in gap detection task. In the gap detection task, two groups did not differ significantly. Furthermore, EM group showed significantly better modulation detection thresholds compared to YA. Results of the study demonstrate that the practice of meditation not only offsets the decline in temporal and speech processing abilities due to aging process but also improves the ability to perceive the modulations compared to young adults.
A Multilayer Hidden Markov Models-Based Method for Human-Robot Interaction
Authors: Tao Chongben , Liu Guodong
Published: October 2013

To achieve Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) by using gestures, a continuous gesture recognition approach based on Multilayer Hidden Markov Models (MHMMs) is proposed, which consists of two parts. One part is gesture spotting and segment module, the other part is continuous gesture recognition module. Firstly, a Kinect sensor is used to capture 3D acceleration and 3D angular velocity data of hand gestures. And then, a Feed-forward Neural Networks (FNNs) and a threshold criterion are used for gesture spotting and segment, respectively. Afterwards, the segmented gesture signals are respectively preprocessed and vector symbolized by a sliding window and a K-means clustering method. Finally, symbolized data are sent into Lower Hidden Markov Models (LHMMs) to identify individual gestures, and then, a Bayesian filter with sequential constraints among gestures in Upper Hidden Markov Models (UHMMs) is used to correct recognition errors created in LHMMs. Five predefined gestures are used to interact with a Kinect mobile robot in experiments. The experimental results show that the proposed method not only has good effectiveness and accuracy, but also has favorable real-time performance.
An Effective Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Entropy to Evaluate Entrepreneurship Orientation of Online P2P Lending Platforms
Authors: Chen Xiaohong , Yang Li , Wang Pei , Yue Wei
Published: October 2013

This paper describes an approach to measure the entrepreneurship orientation of online P2P lending platforms. The limitations of existing methods for calculating entropy of interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFSs) are significantly improved by a new entropy measure of IVIFS considered in this paper, and then the essential properties of the proposed entropy are introduced. Moreover, an evaluation procedure is proposed to measure entrepreneurship orientation of online P2P lending platforms. Finally, a case is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.
Primary Immunodeficiency May Be Misdiagnosed as Cow’s Milk Allergy: Seven Cases Referred to a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital
Authors: Melo Karina Mescouto , Dantas Ellen , De Moraes-Pinto Maria Isabel , Condino-Neto Antonio , Gonzalez Isabela G. S. , Mallozi Marcia C. , Franco Jackeline M. , Costa-Carvalho Beatriz T.
Published: October 2013

Introduction. The presence of eczema and gastrointestinal manifestations are often observed in cow’s milk allergy (CMA) and also in some primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID). Objective. To describe 7 patients referred to a tertiary allergy/immunology Center with a proposed diagnosis of CMA, who were ultimately diagnosed with PID. Methods. This was a retrospective study based on clinical and laboratory data from medical records. Results. Seven patients (6 males) aged between 3 mo and 6 y were referred to our clinic with a proposed diagnosis of CMA. They presented with eczema and/or gastrointestinal symptoms. Five were receiving replacement formula. All patients presented with other clinical features, including severe/recurrent infections unrelated to CMA, and two of them had a positive family history of PID. Laboratory tests showed immune system dysfunctions in all patients. Hyper-IgE and Wiskott-Aldrich syndromes, CD40L deficiency, severe combined immunodeficiency, X-linked agammaglobulinemia, transient hypogammaglobulinemia of infancy, and chronic granulomatous disease were diagnosed in these children. In conclusion, allergic diseases and immunodeficiency are a result of a different spectrum of abnormalities in the immune system and may be misdiagnosed. Educational programs on PID among clinical physicians and pediatricians can reduce the occurrence of this misdiagnosis.
Fundamental Group and Covering Properties of Hyperbolic Surgery Manifolds
Authors: Cavicchioli Alberto , Spaggiari Fulvia , Telloni Agnese Ilaria
Published: October 2013

We study a family of closed connected orientable 3-manifolds obtained by Dehn surgeries with rational coefficients along the oriented components of certain links. This family contains all the manifolds obtained by surgery along the (hyperbolic) 2-bridge knots. We find geometric presentations for the fundamental group of such manifolds and represent them as branched covering spaces. As a consequence, we prove that the surgery
manifolds, arising from the hyperbolic 2-bridge knots, have Heegaard genus 2 and are 2-fold coverings of the 3-sphere branched over well-specified links.
Adsorption Properties of Lac Dyes on Wool, Silk, and Nylon
Authors: Wei Bo , Chen Qiu-Yuan , Chen Guoqiang , Tang Ren-Cheng , Zhang Jun
Published: October 2013

There has been growing interest in the dyeing of textiles with natural dyes. The research about the adsorption properties of natural dyes can help to understand their adsorption mechanism and to control their dyeing process. This study is concerned with the kinetics and isotherms of adsorption of lac dyes on wool, silk, and nylon fibers. It was found that the adsorption kinetics of lac dyes on the three fibers followed the pseudosecond‐order kinetic model, and the adsorption rate of lac dyes was the fastest for silk and the slowest for wool. The activation energies for the adsorption process on wool, silk, and nylon were found to be 107.15, 87.85, and 45.31 kJ/mol, respectively. The adsorption of lac dyes on the three fibers followed the Langmuir mechanism, indicating that the electrostatic interactions between lac dyes and those fibers occurred. The saturation values for lac adsorption on the three fibers decreased in the order of wool > silk > nylon; the Langmuir affinity constant of lac adsorption on nylon was much higher than those on wool and silk.
A Novel Differential Predict Model Based on Matrix-Assisted Laser Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry and Serum Ferritin for Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease
Authors: Zhang Chun-yan , Wang Shu-hong , Huang Wen-rong , Guo Guang-hong , Zhang Zhu-hong , Mou Wen-jun , Yu Li , Tian Ya-Ping
Published: October 2013

Clinical diagnosis of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) mainly depends on clinical manifestation and tissue biopsies, leading to a delayed diagnosis and treatment for aGVHD patients when the early symptom is insignificant. Our objective was to investigate the possibility of prewarning the risk of aGVHD before and after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) by serum protein profiling combined with serum ferritin. The difference in polypeptide expression before and after transplantation had been compared by using CLINPROT technology, and serum ferritin levels have been analyzed simultaneously. Through combining serum ferritin and MS spectral data, the diagnosis sensitivity and specificity of our model for prewarning severe aGVHD (III~IV°aGVHD) before transplant all increased to 90.0%, while after transplant, the sensitivity and specificity are 78.3% and 86.4%. Our joint prewarning model could predict the risk of aGVHD, especially severe aGVHD before and after transplant, which also provides a reliable method to the continuous monitoring of the condition of patients.
Impact of IL12B Gene rs 3212227 Polymorphism on Fibrosis, Liver Inflammation, and Response to Treatment in Genotype 4 Egyptian Hepatitis C Patients
Authors: Youssef Samar Samir , Mostafa Asmaa , Saad Amr , Omran Moataza Hassan , El Zanaty Taher , Mohamed Seif Sameh
Published: October 2013

Introduction. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects almost 3% of the world's population with the highest prevalence in Egypt (15%). The standard therapy; pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin, is effective in only 60% of Egyptian patients; moreover it is costly, prolonged, and has severe side effects, so prediction of response is essential to reduce burden of unfavorable treatment. Several viral and host factors have been proved to affect response to the treatment PEG-IFN and ribavirin; the strongest of them is polymorphisms near IL28B; nonetheless, nonresponse in patients with favorable IL28B is still unexplained, which implies the importance of studying other immunological factors that may correlate with response. Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is one of the most important proinflammatory cytokine presented with the initiation of immune response, determining Th1 and Th2 differentiation. A functional single nucleotide polymorphism (A/C) at the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) at position 1188 (NCBI SNP database no 3212227) was reported to be associated with responding more efficiently to antiviral combination therapy in HCV genotype 1 infected patients. The present study aims to evaluate association between this polymorphism with fibrosis stages, necroinflammation activity, response to the combined therapy, and gender in Egyptian HCV genotype 4. Material and Methods. A total of 133 Egyptian chronic HCV (CHCV) patients were treated with IFN/RBV and were followed up. IL12B 1188 A/C genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PRC-RFLP) analysis. Results. A nonsignificant trend for higher sustained virological response (SVR) was observed in patients homozygote for IL12B 1188 A/C SNP CC genotype (69% SVR versus 30.8% NR) only but not in AC and AA genotypes. No association was detected between IL12B 1188 A/C polymorphism and less severe fibrosis or less liver activity. By stratification of response according to gender genotype, a significant difference in response between males and females was seen among AA genotype carriers only due to high number of non responder females. Conclusion. IL12B CC genotype appears to have some influence on SVR achievement but not on severe fibrosis and severe necroinflamation activity. Females carrying A/A genotype of IL12B 1188 A/C SNP achieve less SVR than those carrying AC and CC genotypes.
Ultraviolet-Visible and Fluorescence Spectroscopy Techniques Are Important Diagnostic Tools during the Progression of Atherosclerosis: Diet Zinc Supplementation Retarded or Delayed Atherosclerosis
Authors: Abdelhalim Mohamed Anwar K. , Moussa Sherif A. Abdelmottaleb , AL-Mohy Yanallah Hussain
Published: October 2013

Background.In this study, we examined whether UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques detect the progression of atherosclerosis in serum of rabbits fed on high-cholesterol diet (HCD) and HCD supplemented with zinc (HCD + Zn) compared with the control.Methods.The control rabbits group was fed on 100 g/day of normal diet. The HCD group was fed on Purina Certified Rabbit Chow supplemented with 1.0% cholesterol plus 1.0% olive oil (100 g/day) for the same period. The HCD + Zn group was fed on normal Purina Certified Rabbit Chow plus 1.0% cholesterol and 1.0% olive oil supplemented with 470 ppm Zn for the same feeding period. UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy and biochemistry in Rabbit’s blood serum and blood hematology were measured in Rabbit’s blood.Results.We found that the fluorescent peak of HCD shifted toward UV-visible wavelength compared with the control using fluorescent excitation of serum at 192 nm. In addition, they showed that supplementation of zinc (350 ppm) restored the fluorescent peak closely to the control. By using UV-visible spectroscopy approach, we found that the peak absorbance of HCD (about 280 nm) was higher than that of control and that zinc supplementation seemed to decrease the absorbance.Conclusions.This study demonstrates that ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy techniques can be applied as noninvasive techniques on a sample blood serum for diagnosing or detecting the progression of atherosclerosis. The Zn supplementation to rabbits fed on HCD delays or retards the progression of atherosclerosis. Inducing anemia in rabbits fed on HCD delays the progression of atherosclerosis.
Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Display Reduced Expression of CD105 after Culture in Serum-Free Medium
Authors: Mark Peter , Kleinsorge Mandy , Gaebel Ralf , Lux Cornelia A. , Toelk Anita , Pittermann Erik , David Robert , Steinhoff Gustav , Ma Nan
Published: October 2013

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) present a promising tool for regenerative medicine. However,ex vivoexpansion is necessary to obtain sufficient cells for clinical therapy. Conventional growth media usually contain the critical component fetal bovine serum. For clinical use, chemically defined media will be required. In this study, the capability of two commercial, chemically defined, serum-free hMSC growth media (MSCGM-CD and PowerStem) for hMSC proliferation was examined and compared to serum-containing medium (MSCGM). Immunophenotyping of hMSCs was performed using flow cytometry, and they were tested for their ability to differentiate into a variety of cell types. Although the morphology of hMSCs cultured in the different media differed, immunophenotyping displayed similar marker patterns (high expression of CD29, CD44, CD73, and CD90 cell surface markers and absence of CD45). Interestingly, the expression of CD105 was significantly lower for hMSCs cultured in MSCGM-CD compared to MSCGM. Both groups maintained mesenchymal multilineage differentiation potential. In conclusion, the serum-free growth medium is suitable for hMSC culture and comparable to its serum-containing counterpart. As the expression of CD105 has been shown to positively influence hMSC cardiac regenerative potential, the impact of CD105 expression onto clinical use after expansion in MSCGM-CD will have to be tested.
Integrated Knowledge-Based System for Machine Design
Authors: Karayel Durmuş , Ozkan S. Serdar , Vatansever Fahri
Published: October 2013

An integrated design system (IDS) approach has been developed to integrate various stages of the mechanical design process, including rapid prototyping. The system consist, of design, analysis, calculation, rapid prototyping, and library modules, and it blends artificial intelligence methods, CAD-CAM, and technical computing packages into a single environment. The system has been applied for the design of one-stage gearbox with helical gear. In this case study, all stages of the design process are carried out by using IDS.
On Some Further Generalizations of Strong Convergence in Probabilistic Metric Spaces Using Ideals
Authors: Das Pratulananda , Dutta Kaustubh , Karakaya Vatan , Ghosal Sanjoy
Published: October 2013

Following the line of (Das et al., 2011, Savas and Das, 2011), we make a new approach in this paper to extend the notion of strong convergence and more general strong statistical convergence (Şençimen and Pehlivan, 2008) using ideals and introduce the notion of strongℐ- andℐ*-statistical convergence and two related concepts, namely, strongℐ-lacunary statistical convergence and strongℐ-λ-statistical convergence in a probabilistic metric space endowed with strong topology. We mainly investigate their interrelationship and study some of their important properties.
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of Series Cushioning System Made with Expanded Polyethylene and Corrugated Paperboard
Authors: Gao De , Lu Fu-de
Published: October 2013

Based on the constitutive models of expanded polyethylene (EPE) and C-flute corrugated paperboard (CCP), the drop impact model for expanded polyethylene in series with CCP was established to consider the effect of cushioning action for CCP box. A numerical procedure was adopted for the optimization of the product packaging system by considering the action of the corrugated paperboard box. Then the optimal results were obtained and compared without considering the effect of CCP. Finally, the calculation reliability was proved by the comparison between calculated results and experimental data.
Electrochemical Behavior of Malachite Green in Aqueous Solutions of Ionic Surfactants
Authors: Rahman Mohammad Mijanur , Mollah M. Yousuf A. , Rahman M. Muhibur , Susan Md. Abu Bin Hasan
Published: October 2013

Electrochemical behavior of malachite green (MG) oxalate in aqueous solution was studied in the presence of a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at a glassy carbon electrode using cyclic voltammetry. The electrochemical oxidation of MG has been characterized as an electrochemically irreversible diffusion-controlled process. Oxidative peak current sharply decreased with increasing SDS concentration, while a slight increase with increasing [CTAB] was apparent. The apparent diffusion coefficient, the surface reaction rate constant, and the electron transfer coefficient of MG clearly show correlation of the electrochemical behavior with the dissolved states of the surfactants. Electrochemical observations together with spectrophotometric results at varying surfactant concentrations provide evidence of interaction of MG with the surfactants to varying extent depending on the type of the surfactant and the concentration.
Adverse Reactions to Foods and Food Allergy: Development and Reproducibility of a Questionnaire for Clinical Diagnosis
Authors: Lyra Nilza R. S. , Motta Maria E. F. A. , Rocha Luiz A. R. , Solé Dirceu , Peixoto Décio M. , Rizzo José A. , Taborda-Barata Luis , Sarinho Emanuel S. C.
Published: October 2013

Objective. To develop a questionnaire as a screening tool for adverse reactions to foods in children and to assess the technical reproducibility by test-retest. Methods. Reproducibility of the questionnaire was performed by the literature review, preparing the preliminary questionnaire, peer review, pretest, and retest analysis. The study of the test-retest reproducibility was cross-sectional and descriptive. Kappa coefficient was used to study the reproducibility of the questionnaire. The sample consisted of 125 2–4 year-old children from 15 daycare centers in Recife, Brazil, and interviews with parents or caregivers were used to collect data. Results. From the total children, sixty-three were boys (50.4%), forty-six were two years old (36.8%), forty-seven were three years old (37.6%), and thirty-two were four years old (25.6%). Forty caregivers reported that their child had health problems with food. Most frequently reported offending foods were milk, peanuts, shrimp, and chocolate. Nine questions showed a good Kappa index (≥0,6). Conclusions. The questionnaire used needs to be resized and reshaped on the basis of the issues with good internal consistency and reproducibility. The use of a validated and reproducible questionnaire in the children represents an important contribution towards assessing an eventual rise in overt food allergy.
The Role ofH. pyloriin the Development of Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Genç Raşan , Çağlı Sedat , Yüce İmdat , Vural Alperen , Okuducu Hacı , Patıroğlu Tahir , Güney Ercihan
Published: October 2013

Aim. This study aims to investigate the possible role ofH. pylorias a cause of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.Method. This controlled study was performed with 31 consecutive laryngeal cancer and 28 cancer-free patients who underwent direct laryngoscopy and biopsy of laryngeal lesions. To document the previousH. pyloriinfection, serological analysis of the antibody titers was done. Immunohistochemical analyses were applied to the tissue samples.Results. Serology was found positive at the 90.3% of the laryngeal cancer patients and 96.4% of the benign group. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups (P>0.05). Immunohistochemical analysis results were determined as negative at all of the specimens of laryngeal cancer patients and patients with benign lesions.Conclusion. There were no signs of colonization ofH. pyloriin laryngeal tissues of both groups' patients. It is thought that no relationship exists between theH. pyloriinfection and laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.
Approximate Solutions to Nonlinear Optimal Control Problems in Astrodynamics
Authors: Topputo Francesco , Bernelli-Zazzera Franco
Published: October 2013

A method to solve nonlinear optimal control problems is proposed in
this work. The method implements an approximating sequence of time-varying linear quadratic regulators that converge to the solution of the
original, nonlinear problem. Each subproblem is solved by manipulating
the state transition matrix of the state-costate dynamics. Hard, soft,
and mixed boundary conditions are handled. The presented method is
a modified version of an algorithm known as “approximating sequence
of Riccati equations.” Sample problems in astrodynamics are treated to
show the effectiveness of the method, whose limitations are also discussed.
Cytoplasmic Irradiation Results in Mitochondrial Dysfunction and DRP1-Dependent Mitochondrial Fission
Authors: Zhang Bo , Davidson Mercy M. , Zhou Hongning , Wang Chunxin , Walker Winsome F. , Hei Tom K.
Published: October 2013

Direct DNA damage is often considered the primary cause of cancer in patients exposed to ionizing radiation or environmental carcinogens. Although mitochondria are known to play an important role in radiation-induced cellular response, the mechanisms by which cytoplasmic stimuli modulate mitochondrial dynamics and functions are largely unknown. In the present study, we examined changes in mitochondrial dynamics and functions triggered by α particle damage to the mitochondria in human small airway epithelial cells, using a precision microbeam irradiator with a beam width of 1 μm. Targeted cytoplasmic irradiation using this device resulted in mitochondrial fragmentation and a reduction of cytochrome c oxidase and succinate dehydrogenase activity, when compared with nonirradiated controls, suggesting a reduction in respiratory chain function. In addition, mitochondrial fragmentation or fission was associated with increased expression of the dynamin-like protein DRP1, which promotes mitochondrial fission. DRP1 inhibition by the drug mdivi-1 prevented radiation-induced mitochondrial fission, but respiratory chain function in mitochondria inhibited by radiation persisted for 12 hours. Irradiated cells also showed an increase in mitochondria-derived superoxide that could be quenched by dimethyl sulfoxide. Taken together, our results provide a mechanistic explanation for the extranuclear, nontargeted effects of ionizing radiation. Cancer Res; 73(22); 6700–10. ©2013 AACR.
Senescent Fibroblasts in Melanoma Initiation and Progression: An Integrated Theoretical, Experimental, and Clinical Approach
Authors: Kim Eunjung , Rebecca Vito , Fedorenko Inna V. , Messina Jane L. , Mathew Rahel , Maria-Engler Silvya S. , Basanta David , Smalley Keiran S.M. , Anderson Alexander R.A.
Published: October 2013

We present an integrated study to understand the key role of senescent fibroblasts in driving melanoma progression. Based on the hybrid cellular automata paradigm, we developed an in silico model of normal skin. The model focuses on key cellular and microenvironmental variables that regulate interactions among keratinocytes, melanocytes, and fibroblasts, key components of the skin. The model recapitulates normal skin structure and is robust enough to withstand physical as well as biochemical perturbations. Furthermore, the model predicted the important role of the skin microenvironment in melanoma initiation and progression. Our in vitro experiments showed that dermal fibroblasts, which are an important source of growth factors in the skin, adopt a secretory phenotype that facilitates cancer cell growth and invasion when they become senescent. Our coculture experiments showed that the senescent fibroblasts promoted the growth of nontumorigenic melanoma cells and enhanced the invasion of advanced melanoma cells. Motivated by these experimental results, we incorporated senescent fibroblasts into our model and showed that senescent fibroblasts transform the skin microenvironment and subsequently change the skin architecture by enhancing the growth and invasion of normal melanocytes. The interaction between senescent fibroblasts and the early-stage melanoma cells leads to melanoma initiation and progression. Of microenvironmental factors that senescent fibroblasts produce, proteases are shown to be one of the key contributing factors that promoted melanoma development from our simulations. Although not a direct validation, we also observed increased proteolytic activity in stromal fields adjacent to melanoma lesions in human histology. This leads us to the conclusion that senescent fibroblasts may create a prooncogenic skin microenvironment that cooperates with mutant melanocytes to drive melanoma initiation and progression and should therefore be considered as a potential future therapeutic target. Interestingly, our simulations to test the effects of a stroma-targeting therapy that negates the influence of proteolytic activity showed that the treatment could be effective in delaying melanoma initiation and progression. Cancer Res; 73(23); 6874–85. ©2013 AACR.