bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Concentration of point defects in 4H-SiC characterized by a magnetic measurement
Authors: Peng B. , Jia R. X. , Wang Y. T. , Dong L. P. , Hu J. C. , Zhang Y. M.
Published: September 2016

A magnetic method is presented to characterize the concentration of point defects in silicon carbide. In this method, the concentration of common charged point defects, which is related to the density of paramagnetic centers, is determined by fitting the paramagnetic component of the specimen to the Brillouin function. Several parameters in the Brillouin function can be measured such as: the g-factor can be obtained from electron spin resonance spectroscopy, and the magnetic moment of paramagnetic centers can be obtained from positron lifetime spectroscopy combined with a first-principles calculation. To evaluate the characterization method, silicon carbide specimens with different concentrations of point defects are prepared with aluminum ion implantation. The fitting results of the densities of paramagnetic centers for the implanted doses of 1 × 1014 cm−2, 1 × 1015 cm−2 and 1 × 1016 cm−2 are 6.52 × 1014/g, 1.14 × 1015/g and 9.45 × 1014/g, respectively. The same trends are also observed for the S-parameters in the Doppler broadening spectra. It is shown that this method is an accurate and convenient way to obtain the concentration of point defects in 4H-SiC.
Electronic Structures and Thermoelectric Properties of Two-Dimensional MoS2/MoSe2 Heterostructures
Authors: Wu Tian-min , Xu Rui-xue , Zheng Xiao , Zhuang Wei
Published: September 2016

Thermoelectric properties of bulk and bilayer two-dimensional (2D) MoS2/MoSe2 heterostructures are investigated using density functional theory in conjunction with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. It is predicted that the bulk 2D heterostructures could considerably enhance the thermoelectric properties as compared with the bulk MoSe2. The enhancement originates from the reduction in the band gap and the presence of interlayer van der Waals interactions. We therefore propose the 2D MoS2/MoSe2 heterostructures as a possible candidate material for thermoelectric applications.
Depolymerization of Organosolv Lignin over Silica-alumina Catalysts
Authors: Wu Qing-yun , Ma Long-long , Long Jin-xing , Shu Ri-yang , Zhang Qi , Wang Tie-jun , Xu Ying
Published: September 2016

Efficient conversion of lignin to fine chemicals and biofuel become more and more attractive in biorefinery. In this work, we used a series of silica-alumina catalysts (i.e., SiO2-Al2O3, HY, Hβ, and HZSM-5) to degrade lignin into arenes and phenols. The relationship between the catalyst structure and lignin depolymerization performance was investigated. The results showed that both acidity and pore size of the catalyst could influence the conversion of lignin. In the volatilizable product, phenols were identified as the main phenolic monomers via gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. SiO2-Al2O3 was the most efficient catalyst, giving 90.96% degree of conversion, 12.91% yield of phenols, and 2.41% yield of arenes in ethanol at 280 °C for 4 h. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that deoxygenation and alkylation occurred in this process. The effect of solvents was also investigated and the results showed that ethanol was the most efficient solvent.
First-Principles Study of Magnetism in Transition Metal Doped Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 System
Authors: Ju Lin , Xu Tong-shuai , Zhang Yong-jia , Sun Li
Published: September 2016

The origins of magnetism in transition-metal doped Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 system are investigated by ab initio calculations. The calculated results indicate that a transition-metal atom substitution for a Ti atom produces magnetic moments, which are due to the spin-polarization of transition-metal 3d electrons. The characteristics of exchange coupling are also calculated, which shows that in Cr-/Mn-/Fe-/Co- doped Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 system, the antiferromagnetic coupling is favorable. The results can successfully explain the experimental phenomenon that, in Mn-/Fe- doped Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 system, the ferromagnetism disappears at low temperature and the paramagnetic component becomes stronger with the increase of doping concentration of Mn/Fe/Co ions. Unexpectedly, we find the Na0.5Bi0.5Ti0.67V0.33iO3 system with ferromagnetic coupling is favorable and produces a magnetic moment of 2.00 µB, which indicates that low temperature ferromagnetism materials could be made by introducing V atoms in Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3. This may be a new way to produce low temperature multiferroic materials.
Intermolecular Vibrational Energy Transfers in Melts and Solutions
Authors: Shen Yu-neng , Jiang Bo , Ge Chuan-qi , Deng Gang-hua , Chen Hai-long , Yang Xue-ming , Yuan Kai-jun , Zheng Jun-rong
Published: September 2016

Resonant and nonresonant intermolecular vibrational energy transfers in Gdm-SCN/KSCN=1/1, GdmSCN/KS13CN=1/1 and GdmSCN/KS13C15N=1/1 mixed crystals in melts and in aqueous solutions are studied with the two dimensional infrared spectroscopy. The energy transfers in the samples are slower with a larger energy donor/acceptor gap, independent of the Raman spectra. The energy gap dependences of the nonresonant energy transfers cannot be described by the phonon compensation mechanism. Instead, the experimental energy gap dependences can be quantitatively described by the dephasing mechanism. Temperature dependences of resonant and nonresonant energy transfer rates in the melts are also consistent with the prediction of the dephasing mechanism. The series of results suggest that the dephasing mechanism can be dominant not only in solutions, but also in melts (pure liquids without solvents), only if the molecular motions (translations and rotations) are much faster than the nonresonant energy transfer processes.
Divergent genotypes for fatness or residual feed intake in Angus cattle. 2. Body composition but not reproduction was affected in first-parity cows on both low and high levels of nutrition
Authors: Laurence M. , Accioly J. M. , Copping K. J. , Deland M. P. B. , Graham J. F. , Hebart M. L. , Herd R. M. , Jones F. M. , Lee S. J. , Speijers E. J. , Pitchford W. S.
Published: September 2016

This paper reports a subset of results from the Beef Cooperative Research Centre-funded Maternal Productivity Project. This research aimed to describe the response of Angus cows of different and divergent genotypes to variable nutritional environments over five breeding seasons. Cows selected for a divergence in either fat depth (HFat vs LFat) or residual feed intake (RFI: HRFI vs LRFI) based on mid-parent estimated breeding values (EBV) for those traits were allocated in replicate groups to either high or low nutritional treatments at two different sites, namely the Vasse Research Centre in Western Australia and the Struan Research Centre in South Australia. The traits reported in this paper include output traits (birth and weaning weight of calves, liveweight change of cows), change traits (change in Rib Fat, P8 fat, eye muscle area and liveweight between specified time points) and reproductive traits [pregnancy rates, percentage calves born alive and days to calving at the days to calving at the second calving opportunity (DC2)]. Having had their first calf, the vulnerability of these young cows to nutritional restriction and how it may adversely affect rebreeding was examined. HFat and HRFI cows were fatter, heavier and had greater eye muscle area than LFat and LRFI, respectively, at all times during the breeding cycle on both levels of nutrition. There was no difference in either days-to-calving or pregnancy rates after the second mating between genotypes. Equally, nutritional treatment had no effect on these traits in this cohort of cows. There was evidence for an implied genetic correlation between Rib Fat EBV, DC2 and pregnancy rates of –0.38 that suggests that selection for leanness may result in reduced fertility of the herd but the effect was not significant herein. As long as producers record the phenotype for both traits and select cows with favourable DC2 as well as low fatness, these problems can be avoided, owing to only 22% of variation in pregnancy rates being explained by DC2 and Rib Fat EBV. Producers can largely be confident that selection for leanness, or increased feed efficiency, has little impact on productivity as long as cows are in adequate body condition to remain healthy and productive.
Electro-analgesia for sheep husbandry practices: a review
Authors: Hynd P. I.
Published: September 2016

Several sheep-husbandry practices such as mulesing, castration, ear-tagging and tail-docking are currently performed with no, or little, anaesthesia or analgesia. The potential for using electrotherapies to provide analgesia during and after these operations is examined in this review. The most common electrotherapy is transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). TENS is the application of an electrical current from electrodes placed on the skin. Analysis of a large number of trials in humans and in animal models indicates that TENS provides effective relief from acute and chronic pain, including pain associated with surgery. There is strong evidence now that TENS analgesia operates at the levels of the periphery, the spinal cord and in the brain. The mechanisms involve the autonomic nervous system, the opioid pathways and neurotransmitters involved in descending inhibitory pathways from the brain. Centrally operating pathways mean the current does not have to be applied near the injured site and there is evidence of sustained pain relief lasting hours, days or even weeks post-treatment, particularly after very high-frequency, randomly variable current applications. Treatment of sheep during painful operations with such a current has the potential to provide immediate and possibly sustained pain relief. Combining such a treatment with electro-immobilisation of the animal would be advantageous for sheep-husbandry operations, but there is considerable evidence that high-intensity currents producing tetanic contractions are aversive and probably painful for sheep. Investigations of the application and efficacy of electrotherapies for painful sheep operations should be undertaken.
Relationship between time spent eating and nutritionally related blood metabolites of growing pigs fed on diets containing graded levels of fibre
Authors: Bakare Archibold G. , Chimonyo Michael
Published: September 2016

The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between time spent on eating and nutritionally related blood metabolites in growing pigs fed on fibrous diets. Eighteen growing pigs (initial bodyweight 14.2 ± 1.20 kg) were used in a 5-week study period. The pigs were penned in metabolism crates and subjected to different treatment diets with maize cob included at 0, 80, 160, 240, 320 and 400 g/kg in a diet. Time spent eating and drinking was observed by use of video cameras. Blood was collected from the jugular vein at the end of the trial for determination of glycosylated haemoglobin, total protein, urea, uric acid, albumin and creatinine kinase concentrations. Glycosylated haemoglobin, albumin, globulin, total protein and uric acid concentrations in blood influence time spent eating (P < 0.05). Time spent eating increased linearly with an increase in uric acid, total protein, albumin and globulin concentrations and started decreasing at higher concentrations (P < 0.05). A negative relationship was observed between time spent eating and glycosylated haemoglobin concentration. There were curvilinear responses between time spent drinking and concentration of the nutritional metabolites (albumin, globulin and total protein) (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the blood metabolites can be used to predict time spent eating by pigs fed on fibrous diets. They have a direct relationship with pigs’ nutritional status. The nature of the relationships may allow feed compounders to determine the quantity of maize cobs to include in diets by focusing on feeding patterns and metabolism of pigs.
GluA1 signal peptide determines the spatial assembly of heteromeric AMPA receptors
Authors: He Xue-Yan , Li Yan-Jun , Kalyanaraman Chakrapani , Qiu Li-Li , Chen Chen , Xiao Qi , Liu Wen-Xue , Zhang Wei , Yang Jian-Jun , Chen Guiquan , Jacobson Matthew P. , Shi Yun Stone
Published: September 2016

Significance

In the brain, AMPA-type glutamate receptors, especially heteromeric GluA1/A2s, are the major postsynaptic receptors mediating fast excitatory neurotransmission. Recently, the crystal structure of GluA2 homomeric AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs) revealed some interesting features, such as the four subunits in each AMPAR are of two different conformations. However, what the heteromeric GluA1/A2 receptors look like is unknown. In this study, we used a biochemical technique called cysteine cross-linking assay to analyze the spatial architecture of GluA1/A2s. We determined that GluA1/GluA2s have preferred spatial assembly. Surprisingly, this spatial assembly pattern is dictated by the excisable signal peptides, but not the intrinsic sequences of the subunit proteins.
Coordinated autoinhibition of F-BAR domain membrane binding and WASp activation by Nervous Wreck
Authors: Stanishneva-Konovalova Tatiana B. , Kelley Charlotte F. , Eskin Tania L. , Messelaar Emily M. , Wasserman Steven A. , Sokolova Olga S. , Rodal Avital A.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Membrane-deforming proteins cooperate with the cytoskeleton to sculpt lipid bilayers into complex and dynamic geometries, but we still do not understand how their activities are temporally and spatially regulated in cells. Here we show that the neuronal membrane remodeling protein Nervous Wreck (Nwk) is autoinhibited by intramolecular interactions between its membrane binding F-BAR domain and its C-terminal SRC homology 3 (SH3) domains. These autoinhibitory interactions control Fes/Cip4 homology-Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs167 (F-BAR)–mediated membrane remodeling and also, unexpectedly, inhibit SH3-mediated actin cytoskeleton assembly. Uncoupling these dual autoregulatory mechanisms in the fruit fly leads to excess neuronal synapse growth. Thus, coordinated autoregulation couples membrane remodeling and SH3 domain activities, and is critical for proper control of neuronal shape and size.
Variation in the molecular clock of primates
Authors: Moorjani Priya , Amorim Carlos Eduardo G. , Arndt Peter F. , Przeworski Molly
Published: September 2016

Significance

Much of our understanding of the chronology of human evolution relies on a fixed “molecular clock”; that is, a constant rate of substitutions per unit time. To evaluate the validity of this assumption, we analyze whole-genome sequences from 10 primate species. We find that there is substantial variation in the molecular clock between apes and monkeys and that rates even differ within hominines. Importantly, not all mutation types behave similarly; notably, transitions at CpG sites exhibit a more clocklike behavior than other substitutions, presumably because of their nonreplicative origin. Thus, the mutation spectra, and not just the overall substitution rates, are changing across primates. This finding suggests that events in primate evolution are most reliably dated using CpG transitions.
Biaxial ferromagnetic liquid crystal colloids
Authors: Liu Qingkun , Ackerman Paul J. , Lubensky Tom C. , Smalyukh Ivan I.
Published: September 2016

Significance

We introduce a soft-matter system with fluidity coexisting with long-range biaxial and ferromagnetic ordering of anisotropic molecular and magnetic colloidal building blocks. The facile polar switching of this complex fluid promises technological applications and rich physical behavior arising from the properties of solid magnetic nanoparticles and their long-range ordering prompted by interactions with the host medium.
Gene-expression profiling of different arms of lymphatic vasculature identifies candidates for manipulation of cell traffic
Authors: Iftakhar-E-Khuda Imtiaz , Fair-Mäkelä Ruth , Kukkonen-Macchi Anu , Elima Kati , Karikoski Marika , Rantakari Pia , Miyasaka Masayuki , Salmi Marko , Jalkanen Sirpa
Published: September 2016

Significance

This paper elucidates one of the enigmas in immunology: What determines the discriminative traffic via afferent and efferent lymphatics? We report so far unrecognized and vastly distinct molecular profiles of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) in the afferent and efferent arms of the lymphatic system in the lymph nodes. Moreover, the work takes three of the hit molecules to more detailed analyses regarding their expression and function, and presents a previously unknown function in regulation of the lymphocyte traffic for macrophage scavenger receptor on LECs of the subcapsular sinus. Importantly, the findings of this work may potentially be exploitable in drug design when searching for new targets to manipulate immune response or cancer spread.
TRiC subunits enhance BDNF axonal transport and rescue striatal atrophy in Huntington’s disease
Authors: Zhao Xiaobei , Chen Xu-Qiao , Han Eugene , Hu Yue , Paik Paul , Ding Zhiyong , Overman Julia , Lau Alice L. , Shahmoradian Sarah H. , Chiu Wah , Thompson Leslie M. , Wu Chengbiao , Mobley William C.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Degeneration of the corticostriatal circuit is a key neuropathological and clinical feature of Huntington’s disease (HD). To define disease mechanisms and explore treatments, we recreated the corticostriatal circuit in microfluidic chambers using neurons from the BACHD mouse model of HD and WT controls. We showed that expression of mutant huntingtin (mHTT) induced defects in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) transport in BACHD cortical axons that resulted in atrophy of striatal target neurons. Introducing subunits of the cytosolic chaperonin T-complex 1 (TCP-1) ring complex (TRiC) into BACHD cortical neurons reduced mHTT, rescued defects in BDNF transport, and normalized the size of striatal neurons. These findings encourage studies to explore a role for TRiC reagents as possible treatments for HD.
Ultrafast anisotropic protein quake propagation after CO photodissociation in myoglobin
Authors: Brinkmann Levin U. L. , Hub Jochen S.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Scattering in solution conducted at X-ray free-electron lasers in principle provides a probe for the ultrafast dynamics of proteins. However, extracting useful structural information from the experimental signals remains a major challenge. Here, we used molecular-dynamics simulations to model the ultrafast “quake-like” dissipation of energy in myoglobin. The simulations provide a detailed atomistic movie of the protein quake, and they help to translate solution scattering signals into functional protein dynamics. Remarkably, we further find that accounting for solvent dynamics is crucial to avoid misinterpretation of time-resolved solution scattering data.
Kinetic barriers to SNAREpin assembly in the regulation of membrane docking/priming and fusion
Authors: Li Feng , Tiwari Neeraj , Rothman James E. , Pincet Frederic
Published: September 2016

Significance

Neurotransmission requires fusion of the synaptic vesicles that are closely apposed to the presynaptic membrane. This apposition is achieved through the initial association of proteins known as soluble NSF attachment protein receptors (SNAREs). After a neurotransmission event, other vesicles must be rapidly prepared for the next round of fusion. Here we find the kinetics of the initial formation of SNARE complexes are too slow to spontaneously achieve this process because of a high activation energy barrier, but can be accelerated by molecular factors. In addition, we show that a second energy barrier transiently traps the SNARE complexes in a half-zippered state. This pause provides time for the regulatory machinery that accurately controls synchronized neurotransmission to be set in place.
Point mutations in the major outer membrane protein drive hypervirulence of a rapidly expanding clone of
Campylobacter jejuni
Authors: Wu Zuowei , Periaswamy Balamurugan , Sahin Orhan , Yaeger Michael , Plummer Paul , Zhai Weiwei , Shen Zhangqi , Dai Lei , Chen Swaine L. , Zhang Qijing
Published: September 2016

Significance

Identification of specific genetic changes responsible for pathogen emergence and evolution is critical for disease prevention and control. By using a powerful and high throughput approach (directed genome evolution), we identified the specific point mutations in the major outer membrane protein that drive the hypervirulence of an emergent
Campylobacter jejuni
clone, which causes abortion in ruminants and foodborne disease outbreaks in humans. This finding reveals a critical virulence factor and a potential target for the control of
Campylobacter
, an important zoonotic pathogen affecting both animal and human health. The experimental and computational approaches developed in this study are generally applicable to other bacterial organisms for identifying specific virulence factors responsible for a disease phenotype.
P31
comet
, a member of the synaptonemal complex, participates in meiotic DSB formation in rice
Authors: Ji Jianhui , Tang Ding , Shen Yi , Xue Zhihui , Wang Hongjun , Shi Wenqing , Zhang Chao , Du Guijie , Li Yafei , Cheng Zhukuan
Published: September 2016

Significance

The programmed double-strand break (DSB) formation is a prerequisite for homologous recombination. The synaptonemal complex (SC), known as the meiotic-specific proteinaceous structure, provides an appropriate framework for homologous recombination. Both are indispensable in meiosis. p31
comet
has been proved to play an essential role in metaphase-to-anaphase transition during mitosis by indirectly activating anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome status, but the underlying function in meiosis remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that the homolog gene in rice,
P31

comet

, is involved in meiosis. Our findings uncover a role for P31
comet
in regulating meiotic DSB formation and SC assembly by cooperation with CENTRAL REGION COMPONENT 1 (CRC1). Our work sheds light on P31
comet
functions in rice meiosis and thereby may reveal a special role of this protein in plants.
Synthesis and transfer of galactolipids in the chloroplast envelope membranes of
Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Kelly Amélie A. , Kalisch Barbara , Hölzl Georg , Schulze Sandra , Thiele Juliane , Melzer Michael , Roston Rebecca L. , Benning Christoph , Dörmann Peter
Published: September 2016

Significance

Establishment of the progenitor of chloroplasts by the host plant cell during endosymbiosis required the integration of two sets of biological membranes, the endoplasmic reticulum and the chloroplast envelopes, participating in the synthesis of galactolipid precursors for the photosynthetic membranes. Galactolipid synthesis is unequally distributed between the two envelope membranes, necessitating lipid transfer between the envelopes and toward the thylakoids. Here we show that the N-terminal sequence of digalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase 1 is essential for the integration of the chloroplast galactolipid synthesis machinery into the host cell. This N-terminal sequence was invented at the time the endosymbiotic organelle was established, providing a basic glycosyltransferase with a neofunction essential for lipid mobilization between organelles and endomembrane systems in plants.
Minibrain and Wings apart control organ growth and tissue patterning through down-regulation of Capicua
Authors: Yang Liu , Paul Sayantanee , Trieu Kenneth G. , Dent Lucas G. , Froldi Francesca , Forés Marta , Webster Kaitlyn , Siegfried Kellee R. , Kondo Shu , Harvey Kieran , Cheng Louise , Jiménez Gerardo , Shvartsman Stanislav Y. , Veraksa Alexey
Published: September 2016

Significance

The transcriptional repressor protein Capicua (Cic) is a conserved regulator of organ growth and tissue patterning, and mutations in the CIC gene in humans result in the brain cancer oligodendroglioma. Cic activity is controlled by the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling pathway. Here, we identify the kinase Minibrain (Mnb) and its adaptor Wings apart (Wap) as Cic regulators. Mnb and Wap bind to and phosphorylate the Cic protein, and inhibit the ability of Cic to repress gene expression. Mnb-dependent down-regulation of Cic is necessary for the proper growth of multiple organs and correct the patterning of tissues. Our results uncover a previously unknown mechanism of Cic regulation that acts in parallel to other growth-controlling pathways.
Actinomycin D enhances killing of cancer cells by immunotoxin RG7787 through activation of the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis
Authors: Liu Xiu Fen , Xiang Laiman , Zhou Qi , Carralot Jean-Philippe , Prunotto Marco , Niederfellner Gerhard , Pastan Ira
Published: September 2016

Significance

Because effective cancer therapy usually requires a combination of drugs, we searched for clinically used anticancer agents that would enhance the activity of immunotoxin RG7787 so they could be combined in humans. We show here that actinomycin D activates the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis and acts synergistically with RG7787 to kill a variety of cancer cell lines and cause striking tumor regression in mice. These data indicate that combining immunotoxins like RG7787 that kill cells by inhibiting protein synthesis with actinomycin D is a useful strategy to enhance their antitumor activity in humans.
Circulating microRNA signature for the diagnosis of very high-risk prostate cancer
Authors: Alhasan Ali H. , Scott Alexander W. , Wu Jia J. , Feng Gang , Meeks Joshua J. , Thaxton C. Shad , Mirkin Chad A.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Serum microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as potential noninvasive biomarkers to diagnose prostate cancer (PCa), the most common noncutaneous malignancy among Western men. However, intermediate grades of PCa cannot be distinguished from aggressive forms using current miRNA signatures due to the heterogeneity of PCas. Recently, a high-throughput, spherical nucleic acid-based miRNA expression profiling platform, called the Scano-miR bioassay, was developed to measure the expression levels of miRNAs with both high sensitivity and specificity. By studying serum miRNAs of PCa using the Scano-miR bioassay, we identified a unique molecular signature specific for very high-risk aggressive PCa. This molecular signature will assist in differentiating patients who may benefit from therapy from those who can be closely monitored on active surveillance.
Broadband high-efficiency dielectric metasurfaces for the visible spectrum
Authors: Devlin Robert C. , Khorasaninejad Mohammadreza , Chen Wei Ting , Oh Jaewon , Capasso Federico
Published: September 2016

Significance

Metasurfaces are optical elements that can mimic and expand on the functionality of refractive optics with a comparatively thin and planar profile. Transmissive metasurfaces suffer from high optical loss at visible wavelengths because of currently used materials and fabrication techniques. This work introduces metasurfaces that operate across the visible spectrum with high efficiencies. As the basis of our metasurfaces, we used a common material, titanium dioxide, and a fabrication method based an atomic layer deposition that creates highly anisotropic nanostructures. The results presented here provide an important advance for realizing optical components at visible wavelengths—e.g., lenses, holograms, and phase shifters—with orders of magnitude reduction in thickness compared with traditional refractive optics.
Exploring the zone of anisotropy and broken symmetries in DNA-mediated nanoparticle crystallization
Authors: O’Brien Matthew N. , Girard Martin , Lin Hai-Xin , Millan Jaime A. , Olvera de la Cruz Monica , Lee Byeongdu , Mirkin Chad A.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Nanometer-sized materials (i.e., nanoparticles) can be used as building blocks to construct crystalline materials structured with high resolution. The specific arrangements that nanoparticles form can be controlled by their physical shape and size, as well as the molecules attached to their surfaces (i.e., ligands). In this work, DNA ligands are used as “bonds” whose sequence “encodes” which and how far apart nanoparticles interact with each other. Here, we study how the relative size of nanoparticles and DNA modulates the orientation and structural arrangement of nanoparticles within these crystalline materials and report the specific structural changes that occur for nanoparticles with different shapes. These results provide a roadmap to understand how to build nanoparticle-based materials with DNA.
PAXX and XLF DNA repair factors are functionally redundant in joining DNA breaks in a G1-arrested progenitor B-cell line
Authors: Kumar Vipul , Alt Frederick W. , Frock Richard L.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Classical nonhomologous end joining (C-NHEJ) is a major mammalian DNA double–strand break (DSB) repair pathway. During V(D)J recombination in progenitor (pro)-B lymphocytes, C-NHEJ joins programmed DSBs in antibody gene loci to form complete antibody genes. C-NHEJ also protects mammalian cells from the harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation. We now find that the recently identified paralogue of XRCC4 and XLF (PAXX) DNA repair factor, like the related XLF repair factor, is dispensable for V(D)J recombination. However, combined loss of these two factors in pro–B-cell lines totally abrogates V(D)J recombination DSB joining and greatly sensitizes the cells to ionizing radiation. These findings show that PAXX can provide critical C-NHEJ functions that are normally masked by functional redundancy with XLF.
Genome editing using CRISPR-Cas9 to create the HPFH genotype in HSPCs: An approach for treating sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia
Authors: Ye Lin , Wang Jiaming , Tan Yuting , Beyer Ashley I. , Xie Fei , Muench Marcus O. , Kan Yuet Wai
Published: September 2016

Significance

We designed this study to elevate fetal hemoglobin for the treatment of β-thalassemia and sickle cell disease (SCD). It has long been known that some individuals who are compound heterozygotes of β-thalassemia or SCD with deletional hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH) have minimal hematological abnormalities and mild clinical manifestation compared with the homozygous patients. We used CRISPR-Cas9 to modify normal bone marrow hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) to the deletional HPFH genotype. The erythroid cells derived from such modified HSPCs showed significantly higher γ-globin expression compared with the nondeletion-modified cells. This study provides proof of concept for developing a potential new approach to autologous transplantation therapy for the treatment of homozygous β-thalassemia and SCD.
Episodic specificity induction impacts activity in a core brain network during construction of imagined future experiences
Authors: Madore Kevin P. , Szpunar Karl K. , Addis Donna Rose , Schacter Daniel L.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Recent behavioral studies using an episodic specificity induction—training in recollecting details of past experiences—have suggested a role for episodic memory in imagining future events, solving problems, and thinking creatively. The present fMRI study examines the brain regions impacted by the specificity induction. The experiment shows that receiving a specificity induction led to increased activity in key brain regions previously implicated in detailed event construction, including the hippocampus and inferior parietal lobule, when participants imagined future events. These results provide insights into the influence of episodic memory beyond simple remembering, and may help to guide potential applications for individuals from populations characterized by overgeneralized memory and imagination, such as healthy aging and clinical depression.
eIF4B stimulates translation of long mRNAs with structured 5′ UTRs and low closed-loop potential but weak dependence on eIF4G
Authors: Sen Neelam Dabas , Zhou Fujun , Harris Michael S. , Ingolia Nicholas T. , Hinnebusch Alan G.
Published: September 2016

Significance

Protein synthesis initiates in eukaryotes when the 40S ribosomal subunit, loaded with initiator tRNA, attaches to the 5′ end of the mRNA, scans the 5′ UTR, and selects the AUG start codon. Ribosome attachment and scanning are impeded by structures in the 5′ UTR that can be resolved by RNA helicases Ded1 and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A (eIF4A), with cofactors eIF4B and eIF4G. We show that eIF4B can stimulate translation independently of eIF4A and that eIF4B, eIF4A, and Ded1 are preferentially required for translating long mRNAs, burdened with 5′ UTR structures, that inefficiently form the closed-loop intermediate with the mRNA ends joined by eIF4G. In contrast, eIF4G appears to be most crucial for closed-loop assembly on short, highly translated, and unstructured mRNAs.
Improving Antimicrobial Stewardship by Antibiotic Allergy Delabeling: Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Throughout the Emerging Infections Network
Authors: Trubiano Jason A. , Beekmann Susan E. , Worth Leon J. , Polgreen Philip M. , Thursky Karin A. , Slavin Monica A. , Grayson M. Lindsay , Phillips Elizabeth J.
Published: September 2016

Antibiotic allergy testing (AAT) practices of Emerging Infections Network infectious disease physicians were surveyed. Although AAT was perceived to be necessary for removal of inappropriate or unnecessary allergy labels, there was limited access to any form of testing. In this study, we discuss current antibiotic allergy knowledge gaps and the development of AAT practices within antimicrobial stewardship programs, which will potentially improve antimicrobial prescribing.
Integration of Contextual Data
Authors: Razo Armando
Published: September 2016

This chapter discusses a conceptual framework that clarifies the nature and importance of context in social scientific research. It first explains how context fits into survey analysis, then addresses major problems that hamper use and collection of contextual data: vague or incomplete conceptual definitions of “context” and lack of methodological guidance to collect and analyze contextual data. It suggests that systematic research and cumulative knowledge on contextual effects are constrained by two factors: the lack of standardized contextual variables across surveys and sporadic empirical inquiries. Finally, it outlines directions for future research with an eye toward advancing contextual data collection and analysis as well as ascertaining the impact of context on public opinion and political behavior. It presents statistical approaches to provide a blueprint for explicit measurements and analysis of contextual data and considers the need to modify conventional sampling techniques to capture relevant contextual variability.
Prosocial Behavior in Retirement
Authors: Fasbender Ulrike , Wang Mo , Zhan Yujie
Published: September 2016

With the increase of the proportion of the population reaching retirement age in relation to that of working age, extensive research has been conducted to understand the retirement process and to promote older adults’ well-being in retirement. In this chapter, we aim to link the theoretical concepts of retirement to the research literature on prosocial behavior. First, we provide an overview of the current conceptualizations of prosocial behavior and retirement. Second, we introduce three main areas of prosocial behavior engagement in retirement (i.e., prosocial behavior in postretirement employment, in the family context, and in the community). Third, we present a comprehensive model of the antecedents and outcomes of prosocial behavior in retirement, covering factors at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Finally, we offer suggestions to advance future research investigating prosocial behavior in retirement.
Review and Recommended Best Practices for Measuring and Modeling Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Authors: Rosen Christopher C. , Yochum Eric J. , Passantino Liana G. , Johnson Russell E. , Chang Chu-Hsiang
Published: September 2016

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have been assessed in a variety of ways. We conducted a thorough review of this literature, and we provide a comprehensive discussion of how OCBs have been measured and modeled, with a focus on identifying trends and providing guidelines for future researchers. Our review, which included all empirical studies published in eight top-tier management journals over the past 30 years, is organized around four themes: (1) operational inconsistencies, which include utilizing different levels of specificity, sets of dimensions and facets, and response scales when assessing OCBs across studies; (2) rating source effects, in terms of the appropriateness of self versus nonself (i.e., supervisors and coworkers) sources of OCB ratings; (3) differences in how the higher order multidimensional OCB construct has been modeled across studies; and (4) emerging methodological and measurement issues, including nonindependence, multilevel treatments of OCB, and the utilization of control variables in OCB research.
Legislative Networks
Authors: Ringe Nils , Victor Jennifer Nicoll , Cho Wendy Tam
Published: September 2016

Legislatures are naturally interactive institutions. Creating laws, engaging in representation and oversight, and serving constituents are social processes. Legislators have many connections with each other, some preexisting or natural and some created while in office. This chapter explores various ways to understand legislative politics through a relational lens. Legislators rely on networks for a variety of functions, including collaboration, information diffusion, policy coordination, coalition building, and voting. Relationships are a fundamental aspect of how legislators, and those who interact with them, function. The chapter examines the history of how networks have been studied in legislatures and describes various challenges this field of study has recently overcome, as well as other challenges yet to be solved in studying legislative politics using networks. It relays the dominant existing applications and methods in this subfield and suggests several fruitful avenues for future research.
Health Policy Networks
Authors: Joosse Alexandra P. , Milward H. Brinton
Published: September 2016

Research on health policy networks can be divided into two categories: policy implementation networks that arrange for the supply and delivery of health services through networks of organizations, and policy formation networks that both create the demand for and develop health policy. This chapter examines research from the two categories, with a special focus on how networks can contribute to a greater understanding of the benefits of and challenges facing the health policy domain. Four challenges that arise in both types of health policy networks—coordination, accountability, assessment, and uneven distributions of power—are then discussed, along with solutions that both policy formation and policy implementation scholars have proposed to address them. Areas in which scholars from the two streams can learn from one another’s findings are highlighted. Finally, future directions for research health policy networks are suggested.
The International Trade Network
Authors: Fagiolo Giorgio
Published: September 2016

This chapter critically reviews the stream of literature that has recently applied the theory of complex networks to the study of international trade. It surveys three interrelated lines of research. First it discusses descriptive work aimed at characterizing the topological properties of the international trade network (ITN) and their evolution. Second, it describes simple models that can replicate and explain those empirical properties. Third, it looks at how the topological properties of the ITN can be used as predictors of the future performance of world countries and the diffusion of economic shocks. Finally, the chapter argues that a promising avenue for future research in this field may involve analyzing in a common network framework not only trade relations but also other bilateral linkages among countries, including, inter alia, finance, investment, and human mobility.
Improvisation and Ecclesial Ethics
Authors: Wells Samuel
Published: September 2016

This chapter shows why and how Christian ethics is helpfully linked to improvisation in the theater. It describes universal (ethics for anyone), subversive (ethics for the excluded), and ecclesial (ethics for the church) as three strands of Christian ethics. It goes on to identify theatrical improvisation as a way of resolving tensions in ecclesial ethics—tensions largely concerned with synthesizing the virtue tradition stemming from Aristotle with the Christological pacifism of the New Testament, as identified by J. H. Yoder and others. Key terms in theatrical improvisation, notably status, overaccepting, and reincorporation, are introduced; and the proposal is illustrated with reference to the place of the church in contemporary Western Europe, particularly in relation to secularization and the perceived threat of Islam.
Imagining the Rising
Authors: Allen Nicholas
Published: September 2016

Several of the leaders of the Rising—Patrick Pearse, Thomas McDonagh, and James Connolly—wrote plays, and many were closely engaged in theatrical enterprises (often conceived as alternatives to the Abbey Theatre) in the years leading up to the Easter Rising in 1916. Indeed, there is an argument that Easter 1916 itself was conceived as a public performance, albeit a performance with life-and-death consequences. This chapter considers the theatrical imagination of the Rising and the ways in which the plays of those most directly involved not only engage with issues such as sacrifice, performativity, and utopianism but also reveal a surprising capacity for doubt. This lays the groundwork for a consideration of the best-known theatrical response to the 1916 Rising, Seán O’Casey’sThe Plough and the Stars, which in turn lays down a challenge to later playwrights in staging one of the pivotal events in modern Irish history.
The Importance of Staging Oscar
Authors: Walshe Eibhear
Published: September 2016

Oscar Wilde was adopted as something like a posthumous writer in residence at the Gate Theatre in the 1930s, where all of his plays including the controversialSaloméwere produced. The identification between the theatre and the playwright was further strengthened by Micheál Mac Liammóir’s hugely successful one-man showThe Importance of Being Oscarin the 1960s, and again in the 1980s, under the directorship of Michael Colgan. This chapter considers key productions of Wilde at the Gate, particularly their sexual politics. It is argued that when Wilde was first produced at the Gate, his queer aesthetic had to be heavily coded; however, by the time of Stephen Berkoff’sSaloméin 1988, Wilde’s sexual politics could be staged more openly. More recently, however, with the emergence of an active gay theatre scene, the subversive charge of Wilde’s theatre has been somewhat eclipsed.
Irish Acting in the Early Twentieth Century
Authors: Frazier Adrian
Published: September 2016

Frank Fay, with his brother William Fay, were primarily responsible for the development of what became known as the Abbey style of acting, Frank drawing upon his study of the French actor Coquelin and the director André Antoine, William with his experience of acting in fit-up touring companies. This style, conditioned by the limited playing resources available to them, centred on fine speech, teamwork, and restraint. In a later period, after the Fays had left in 1908, the tradition of ensemble playing in a permanent company allowed for the development of fine individual character acting represented by Sara Allgood, F. J. McCormick, and Barry Fitzgerald. The actor-manager Anew McMaster, with his large romantic style, helped to shape the tradition of the otherwise modernist Gate Theatre. Irish acting in the first half of the twentieth century was thus a hybrid compound of many different elements.
Urban and Rural Theatre Cultures
Authors: Coen Lisa
Published: September 2016

By the 1950s, distinct strands of rural and urban Irish theatre were prompted by the clash of traditional mores with major social and political changes in Ireland. Three playwrights, M. J. Molloy, John B. Keane, and Hugh Leonard, came to represent the rural and urban sensibility of theatre at that time. All three were interested in how traditional Irish values and practices fitted in with the Ireland emerging around them. The ways in which the three playwrights reacted to an urbanizing, modernizing culture illustrates how the theatre of their generation was conditioned by a national perspective that was failing to assimilate profound societal change. Molloy, essentially conservative, promoted ideas of self-sacrifice, while Keane implicitly endorsed a liberal humanist protest against repression. Hugh Leonard’s satires on suburbia wrote out rural Ireland as a thing of the past, although he retained some vestiges of the country kitchen play in his work.
Brian Friel and Tom Murphy
Authors: Roche Anthony
Published: September 2016

Irish theatre since 1960 has been dominated by the work of major playwrights, above all Brian Friel and Tom Murphy. The changing social context of Ireland in the early 1960s out of which both writers emerged within a few years of one another is evident in their breakthrough plays, Murphy’sA Whistle in the Dark(1961) and Friel’sPhiladelphia, Here I Come!(1964). In these plays, as inThe Loves of Cass Maguire(1966) andA Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer’s Assistant(1969), Murphy and Friel devised new dramatic forms to explore the mentality of exile generated by the phenomenon of mass emigration. Exile is then transposed into a spiritual or metaphysical condition in two later plays,The Sanctuary Lamp(1975) andFaith Healer(1979).
From Troubles to Post-Conflict Theatre in Northern Ireland
Authors: Phelan Mark
Published: September 2016

The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was a watershed moment in Irish culture, as much as in the political sphere. Up until that moment, late twentieth-century Irish history had been dominated by the conflict that erupted in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s, and Northern Irish theatre was dominated by the ‘Troubles play’—initially in the 1960s in the work of Sam Thompson, and later in plays by writers such as John Boyd, Graham Reid, and, in more complex ways, behind the formally adventurous work of Stewart Parker and Anne Devlin. However, since 1998, writers such as Owen McCafferty have inaugurated the search for a theatrical form appropriate to a post-conflict culture in which scars and divisions still remained. This chapter covers the arc of development of Northern drama over the period, leading up to some of the innovative performances of companies such as Theatre of Witness.
Places of Performance
Authors: Morash Chris
Published: September 2016

From the historically resonant Abbey Theatre, theatre spaces have had an influence on the ways in which Irish theatre has developed over the course of the twentieth century, from the limited proscenium arch stage of the early Abbey to the increasing exploration of found spaces and site-specific work in the 1990s and early twenty-first century. A geography of Irish theatre must take account of the significance of the place of performance in the creation of theatrical meaning. The space of the Abbey, as the national theatre, has been haunted by its past, whereas the aim of the Gate was to create a neutral space for its modernist creations, while utopian plans for an open-air amphitheatre in Achill or radical designs for the Lyric, Belfast, were never realized. The many new theatres of recent times have created untethered spaces without past associations.