bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Digital transformation and convergence effect as factors of achieving sustainable development
Authors: Dyatlov S A , Didenko N I , Lobanov O S , Kulik S V
Published: August 2019

The paper introduces the term “digital (neural network) economy”, which reveals the content of the processes of digital transformation of the national and world economic systems that are currently going on and makes it possible to form the methodological basis for further research in this field. It is shown that at the technological level the processes are accompanied by NBIC convergence of (nano-, bio-, information and cognitive) clusters of the digital economy, which generates synergy effects. The new structure of the modern economy is being formed. The building blocks of today’s economy are: systems of the circular economy, clusters, network, business incubators, and technology platforms. The economic contents and the essence of the structure of the national economy are shown and the directions for its transfer are found out. It has been concluded that in the time of digital economy, as a result of network convergence, synergy effects of converged regional clusters appear. It has been found out that with a growing number of converged clusters of information spaces, the entropy inside them is stably going down. The paper reveals the content of the digital concept, defines the general principles, criteria and indicators of sustainable development. In order to characterize sustainable development, a number of indicators are used. They can be considered at different hierarchical levels: global, national, regional, local and industry-specific ones. The features of the “green economy” developing in the time of digitalization of the world and national economic systems are looked into. Given these features, a model of the regional concept has been developed and proposed. The model embraces sustainable development and organizational and economic mechanisms, which can be used to measure the efficiency of its implementation in the time of transfer to the digital (e-neural network) economy.
Social License to Operate for mining companies in the Russian Arctic as a tool for development of host territories
Authors: Riabova L A
Published: August 2019

In many countries, resource extraction companies increasingly admit the need to deserve the trust of local communities that host their activities. This paper discusses the concept of the Social License to Operate (SLO) that contributes to understanding trustful (or mistrustful) relationships between companies and communities. Based on case studies from the Russian Arctic, the paper aims to discuss the SLO concept from the viewpoint of its usefulness for promoting development of Arctic territories hosting extraction activities, specifically mining. The paper provides knowledge on the SLO concept and its analytical framework, and compares two cases in the Murmansk region with the aim to understand dynamics of a social license in a particular local context, as well as a relationship between the level of SLO and a mining company’s input in community development. The paper concludes that the better companies perform as promoters of local development, the higher levels of the SLO they get from the communities. The case studies also demonstrate that in a given local context most important factors for the level of SLO are working places provided by the companies within the communities and presence of emotional attachment of the companies’ top managers to the towns and treating them as home places.
Innovative approaches to the history of exploitation and new development of the Russian Arctic
Authors: Pilyasov A , Tsukerman V
Published: August 2019

The placement of productive forces, endogenous economic growth and innovative search with creative destruction are the three sources of forming the new economic development theory of the Russian Arctic. From the Soviet school the tradition of linking the process of exploitation with the placement of productive forces was used. From the European regional science, the notion that every social process in the regions is subject to the general laws in the framework of the new theory of endogenous economic growth was used. From the North American frontier theory there was used the notion of an innovative search for opportunities for economic development in the newly exploited territory.

The modern process of exploitation is characterized by spatial unevenness, center-peripherality, multiactor, the unprecedented role of resource corporations as agents of glocalization; the heterogeneity of time by the stages of the exploitation process (what was expressed significantly lesser in the planned administrative-command model of new exploitation) and the enormous role of project management (project financing, project legislation developed for a specific project of new resource exploitation). A feature of modern exploitation is that it implies the coexistence of two schemes - “from scratch” and on the foundation of the former infrastructural exploitationб which have different effects and regularities in territorial structures, exploitation cycles, etc.

Innovative approaches to the history of exploitation and new development of the Russian Arctic on the example of modern exploitation projects that link the global conjuncture and local technological processes as well as a new nature of an experimental, educational and spatially localized type was considered.
Investment-innovation analysis of interactions between technological and economic aspects of industrial development of mineral resources in the Arctic
Authors: Zharov V , Tsukerman V
Published: August 2019

The methodological foundations of investment-innovation analysis for the objective determination of innovation-active enterprises are considered. The particular importance of managing the implementation of new technologies for industrial enterprises operating in the Arctic is noted. The main factors that influence the change in the manufacturability level coefficient value which reflects the proportional dependence of the material intensity of the product from the capital intensity of production are identified. The characteristic of each factor is presented. It was determined that the main influence on the change in the values of the coefficient is made by the rate of renewal of the fixed assets active part of enterprises - machines, equipment and vehicles. The sequence of investment-innovation analysis implementation by the retrospective data of enterprises is presented. A method for determining the completion period of each of the six stages of the technological development life cycle is shown. It is determined that the decrease of the manufacturability level coefficient value or the instability of the stages of the production process life cycle are associated with the low efficiency of the enterprise management process what makes it possible to carry out an economic assessment of the damage from increase of production cost price and decrease of profit as a result of poor management at any level of hierarchy.
Integral Assessment of the Sustainability of Socio-Ecological and Economic Systems and the Quality of Life of the Population in the Regions of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation
Authors: Dmitriev V , Kulesh V , Sergeev Yu
Published: August 2019

The article deals with the integral assessment of the state and sustainability of socio-ecological and economic systems (SEES). The integral assessment of SEES, 9 regions of the Arctic Zone of the RF (AZR) and one region of the central Russia (Tver Region) is used as a foundation for the analysis of the state of SEES and the quality of life of the population, as well as the ability of SEESs to maintain their properties and quantitative characteristics in case of an external impact on the system or any intrasystem changes. Eight scenarios of impact on subsystems and systems as a whole at the regional level were developed to assess sustainability. The article presents the results of the evaluation of the quality of environment and the quality of life of the population in the regions in 2003-2015. The main goal of the study was to identify situations in which SEES, upon the impact assigned upon it, will not be able to maintain its properties and parameters and will move to another class, both in separate subsystems and as the whole system.
Relationship between the Russian fishing fleet and domestic ports as the core for performing its state mission
Authors: Vasiliev A M , Komlichenko V V , Lisunova E A
Published: August 2019

The article provides a rationale for the main task of the Russian fishing fleet to implement the Food Security Doctrine of the Russian Federation under the terms of public-private partnership. The paper describes changes in the activities of the fishing fleet in the Northern fishery basin that were caused by the process of operating in the market economy environment, the way these factors impact on the activities of subsidiary and service companies, as well as the development of enterprises and companies involved in the fishery sector. The paper provides the reasons for the low availability and quality of domestic fish products for the population in the Arctic region. In connection with the predominantly export-oriented trends in the fishing industry of the Murmansk region affecting the calls of trawlers at Russian ports it was concluded that there was a need for a national policy regulating these closely related processes. The article justifies measures to improve the relationship between fishing vessels and domestic ports in the Arctic region. To increase the supply of raw fish and fish semi-finished products for coastal fish processing factories, as well as to increase a number of high-level processed fish products, it was suggested to use medium fishing freezer trawlers (MFFT, according to the classification adopted by PINRO) according to the rules of coastal fishing. The paper provides assessment for possible impacts from the delivery of fish products by “non-call” fishing vessels (i.e. fishing vessels that did not perform customs declaring procedures) on the level of economic activities in the fisheries industry. Expert assessments for the costs of repairing “non-call” fishing vessels abroad are provided as well. The paper provides estimates of additional tax investments into the Russian national budget from the Murmansk ship-repair factories in case servicing of “non-call” fishing vessels is provided in the Russian Federation. Refocusing of fish landings will provide a fisheries cluster in the Northern Basin.
Tools for digitalization of economic processes for supporting management decision-making in the region
Authors: Skotarenko O , Babkin A , Senetskaya L , Bespalova S
Published: August 2019

The article proposes a solution to one of the key problems – the use of information technology in the management of territorial processes based on the development of tools for digitalization of economic processes on the basis of the software product to identify the structural elements of the economic potential of the regions of Russia, including the features of such regions as the Arctic. As a tool for the implementation of this approach, the VBA programming language built into the Excel spreadsheet is used, which allows flexible use of a standard software product for solving problems at the macroeconomic level. The aim of the study is to develop tools for digitalization of economic processes on the basis of a computer program to determine the extreme structural elements of the growth of the economic potential of the regions to support management decision-making. The systematic approach, methods of statistical and economic analysis, including horizontal and vertical analysis, allowed the authors to assess the dynamics of extreme values of the level of development of economic sectors in the regions of Russia and to develop recommendations for the development of the Federal districts and regions. The directions of further researches consist in application of multidimensional modeling of data for collecting and automatic processing of statistical information on a condition of subjects of the Arctic region.
Stone objects of Russian Fennoscandia: potential for recreational use
Authors: Grigoryev A A , Gladkiy Yu N , Sevastyanov D V , Shastina G N
Published: August 2019

The perspectives for recreational use of attractive stone objects in the natural region of the Russian-owned part of Fennoscandia are considered. Such objects as fjords, canyons, selga, rapids, huge boulders and their clusters, petroglyphs, seitas and labyrinths are very popular among tourists. The article shows new approaches to the interpretation of the primary purpose of the Stone Age objects, based on the priorities of geographical adaptation, rational development of the landscape, space marking and time measurement. The modern problems of preservation of cultural heritage monuments are considered. Special attention is paid to anthropomorphic and zoomorphic rocks and sculptures, the genesis of which is the subject of scientific debate. The use of geographical methods expands the concept of the primary purpose of ancient objects, stone processing technologies, the simplest tools of orientation in space-time and the ancient navigation system. The results of the research allow us to clarify ideas about the evolution of the natural environment in the region, clarify the existing reconstruction of the economic structure and cultural traditions of the indigenous population, optimize the existing and develop new models of rational use of the natural and cultural heritage in the field of tourism and recreation. Prehistoric stone objects are a source of unique information and a valuable resource for the development of recreational activities. The inclusion of these objects in the system of organized tourism contributes to their preservation and economic development of the territory. The article is addressed to researchers and priaktiks involved in the development of projects for the development of the Arctic regions.
An approximate calculation of the S-lay method offshore pipeline
Authors: Kotov A A , Korotaev B A , Vaseha M V , Smolskaia N B
Published: August 2019

The problem of the curvilinear form of the pipeline laid from the pipe-laying vessel to the bottom of the water area and the internal forces associated with this form in the pipeline are considered in the article. The assessment of some existing research methods of the issue under consideration that can lead to the conclusion of its relevance is given. To solve the problem, we propose an original approximate nonlinear differential equation of the second order, compiled for the convenience of its application in relative quantities. A fairly simple algorithm for the numerical solution of this equation in Wolfram Mathematica is developed, a specific numerical example is considered. The results suggest that the proposed method of the stress-strain state analysis of the offshore oil and gas pipeline during its laying can be very useful in practical application.
Legal support of environmental protection in the Arctic region
Authors: Demidov V P , Yu Mokhorova A , Mokhorov D A
Published: August 2019

Abstract The paper discusses the urgent problem of legal regulation of the Arctic territory. Developing the Arctic zone being under Russian jurisdiction has an considerable significance for effective and sustainable management of natural resources. The most important provisions of the Russian legislation, forming the scientifically-based approaches to economic activities in the Arctic region, are considered. The paper focuses on the key aspects of the legal concepts that are aimed at tackling the acute problems arising in the process of developing the Arctic coastal territories. The authors give attention to providing methods of comprehensive use of all Arctic resources and developing effective legal mechanisms to achieve the formulated economic objectives, with simultaneous creation of the legal basis for preserving the unique natural environment. So it is suggested that legal acts be developed to cover the most topical provisions of the economic activity processes in the afore-mentioned region. This objective can be reached relying on the goals of the state policy of the Russian Federation. Intensifying economic activities call for a more detailed legal regulation of the use of the northern territories, so it seems reasonable to adopt federal legal acts which would consider the specifics of the environment of the Arctic.
India's Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon set for launch
Authors: Padma T V
Published: August 2019

India’s second Moon mission is set for take-off this month following a year of delays. Costing $141m to build and launch, Chandrayaan-2 consists of an orbiter, lander and rover and is due to be fired into space by India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MK-III on 15 July from Sriharikota island in the Bay of Bengal.
One giant leap for mankind'
Authors: Tesh Sarah
Published: August 2019

When NASA’s Apollo 11 craft landed on the Moon 50 years ago on Sunday 20 July 1969 at 20:18 (GMT), it was not just a significant moment in the history of science and technology.
Defending the lunar landscape
Authors: Budden John
Published: August 2019

John Budden calls for certain areas on the Moon to be protected from human interference so that they can be dedicated to radio astronomy
How high the Moon
Authors: Crease Robert P
Published: August 2019

Half a century after the historic Apollo 11 landing on 20 July 1969, Robert P Crease explains why the mission’s lunar laser ranging experiment is alive and well – and still encountering new frontiers
A new look at our old Moon
Authors: Cruddas Sarah
Published: August 2019

At a time when so many of us will be thinking about our nearest celestial neighbour, given the fact that we first set foot on it 50 years ago, The Moon: a History for our Future by Oliver Morton provides a timely, powerful and at times emotional account of the story of our natural satellite.
Context awareness and embedding for biomedical event extraction
Authors: Yan Shankai , Wong Ka-Chun
Published: August 2019

Motivation

Biomedical event extraction is fundamental for information extraction in molecular biology and biomedical research. The detected events form the central basis for comprehensive biomedical knowledge fusion, facilitating the digestion of massive information influx from the literature. Limited by the event context, the existing event detection models are mostly applicable for a single task. A general and scalable computational model is desiderated for biomedical knowledge management.

Results

We consider and propose a bottom-up detection framework to identify the events from recognized arguments. To capture the relations between the arguments, we trained a bidirectional long short-term memory network to model their context embedding. Leveraging the compositional attributes, we further derived the candidate samples for training event classifiers. We built our models on the datasets from BioNLP Shared Task for evaluations. Our method achieved the average F-scores of 0.81 and 0.92 on BioNLPST-BGI and BioNLPST-BB datasets, respectively. Comparing with seven state-of-the-art methods, our method nearly doubled the existing F-score performance (0.92 versus 0.56) on the BioNLPST-BB dataset. Case studies were conducted to reveal the underlying reasons.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/cskyan/evntextrc.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
scHinter: imputing dropout events for single-cell RNA-seq data with limited sample size
Authors: Ye Pengchao , Ye Wenbin , Ye Congting , Li Shuchao , Ye Lishan , Ji Guoli , Wu Xiaohui
Published: August 2019

Motivation

Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) is fast and becoming a powerful technique for studying dynamic gene regulation at unprecedented resolution. However, scRNA-seq data suffer from problems of extremely high dropout rate and cell-to-cell variability, demanding new methods to recover gene expression loss. Despite the availability of various dropout imputation approaches for scRNA-seq, most studies focus on data with a medium or large number of cells, while few studies have explicitly investigated the differential performance across different sample sizes or the applicability of the approach on small or imbalanced data. It is imperative to develop new imputation approaches with higher generalizability for data with various sample sizes.

Results

We proposed a method called scHinter for imputing dropout events for scRNA-seq with special emphasis on data with limited sample size. scHinter incorporates a voting-based ensemble distance and leverages the synthetic minority oversampling technique for random interpolation. A hierarchical framework is also embedded in scHinter to increase the reliability of the imputation for small samples. We demonstrated the ability of scHinter to recover gene expression measurements across a wide spectrum of scRNA-seq datasets with varied sample sizes. We comprehensively examined the impact of sample size and cluster number on imputation. Comprehensive evaluation of scHinter across diverse scRNA-seq datasets with imbalanced or limited sample size showed that scHinter achieved higher and more robust performance than competing approaches, including MAGIC, scImpute, SAVER and netSmooth.

Availability and implementation

Freely available for download at https://github.com/BMILAB/scHinter.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Protein Homeostasis Database: protein quality control in E.coli
Authors: Ramakrishnan Reshmi , Houben Bert , Kreft Łukasz , Botzki Alexander , Schymkowitz Joost , Rousseau Frederic
Published: August 2019

Motivation

In vivo protein folding is governed by molecular chaperones, that escort proteins from their translational birth to their proteolytic degradation. In E.coli the main classes of chaperones that interact with the nascent chain are trigger factor, DnaK/J and GroEL/ES and several authors have performed whole-genome experiments to construct exhaustive client lists for each of these.

Results

We constructed a database collecting all publicly available data of experimental chaperone-interaction and -dependency data for the E.coli proteome, and enriched it with an extensive set of protein-specific as well as cell context-dependent proteostatic parameters. We made this publicly accessible via a web interface that allows to search for proteins or chaperone client lists, but also to profile user-specified datasets against all the collected parameters. We hope this will accelerate research in this field by quickly identifying differentiating features in datasets.

Availability and implementation

The Protein Homeostasis Database is freely available without any registration requirement at http://PHDB.switchlab.org/.
Tersect: a set theoretical utility for exploring sequence variant data
Authors: Kurowski Tomasz J , Mohareb Fady
Published: August 2019

Comparing genomic features among a large panel of individuals across the same species is considered nowadays a core part of the bioinformatics analyses. This typically involves a series of complex theoretical expressions to compare, intersect, extract symmetric differences between individuals within a large set of genotypes. Several publically available tools are capable of performing such tasks; however, due to the sheer size of variants being queried, such tasks can be computationally expensive with a runtime ranging from few minutes up to several hours depending on the dataset size. This makes existing tools unsuitable for interactive data query or as part of genomic data visualization platforms such as genome browsers. Tersect is a lightweight, high-performance command-line utility which interprets and applies flexible set theoretical expressions to sets of sequence variant data. It can be used both for interactive data exploration and as part of a larger pipeline thanks to its highly optimized storage and indexing algorithms for variant data.

Availability and implementation

Tersect was implemented in C and released under the MIT license. Tersect is freely available at https://github.com/tomkurowski/tersect.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Virtual Empathy
Authors: Andrejevic Mark , Volcic Zala
Published: August 2019

This article offers a theoretical response to the recent interest in virtual reality (VR) as a technology for enhancing empathy. It argues that the version of empathy envisioned by the champions of the technology—one in which care for the other is a function of being able to collapse the other’s experience into one’s own—runs counter to the very concept of empathy, as originally construed, which preserves otherness in its alterity. The point is not simply to invoke a historical concept of empathy to contrast with the VR version, but to emphasize its enduring salience in response to recent technological developments. There is little doubt regarding the need for empathy, in the sense explored in this article, as we confront the pathologies of political fragmentation and social polarization facilitated by the current iteration of social media. However, this article argues that the VR version is more likely to exacerbate than redress these concerns.
Neoliberalism, deliberation and dissent: critical reflections on the ‘community activation’ turn in Ireland’s community development programme
Authors: Gaynor Niamh
Published: August 2019

In this article, I aim to add to the literature on the impact of neoliberalism on community development by focusing on two recent seemingly unrelated developments in Ireland. The first is the reframing of ‘community development’ as ‘community activation’ in Ireland’s latest community development programme. I suggest that this ‘community activation’ turn marks a new departure in the social and political embedding of neoliberalism in community development and in Irish society more broadly in that its reframing of both the identity of ‘the poor’ and of the nature of supports that they require individualizes responsibility and action. This, I argue, not only fragments and atomizes communities, it also risks foreclosing any substantive discussion and deliberation of structural issues, thereby posing a threat to democracy. The second development is the concomitant emergence of a new, more critically engaged form of community activism in the form of the so-called ‘water movement’. The actions and aspirations of the women we interviewed within this movement highlight their role in revitalizing and re-energizing communities, animating public debate and redirecting power back into communities. Activation clearly comes in many forms and, under the shadow of neoliberal reforms, results in many different outcomes. How or if the formal community sector chooses to respond to this diversity and what impacts this will have will prove critical to local communities as well as providing important avenues for future research.
Artificial Cultivation of the Chinese Cordyceps From Injected Ghost Moth Larvae
Authors: Liu Guiqing , Han Richou , Cao Li
Published: August 2019

The Chinese cordyceps, regarded as the ‘Himalayan Viagra’, is highly valued for its medicinal benefits. The decline of its yield due to over-exploitation and increased market demand have stimulated efforts to artificially cultivate Chinese cordyceps for over half a century. However, successful cultivation of Chinese cordyceps through caterpillar infection by the fungus Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) and the induction of the fruiting body from each mummified cadaver remains difficult for its complex life cycle. Herein, we report the developmental dynamics of hyphal bodies in hemolymph of injected Thitarodes xiaojinensis (Tu, Ma & Zhang) larvae and the success in artificial cultivation of sexual fruiting bodies from the mummified cadavers in the low-altitude area. We find that not only the numbers of hyphal bodies but also the conversion of hyphal bodies into hyphae played important roles in the mummification of the injected larvae. This cultivation will be beneficial for sustainable utilization of natural resources and provides the possibility for further research on the mechanism of the interaction between pathogenic fungus and host insect.
Acetaminophen use during pregnancy and DNA methylation in the placenta of the extremely low gestational age newborn (ELGAN) cohort
Authors: Addo Kezia A , Bulka Catherine , Dhingra Radhika , Santos Hudson P , Smeester Lisa , O’Shea T Michael , Fry Rebecca C
Published: August 2019

Acetaminophen is considered the safest antipyretic and analgesic medication for pregnant women. However, studies have reported that acetaminophen has endocrine disrupting properties and prenatal exposure has been associated with early life epigenetic changes and later life health outcomes. As the placenta is the central mediator of maternal and fetal interactions, exposure to acetaminophen during pregnancy could manifest as perturbations in the placenta epigenome. Here, we evaluated epigenome-wide cytosine-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) methylation in placental tissue in relation to maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy in a cohort of 286 newborns born prior to 28 weeks gestation. According to maternal self-report, more than half (166 of 286) of the newborns were exposed to acetaminophen in utero. After adjustment for potential confounders, a total of 42 CpGs were identified to be differentially methylated at a false discovery rate < 0.05, with most displaying increased methylation as it relates to acetaminophen exposure. A notable gene that was significantly associated with acetaminophen is the prostaglandin receptor (PTGDR) which plays an essential role in mediating placental blood flow and fetal growth. Moreover, for 6 of the 42 CpGs, associations of acetaminophen use with methylation were significantly different between male and female placentas; 3 CpG sites were associated with acetaminophen use in the male placenta and 3 different sites were associated with acetaminophen use in the female placenta (Pinteraction < 0.2). These findings highlight a relationship between maternal acetaminophen use during pregnancy and the placental epigenome and suggest that the responses for some CpG sites are sex dependent.
Effects of lateral heterogeneity on time-domain processing parameters
Authors: Sripanich Yanadet , Fomel Sergey , Stovas Alexey
Published: August 2019

Time-domain processing of seismic reflection data has always been an important engine that is routinely utilized to produce seismic images and to expeditiously construct subsurface models. The conventional procedure involves analysing parameters related to the derivatives of reflection traveltime with respect to offset including normal moveout (NMO) velocities (second-order derivatives) and quartic coefficients (fourth-order derivatives). In this study, we propose to go beyond the typical assumption of 1-D laterally homogeneous medium when relating those ‘processing’ parameters to the subsurface medium parameters and take into account the additional influences from lateral heterogeneity including curved interfaces and smoothly variable velocities. We fill in the theoretical gap from previous studies and develop a general framework for such connection in layered anisotropic media. We show that in general, the influences of lateral heterogeneity get accumulated from all layers via a recursive relationship according to the Fermat’s principle and can be approximately quantified in terms of the lateral derivatives of the layer interface surfaces and velocities. Based on the same general principle, we show that our approach can also be used to study the lateral heterogeneity effects on diffraction traveltime and its second-order derivative related to time-migration velocity. In this paper, we explicitly specify expressions for NMO and time-migration velocities with the influences from both types of heterogeneity suitable for 2-D data sets and also discuss possible extensions of the proposed theory to 3-D data sets and to parameters related to higher-order traveltime derivatives. Using numerical examples, we demonstrate that the proposed theory can lead to more accurate reflection and diffraction traveltime predictions in comparison with those obtained based on the 1-D assumption. Both the proposed theoretical framework and its numerical testing for forward traveltime computation presented in this study aid in understanding the effects from lateral heterogeneity on time-processing parameters and also serve as an important basis for designing an efficient technique to separate those influences in important processes such as Dix inversion for a more accurate subsurface model in the future.
Gene replacement therapy after neuropathy onset provides therapeutic benefit in a model of CMT1X
Authors: Kagiava A , Richter J , Tryfonos C , Karaiskos C , Heslegrave A J , Sargiannidou I , Rossor A M , Zetterberg H , Reilly M M , Christodoulou C , Kleopa K A
Published: August 2019

X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT1X), one of the commonest forms of inherited demyelinating neuropathy, results from GJB1 gene mutations causing loss of function of the gap junction protein connexin32 (Cx32). The aim of this study was to examine whether delayed gene replacement therapy after the onset of peripheral neuropathy can provide a therapeutic benefit in the Gjb1-null/Cx32 knockout model of CMT1X. After delivery of the LV-Mpz.GJB1 lentiviral vector by a single lumbar intrathecal injection into 6-month-old Gjb1-null mice, we confirmed expression of Cx32 in lumbar roots and sciatic nerves correctly localized at the paranodal myelin areas. Gjb1-null mice treated with LV-Mpz.GJB1 compared with LV-Mpz.Egfp (mock) vector at the age of 6 months showed improved motor performance at 8 and 10 months. Furthermore, treated mice showed increased sciatic nerve conduction velocities, improvement of myelination and reduced inflammation in lumbar roots and peripheral nerves at 10 months of age, along with enhanced quadriceps muscle innervation. Plasma neurofilament light (NEFL) levels, a clinically relevant biomarker, were also ameliorated in fully treated mice. Intrathecal gene delivery after the onset of peripheral neuropathy offers a significant therapeutic benefit in this disease model, providing a proof of principle for treating patients with CMT1X at different ages.
Tranexamic acid and convulsive seizures after off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: the role of renal insufficiency
Authors: Hulde Nikolai , Zittermann Armin , Deutsch Marcus-Andre , von Dossow Vera , Gummert Jan F , Koster Andreas
Published: August 2019

There is evidence that, in adult cardiac surgical patients undergoing on-pump procedures, tranexamic acid (TXA) dose-dependently increases the risk of convulsive seizure (CS). We aimed to investigate whether a single TXA bolus of 1 g influences the risk of CS in patients who were operated on without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. In 2249 propensity-score-matched pairs who underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting with or without TXA administration, the risk of CS was 0.5% and 0.3% in the TXA and non-TXA groups, respectively (P = 0.36). In the subgroups of patients with estimated glomerular filtration rates <30, 30–60 and >60 ml/min/1.73 m2, the risk of CS in the TXA group was 2.8%, 1.2% and 0.4%, respectively (P = 0.002), and in the non-TXA group 0.0%, 0.0% and 0.3%, respectively (P = 0.36). The risk of stroke, in-hospital mortality and 30-day mortality did not differ significantly between study groups (P-value >0.05). Our data indicate that in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, a single TXA bolus of 1 g generally does not increase the risk of CS. However, the presence and extent of renal insufficiency have a very significant impact on the incidence of CS even after single-dose TXA.
Hypothalamic Responses to Cocaine and Food Cues in Individuals with Cocaine Dependence
Authors: Zhang Sheng , Zhornitsky Simon , Le Thang M , Li Chiang-Shan R
Published: August 2019

Background

Individuals with cocaine addiction are characterized by under-responsiveness to natural reinforcers. As part of the dopaminergic pathways, the hypothalamus supports motivated behaviors. Rodent studies suggested inter-related roles of the hypothalamus in regulating drug and food intake. However, few studies have investigated hypothalamic responses to drugs and food or related cues in humans.

Methods

We examined regional responses in 20 cocaine-dependent and 24 healthy control participants exposed to cocaine/food (cocaine dependent) and food (healthy control) vs neutral cues during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We examined the relationship between imaging findings and clinical variables and performed mediation analyses to examine the inter-relationships between cue-related activations, tonic cocaine craving, and recent cocaine use.

Results

At a corrected threshold, cocaine-dependent participants demonstrated higher activation to cocaine than to food cues in the hypothalamus, inferior parietal cortex, and visual cortex. Cocaine-dependent participants as compared with healthy control participants also demonstrated higher hypothalamic activation to food cues. Further, the extent of these cue-induced hypothalamic activations was correlated with tonic craving, as assessed by the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire, and days of cocaine use in the prior month. In mediation analyses, hypothalamic activation to cocaine and food cues both completely mediated the relationship between the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire score and days of cocaine use in the past month.

Conclusions

The results were consistent with the proposition that the mechanisms of feeding and drug addiction are inter-linked in the hypothalamus and altered in cocaine addiction. The findings provide new evidence in support of hypothalamic dysfunction in cocaine addiction.
Refined Scattering Diagrams and Theta Functions From Asymptotic Analysis of Maurer–Cartan Equations
Authors: Leung Naichung Conan , Ma Ziming Nikolas , Young Matthew B
Published: August 2019

We further develop the asymptotic analytic approach to the study of scattering diagrams. We do so by analyzing the asymptotic behavior of Maurer–Cartan elements of a (dg) Lie algebra constructed from a (not necessarily tropical) monoid-graded Lie algebra. In this framework, we give alternative differential geometric proofs of the consistent completion of scattering diagrams, originally proved by Kontsevich–Soibelman, Gross–Siebert, and Bridgeland. We also give a geometric interpretation of theta functions and their wall-crossing. In the tropical setting, we interpret Maurer–Cartan elements, and therefore consistent scattering diagrams, in terms of the refined counting of tropical disks. We also describe theta functions, in both their tropical and Hall algebraic settings, in terms of distinguished flat sections of the Maurer–Cartan-deformed differential. In particular, this allows us to give a combinatorial description of Hall algebra theta functions for acyclic quivers with nondegenerate skew-symmetrized Euler forms.
Patient-reported outcomes after open radical prostatectomy, laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and permanent prostate brachytherapy
Authors: Hashine Katsuyoshi , Kakuda Toshio , Iuchi Shunsuke , Tomida Ryotaro , Matsumura Masafumi
Published: August 2019

Objective

To assess patient-reported outcomes after open radical prostatectomy, laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and permanent prostate brachytherapy.

Methods

patient-reported outcomes were evaluated using Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite scores at baseline and 1, 3, 6, 12 and 36 months after treatment, respectively, using differences from baseline scores.

Results

Urinary function was the same in the three groups at baseline, but worse after surgery than after permanent prostate brachytherapy until 12 months, and similar after open radical prostatectomy and permanent prostate brachytherapy and better than after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy at 36 months. Urinary bother was significantly worse at 1 month after surgery, but better after open radical prostatectomy than after permanent prostate brachytherapy and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy at 3 months, after which symptoms improved gradually in all groups. Obstructive/irritative symptoms were worse after permanent prostate brachytherapy than after open radical prostatectomy at 36 months, and worse after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy until 6 months. Urinary incontinence was worse after surgery, particularly after 1 month. This symptom returned to the baseline level at 12 months after open radical prostatectomy, but recovery after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy was slower. Bowel function after permanent prostate brachytherapy was significantly worse than after surgery at 1 month and this continued until 6 months. Bowel bother was slightly worse at 3 and 6 months after permanent prostate brachytherapy compared to these time points after surgery.

Conclusion

Urinary function and bother were worst after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, especially in the early postoperative phase, whereas urinary obstructive/irritative symptom, bowel function and bother were worse after permanent prostate brachytherapy. These findings are useful and informative for the treatment of patients with prostate cancer.
Hypoxia-Induced TGFBI as a Serum Biomarker for Laboratory Diagnosis and Prognosis in Patients with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Authors: Yang Lingmin , Cui Ranliang , Li Yueguo , Liang Kai , Ni Min , Gu Yajun
Published: August 2019

Objective

To explore novel biomarkers for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), from the perspective of tumor hypoxia.

Methods

We screened 29 differentially expressed and hypoxia-upregulated genes from the Oncomine database. A total of 12 secretory proteins that interact with hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1A) were selected by STRING (protein-protein interaction networks). After excluding enzymes and collagens, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 (IGFBP3), glycoprotein NBM (GPNMB), transforming growth factor–β-induced (TGFBI), and biglycan (BGN) were detected by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in patients with cancer and healthy control individuals.

Results

The serum level of TGFBI was significantly elevated in patients with PDAC, compared with healthy controls; the assay could discriminate among cases of PDAC in different clinical stages. The amount of TGFBI was significantly decreased after treatment. The combination of TGFBI and cancer antigen (CA) 19-9 was more accurate than TGFBI or CA 19-9 alone as diagnostic markers. Also, TGFBI might be used as a prognostic marker according to the PROGgeneV2 Pan Cancer Prognostics Database.

Conclusions

Serum TGFBI, combined with CA 19-9, offers higher diagnostic value than other methods for patients with PDAC. Also, TGFBI might be used as a prognostic marker.
Probing quasar winds using intrinsic narrow absorption lines
Authors: Culliton Chris , Charlton Jane , Eracleous Mike , Ganguly Rajib , Misawa Toru
Published: August 2019

We use the spectra of 73 quasars (1.5 ≲ z ≲ 5) from the VLT UVES archive to catalogue and study narrow absorption lines (NALs) that are physically associated with (intrinsic to) the quasars. We identify 410 NAL systems containing C iv, N v, and/or Si iv doublets. Based on the assumption that only systems intrinsic to the quasar can exhibit partial coverage of the background source(s), we identify 34 reliably intrinsic NAL systems and 11 systems that are potentially intrinsic, as well as 4 mini-broad absorption lines (BALs) and 1 BAL. The minimum fraction of quasars with at least one intrinsic system is shown to be 38 per cent. We identify intrinsic NALs with a wide range of properties, including apparent ejection velocity, coverage fraction, and ionization level. There is a continuous distribution of properties, rather than discrete families, ranging from partially covered C iv systems with black Ly α and with a separate low-ionization gas phase to partially covered N v systems with partially covered Ly α and without detected low-ionization gas. Even more highly ionized associated and intrinsic absorption systems (O vi, Ne viii, and Mg x doublets) have been presented in separate studies; these may represent an extension of the above sequence. We also use the properties of the NALs in conjunction with recent models of accretion disc winds that predict the origins of the absorbing gas in order to determine the model that best characterizes our sample. Additionally, we construct a model describing the spatial distributions, geometries, and varied ionization structures of intrinsic NALs.
Constraining scatter in the stellar mass–halo mass relation for haloes less massive than the Milky Way
Authors: Allen Magdelena , Behroozi Peter , Ma Chung-Pei
Published: August 2019

Most galaxies are hosted by massive, invisible dark matter haloes, yet little is known about the scatter in the stellar mass–halo mass relation for galaxies with host halo masses Mh ≤ 1011M⊙. Using mock catalogues based on dark matter simulations, we find that two observable signatures are sensitive to scatter in the stellar mass–halo mass relation even at these mass scales; i.e. conditional stellar mass functions and velocity distribution functions for neighbouring galaxies. We compute these observables for  179,373 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with stellar masses M* > 109 M⊙ and redshifts 0.01 < z < 0.307. We then compare to mock observations generated from the Bolshoi-Planck dark matter simulation for stellar mass–halo mass scatters ranging from 0 to 0.6 dex. The observed results are consistent with simulated results for most values of scatter (<0.6 dex), and SDSS statistics are insufficient to provide firm constraints. However, this method could provide much tighter constraints on stellar mass–halo mass scatter in the future if applied to larger data sets, especially the anticipated Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Bright Galaxy Survey. Constraining the value of scatter could have important implications for galaxy formation and evolution.
Photometric redshifts for X-ray-selected active galactic nuclei in the eROSITA era
Authors: Brescia M , Salvato M , Cavuoti S , Ananna T T , Riccio G , LaMassa S M , Urry C M , Longo G
Published: August 2019

With the launch of eROSITA (extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array), successfully occurred on 2019 July 13, we are facing the challenge of computing reliable photometric redshifts for 3 million of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) over the entire sky, having available only patchy and inhomogeneous ancillary data. While we have a good understanding of the photo-z quality obtainable for AGN using spectral energy distribution (SED)-fitting technique, we tested the capability of machine learning (ML), usually reliable in computing photo-z for QSO in wide and shallow areas with rich spectroscopic samples. Using MLPQNA as example of ML, we computed photo-z for the X-ray-selected sources in Stripe 82X, using the publicly available photometric and spectroscopic catalogues. Stripe 82X is at least as deep as eROSITA will be and wide enough to include also rare and bright AGNs. In addition, the availability of ancillary data mimics what can be available in the whole sky. We found that when optical, and near- and mid-infrared data are available, ML and SED fitting perform comparably well in terms of overall accuracy, realistic redshift probability density functions, and fraction of outliers, although they are not the same for the two methods. The results could further improve if the photometry available is accurate and including morphological information. Assuming that we can gather sufficient spectroscopy to build a representative training sample, with the current photometry coverage we can obtain reliable photo-z for a large fraction of sources in the Southern hemisphere well before the spectroscopic follow-up, thus timely enabling the eROSITA science return. The photo-z catalogue is released here.