bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Feral swine Sus scrofa: a new threat to the remaining breeding wetlands of the Vulnerable reticulated flatwoods salamander Ambystoma bishopi
Authors: Jones Kelly C. , Gorman Thomas A. , Rincon Brandon K. , Allen John , Haas Carola A. , Engeman Richard M.
Published: February 2017

Feral swine Sus scrofa have been implicated as a major threat to sensitive habitats and ecosystems as well as threatened wildlife. Nevertheless, direct and indirect impacts on threatened species (especially small, fossorial species) are not well documented. The decline of the U.S. federally endangered reticulated flatwoods salamander Ambystoma bishopi, categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, has been rapid and there are few remaining breeding locations for this species. The flatwoods salamander depends on complex herbaceous vegetation in all life stages, including eggs, larvae and adults. Historically sets of hog tracks have been observed only occasionally in the vicinity of monitored reticulated flatwoods salamander breeding wetlands, and damage to the wetlands had never been recorded. However, during the autumn–winter breeding season of 2013–2014 we observed a large increase in hog sign, including extensive rooting damage, in known flatwoods salamander breeding wetlands. Our objective was to assess the amount of hog sign and damage in these wetlands and to take corrective management actions to curb additional impacts. Of 28 wetlands surveyed for hog sign, presence was recorded at 68%, and damage at 54%. Of the 11 sites known to be occupied by flatwoods salamanders in 2013–2014, 64% had presence, and 55% had damage. We found that regular monitoring of disturbance in wetland habitats was a valuable tool to determine when intervention was needed and to assess the effectiveness of intervention. Habitat damage caused by feral hogs poses a potentially serious threat to the salamanders, which needs to be mitigated using methods to control and exclude hogs from this sensitive habitat.
Within-subject neural reactivity to reward and threat is inverted in young adolescents
Authors: Thomason M. E. , Marusak H. A.
Published: February 2017

Background

As children mature, they become increasingly independent and less reliant on caregiver support. Changes in brain systems are likely to stimulate and guide this process. One mechanistic hypothesis suggests that changes in neural systems that process reward and threat support the increase in exploratory behavior observed in the transition to adolescence. This study examines the basic tenets of this hypothesis by performing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during well-established reward and threat processing tasks in 40 children and adolescents, aged 9–15 years.

Method

fMRI responses in the striatum and amygdala are fit to a model predicting that striatal reward and amygdala threat-responses will be unrelated in younger participants (aged 9–12 years), while older participants (aged 13–15 years) will differentially engage these structures.

Results

Our data are consistent with this model. Activity in the striatum and amygdala are comparable in younger children, but in older children, they are inversely related; those more responsive to reward show a reduced threat-response. Analyses testing age as a continuous variable yield consistent results. In addition, the proportion of threat to reward-response relates to self-reported approach behavior in older but not younger youth, exposing behavioral relevance in the relative level of activity in these structures.

Conclusions

Results are consistent with the notion that both individual and developmental differences drive reward-seeking behavior in adolescence. While these response patterns may serve adaptive functions in the shift to independence, skew in these systems may relate to increased rates of emotional psychopathology and risk-taking observed in adolescence.
Cullen, Newman and the Irish Catholic University
Authors: Hayes Charles
Published: February 2017

Roman Catholic historians have frequently cited lack of Government recognition and support as the main cause for the failure of the Catholic University. As evidence of this, they have pointed to its medical faculty, the relative success of which they attribute to the possibility at that time of being recognised as a medical practitioner without holding a university degree. Yet, by 1859, the year of his resignation as Rector, Newman had come to the conclusion that the real problems lay elsewhere. In the same year, the Irish Bishops admitted openly that the granting or withholding of state recognition would not ultimately determine the success or failure of the University. In any event, they could easily have overcome the difficulties posed by the lack of a charter by affiliating their College to London University, merely for the purpose of taking London examinations and degrees. This they admitted in a letter to the Home Secretary, Sir George Grey. In 1857, the Roman Catholic College of St John the Evangelist, Sydney, Australia, did affiliate, for the purpose of obtaining degrees, to one of the new non-denominational state-erected universities of that colony. But Newman was too suspicious of London's alleged liberalism and Cullen too jealous of undiluted episcopal control over the Dublin establishment to tolerate such a notion. It is, therefore, towards the attitudes and roles of these two that one is led in considering why the Catholic University failed.
Abraham Woodhead (1608–78): Some Research Notes, Chiefly about his Writings
Authors: Slusser M.
Published: February 2017

Of the Catholic polemicists in England in the seventeenth century, few wrote more voluminously or earned more respect from their adversaries than Abraham Woodhead. His works are grave, erudite, and irenic in tone, reflecting their author's retired life of study after his conversion. His efforts to avoid the limelight have been successful, both in his own time and in ours; perhaps that is why no one, so far as I know, has yet subjected his books to the careful scrutiny and analysis which they deserve. There are several worthwhile theses in the history of theology to be written on Woodhead and the controversies in which he was engaged; perhaps the materials offered in this article will help a few scholars through the preliminaries to Woodhead study and encourage them to give us a theological pprtrait of this man whose historical portrait is so hard to draw.
Alexander Pope and the Religious Tradition of the Turners
Authors: Rumbold Valerie
Published: February 2017

The religion of Alexander Pope, like so many other aspects of his life, is characterized by ambiguity and equivocation. Many have seen his profession of the Catholic faith as shallow and insincere, not least those, like Warburton and Ruffhead, who proclaim his supposed insincerity as a sign of grace. A study of the family tradition within which Pope learned his religion sets the problem in a different light, and at the same time illustrates the complex ambiguities which must be borne in mind by anyone who wishes to look behind the solid statistics of convictions for recusancy into the obscure minds and hearts of those whom social status, deviousness, or sheer indecision conspired to shield from the penalties of their religious inclinations.
Sir John Dalrymple and the Origins of Roman Catholic Relief, 1775–1778
Authors: Donovan Robert Kent
Published: February 2017

The eighteenth century abounds with colourful, eccentric figures, some famous and others known by but few readers. Sir John Dalrymple of Cranston, was such a person, curious in his interests and controversial in his activities even for his time. Historians of modern Roman Catholicism have long recognized that he played a part in the negotiations which led to the English Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1778, but they have mentioned him only in passing. Their sketchy references to his role usually derive in one way or another from Fr. James Stother’s account of the abortive negotiations for Scottish relief, which paralleled the more successful discussions on behalf of English and Irish Catholics. Stother’s chronicle, published over a century ago, remains by far the most extensive account of Sir John’s activities in print, although it is itself brief and discreet. Advancing projects for Catholic relief required caution at the very least, and the project for the Scots, beyond this, demanded secrecy, in so far as relief in the northern kingdom involved concessions to Catholics in return for their encouragement of troop enlistment in the controversial American war. Concealment by Sir John and his associates of the role he played at the time has led to neglect of that role by historians ever since.
The Relation between Robert Southwell’s Neo-Latin and English Poetry
Authors: Oxley Brian
Published: February 2017

Despite the importance attributed to Southwell in Louis Martz’s The Poetry of Meditation, his Latin poetry—overlooked in Leicester Bradner’s Musae Anglicanae and the subject of a solitary unsatisfactory discussion in Pierre Janelle’s Robert Southwell the Writer—has received little attention. Such neglect is not unusual. Barbara Lewalski’s Protestant Poetics and the Seventeenth-Century Religious Lyric—a spacious enough volume—disposes of Herbert’s important Latin collection Passio Discerpta in an endnote. This is despite a number of recent studies emphasising the position of Neo-Latin as a modern language alongside and correspondent with the vernacular, acting ‘as a sort of John the Baptist to the vernacular’, or ‘drinking from the same streams’. It is, I think, indisputable that Martz and Lewalski would have needed to modify their arguments had they taken the Neo-Latin poetry of Southwell and Herbert into account in their respective studies. Martz would have found some part of ‘meditative structure’ attributable to the conventions of Latin elegiac writing rather than to Ignatian meditation. Similarly, Lewalski would have had to qualify her description of so much poetry as ‘lyric’ had she considered its relation to Latin elegiac and epigrammatic writing.
The Ripon Diary, 1878–80: I
Authors: Rossi John P.
Published: February 2017

Beginning suddenly in late November 1878, George Frederick Samuel Robinson, first Marquess of Ripon, decided to keep a diary. Neither in the diary itself nor in his private papers does he give a reason for this action so typical of the Victorians. Ripon maintained his diary faithfully for over sixteen months until involvement in the General Election of 1880 forced him to suspend his daily entries. He renewed the diary briefly in April 1880 following the election and kept it until just before his appointment as Viceroy of India on 29 April 1880.
Iron-Mining in Restoration Furness: The Case of Sir Thomas Preston—A Comment
Authors: Phillips C. B.
Published: February 2017

Dr Galgano shows that the Papist Sir Thomas Preston continued his family's interest in operating their iron-mines, and points, interestingly, to the number of Papists amongst his ore customers. More importantly for historians of the iron-industry, he states (pp. 212–13) that, about 1664, Sir Thomas built a blast-furnace. Dr Galgano does not explain that this furnace would pre-date the first known ones in Cumbria (Cleator, c. 1695), and Furness (Backbarrow, 1711). Thus, Sir Thomas would be both an entrepreneur and an innovator. The question is, did Preston build a blastfurnace?
Iron-Mining in Restoration Furness: The Case of Sir Thomas Preston, A Response
Authors: Galgano Michael J.
Published: February 2017

I would like to thank Professor Phillips for pointing out my error in listing as one the two account books from the Cavendish of Holker papers, DDCa/1/1 and DDCa/1/106. The oversight was not intentional and I apologize for any confusion it may have caused.
Eighteenth-Century Gwent Catholics
Authors: Guy John R.
Published: February 2017

Robin Clifton has explored the ‘nature, extent and causes of the Protestant fear of Catholics’, and Dr Wiener has traced how ‘hatred of Catholics, once the private obsession of religious extremists, developed into a part of the national ideology’. But what was the attitude in Monmouthshire, which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was culturally and ethnically a part of Wales? Attempts have been made to compare Catholicism in eighteenth-century Monmouthshire with that in other parts of the Western Vicariate, and to suggest a parallel with Lancashire. There may be some valid comparisons but for a variety of reasons Monmouthshire sits uneasily with any close identification with the English scene.
The English Cassinese (1611-50)
Authors: Lunn David
Published: February 2017

The Englishmen who were members of the Italian or Cassinese Benedictine Congregation in the seventeenth century have been neglected, mainly because, unlike the Englishmen who joined Spanish monasteries, the Cassinese did not perpetuate themselves and thus did not produce historians who would keeptheir memory alive. This is a pity, since several of them are important figures: Robert Gregory Sayer (1560-1602), who gained an international reputation as a moral theologian, which, it has been claimed, remains unrivalled among Englishmen; Roland Thomas Preston (1567-1647), whose prolific literaryoutput against the papal deposing power at least assures him of a place in the history of Anglo-Gallicanism; and Robert Anselm Beech (1568-1634), who was the agent in Rome who negotiated the setting up of the Benedictine mission to England and defended it against attack.

The Anglo-Italians failed to perpetuate themselves because in 1616 they refused to unite with the other English monks, mainly in order to remain loyal to Preston, whom the others condemned for his writings. This article deals, first, with their attempt to found a community of their own at Paris, and, then, with their final years as a group. These two episodes have not been noticed before, and they have to be reconstructed entirely from manuscripts in the archives of the Archbishop of Westminster, the Abbey of S. Pietro at Perugia, the Congregation ‘de Propaganda Fide’ and the Vatican Library.
Twenty-Five Years of Recusant History
Authors: Allison A.F. , Rogers D.M.
Published: February 2017

Fifteen years ago the present writers published a survey entitled ‘Ten Years of Recusant History’ (January issue, 1961). That article briefly described how this journal had evolved during its first ten years from a publication designed to supplement existing biographical works into ‘a periodical that would lay the foundations of a general history of Catholicism in these islands since the Reformation’.

This is a statement of aims which, from the vantage point of a quarter of a century’s experience, we see no reason to alter. While much excellent material, derived mainly from local records of all sorts, now appears in the flourishing crop of county recusant periodicals which have sprung up in our wake, the pages of Recusant History continue to offer extended space for the publication of long articles, or even series of articles, treating specific topics in full depth. We still believe that definitive studies of this sort, with full apparatus of sources and references, must form the necessary groundwork for any reliable general histories to be written in the future.

Such topics as we surveyed in 1961, for example biographies, family histories, recusant bibliography, and those wider questions concerning the status and fortunes of the whole Catholic body, have continued to be well represented in our pages during the ensuing fifteen years. But there has been growth as well as continuity. Looking back over the whole corpus of material published between 1961 and the end of 1975, we observe with pleasure that the previously under-cultivated period from 1700 onwards has received an amount of scholarly attention which fifteen years ago we did not dare to expect. Indeed, it has now been generally accepted that the boundaries of recusant history as a subject stretch onwards in time beyond those centuries when recusancy was a crime on the statute book. By a similar process the connotation of the word ‘recusant’ has been widened. It is perhaps not too much to claim that, by the expanded range of its subject matter, this journal has gone far towards validating the use of the word ‘recusancy’ as a general term covering post-Reformation English Catholicism even in its widest ramifications. It remains our aim to continue to explore and document its history and culture in all their rich variety.
Burton Park: A Centre Of Recusancy In Sussex
Authors: Holt T.G.
Published: February 2017

Catholicism owed its survival, in Sussex as elsewhere, largely to families of wealth and position who could support a chaplain. Burton Park (or Bodexton or Bodecton) was such a centre, at least from the late seventeenth century and maybe earlier. The house and estate, owned by the Gorings in the sixteenth century, passed in 1724 to the Biddulphs of Staffordshire and in 1835 from them tothe Wrights of Essex. On inheriting the property, Anthony George Wright added Biddulph to his name ; after the death of his son, Anthony John Wright-Biddulph, in 1895, the estate was sold. This essay is an account of the owners ; of the Jesuit chaplains between 1680 and 1780; and of the mission of which Burton wasthe centre.
The Berkeleys of Spetchley and their Contribution to the Survival of the Faith in Worcestershire
Authors: Trappes-Lomax T. B.
Published: February 2017

Rowland Berkeley, who bought Spetohley in 1606, was a Protestant, as was his son, Sir Robert, who died in 1656. Sir Robert Berkeley disinherited his only son, Thomas, because he became a Catholic and married a Catholic wife (c. 1649); and he left his property to Thomas's elder son, Robert, who was born in 1650, provided that when he reached the age of twenty-one he was a Protestant.
John Hudddleston O.S.B.
Authors: Kenny Anthony
Published: February 2017

Since the appearance of my article on John Huddleston in the last issue of “Biographical Studies” (168–188), Mr. Granville Squiers has called my attention to some notes of Pepys which he has discovered together with an unpublished MS in which Fr Huddleston describes his share in the escape of King Charles II after the battle of Worcester. These papers are now bound in the Boscobel book in the Pepys Library. I am indebted to Mr. Squiers for permission to print relevant extracts from these notes and also for several helpful suggestions in connexion with them.
The Venerable Thomas Pylcher
Authors: D'exslboux R.H.
Published: February 2017

In the Sussex County Magazine of May 1942, the Reverend L.E. Whatmore gave an account of “Thomas Pilchard of Battle (1557-87),” Elizabethan martyr of Dorchester. There is no doubt that this martyr’s name was Thomas Pylcher, and that his alias of Pilchard was adopted to serve the west coun1ry area of his apostolate.
George Talbot, Ninth Earl of Shrewsbury
Authors: FitzGibbon Basil
Published: February 2017

An original document of the early seventeenth century in the form of a letter, kept in the archives of the English College, Valladolid (1.), gives a remarkable description of the holy life and happy death of an unnamed Recusant peer, who died in England at seven o’ clock in the morning of 2 April 1630. The letter is dated by the writer the next day and is evidently an exchange between two priests, who had been intimate with the deceased and were well known to one another.
Exchequer Dossiers: 2 the Recusancy of Venerable John Bretton, Gentleman and of Frances, His Wife
Authors: Bowler Hugh
Published: February 2017

So little has been published on this martyr (1) that it will be convenient to begin by referring to a recently discovered document which (although not having an Exchequer origin) throws some light on his family and helps us to understand, in particular:, the subsequent history of his wife's recusancy. This is a Chancery inquisition-post mortem. (2) drawn up at Leeds on 29 April, 1598 – within a month after his execution – by William Holmes, the Escheator for Yorkshire, its object being to ascertain the character of the estate held by him at the time of his death, and whether any legal obstacle lay in the way of the forfeiture, of the property to the Crown by reason of his attainder for felony.
STOCHASTIC COMPARISONS OF SYSTEMS BASED ON SEQUENTIAL ORDER STATISTICS VIA PROPERTIES OF DISTORTED DISTRIBUTIONS
Authors: Burkschat M. , Navarro J.
Published: February 2017

We consider systems based on sequential order statistics (SOS) with underlying distributions possessing proportional hazard rates (PHRs). In that case, the lifetime distribution of the system can be expressed as a distorted distribution. Motivated by the distribution structure in the case of pairwise different model parameters, a particular class of distorted distributions, the generalized PHR model, is introduced and characterizations of stochastic comparisons for several stochastic orders are obtained. Moreover, results on the asymptotic behavior of some aging characteristics, for example, the hazard rate and the mean residual life function, of general distorted distributions as well as related bounds are given. The results are supplemented with limiting properties of the systems in the case of possibly equal model parameters. Some examples are presented in order to illustrate the application of the findings to systems based on SOS and also to systems with independent heterogeneous components.
Zika in Rio de Janeiro: Assessment of basic reproduction number and comparison with dengue outbreaks
Authors: VILLELA D. A. M. , BASTOS L. S. , DE CARVALHO L. M. , CRUZ O. G. , GOMES M. F. C. , DUROVNI B. , LEMOS M. C. , SARACENI V. , COELHO F. C. , CODEÇO C. T.
Published: February 2017

Zika virus infection was declared a public health emergency of international concern in February 2016 in response to the outbreak in Brazil and its suspected link with congenital anomalies. In this study, we use notification data and disease natural history parameters to estimate the basic reproduction number (R0) of Zika in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We also obtain estimates of R0 of dengue from time series of dengue cases in the outbreaks registered in 2002 and 2012 in the city, when DENV-3 and DENV-4 serotypes, respectively, had just emerged. Our estimates of the basic reproduction number for Zika in Rio de Janeiro based on surveillance notifications (R0 = 2·33, 95% CI: 1·97–2·97) were higher than those obtained for dengue in the city (year 2002: R0 = 1·70 [1·50–2·02]; year 2012: R0 = 1·25 [1·18–1·36]). Given the role of Aedes aegypti as vector of both the Zika and dengue viruses, we also derive R0 of Zika as a function of both dengue reproduction number and entomological and epidemiological parameters for dengue and Zika. Using the dengue outbreaks from previous years allowed us to estimate the potential R0 of Zika. Our estimates were closely in agreement with our first Zika's R0 estimation from notification data. Hence, these results validate deriving the potential risk of Zika transmission in areas with recurring dengue outbreaks. Whether transmission routes other than vector-based can sustain a Zika epidemic still deserves attention, but our results suggest that the Zika outbreak in Rio de Janeiro emerged due to population susceptibility and ubiquitous presence of Ae. aegypti.
Call-by-name extensionality and confluence
Authors: JOHNSON-FREYD PHILIP , DOWNEN PAUL , ARIOLA ZENA M.
Published: February 2017

Designing rewriting systems that respect functional extensionality for call-by-name languages with effects turns out to be surprisingly challenging. Simply interpreting extensional laws like η as reduction rules easily breaks confluence. We explore these issues in the setting of a sequent calculus. Building on an insight that appears in different aspects of the theory of call-by-name functional languages—confluent rewriting for two independent control calculi and sound continuation-passing style transformations—we give a confluent reduction system for lazy extensional functions. Finally, we consider limitations to this approach when used for strict evaluation and types beyond functions.
Epigraphy and Empire: Reassessing Textual Evidence for Formative Zapotec Imperialism
Authors: Carter Nicholas P.
Published: February 2017

The walls of Structure J at the Zapotec centre of Monte Albán incorporate monuments, probably carved during the Pe ceramic phase (300–100 bc), bearing distinctively formatted hieroglyphic inscriptions. Alfonso Caso suggested that hieroglyphic compounds on those monuments name regions conquered by Monte Albán. Many scholars accept an elaboration by Joyce Marcus on this proposal—that some of those compounds denote identifiable places outside the Valley of Oaxaca—and see the inscriptions as evidence for the territorial extent of an expansionist, Monte Albán-centred empire in the Late to Terminal Formative periods (300 bc–ad 200). This paper argues that Marcus’ proposed decipherments are implausible because they are structurally inconsistent with one another and with Zapotec scribal conventions for recording toponyms in other inscriptions. The Structure J texts remain undeciphered. Therefore they cannot now serve as evidence for the nature and reach of the Monte Albán polity, and generalizations about state formation that relied on Marcus’ readings need to be reconsidered.
RHODODENDRON STANLEYI S.JAMES & ARGENT: A NEW RHODODENDRON SPECIES (ERICACEAE, SUBGENUS VIREYA) FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Authors: James S. A. , Argent G.
Published: February 2017

Rhododendron stanleyi S.James & Argent is described as a new species from Mount Yule, Central Province, Papua New Guinea. Its morphological position in the subgenus is discussed and the differences given from the most closely similar species. A note on the habitat and conservation assessment is also provided.
CHARLES COQUELIN AND JULES DUPUIT ON BANKING AND CREDIT
Authors: Numa Guy
Published: February 2017

Charles Coquelin and Jules Dupuit both advocated free banking, but they articulated different views on credit, the note-issuing mechanism, and the role of banking in economic crises. For Coquelin, credit allowed producers to enhance their productive capacities. There was no need to restrict the issuing of banknotes to the quantity of metallic reserves. Coquelin emphasized the role that privileged banks played in the emergence of economic crises. For his part, Dupuit did not believe that credit could create more capital, and warned against the excessive issuing of banknotes. Dupuit considered economic crises to be caused by real factors. I argue that Coquelin’s ideas reflected a credit theory of money while Dupuit’s views were characteristic of a monetary theory of credit.
Structure and impact of cattle manure trade in crop–livestock systems of Vietnam
Authors: McRoberts Keenan C. , Nicholson Charles F. , Parsons David , Nam Le Van , Ba Nguyen Xuan , Ketterings Quirine M. , Cherney Debbie J. R.
Published: February 2017

Cattle manure value chains play important biological and economic roles in smallholder crop–livestock systems in developing countries, but relative to other livestock products our understanding of the nature and impact of manure sales is limited. In regions with an active manure trade, farmers face a choice between manure use on-farm and sales, which affects nutrient flows and participant incomes. We analyzed the manure value chain operating in south-central Vietnam as an example of the function and role of manure trade in crop–livestock systems. Lowland cattle farmers sell manure through a network of chain participants, including small-scale collectors, lowland and highland traders, to pepper, coffee, dragon fruit and rubber farms in the central highlands and southeast coast. We collected and summarized quantitative data (e.g., manure-related labor, manure transactions, and fertilizer and manure use) gathered in semi-structured interviews with value-chain participants [lowland cattle owners (n = 101), traders (n = 27) and end users (n = 72)]. Lowland cattle owners were selected by stratified random sampling, and subsequent participants were identified in preceding interviews. One key finding concerns the seasonality of the manure value chain: most manure flowed between February and August (lowland dry season and period of peak highland demand) from lowland communes to highland coffee and pepper farms for use as organic soil amendments. Fewer sales occurred, at a lower price, to southeast coastal dragon fruit farms and rubber companies. Value addition to manure occurred via drying, bagging, collection, transport and composting. The presence of local traders facilitated market sales for smallholder cattle owners, and prices through the value chain generally reflected costs for value addition. The geographic distribution of cattle relative to agricultural land influenced the flow of manure, with net outflows from regions with higher animal density to regions with lower density and higher value crop production. Manure trade was an important source of supplementary income for farmers and a primary livelihood activity for traders. Value chain participant net incomes ranged from near US$100 yr−1 for lowland farmers to over US$13,000 yr−1 for traders, and returns to labor were just over US$0.50 h−1 for lowland farmers and US$2 h−1 for traders. The quantitative information generated during our descriptive assessment provides an important first step toward manure value chain improvement, indicates survey methods that can be applied in other areas, and identifies next steps necessary to evaluate chain evolution and resilience.
Credentialing in interventional therapy in Europe – comparison of curricula including endovascular therapy of arterial diseases
Authors: Schulte Karl-Ludwig , Jungmann Pia M. , Makaloski Vladimir , Goncalves Lino , Steinbauer Markus , Vonberg Susanne , Doerr Beatrix B. , Langhoff Ralf , Baumann Frederic
Published: February 2017

Abstract. The prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) is continuously increasing. In addition, the treatment of PAD has changed substantially over the last decades. Novel treatment modalities and diagnostic tools were developed and endovascular therapy was established as a first-line therapy. In consequence, vascular medicine has become an interdisciplinary field, involving different specialties such as internal medicine/cardiology, internal medicine/angiology, vascular surgery, and (interventional) radiology. Attributed to the expanding field and to ensure high quality and standardized training, various curricula were developed. Not only within the different medical disciplines but across countries. We compared the training programmes in Germany, Switzerland, and Europe and found a great variety in these curricula and programmes. Nevertheless, we identified first attempts to harmonize training requirements within the various societies: the interdisciplinary guidelines of the German Society for Cardiology (DGK) and the German Society of Angiology, the adoption of European standards on a national level, and the Swiss initiative of the Union of Vascular Societies of Switzerland (UVSS). The standard and level of training is high in all curricula and societies. However, further harmonization is needed to optimize patient care and ensure a uniform quality level across different vascular societies.
MPP+ induces necrostatin-1- and ferrostatin-1-sensitive necrotic death of neuronal SH-SY5Y cells
Authors: Ito Keisuke , Eguchi Yutaka , Imagawa Yusuke , Akai Shuji , Mochizuki Hideki , Tsujimoto Yoshihide
Published: February 2017

Regulation of cell death is potentially a powerful treatment modality for intractable diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases. Although there have been many reports about the possible involvement of various types of cell death in neurodegenerative diseases, it is still unclear exactly how neurons die in patients with these diseases, thus treatment strategies based on cell death regulation have not been established yet. To obtain some insight into the mechanisms of cell death involved in neurodegenerative diseases, we studied the effect of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) on the human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y (a widely used model of Parkinson’s disease). We found that MPP+ predominantly induced non-apoptotic death of neuronally differentiated SH-SY5Y cells. This cell death was strongly inhibited by necrostatin-1 (Nec-1), a necroptosis inhibitor, and by an indole-containing compound (3,3′-diindolylmethane: DIM). However, it occurred independently of receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1/3 (RIP1/RIP3), indicating that this form of cell death was not necroptosis. MPP+-induced cell death was also inhibited by several inhibitors of ferroptosis, including ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1). Although MPP+-induced death and ferroptosis shared some features, such as occurrence of lipid peroxidation and inhibition by Fer-1, MPP+-induced death seemed to be distinct from ferroptosis because MPP+-induced death (but not ferroptosis) was inhibited by Nec-1, was independent of p53, and was accompanied by ATP depletion and mitochondrial swelling. Further investigation of MPP+-induced non-apoptotic cell death may be useful for understanding the mechanisms of neuronal loss and for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
Antitumor effects of naturally occurring cardiac glycosides convallatoxin and peruvoside on human ER+ and triple-negative breast cancers
Authors: Kaushik Vivek , Azad Neelam , Yakisich Juan Sebastian , Iyer Anand Krishnan V
Published: February 2017

Breast cancer is second most prevalent cancer in women, and the second only to lung cancer in cancer-related deaths. It is a heterogeneous disease and has several subtypes based on the presence or absence of hormone receptors and/or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Hormone receptor-positive and HER2-enriched cancers can be targeted using hormone and HER2-targeting therapies such as trastuzumab or lapatinib. However, triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) do not express any of the receptors and therefore are resistant to most targeted therapies, and cytotoxic chemotherapies are the only viable option available for the treatment of TNBCs. Recently, cardiac glycosides (CGs) have emerged as potential anticancer agents that impart their antiproliferative effect by targeting multiple pathways. In this study our aim was to evaluate anticancer effects of two naturally occurring CGs, Convallatoxin (CT) and Peruvoside (PS), on ER+ and TNBCs cells. CT and PS demonstrated dose- and time-dependent cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 cells, which was further supported by loss of colony formation on drug treatment. CT and PS arrested MCF-7 cells in the G0/G1 phase and reduced the viability of MCF-7-derived mammospheres (MMs). Interestingly, while CT and PS imparted cell death in TNBCs cells from both Caucasians (MDA-MB-231 cells) and African Americans (MDA-MB-468 cells) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, the drugs were much more potent in MDA-MB-468 as compared with TNBC MDA-MB-231 cells. Both drugs significantly inhibited migration and invasion of both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 cells. An assessment of intracellular pathways indicated that both drugs were able to modulate several key cellular pathways such as EMT, cell cycle, proliferation and cell death in both cell types. Our data suggest a promising role for CGs in breast cancer treatment specifically in targeting TNBCs derived from African Americans, and provides impetus for further investigation of the anticancer potential of this class of drugs.
Optical screw-wrench for microassembly
Authors: Köhler Jannis , Ksouri Sarah Isabelle , Esen Cemal , Ostendorf Andreas
Published: February 2017

For future micro- and nanotechnologies, the manufacturing of miniaturized, functionalized, and integrated devices is indispensable. In this paper, an assembly technique based on a bottom-up strategy that enables the manufacturing of complex microsystems using only optical methods is presented. A screw connection is transferred to the micrometer range and used to assemble screw- and nut-shaped microcomponents. Micro-stereolithography is performed by means of two-photon polymerization, and microstructures are fabricated and subsequently trapped, moved, and screwed together using optical forces in a holographic optical tweezer set-up. The design and construction of interlocking microcomponents and the verification of a stable and releasable joint form the main focus of this paper. The assembly technique is also applied to a microfluidic system to enable the pumping or intermixing of fluids on a microfluidic chip. This strategy not only enables the assembly of microcomponents but also the combination of different materials and features to form complex hybrid microsystems.
DNA damage response inhibition at dysfunctional telomeres by modulation of telomeric DNA damage response RNAs
Authors: Rossiello Francesca , Aguado Julio , Sepe Sara , Iannelli Fabio , Nguyen Quan , Pitchiaya Sethuramasundaram , Carninci Piero , d’Adda di Fagagna Fabrizio
Published: February 2017

The DNA damage response (DDR) is a set of cellular events that follows the generation of DNA damage. Recently, site-specific small non-coding RNAs, also termed DNA damage response RNAs (DDRNAs), have been shown to play a role in DDR signalling and DNA repair. Dysfunctional telomeres activate DDR in ageing, cancer and an increasing number of identified pathological conditions. Here we show that, in mammals, telomere dysfunction induces the transcription of telomeric DDRNAs (tDDRNAs) and their longer precursors from both DNA strands. DDR activation and maintenance at telomeres depend on the biogenesis and functions of tDDRNAs. Their functional inhibition by sequence-specific antisense oligonucleotides allows the unprecedented telomere-specific DDR inactivation in cultured cells and in vivo in mouse tissues. In summary, these results demonstrate that tDDRNAs are induced at dysfunctional telomeres and are necessary for DDR activation and they validate the viability of locus-specific DDR inhibition by targeting DDRNAs.
Connecting genetic risk to disease end points through the human blood plasma proteome
Authors: Suhre Karsten , Arnold Matthias , Bhagwat Aditya Mukund , Cotton Richard J. , Engelke Rudolf , Raffler Johannes , Sarwath Hina , Thareja Gaurav , Wahl Annika , DeLisle Robert Kirk , Gold Larry , Pezer Marija , Lauc Gordan , El-Din Selim Mohammed A. , Mook-Kanamori Dennis O. , Al-Dous Eman K. , Mohamoud Yasmin A. , Malek Joel , Strauch Konstantin , Grallert Harald , Peters Annette , Kastenmüller Gabi , Gieger Christian , Graumann Johannes
Published: February 2017

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with intermediate phenotypes, like changes in metabolite and protein levels, provide functional evidence to map disease associations and translate them into clinical applications. However, although hundreds of genetic variants have been associated with complex disorders, the underlying molecular pathways often remain elusive. Associations with intermediate traits are key in establishing functional links between GWAS-identified risk-variants and disease end points. Here we describe a GWAS using a highly multiplexed aptamer-based affinity proteomics platform. We quantify 539 associations between protein levels and gene variants (pQTLs) in a German cohort and replicate over half of them in an Arab and Asian cohort. Fifty-five of the replicated pQTLs are located in trans. Our associations overlap with 57 genetic risk loci for 42 unique disease end points. We integrate this information into a genome-proteome network and provide an interactive web-tool for interrogations. Our results provide a basis for novel approaches to pharmaceutical and diagnostic applications.
Genome-wide identification of splicing QTLs in the human brain and their enrichment among schizophrenia-associated loci
Authors: Takata Atsushi , Matsumoto Naomichi , Kato Tadafumi
Published: February 2017

Detailed analyses of transcriptome have revealed complexity in regulation of alternative splicing (AS). These AS events often undergo modulation by genetic variants. Here we analyse RNA-sequencing data of prefrontal cortex from 206 individuals in combination with their genotypes and identify cis-acting splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTLs) throughout the genome. These sQTLs are enriched among exonic and H3K4me3-marked regions. Moreover, we observe significant enrichment of sQTLs among disease-associated loci identified by GWAS, especially in schizophrenia risk loci. Closer examination of each schizophrenia-associated loci revealed four regions (each encompasses NEK4, FXR1, SNAP91 or APOPT1), where the index SNP in GWAS is in strong linkage disequilibrium with sQTL SNP(s), suggesting dysregulation of AS as the underlying mechanism of the association signal. Our study provides an informative resource of sQTL SNPs in the human brain, which can facilitate understanding of the genetic architecture of complex brain disorders such as schizophrenia.
Superconducting parity effect across the Anderson limit
Authors: Vlaic Sergio , Pons Stéphane , Zhang Tianzhen , Assouline Alexandre , Zimmers Alexandre , David Christophe , Rodary Guillemin , Girard Jean-Christophe , Roditchev Dimitri , Aubin Hervé
Published: February 2017

How small can superconductors be? For isolated nanoparticles subject to quantum size effects, P.W. Anderson in 1959 conjectured that superconductivity could only exist when the electronic level spacing δ is smaller than the superconducting gap energy Δ. Here we report a scanning tunnelling spectroscopy study of superconducting lead (Pb) nanocrystals grown on the (110) surface of InAs. We find that for nanocrystals of lateral size smaller than the Fermi wavelength of the 2D electron gas at the surface of InAs, the electronic transmission of the interface is weak; this leads to Coulomb blockade and enables the extraction of electron addition energy of the nanocrystals. For large nanocrystals, the addition energy displays superconducting parity effect, a direct consequence of Cooper pairing. Studying this parity effect as a function of nanocrystal volume, we find the suppression of Cooper pairing when the mean electronic level spacing overcomes the superconducting gap energy, thus demonstrating unambiguously the validity of the Anderson criterion.
Transcending the slow bimolecular recombination in lead-halide perovskites for electroluminescence
Authors: Xing Guichuan , Wu Bo , Wu Xiangyang , Li Mingjie , Du Bin , Wei Qi , Guo Jia , Yeow Edwin K. L. , Sum Tze Chien , Huang Wei
Published: February 2017

The slow bimolecular recombination that drives three-dimensional lead-halide perovskites’ outstanding photovoltaic performance is conversely a fundamental limitation for electroluminescence. Under electroluminescence working conditions with typical charge densities lower than 1015 cm−3, defect-states trapping in three-dimensional perovskites competes effectively with the bimolecular radiative recombination. Herein, we overcome this limitation using van-der-Waals-coupled Ruddlesden-Popper perovskite multi-quantum-wells. Injected charge carriers are rapidly localized from adjacent thin few layer (n≤4) multi-quantum-wells to the thick (n≥5) multi-quantum-wells with extremely high efficiency (over 85%) through quantum coupling. Light emission originates from excitonic recombination in the thick multi-quantum-wells at much higher decay rate and efficiency than bimolecular recombination in three-dimensional perovskites. These multi-quantum-wells retain the simple solution processability and high charge carrier mobility of two-dimensional lead-halide perovskites. Importantly, these Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites offer new functionalities unavailable in single phase constituents, permitting the transcendence of the slow bimolecular recombination bottleneck in lead-halide perovskites for efficient electroluminescence.
Precise tuning in platinum-nickel/nickel sulfide interface nanowires for synergistic hydrogen evolution catalysis
Authors: Wang Pengtang , Zhang Xu , Zhang Jin , Wan Sheng , Guo Shaojun , Lu Gang , Yao Jianlin , Huang Xiaoqing
Published: February 2017

Comprising abundant interfaces, multicomponent heterostructures can integrate distinct building blocks into single entities and yield exceptional functionalities enabled by the synergistic components. Here we report an efficient approach to construct one-dimensional metal/sulfide heterostructures by directly sulfuring highly composition-segregated platinum-nickel nanowires. The heterostructures possess a high density of interfaces between platinum-nickel and nickel sulfide components, which cooperate synergistically towards alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction. The platinum-nickel/nickel sulfide heterostructures can deliver a current density of 37.2 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 70 mV, which is 9.7 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C. The heterostructures also offer enhanced stability revealed by long-term chronopotentiometry measurements. The present work highlights a potentially powerful interface-engineering strategy for designing multicomponent heterostructures with advanced performance in hydrogen evolution reaction and beyond.
Amotl1 mediates sequestration of the Hippo effector Yap1 downstream of Fat4 to restrict heart growth
Authors: Ragni Chiara V. , Diguet Nicolas , Le Garrec Jean-François , Novotova Marta , Resende Tatiana P. , Pop Sorin , Charon Nicolas , Guillemot Laurent , Kitasato Lisa , Badouel Caroline , Dufour Alexandre , Olivo-Marin Jean-Christophe , Trouvé Alain , McNeill Helen , Meilhac Sigolène M
Published: February 2017

Although in flies the atypical cadherin Fat is an upstream regulator of Hippo signalling, the closest mammalian homologue, Fat4, has been shown to regulate tissue polarity rather than growth. Here we show in the mouse heart that Fat4 modulates Hippo signalling to restrict growth. Fat4 mutant myocardium is thicker, with increased cardiomyocyte size and proliferation, and this is mediated by an upregulation of the transcriptional activity of Yap1, an effector of the Hippo pathway. Fat4 is not required for the canonical activation of Hippo kinases but it sequesters a partner of Yap1, Amotl1, out of the nucleus. The nuclear translocation of Amotl1 is accompanied by Yap1 to promote cardiomyocyte proliferation. We, therefore, identify Amotl1, which is not present in flies, as a mammalian intermediate for non-canonical Hippo signalling, downstream of Fat4. This work uncovers a mechanism for the restriction of heart growth at birth, a process which impedes the regenerative potential of the mammalian heart.
Asymmetric interactions between doublesex and tissue- and sex-specific target genes mediate sexual dimorphism in beetles
Authors: Ledón-Rettig C. C. , Zattara E. E. , Moczek A. P.
Published: February 2017

Sexual dimorphisms fuel significant intraspecific variation and evolutionary diversification. Yet the developmental-genetic mechanisms underlying sex-specific development remain poorly understood. Here, we focus on the conserved sex-determination genedoublesex(dsx) and the mechanisms by which it mediates sex-specific development in a horned beetle species by combining systemicdsxknockdown, high-throughput sequencing of diverse tissues and a genome-wide analysis of Dsx-binding sites. We find that Dsx regulates sex-biased expression predominantly in males, that Dsx's target repertoires are highly sex- and tissue-specific and that Dsx can exercise its regulatory role via two distinct mechanisms: as a sex-specific modulator by regulating strictly sex-specific targets, or as a switch by regulating the same genes in males and females in opposite directions. More generally, our results suggest Dsx can rapidly acquire new target gene repertoires to accommodate evolutionarily novel traits, evidenced by the large and unique repertoire identified in head horns, a recent morphological innovation.