bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Novel Drivers of the Inflammatory Response in Liver Injury and Fibrosis
Authors: Wree Alexander , Holtmann Theresa Maria , Inzaugarat Maria Eugenia , Feldstein Ariel E.
Published: May 2019

Hepatocyte demise as well as signals released by stressed hepatocytes have been now recognized as important triggers of liver inflammation. While traditional concepts classically viewed hepatocyte cell death to occur by either a nonlytic, noninflammatory form (apoptosis), or lytic, proinflammatory nonregulated cell death (necrosis), recent studies have provided evidence for additional mechanisms that can contribute to both acute and chronic liver damage. Two novel forms of cell death, pyroptosis and necroptosis, are of particular importance as they are highly regulated and intrinsically proinflammatory. Additionally, stressed hepatocytes may also release signals to attract and activate monocytes into proinflammatory macrophages. In this review, the authors discuss recent developments supporting the role of novel triggers of liver inflammation in various forms of liver injury and their potential translational implications.
Soft Tissue Coverage for Defects around the Knee Joint
Authors: R. Ravindra Bharathi , Ramkumar Sanjai , Venkatramani Hari
Published: May 2019

Soft tissue injuries around the knee present a challenge for providing a cover when there is loss of tissue. Various flaps comprising of skin and muscles around the joint have been described. Understanding the anatomical basis and the design of these flaps can aid in choosing the right flap for a given situation. A prompt cover of the defects aids in quicker healing and quicker rehabilitation of the patient.
Aesthetic Earlobe Reduction: A Practical Geometric Modification with Natural Contour Preservation
Authors: Tatar Sedat , Sezgin Billur
Published: May 2019

Earlobe elongation is one of the signs of aging process and surgical correction is warranted for earlobe ptosis. Most of the earlobe reduction techniques result with scars on the anterior or inferior aspect of the earlobe or unnatural appearance. The authors present a modified technique for earlobe reduction and reshaping that results with an acceptable scar set on the natural groove of the anterior surface of the earlobe. Nine healthy female patients were operated for earlobe reduction. The postoperative and preoperative otobasion inferius (O)–subaurale (S) distances of these patients were evaluated. According to the measurements, the preoperative mean O–S distance of the right lobule was 13.1 ± 1.8 mm and the left lobule was 12.8 ± 1.9 mm, while the postoperative O–S distance of the right side was 3.4 ± 1 mm and the left side was 3.4 ± 0.7 mm (Table 2). This translated to an approximate pre- and postoperative O–S distance difference of 9 mm, a significant reduction that resulted with ideal O–S values. The presented approach has numerous advantages including inconspicuous scarring, smooth lateral earlobe contours, and undisturbed free borders. This was a Level IV therapeutic study.
Potential clinical applications of terahertz radiation
Authors: Son Joo-Hiuk , Oh Seung Jae , Cheon Hwayeong
Published: May 2019

Terahertz radiation has significant potential in medical diagnosis and treatment because its frequency range corresponds to the characteristic energy of biomolecular motion. Advantageously, terahertz-specific low energy does not cause the ionization of biomolecules. In this paper, we review several state-of-the-art terahertz biomedical techniques and results and suggest potential techniques that may be applicable in real-world clinics in the near future. First, some techniques for enhancing the penetration depth into wet biological tissues are surveyed. Endoscopy and otoscopy methods for approaching internal organs are then discussed. The operation principles of sensors utilizing terahertz radiation are explained, and certain sensing examples related to blood disorders, diabetes, and breathing conditions are presented. The greatest potential of terahertz radiation in biomedical applications so far has been in cancer imaging, because terahertz radiation is ideal for measuring the superficial soft tissues in which most cancers occur. The examples presented herein include skin, oral, gastric, breast, and brain cancers. In search of a cancer-specific signal using terahertz radiation, methylated malignant DNA has been found to exhibit a characteristic resonance at approximately 1.65 THz. This resonance may help treat cancer through the demethylation of malignant DNA using high-power terahertz irradiation at this specific frequency, as well as serving as a potential cancer biomarker.
Blue shift in the interband optical transitions of gated monolayer black phosphorus
Authors: Le P. T. T. , Mirabbaszadeh K. , Yarmohammadi M.
Published: May 2019

The anisotropic frequency-dependent optical conductivity of single-layer puckered phosphorene is studied, and also its dependence on the electrostatic gating of the top and bottom sublayers. The effective Hamiltonian within the k→⋅p→ approximation is used to obtain the electronic band structure from which the interband optical transitions are evaluated using the Kubo formula. Inherent asymmetry in the dispersion energy of carriers along the armchair and zigzag edges gives rise to anisotropic optical features. The bandgap increases with gate voltage resulting in absorption at higher optical energies along the armchair edge, which is the so-called blue shift, while along the zigzag edge such a shift is not significant. The temperature and exciton effects on the interband response are concisely discussed. These results provide new insights which render phosphorene attractive for optoelectronic devices.
High-Tc superconducting detector for highly-sensitive microwave magnetometry
Authors: Couëdo François , Recoba Pawlowski Eliana , Kermorvant Julien , Trastoy Juan , Crété Denis , Lemaître Yves , Marcilhac Bruno , Ulysse Christian , Feuillet-Palma Cheryl , Bergeal Nicolas , Lesueur Jérôme
Published: May 2019

We have fabricated arrays of High-Tc Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) with randomly distributed loop sizes as sensitive detectors for Radio Frequency (RF) waves. These subwavelength size devices known as Superconducting Quantum Interference Filters (SQIFs) detect the magnetic component of the electromagnetic field. We used a scalable ion irradiation technique to pattern the circuits and engineer the Josephson junctions needed to make SQUIDs. Here, we report on a 300 SQUID series array with the loop area ranging from 6 to 60 μm2, folded in a meander line covering a 3.5 mm × 120 μm substrate area, made out of a 150 nm thick YBa2Cu3O7 film. Operating at a temperature of T = 66 K in an unshielded magnetic environment under low DC bias current (I = 60 μA) and a DC magnetic field (B = 3 μT), this SQIF can detect a magnetic field of a few picoteslas at a frequency of 1.125 GHz, which corresponds to a sensitivity of a few hundreds of fT/Hz and shows a linear response over 7 decades in RF power. This work is a promising approach for the realization of low dissipative subwavelength gigahertz magnetometers.
Ridge width effect on comb operation in terahertz quantum cascade lasers
Authors: Zhou K. , Li H. , Wan W. J. , Li Z. P. , Liao X. Y. , Cao J. C.
Published: May 2019

We systematically investigate the laser ridge width effect on comb operation of single plasmon waveguide quantum cascade lasers emitting around 4.2 THz. The total group velocity dispersion (GVD), including the gain, waveguide, and material dispersions, is numerically evaluated for 6-mm long lasers with ridge widths varying from 100 to 200 μm. The simulation reveals that although calculated waveguide GVDs of lasers with different ridge widths are almost identical, the clamped gain dispersion partially determined by the frequency-dependent waveguide loss strongly contributes to the total GVD. From the simulation, we find that the laser with a 150-μm-wide ridge shows the flattest total GVD in the lasing range between 4.05 and 4.35 THz. The optimal ridge width of 150 μm for comb operation is also experimentally verified by intermode beat note and on-chip dual-comb measurements.
Liquid-crystal random fiber laser for speckle-free imaging
Authors: Yang Tzu-Hsuan , Chen Chun-Wei , Jau Hung-Chang , Feng Ting-Mao , Wu Chih-Wei , Wang Chun-Ta , Lin Tsung-Hsien
Published: May 2019

Liquid crystal random fiber lasers (LC-RFLs) exhibit low spatial coherence, extraordinary tunability, and high flexibility and are therefore promising for use in imaging and related applications. They nevertheless suffer from ineffective emission along the fiber axis. This work develops an end-emitting LC-RFL that is based on a pump-induced gain–loss structure, which effectively modulates the optical feedback, thereby providing directional random lasing along the fiber. The laser emission comprises ∼10 000 transverse spatial modes that are mutually incoherent, resulting in a negligible speckle contrast of ∼0.7% (far below the speckle-perception threshold of human eyes). The developed LC-RFL is used to perform speckle-free full-field imaging in a setting with strong optical crosstalk in a multimode fiber. Our findings support the potential widespread use of LC-RFL as a spatially incoherent, flexible laser source.
Photoelectric properties of monolayer black phosphorus in visible regime at room temperature
Authors: Han F. W. , Zhao C. X. , Zhang Y. M.
Published: May 2019

In the present study, we theoretically study the photoelectric properties in visible regime of monolayer black phosphorus at room temperature. The low energy k·p method is applied to study the anisotropic band structure of monolayer black phosphorus. The energy-balance equation deduced from Boltzmann equation is used to calculate the energy transfer rate for the photon polarization at armchair and zigzag direction coupling with electrons. Then the optical conductivity and transmission coefficient as a function of wavelength are calculated for various electron densities. It is found that the optical responses of monolayer black phosphorus to the radiation field with two kinds of polarizations are anisotropic obviously. Specifically, the optical conductivity (transmission coefficient) for photon polarization at armchair direction is much larger (smaller) than that zigzag direction. We believe that the results obtained from this study can provide a guidance for novel photoelectric device applications suck like polarization detector.
Role for polo-like kinase 4 in mediation of cytokinesis
Authors: Press Michael F. , Xie Bin , Davenport Simon , Zhou Yu , Guzman Roberta , Nolan Garry P. , O’Brien Neil , Palazzolo Michael , Mak Tak W. , Brugge Joan S. , Slamon Dennis J.
Published: May 2019

Significance

Polo-like kinase 4 (PLK4), a known cell cycle regulatory protein, localizes to the centrosome during S-phase and facilitates centrosome duplication. We show that phospho-serine305-PLK4 is subsequently redistributed to kinetochores (metaphase and anaphase), midzone during cleavage furrow formation (anaphase and telophase), and midbody (cytokinesis) during the cell cycle, and is required for cell division. Inhibition of PLK4 kinase activity prevents cytokinesis, leading to polyploidy and vulnerability to anaphase or mitotic catastrophe. The role of PLK4 in cytokinesis is consistent with its role as a potential target for cancer therapy.
Substrate inhibition imposes fitness penalty at high protein stability
Authors: Adkar Bharat V. , Bhattacharyya Sanchari , Gilson Amy I. , Zhang Wenli , Shakhnovich Eugene I.
Published: May 2019

Significance

Why highly stable proteins are not commonly observed in mesophilic organisms is an important evolutionary question. It has been suggested that high stability has a fitness cost in the form of loss of activity. However, this hypothesis has not yet been experimentally demonstrated. Here, we use an essential bacterial enzyme adenylate kinase (Adk) to explore this hypothesis and show that, as Adk’s stability increases, one of its own substrates inhibits its activity. Bacterial strains carrying such stable Adks show substantial fitness defects, which can be mapped to the loss of Adk activity due to substrate inhibition. Overall, our study adds “substrate inhibition” to the “toolbox” that is used to rationalize the stability distribution of proteins.
Spontaneous and directed symmetry breaking in the formation of chiral nanocrystals
Authors: Hananel Uri , Ben-Moshe Assaf , Diamant Haim , Markovich Gil
Published: May 2019

Significance

Processes which break symmetry have always attracted the interest of scientists, as they are at the heart of many natural phenomena, from particle physics to biology. In life, the mirror symmetry breaking of biomolecules has been the subject of extensive debate and theoretical modeling. Hence, well-controlled model systems which break chiral symmetry are of great interest. We report on chiral amplification in the formation of chiral inorganic nanocrystals, leading to random breaking of mirror symmetry below a critical temperature. This symmetry breaking can be sensitively directed to a particular handedness by specific chiral biomolecules. The observed symmetry breaking is analyzed as a phase transition analogous to the ferromagnetic–paramagnetic transition in metals.
Developmental integration and evolution of labile plasticity in a complex quantitative character in a multiperiodic environment
Authors: Lande Russell
Published: May 2019

Significance

Many quantitative characters undergo continuous reversible development, or labile plasticity, which may be determined by multiple components of plasticity acting on different time scales. Thermal adaptation in mammals includes transient fat deposition and fur growth, shivering and sweating or panting, and movement between warm and cold microhabitats, adapting individuals to annual and daily temperature cycles. With a single component of plasticity, adaptation is constrained by filtering environmental frequencies above the development rate and by component costs of plasticity. For a character with multiple components of plasticity, some patterns of development integration among the components can alleviate these constraints and facilitate evolutionary changes that greatly improve labile plasticity tracking complex environmental cycles in the optimum phenotype.
Anticausative and passive in Vedic
Authors: Hock Hans Henrich
Published: May 2019

In a 2001 publication on reanalysis and linguistic change, Henning Andersen states that “(i)t is not clear yet what constitutes structural ambiguity in surface realizations; this remains a question for the future”. As a tribute to Henning, this paper examines a case of (near-)systematic structural ambiguity regarding Vedic passives and anticausatives and demonstrates that this ambiguity creates serious obstacles to determining whether anticausatives are reanalyzed from passives or vice versa. In fact, given the persistent structural ambiguity it is possible that different speakers preferred different accounts, whether for all relevant verbs, for subsets of the verbs, or even for individual verbs, in individual contexts.
Definiteness in Germanic and Balto-Slavic
Authors: Askedal John Ole
Published: May 2019

The present paper is concerned with overt marking of definiteness, and to a lesser extent indefiniteness, in Germanic and Balto-Slavic from a historical perspective, concentrating on the main functional or formation types as well as general aspects of the historical development of (in)definiteness marking in the Germanic, Baltic and Slavic languages. By way of conclusion, I offer some tentative areal perspectives concerning definiteness marking in Germanic and Balto-Slavic.
Diatopy and frequency as indicators of spread
Authors: Alexander Ronelle
Published: May 2019

Diatopy (the geographical distribution of linguistic differentiation) gives important clues about diachrony (the direction and spread of language change). Here I apply these concepts to the study of accentual phenomena in Bulgarian dialects, focusing on the accentuation of phrases including clitic forms. Methodologically, my study is innovative because it does not work with isoglosses of the normal, binary type (which mark the presence vs. absence of a feature). Rather, I utilize a database consisting of large stretches of conversation, recorded in the field by myself and my colleagues over a 27-year period, to construct indices of relative frequency of occurrence of the pattern in question. The resulting isoglosses allow new conclusions to be drawn about accentual patterns in Bulgarian dialects.
Relevance of the dairy cow biodiversity in the development of a profitable and environmentally sustainable livestock.
Authors: Curone G. , Filipe J. , Cremonesi P. , Piccioli-Cappelli F. , Trevisi E. , Amadori M.
Published: May 2019

The theme of the loss of biodiversity in recent years has become increasingly important as highlighted by the United Nations General Assembly which declared the 2011-2020 period as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity. In this context, the preservation and rational use of autochthonous cattle breeds play a key role in the maintenance of the biodiversity. The animal husbandry of the twenty-first century has brought about a decline in biodiversity of bovine breeds, due to the abandonment of autochthonous cows in favour of more productive cosmopolitan breeds. The intense selection for milk traits applied on the cosmopolitan breeds has resulted nowadays in peculiar physiological features, which have impaired some immune defence mechanisms, increasing the incidence of infectious and metabolic diseases, and worsened both fertility and longevity. The situation is dramatically different within the autochthonous breeds. These animals, despite the apparent 'low production', present some important characteristics like great rusticity, frugality, longevity, disease resistance and resilience. They are able to adapt to marginal habitats and extensive production systems, maintaining adequate milk and meat production of high quality, using diets based on forage or pasture, which reduce also the competition with the human society for the food sources. These features make these animals the first choice in marginal areas where they can guarantee an economic return to farmers and play an important environmental role by helping the preservation of the habitats and landscapes.
Effects of Lorentz Breaking on the Accretion onto a Schwarzschild-like Black Hole*
Authors: Yang Rong-Jia , Gao He , Zheng Yao-Guang , Wu Qin
Published: May 2019

We formulate and solve the problem of spherically symmetric, steady state, adiabatic accretion onto a Schwarzschild-like black hole obtained recently. We derive the general analytic expressions for the critical points, the critical velocity, the critical speed of sound, and subsequently the mass accretion rate. The case for polytropic gas is discussed in detail. We find the parameter characterizing the breaking of Lorentz symmetry will slow down the mass accretion rate, while has no effect on the gas compression and the temperature profile below the critical radius and at the event horizon.
Repulsive Polarons in One-Dimensional Fermi Gases*
Authors: Song Ya-Dong , Barthwal Sachin
Published: May 2019

Using the variational method, we study the properties of a spin-down impurity immersed in a one-dimensional (1D) spin-up Fermi sea. With repulsive interactions between them, the impurity is dressed up by surrounding particles in Fermi sea and forms a polaron. We clearly calculate the binding energy, effective mass, momentum distribution, Tan contact, and pair correlation. Even in strong repulsive regimes, the results can agree with the exact Bethe Ansatz results. The repulsive polaron energy E+ is below Fermi energy EF and no negative effective masses are found in whole interaction regimes, unequal masses polarons are also calculated. We show a clear momentum distribution and calculate the Tan contact from three different aspects. Furthermore, we explore the particle-hole excitation and find that the hole terms in Fermi sea have a great influence on the polaron energy and contact in repulsive regime. These results show that the variational method can still be used effectively in 1D repulsive polaron system.
In Living Color: Early “Impressions” of Slavery and the Limits of Living History
Authors: Swanson Drew
Published: May 2019

In the 1970s, American historical sites began to more thoroughly and critically interpret slavery’s history, with a few institutions employing living history as an interpretive form. At sites like Virginia’s Mount Vernon and Colonial Williamsburg, the hope is that these historical “impressions” will engage audiences with a more authentic or credible representation of racial bondage. An earlier wave of living historical representations of slavery suggest the challenges and hazards of embodied history, however. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a significant number of southern sites employed African American interpreters who claimed to have been born into slavery, often on the very sites where they were currently working. Historical attractions used the “authenticity” and “credibility” of these interpreters to advance the narrative of a happy Old South. Historians have noted these performances as part of the sectional reconciliation of the Jim Crow era, but have rarely interpreted them as public history. Although the contemporary living history of slavery has different—and far better—goals than impressions of a century past, this long history of embodied bondage suggests the implicit dangers of interpreting slavery and race through living people.
Learning signaling networks from combinatorial perturbations by exploiting siRNA off-target effects
Authors: Tiuryn Jerzy , Szczurek Ewa
Published: May 2019

Motivation

Perturbation experiments constitute the central means to study cellular networks. Several confounding factors complicate computational modeling of signaling networks from this data. First, the technique of RNA interference (RNAi), designed and commonly used to knock-down specific genes, suffers from off-target effects. As a result, each experiment is a combinatorial perturbation of multiple genes. Second, the perturbations propagate along unknown connections in the signaling network. Once the signal is blocked by perturbation, proteins downstream of the targeted proteins also become inactivated. Finally, all perturbed network members, either directly targeted by the experiment, or by propagation in the network, contribute to the observed effect, either in a positive or negative manner. One of the key questions of computational inference of signaling networks from such data are, how many and what combinations of perturbations are required to uniquely and accurately infer the model?

Results

Here, we introduce an enhanced version of linear effects models (LEMs), which extends the original by accounting for both negative and positive contributions of the perturbed network proteins to the observed phenotype. We prove that the enhanced LEMs are identified from data measured under perturbations of all single, pairs and triplets of network proteins. For small networks of up to five nodes, only perturbations of single and pairs of proteins are required for identifiability. Extensive simulations demonstrate that enhanced LEMs achieve excellent accuracy of parameter estimation and network structure learning, outperforming the previous version on realistic data. LEMs applied to Bartonella henselae infection RNAi screening data identified known interactions between eight nodes of the infection network, confirming high specificity of our model and suggested one new interaction.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/EwaSzczurek/LEM

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
NRStitcher: non-rigid stitching of terapixel-scale volumetric images
Authors: Miettinen Arttu , Oikonomidis Ioannis Vogiatzis , Bonnin Anne , Stampanoni Marco
Published: May 2019

In modern microscopy, the field of view is often increased by obtaining an image mosaic, where multiple sub-images are taken side-by-side and combined post-acquisition. Mosaic imaging often leads to long imaging times that can increase the probability of sample deformation during the acquisition due to, e.g. changes in the environment, damage caused by the radiation used to probe the sample or biologically induced deterioration. Here we propose a technique, based on local phase correlation, to detect the deformations and construct an artifact-free image mosaic from deformed sub-images. The implementation of the method supports distributed computing and can be used to generate teravoxel-size mosaics. We demonstrate its capabilities by assembling a 5.6 teravoxel tomographic image mosaic of microvasculature in whole mouse brain. The method is compared to existing rigid stitching implementations designed for very large datasets, and observed to create artifact-free image mosaics in comparable runtime with the same hardware resources.

Availability and implementation

The stitching software and C++/Python source code are available at GitHub (https://github.com/arttumiettinen/pi2) along with an example dataset and user instructions.
SeRenDIP: SEquential REmasteriNg to DerIve profiles for fast and accurate predictions of PPI interface positions
Authors: Hou Qingzhen , De Geest Paul F G , Griffioen Christian J , Abeln Sanne , Heringa Jaap , Feenstra K Anton
Published: May 2019

Motivation

Interpretation of ubiquitous protein sequence data has become a bottleneck in biomolecular research, due to a lack of structural and other experimental annotation data for these proteins. Prediction of protein interaction sites from sequence may be a viable substitute. We therefore recently developed a sequence-based random forest method for protein–protein interface prediction, which yielded a significantly increased performance than other methods on both homomeric and heteromeric protein–protein interactions. Here, we present a webserver that implements this method efficiently.

Results

With the aim of accelerating our previous approach, we obtained sequence conservation profiles by re-mastering the alignment of homologous sequences found by PSI-BLAST. This yielded a more than 10-fold speedup and at least the same accuracy, as reported previously for our method; these results allowed us to offer the method as a webserver. The web-server interface is targeted to the non-expert user. The input is simply a sequence of the protein of interest, and the output a table with scores indicating the likelihood of having an interaction interface at a certain position. As the method is sequence-based and not sensitive to the type of protein interaction, we expect this webserver to be of interest to many biological researchers in academia and in industry.

Availability and implementation

Webserver, source code and datasets are available at www.ibi.vu.nl/programs/serendipwww/.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Conserved growth rate and age structure of Xenopus laevis in the edge and core of an expanding population
Authors: Courant Julien , Adil Layla , De Kegel Barbara , Adriaens Dominique , Herrel Anthony
Published: May 2019

Invasive species represent a unique opportunity to study the evolutionary mechanisms driving range expansions. Although range expansion is expected to be associated with increased reproduction and dispersal at the range edge, Xenopus laevis seems to decrease its reproductive investment and to enhance dispersal at the range edge. Evidence of increased dispersal at the edge of expanding populations occurring simultaneously with a faster growth rate has been reported for other organisms. Here, we focused on the growth rate and age structure at the range edge vs. the range core in an expanding population of X. laevis. We used skeletochronology to characterize the age of 250 individuals captured at the range core and edge of this expanding population. Using the Von Bertalanffy equation, we then compared individual growth rates between locations. We found no significant changes in growth rate or age structure between edge and core samples. This result suggests that the reduced investment in reproduction recorded in another study at the range edge might compensate for the increased dispersal without impacting growth in this population. This implies that the resource allocation in an expanding population might thus be more diverse than commonly assumed.
The year 2018 in the European Heart Journal – Cardiovascular Imaging: Part I
Authors: Edvardsen Thor , Haugaa Kristina H , Petersen Steffen E , Gimelli Alessia , Donal Erwan , Maurer Gerald , Popescu Bogdan A , Cosyns Bernard
Published: May 2019

The European Heart Journal – Cardiovascular Imaging has become one of the leading multimodality cardiovascular imaging journal, since it was launched in 2012. The impact factor is an impressive 8.366 and it is now established as one of the top 10 cardiovascular journals. The journal is the most important cardiovascular imaging journal in Europe. The most important studies from 2018 will be highlighted in two reports. Part I of the review will focus on studies about myocardial function and risk prediction, myocardial ischaemia, and emerging techniques in cardiovascular imaging, while Part II will focus on valvular heart disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, and congenital heart disease.
Retracted: The Effect of Bilingualism on Older Adults’ Inhibitory Control: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Armstrong Bonnie A , Ein Natalie , Wong Brenda I , Gallant Sara N , Li Lingqian
Published: May 2019

Background and Objectives

The effect bilingualism has on older adults’ inhibitory control has been extensively investigated, yet there is continued controversy regarding whether older adult bilinguals show superior inhibitory control compared with monolinguals. The objective of the current meta-analysis was to examine the reliability and magnitude of the bilingualism effect on older adults’ inhibitory control as measured by the Simon and Stroop tasks. In addition, we examined whether individual characteristics moderate the bilingual advantage in inhibition, including age (young–old vs old–old), age of second language acquisition, immigrant status, language proficiency, and frequency of language use.

Research Design and Methods

A total of 22 samples for the Simon task and 14 samples for the Stroop task were derived from 28 published and unpublished articles (32 independent samples, with 4 of these samples using more than 1 task) and were analyzed in 2 separate meta-analyses.

Results

Analyses revealed a reliable effect of bilingualism on older adults’ performance on the Simon (g = 0.60) and Stroop (g = 0.27) tasks. Interestingly, individual characteristics did not moderate the association between bilingualism and older adults’ inhibitory control.

Discussion and Implications

The results suggest there is a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control for older bilinguals compared with older monolinguals, regardless of the individual characteristics previously thought to moderate this effect. Based on these findings, bilingualism may protect inhibitory control from normal cognitive decline with age.
Identifying and Managing Hearing and Vision Loss in Older People in Care Homes: A Scoping Review of the Evidence
Authors: Andrusjak Wendy , Barbosa Ana , Mountain Gail
Published: May 2019

Background and Objectives

Poor identification of sensory impairments in care homes can be due to multiple factors. This scoping review identifies and synthesizes the literature into the detection of hearing and vision loss in the care home environment, and the management of these sensory losses once identified.

Research Design and Methods

A scoping review methodology was used to identify primary research of any design published from 1985 to September 2018. Six electronic databases were searched, and articles were also sourced from reference lists, relevant charity organizations and published experts.

Results

Six electronic databases and multiple gray literature sources identified 51 articles for inclusion. The evidence confirmed that lack of knowledge in care home staff, poor management of assistive aids, unsuitable environment, lack of connections with optometrists and audiologists, underuse of effective screening tools, and the added complexity of assisting those with dementia are all barriers to effective practice. Conversely, flexible training programs, availability of a variety of assistive aids, simple screening tools, and adaptions to the environment are effective facilitators.

Discussion and Implication

This review acknowledges that the barriers to identification and management of hearing and vision loss in care homes are multifaceted and that collaboration of multiple stakeholders is required to implement change and improve the residents’ ear and eye care. Recommendations are offered to support more effective service provision tailored to meet the needs of people with sensory impairments living in care homes, and this could subsequently improve best practice.
‘Lessons in Humanity’
Authors: Keydar Renana
Published: May 2019

A narrative of progressive evolution of law and society has been dominating international legal discourse for some time now. This is evident in both practice and scholarship. This progress narrative provocatively mocked as ‘lessons in humanity’ in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, has been created through a rejection of revenge as a possible individual as well as collective response to mass atrocities and human rights violations. However, through an analysis of counter terrorism measures and cultural narratives of the post 9/11 era, this article argues that international criminal law’s anti-revenge narrative proves increasingly incommensurable with contemporary zeitgeist and undermines international law’s relevance to today’s reality. The article traces the origins of the anti-revenge narrative to the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal and analyses the impact of its idea of progressive retribution on contemporary international criminal tribunals. It examines the growing divide between the progress narrative of the law and the reemergence of state revenge in response to threats of terror in the post 9/11 era, in contemporary military practices and popular culture. The article shows that while international legal narrative treats the rejection of revenge as a settled question, state practice and cultural outputs suggest a ‘return of the repressed’ and that in fact the question is far from resolved.
X-ray microtomographic characterization of highly rough titanium cold gas sprayed coating for identification of effective surfaces for osseointegration
Authors: Vilardell A M , Cinca N , Barriuso E , Frigola J , Dosta S , Cano I G , Guilemany J M
Published: May 2019

A highly rough titanium coating obtained by Cold Gas Spray (CGS) has been characterized by means of high-resolution 3D microtomography (micro-CT) with the aim to evaluate its open and close porosity for possible use in orthopaedic implants to promote osseointegration. Micro-CT allowed a qualitative and quantitative description of the main features, morphology of the pores and surface roughness of the coating. Several numerical values were obtained to describe size, form and distribution of the closed/inner and open/outer pores. Additionally, surface roughness and open porosity were image-analyzed to find the effective surface for osseointegration.
Para-crystalline membrane structures resembling prolamellar bodies in the invasion zones of indeterminate root nodules of Vicia faba L.
Authors: Sharmin Farhana , Atsuzawa Kimie , Jung Stephan , Schubert Sven , Kaneko Yasuko
Published: May 2019

Novel para-crystalline structures resembling prolamellar bodies in etioplasts were found in the invasion zones of indeterminate root nodules of Vicia faba, which possess persistent meristems and exhibit sequential developmental stages. The para-crystalline structures existed in most cells in the area of the invasion zone and a hexagonal arrangement of tubular membranes was recognized. Extensive membranes, apparently procured from the structures, were often in contact with the bacteria in young infected cells. We propose that the para-crystalline structures serve as a reservoir of membranes for the formation of the numerous symbiosomes that propagate and fill the infected cells, and suggest naming them pro-symbiosome membrane bodies.
Ontological Classifications and Human Rationality in Bioethics
Authors: Romanyshyn Alexandra T
Published: May 2019

Metaphysics often has an important role in deciding ethical questions. Specifically, in the realm of bioethics, metaphysical questions such as the nature of persons, diseases, and properties in general can be crucial to determining what is right or wrong. In this article, I tie together various metaphysical themes that recur throughout the rest of the issue: rationality as an element of human nature, ontological classifications, and kinds of action. I will explain that each has ethical implications. Actions that contravene reason will be morally problematic, whereas our classification of illnesses will have important implications for how we ought to respond to ill persons. Metaphysical questions appear, or are at least suggested, in each article, pointing to the need for metaphysics in answering bioethical questions.
Genome-wide identification of GhAAI genes reveals that GhAAI66 triggers a phase transition to induce early flowering
Authors: Qanmber Ghulam , Lu Lili , Liu Zhao , Yu Daoqian , Zhou Kehai , Huo Peng , Li Fuguang , Yang Zuoren
Published: May 2019

AAI genes form an evolutionarily conserved large family showing the effects of genome duplication and lacking systematic study. GhAAI66 integrates multiple flower signaling pathways to induce early flowering.
Chalcone synthase is ubiquitinated and degraded via interactions with a RING-H2 protein in petals of Paeonia ‘He Xie’
Authors: Gu Zhaoyu , Men Siqi , Zhu Jin , Hao Qing , Tong Ningning , Liu Zheng-An , Zhang Hechen , Shu Qingyan , Wang Liangsheng
Published: May 2019

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites widely distributed among angiosperms, where they play diverse roles in plant growth, development, and evolution. The regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in plants has been extensively studied at the transcriptional level, but post-transcriptional, translational, and post-translational control of flavonoid biosynthesis remain poorly understood. In this study, we analysed post-translational regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in the ornamental plant Paeonia, using proteome and ubiquitylome profiling, in conjunction with transcriptome data. Three enzymes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis were identified as being putative targets of ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Among these, chalcone synthase (PhCHS) was shown to have the greatest number of ubiquitination sites. We examined PhCHS abundance in petals using PhCHS-specific antibody and found that its accumulation decreased at later developmental stages, resulting from 26S proteasome-mediated degradation. We further identified a ring domain-containing protein (PhRING-H2) that physically interacts with PhCHS and demonstrated that PhRING-H2 is required for PhCHS ubiquitination. Taken together, our results suggest that PhRING-H2-mediates PhCHS ubiquitination and degradation is an important mechanism of post-translational regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in Paeonia, providing a theoretical basis for the manipulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in plants.
Highly efficient editing of the β-globin gene in patient-derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells to treat sickle cell disease
Authors: Park So Hyun , Lee Ciaran M , Dever Daniel P , Davis Timothy H , Camarena Joab , Srifa Waracharee , Zhang Yankai , Paikari Alireza , Chang Alicia K , Porteus Matthew H , Sheehan Vivien A , Bao Gang
Published: May 2019

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a monogenic disorder that affects millions worldwide. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only available cure. Here, we demonstrate the use of CRISPR/Cas9 and a short single-stranded oligonucleotide template to correct the sickle mutation in the β-globin gene in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from peripheral blood or bone marrow of patients with SCD, with 24.5 ± 7.6% efficiency without selection. Erythrocytes derived from gene-edited cells showed a marked reduction of sickle cells, with the level of normal hemoglobin (HbA) increased to 25.3 ± 13.9%. Gene-corrected SCD HSPCs retained the ability to engraft when transplanted into non-obese diabetic (NOD)-SCID-gamma (NSG) mice with detectable levels of gene correction 16–19 weeks post-transplantation. We show that, by using a high-fidelity SpyCas9 that maintained the same level of on-target gene modification, the off-target effects including chromosomal rearrangements were significantly reduced. Taken together, our results demonstrate efficient gene correction of the sickle mutation in both peripheral blood and bone marrow-derived SCD HSPCs, a significant reduction in sickling of red blood cells, engraftment of gene-edited SCD HSPCs in vivo and the importance of reducing off-target effects; all are essential for moving genome editing based SCD treatment into clinical practice.
Frameless Stereotactic Radiosurgery on the Gamma Knife Icon: Early Experience From 100 Patients
Authors: Vulpe Horia , Save Akshay V , Xu Yuanguang , Elliston Carl D , Garrett Matthew D , Wu Cheng-Chia , Cheng Simon K , Jani Ashish H , Bruce Jeffrey N , McKhann Guy M , Wang Tony J C , Sisti Michael B
Published: May 2019

BACKGROUND

The Gamma Knife (GK) Icon (Elekta AB) uses a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scanner and an infrared camera system to support the delivery of frameless stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). There are limited data on patients treated with frameless GK radiosurgery (GKRS).

OBJECTIVE

To describe the early experience, process, technical details, and short-term outcomes with frameless GKRS at our institution.

METHODS

We reviewed our patient selection and described the workflow in detail, including image acquisition, treatment planning, mask-based immobilization, stereotactic CBCT localization, registration, treatment, and intrafraction monitoring. Because of the short interval of follow-up, we provide crude rates of local control.

RESULTS

Data from 100 patients are reported. Median age is 67 yr old. 56 patients were treated definitively, 21 postoperatively, and 23 had salvage GKRS for recurrence after surgery. Forty-two patients had brain metastases, 26 meningiomas, 16 vestibular schwannomas, 9 high-grade gliomas, and 7 other histologies. Median doses to metastases were 20 Gy in 1 fraction (range: 14-21), 24 Gy in 3 fractions (range: 19.5-27), and 25 Gy in 5 fractions (range: 25-30 Gy). Thirteen patients underwent repeat SRS to the same area. Median treatment time was 17.7 min (range: 5.8-61.7). We found an improvement in our workflow and a greater number of patients eligible for GKRS because of the ability to fractionate treatments.

CONCLUSION

We report a large cohort of consecutive patients treated with frameless GKRS. We look forward to studies with longer follow-up to provide valuable data on clinical outcomes and to further our understanding of the radiobiology of hypofractionation in the brain.
Misuse of Police Information Systems: Predicting Perceived Likelihood of Misuse among Unsworn Police Employees
Authors: Rajakaruna Nikki , Henry Pamela J , Scott Adrian J
Published: May 2019

Police information systems (ISs) contain highly sensitive data. Misuse of these systems poses a significant risk to agency integrity and personal privacy. In order to prevent this form of misconduct, police agencies must implement strategies that address factors associated with employee misuse. The aim of this research was to determine factors associated with the perceived likelihood of engaging in IS misuse among a sample of employees from an Australian police agency. Two hundred and eighty-seven unsworn police staff completed an online survey that investigated a number of factors, shown in previous research, to be relevant to IS misuse. Findings demonstrated that access to the IS, perceived appropriateness of and concern regarding IS misuse, and perceived certainty of punishment were relevant in explaining the perceived likelihood of IS misuse. Implications are discussed in relation to the focus of agency prevention strategies and the need for future research in the area.
An Educational Tool for Promoting Transitional Health Care Planning by Nurses From the Hospital to the Community
Authors: Jones Sharon Caldwell , Waynick-Rogers Pamela
Published: May 2019

Although nurses are an invaluable component of successful health care transition, a large gap exists on methods to educate future health care professionals regarding roles and necessary transition components. The Transitional Nursing History tool introduces prelicensure students to transitional health care planning needs and the essential roles of nurses. The Transitional Nursing History tool provides experiential student learning, promotes understanding of determinants of health influences on transitional planning needs, and encourages active student engagement. Students report increased recognition of the value of transitional health care planning and actively apply the concepts in other clinical settings.
Facilitating the Academic Success of International PhD Students
Authors: Schneider Joanne Kraenzle , Bender Catherine M. , Madigan Elizabeth A. , Nolan Marie T.
Published: May 2019

AIM

This article discusses the challenges of international PhD nursing students and recommends strategies to support them.

BACKGROUND

Approximately 10 percent of the students enrolled in research-focused nursing doctoral programs in the United States are non-US residents, challenging schools of nursing to examine ways to support these students.

METHOD

We searched five electronic databases using international student* AND doctoral OR graduate as search terms; we integrated the authors’ experiences.

RESULTS

Faculty and peer support can promote a smooth transition into the United States. Participating on research teams or school committees promotes academic socialization. Dissertation work has multiple unique challenges, including international relevance of topics, translation, funding, and location of the research.

CONCLUSION

Faculty advisers and universities can facilitate student adjustment. Once international students become familiar with the academic requirements and culture, they have the capacity to contribute rich, diverse perspectives that greatly enhance the quality of PhD education.
Teaching Concepts to Nursing Students Using Model Case Studies, the Venn Diagram, and Questioning Strategies
Authors: Vacek Jenny , Liesveld Judy
Published: May 2019

Teaching nursing students to use clinical judgment is integral to successful student outcomes. Conceptual learning is at the forefront of nursing education to help students transfer didactic learning to clinical settings where clinical judgment is practiced. This article proposes the use of three interactive teaching/learning methods — model case studies, the Venn diagram, and questioning strategies — as methods to help nursing students think conceptually, that is, to think like a nurse. The concept of gas exchange is presented as an example of how these teaching/learning methods can be used; these methods are applicable to any nursing concept.