bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Novel
Staphylococcus
Podophage Encodes a Unique Lysin with Unusual Modular Design
Authors: Cater Katie , Dandu Vidya Sree , Bari S. M. Nayeemul , Lackey Kim , Everett Gabriel F. K. , Hatoum-Aslan Asma
Published: March 2017

The spread of antibiotic resistance among bacterial pathogens is inciting a global public health crisis. Drug-resistant
Staphylococcus
species, especially
S. aureus
and
S. epidermidis
, have emerged in both hospital and community settings, underscoring the urgent need for new strategies to combat staphylococcal infections. Bacterial viruses (phages) and the enzymes that they use to degrade bacterial cell walls (lysins) show promise as alternative antimicrobials; however, only a limited variety of staphylococcal phages and their lysins have yet been identified. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of a novel staphylococcal phage, Andhra. We show that Andhra encodes two lysins (Andhra_gp10 and Andhra_gp14) that inhibit growth and degrade the cell walls of diverse staphylococci, including
S. aureus
and
S. epidermidis
strains. Andhra and its unique lysins add to the arsenal of antimicrobials with potential for therapeutic use.
Estimated disability-adjusted life years averted by free-of-charge provision of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system over a 9-year period in Brazil
Authors: Ferreira Jessica M , Monteiro Ilza , Fernandes Arlete , Bahamondes Maria V , Pitoli Ana , Bahamondes Luis
Published: March 2017

Background

The objective was to analyse the contribution of the provision at no cost to users of the 20 µg/day levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) towards disability-adjusted life years (DALY) averted over a 9-year period.

Methods

We analysed data from 15 030 new users of the LNG-IUS who had the device inserted at 26 Brazilian teaching hospitals between January 2007 and December 2015. The devices came from the International Contraceptive Access Foundation (ICA), a not-for-profit foundation that donates the devices to developing countries for use by low-income women who desire long-term contraception and who freely choose to use this device. Estimation of the DALY averted included live births averted, maternal morbidity and mortality, child mortality and unsafe abortions averted.

Results

A total of 15 030 women chose the LNG-IUS as a contraceptive method during the study period. Over the 9 years of evaluation, the estimated cumulative contribution of the Brazilian program in terms of DALY averted consisted of 486 live births, 14 cases of combined maternal mortality and morbidity, 143 cases of child mortality and 410 unsafe abortions.

Conclusions

Provision of the LNG-IUS at no cost to low-income Brazilian women reduced unwanted pregnancies and probably averted maternal mortality and morbidity, child mortality and unsafe abortions. Family planning programs, policymakers and stakeholders based in low-resource settings could take advantage of the information that the provision of this contraceptive at no cost, or at affordable cost to a publicly-insured population, is an effective policy to help promote women’s health.
Mechanisms of ECG signs in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Authors: Larssen Marte Strømsnes , Steine Kjetil , Hilde Janne Mykland , Skjørten Ingunn , Hodnesdal Christian , Liestøl Knut , Gjesdal Knut
Published: March 2017

Objective

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often have abnormal ECGs. Our aim was to separate the effects on ECG by airway obstruction, emphysema and right ventricular (RV) afterload in patients with COPD.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was performed on 101 patients with COPD without left heart disease and 32 healthy age-matched controls. Body mass index (BMI) was measured, and pulmonary function tests, ECG, echocardiography and right heart catheterisation (only patients) were performed. Variables were grouped into (1) airway obstruction by FEV% (percentage of forced expiratory volume)_predicted, (2) emphysema by residual volume/total lung capacity and residual volume (percent of predicted) and (3) RV afterload by mean pulmonary pressure, artery compliance, vascular resistance and RV wall thickness.

Results

In multivariate regression analysis, emphysema correlated negatively to R+S amplitudes in horizontal and frontal leads, RV/left ventricle (LV) end-diastolic volume ratio to horizontal amplitudes and BMI negatively to frontal amplitudes. Increased airway obstruction, RV afterload and BMI correlated with horizontal QRS-axis clockwise rotation. Airway obstruction, RV afterload, RV/LV end-diastolic volume ratio and BMI correlated to the Sokolow-Lyon Index for RV, and RV afterload negatively to Sokolow-LyonIndex for LV. Several classical ECG changes could, however, not be ascribed to specific mechanisms.

Conclusions

In COPD, the various pathophysiological mechanisms modify the ECG differently. Increased airway obstruction and RV afterload mainly increase the Sokolow-Lyon Index for RV mass and associate with clockwise rotation of the horizontal QRS-axis, whereas emphysema reduces the QRS amplitudes. BMI is an equally important determinant for the majority of the ECG changes.
MRI-based hip cartilage measures in osteoarthritic and non-osteoarthritic individuals: a systematic review
Authors: Aguilar Hector N , Battié Michele C , Jaremko Jacob L
Published: March 2017

Osteoarthritis is a common hip joint disease, involving loss of articular cartilage. The prevalence and prognosis of hip osteoarthritis have been difficult to determine, with various clinical and radiological methods used to derive epidemiological estimates exhibiting significant heterogeneity. MRI-based methods directly visualise hip joint cartilage, and offer potential to more reliably define presence and severity of osteoarthritis, but have been underused. We performed a systematic review of MRI-based estimates of hip articular cartilage in the general population and in patients with established osteoarthritis, using MEDLINE, EMBASE and SCOPUS current to June 2016, with search terms such as ‘hip’, ‘femoral head’, ‘cartilage’, ‘volume’, ‘thickness’, ‘MRI’, etc. Ultimately, 11 studies were found appropriate for inclusion, but they were heterogeneous in osteoarthritis assessment methodology and composition. Overall, the studies consistently demonstrate the reliability and potential clinical utility of MRI-based estimates. However, no longitudinal data or reference values for hip cartilage thickness or volume have been published, limiting the ability of MRI to define or risk-stratify hip osteoarthritis. MRI-based techniques are available to quantify articular cartilage signal, volume, thickness and defects, which could establish the sequence and rate of articular cartilage changes at the hip that yield symptomatic osteoarthritis. However, prevalence and rates of progression of hip osteoarthritis have not been established in any MRI studies in the general population. Future investigations could fill this important knowledge gap using robust MRI methods in population-based cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.
Using micro-patterned surfaces to inhibit settlement and biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis
Authors: Chang Siyuan , Chen Xiaodong , Jiang Shuo , Chen Jinchun , Shi Lin
Published: March 2017

Biofilm is a biological complex caused by bacteria attachment to the substrates and their subsequent reproduction and secretion. This phenomenon reduces heat transfer efficiency and causes significant losses in treated sewage heat-recovering systems. This paper describes a physical approach to inhibit bacteria settlement and biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis, which is the dominant species in treated sewage. Here, micro-patterned surfaces with different characteristics (stripe and cube) and dimensions (1–100 μm) were fabricated as surfaces of interest. Model sewage was prepared and a rotating coupon device was used to form the biofilms. Precision balance, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) were employed to investigate the inhibitory effects and the mechanisms of the biofilm–surface interactions. The results have shown that surfaces with small pattern sizes (1 and 2 μm) all reduced biofilm formation significantly. Interestingly, the CLSM images showed that the surfaces do not play a role in “killing” the bacteria. These findings are useful for future development of new process surfaces on which bacteria settlement and biofilm formation can be inhibited or minimized.
Lorentz invariant CPT breaking in the Dirac equation
Authors: Fujikawa Kazuo , Tureanu Anca
Published: March 2017

If one modifies the Dirac equation in momentum space to [Formula: see text], the symmetry of positive and negative energy eigenvalues is lifted by [Formula: see text] for a small [Formula: see text]. The mass degeneracy of the particle and antiparticle is thus lifted in a Lorentz invariant manner since the combinations [Formula: see text] with step functions are manifestly Lorentz invariant. We explain an explicit construction of this CPT breaking term in coordinate space, which is Lorentz invariant but nonlocal at the distance scale of the Planck length. The application of this Lorentz invariant CPT breaking mechanism to the possible mass splitting of the neutrino and antineutrino in the Standard Model is briefly discussed.
Gravitational lensing by black holes and their alternatives
Authors: Bozza Valerio
Published: March 2017

Black holes have the ability to generate infinite number of images of any given source. These relativistic images are formed by light rays winding around the black hole several times. The phenomenology associated with these images is very rich, since these features are very sensitive to the metric structure of the black hole. Here, we review some aspects of gravitational lensing by black holes and consider some fundamental aspects related to alternative solutions, which do not reproduce Schwarzschild in the asymptotic limit and are supported by exotic matter.
Italian physicians’ contribution to geosciences
Authors: Pantaloni Marco , Console Fabiana , Lorusso Lorenzo , Petti Fabio Massimo , Franchini Antonia Francesca , Porro Alessandro , Romano Marco
Published: March 2017

Italian physicians have been interested in geology since the fifteenth century or earlier, with leading figures carrying out fundamental and enlightening studies in both fields of competence. Refined cultured men including Bernardino Ramazzini, Antonio Vallisneri, Tommaso Antonio Catullo, Carlo Gemmellaro, Leopoldo Pilla, Giuseppe Meneghini, Gaetano Giorgio Gemmellaro and Arcangelo Scacchi, in addition to the introduction of reasoning and basic concepts for the advancement of Earth sciences, conducted major studies in the medical field, proving once again the holistic interests of Italian intellectuals.

Following the publication of
Principles of Geology
by Charles Lyell, some scientists were fascinated by the geosciences, carrying out both medical observations and geological studies, and contributing significantly to the development of modern geology. The biographies and works of some leading Italian physicians illustrate their scientific activity in the study of stratigraphy, geomorphology, palaeontology and volcanology, with acknowledgement internationally. These Italian scientists contributed to the political unification of Italy, actively participating in scientific and political discussion, and fulfilling government aims. They contributed to the foundation of the Geological Society of Italy, one of the oldest scientific fellowships in Italy.
Added Value of Gaze-Exploiting Semantic Representation to Allow Robots Inferring Human Behaviors
Authors: Ramirez-Amaro Karinne , Minhas Humera Noor , Zehetleitner Michael , Beetz Michael , Cheng Gordon
Published: March 2017

Neuroscience studies have shown that incorporating gaze view with third view perspective has a great influence to correctly infer human behaviors. Given the importance of both first and third person observations for the recognition of human behaviors, we propose a method that incorporates these observations in a technical system to enhance the recognition of human behaviors, thus improving beyond third person observations in a more robust human activity recognition system. First, we present the extension of our proposed semantic reasoning method by including gaze data and external observations as
inputs
to segment and infer human behaviors in complex real-world scenarios. Then, from the obtained results we demonstrate that the combination of gaze and external input sources greatly enhance the recognition of human behaviors. Our findings have been applied to a humanoid robot to
online
segment and recognize the observed human activities with better accuracy when using both input sources; for example, the activity recognition increases from 77% to 82% in our proposed
pancake-making
dataset. To provide completeness of our system, we have evaluated our approach with another dataset with a similar setup as the one proposed in this work, that is, the CMU-MMAC dataset. In this case, we improved the recognition of the activities for the
egg scrambling
scenario from 54% to 86% by combining the external views with the gaze information, thus showing the benefit of incorporating gaze information to infer human behaviors across different datasets.
Automatic Single Page-Based Algorithms for Medieval Manuscript Analysis
Authors: Yang Ying , Pintus Ruggero , Gobbetti Enrico , Rushmeier Holly
Published: March 2017

We propose three automatic algorithms for analyzing digitized medieval manuscripts,
text block computation
,
text line segmentation
, and
special component extraction
, by taking advantage of previous clustering algorithms and a template-matching technique. These three methods are completely automatic, so no user intervention or input is required to make them work. Moreover, they are all per-page based; that is, unlike some prior methods—that need a set of pages from the same manuscript for training purposes—they are able to analyze a single page without requiring any additional pages for input, eliminating the need for training on additional pages with similar layout. We extensively evaluated the algorithms on 1,771 images of pages of six different publicly available historical manuscripts, which differ significantly from each other in terms of layout structure, acquisition resolution, writing style, and so on. The experimental results indicate that they are able to achieve very satisfactory performance, that is, the average precision and recall values obtained by the
text block computation method
can reach as high as 98% and 99%, respectively.
From Reassembly to Object Completion
Authors: Papaioannou Georgios , Schreck Tobias , Andreadis Anthousis , Mavridis Pavlos , Gregor Robert , Sipiran Ivan , Vardis Konstantinos
Published: March 2017

The problem of the restoration of broken artifacts, where large parts could be missing, is of high importance in archaeology. The typical manual restoration can become a tedious and error-prone process, which also does not scale well. In recent years, many methods have been proposed for assisting the process, most of which target specialized object types or operate under very strict constraints. We propose a digital shape restoration pipeline consisting of proven, robust methods for automatic fragment reassembly and shape completion of generic three-dimensional objects of arbitrary type. In this pipeline, first we introduce a novel unified approach for handling the reassembly of objects from heavily damaged fragments by exploiting both fracture surfaces and salient features on the intact sides of fragments, when available. Second, we propose an object completion procedure based on generalized symmetries and a complementary part extraction process that is suitable for driving the fabrication of missing geometry. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using real-world fractured objects and software implemented as part of the European Union--funded PRESIOUS project, which is also available for download from the project site.
(FPL 2015) Scavenger
Authors: Yang Hsin-Jung , Fleming Kermin , Winterstein Felix , Adler Michael , Emer Joel
Published: March 2017

High-level abstractions separate algorithm design from platform implementation, allowing programmers to focus on algorithms while building complex systems. This separation also provides system programmers and compilers an opportunity to optimize platform services on an application-by-application basis. In field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), platform-level malleability extends to the memory system: Unlike general-purpose processors, in which memory hardware is fixed at design time, the capacity, associativity, and topology of FPGA memory systems may all be tuned to improve application performance. Since application kernels may only explicitly use few memory resources, substantial memory capacity may be available to the platform for use on behalf of the user program. In this work, we present Scavenger, which utilizes spare resources to construct program-optimized memories, and we also perform an initial exploration of methods for automating the construction of these application-specific memory hierarchies. Although exploiting spare resources can be beneficial, naïvely consuming all memory resources may cause frequency degradation. To relieve timing pressure in large block RAM (BRAM) structures, we provide microarchitectural techniques to trade memory latency for design frequency. We demonstrate, by examining a set of benchmarks, that our scalable cache microarchitecture achieves performance gains of 7% to 74% (with a 26% geometric mean on average) over the baseline cache microarchitecture when scaling the size of first-level caches to the maximum.
Anonymous or Not? Understanding the Factors Affecting Personal Mobile Data Disclosure
Authors: Perentis Christos , Vescovi Michele , Leonardi Chiara , Moiso Corrado , Musolesi Mirco , Pianesi Fabio , Lepri Bruno
Published: March 2017

The wide adoption of mobile devices and social media platforms have dramatically increased the collection and sharing of personal information. More and more frequently, users are called to make decisions concerning the disclosure of their personal information. In this study, we investigate the factors affecting users’ choices toward the disclosure of their personal data, including not only their demographic and self-reported individual characteristics, but also their social interactions and their mobility patterns inferred from months of mobile phone data activity. We report the findings of a field study conducted with a community of 63 subjects provided with (i) a smart-phone and (ii) a Personal Data Store (PDS) enabling them to control the disclosure of their data. We monitor the sharing behavior of our participants through the PDS and evaluate the contribution of different factors affecting their disclosing choices of location and social interaction data. Our analysis shows that social interaction inferred by mobile phones is an important factor revealing willingness to share, regardless of the data type. In addition, we provide further insights on the individual traits relevant to the prediction of sharing behavior.
Newtonian Program Analysis via Tensor Product
Authors: Reps Thomas , Turetsky Emma , Prabhu Prathmesh
Published: March 2017

Recently, Esparza et al. generalized Newton’s method—a numerical-analysis algorithm for finding roots of real-valued functions—to a method for finding fixed-points of systems of equations over semirings. Their method provides a new way to solve interprocedural dataflow-analysis problems. As in its real-valued counterpart, each iteration of their method solves a simpler “linearized” problem.

One of the reasons this advance is exciting is that some numerical analysts have claimed that “‘all’ effective and fast iterative [numerical] methods are forms (perhaps very disguised) of Newton’s method.” However, there is an important difference between the dataflow-analysis and numerical-analysis contexts: When Newton’s method is used in numerical-analysis problems,

commutativity of multiplication

is relied on to rearrange an expression of the form “
a
*
X
*
b
+
c
*
X
*
d
” into “(
a
*
b
+
c
*
d
)*
X
.” Equations with such expressions correspond to path problems described by regular languages. In contrast, when Newton’s method is used for interprocedural dataflow analysis, the “multiplication” operation involves function composition and hence is non-commutative: “
a
*
X
*
b
+
c
*
X
*
d
” cannot be rearranged into “(
a
*
b
+
c
*
d
)*
X
.” Equations with such expressions correspond to path problems described by linear context-free languages (LCFLs).

In this article, we present an improved technique for solving the LCFL sub-problems produced during successive rounds of Newton’s method. Our method applies to predicate abstraction, on which most of today’s software model checkers rely.
Resource Oblivious Sorting on Multicores
Authors: Cole Richard , Ramachandran Vijaya
Published: March 2017

We present a deterministic sorting algorithm, Sample, Partition, and Merge Sort (SPMS), that interleaves the partitioning of a sample sort with merging. Sequentially, it sorts
n
elements in
O
(
n
log
n
) time cache-obliviously with an optimal number of cache misses. The parallel complexity (or critical path length) of the algorithm is
O
(log
n
log log
n
), which improves on previous bounds for deterministic sample sort. The algorithm also has low false sharing costs. When scheduled by a work-stealing scheduler in a multicore computing environment with a global shared memory and
p
cores, each having a cache of size
M
organized in blocks of size
B
, the costs of the additional cache misses and false sharing misses due to this parallel execution are bounded by the cost of
O
(
S
·
M
/
B
) and
O
(
S
·
B
) cache misses, respectively, where
S
is the number of steals performed during the execution. Finally, SPMS is resource oblivious in that the dependence on machine parameters appear only in the analysis of its performance and not within the algorithm itself.
Technical Debt
Authors: Izurieta Clemente , Ozkaya Ipek , Seaman Carolyn , Snipes Will
Published: March 2017

We report here on the Eighth International Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, collocated with the International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution (ICSME 2016). The technical debt research community continues to expand through collaborations of industry, tool vendors, and academia. The major themes of discussion this year indicate convergence on a common definition on technical debt and its elements which drive the maturation of a research roadmap, demonstrating that managing technical debt is a mainstream topic in software engineering research bringing empirical analysis, data science, software design and architecture analysis and automation among other challenges together.
More than Meets the Eye
Authors: Pedersen Isabel , Gale Nathan , Mirza-Babaei Pejman , Reid Samantha
Published: March 2017

Cultural heritage artifacts connect us to past generations and provide links to previous worlds that are beyond our reach. We developed TombSeer, an augmented reality application that aims to immerse the wearer in a museum space engaging two senses (seeing and gesturing) through a holographic heads-up interface that brings virtual, historical artifacts “back to life” through gestural interactivity. This article introduces the TombSeer software prototype and highlights the application of embodied interaction to museum visits using an emerging hardware platform for 3D interactive holographic images (e.g., Meta head-mounted display). This article discusses the TombSeer prototype's development and functionality testing with the
Tomb of Kitines
exhibit, which was conducted at The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada. TombSeer's embodied gestural and visual augmented reality experience functions to aesthetically enhance museum exhibits, cultural heritage sites, and galleries.
Interactive Design and Stability Analysis of Decorative Joinery for Furniture
Authors: Yao Jiaxian , Kaufman Danny M. , Gingold Yotam , Agrawala Maneesh
Published: March 2017

High-quality hand-made furniture often employs
intrinsic joints
that geometrically interlock along mating surfaces. Such joints increase the structural integrity of the furniture and add to its visual appeal. We present an interactive tool for designing such intrinsic joints. Users draw the visual appearance of the joints on the surface of an input furniture model as groups of two-dimensional (2D) regions that must belong to the same part. Our tool automatically partitions the furniture model into a set of solid 3D parts that conform to the user-specified 2D regions and assemble into the furniture. If the input does not merit assemblable solid 3D parts, then our tool reports the failure and suggests options for redesigning the 2D surface regions so that they are assemblable. Similarly, if any parts in the resulting assembly are unstable, then our tool suggests where additional 2D regions should be drawn to better interlock the parts and improve stability. To perform this stability analysis, we introduce a novel variational static analysis method that addresses shortcomings of the equilibrium method for our task. Specifically, our method correctly detects sliding instabilities and reports the locations and directions of sliding and hinging failures. We show that our tool can be used to generate over 100 joints inspired by traditional woodworking and Japanese joinery. We also design and fabricate nine complete furniture assemblies that are stable and connected using only the intrinsic joints produced by our tool.
The circadian protein BMAL1 in myeloid cells is a negative regulator of allergic asthma
Authors: Zasłona Zbigniew , Case Sarah , Early James O. , Lalor Stephen J. , McLoughlin Rachel M. , Curtis Anne M. , O’Neill Luke A. J.
Published: March 2017

Our body clock drives rhythms in the expression of genes that have a 24-h periodicity. The transcription factor BMAL1 is a crucial component of the molecular clock. A number of physiological processes, including immune function, are modulated by the circadian clock. Asthma, a disease with very strong clinical evidence demonstrating regulation by circadian variation, is of particular relevance to circadian control of immunity. Airway hypersensitivity and asthma attacks are more common at night in humans. The molecular basis for this is unknown, and there is no model of asthma in animals with genetic distortion of the molecular clock. We used mice lacking BMAL1 in myeloid cells (BMAL1-LysM−/−) to determine the role of BMAL1 in allergic asthma. Using the ovalbumin model of allergic asthma, we demonstrated markedly increased asthma features, such as increased lung inflammation, demonstrated by drastically higher numbers of eosinophils and increased IL-5 levels in the lung and serum, in BMAL1-LysM−/− mice. In vitro studies demonstrated increased proinflammatory chemokine and mannose receptor expression in IL-4- as well as LPS-treated macrophages from BMAL1-LysM−/− mice compared with wild-type controls. This suggests that Bmal1 is a potent negative regulator in myeloid cells in the context of allergic asthma. Our findings might explain the increase in asthma incidents during the night, when BMAL1 expression is low.
Effects of dobutamine on intestinal microvascular blood flow heterogeneity and O2 extraction during septic shock
Authors: Ospina-Tascón Gustavo A. , García Marin Alberto F. , Echeverri Gabriel J. , Bermudez William F. , Madriñán-Navia Humberto , Valencia Juan David , Quiñones Edgardo , Rodríguez Fernando , Marulanda Angela , Arango-Dávila César A. , Bruhn Alejandro , Hernández Glenn , De Backer Daniel
Published: March 2017

Derangements of microvascular blood flow distribution might contribute to disturbing O2 extraction by peripheral tissues. We evaluated the dynamic relationships between the mesenteric O2 extraction ratio ([Formula: see text]) and the heterogeneity of microvascular blood flow at the gut and sublingual mucosa during the development and resuscitation of septic shock in a swine model of fecal peritonitis. Jejunal-villi and sublingual microcirculation were evaluated using a portable intravital-microscopy technique. Simultaneously, we obtained arterial, mixed-venous, and mesenteric blood gases, and jejunal-tonometric measurements. During resuscitation, pigs were randomly allocated to a fixed dose of dobutamine (5 µg·kg−1·min−1) or placebo while three sham models with identical monitoring served as controls. At the time of shock, we observed a significant decreased proportion of perfused intestinal-villi (villi-PPV) and sublingual percentage of perfused small vessels (SL-PPV), paralleling an increase in [Formula: see text] in both dobutamine and placebo groups. After starting resuscitation, villi-PPV and SL-PPV significantly increased in the dobutamine group with subsequent improvement of functional capillary density, whereas [Formula: see text] exhibited a corresponding significant decrease (repeated-measures ANOVA, P = 0.02 and P = 0.04 for time × group interactions and intergroup differences for villi-PPV and [Formula: see text], respectively). Variations in villi-PPV were paralleled by variations in [Formula: see text] ( R2 = 0.88, P < 0.001) and these, in turn, by mesenteric lactate changes ( R2 = 0.86, P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in cardiac output and systemic O2 delivery throughout the experiment. In conclusion, dynamic changes in microvascular blood flow heterogeneity at jejunal mucosa are closely related to the mesenteric O2 extraction ratio, suggesting a crucial role for microvascular blood flow distribution on O2 uptake during development and resuscitation from septic shock.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our observations suggest that dynamic changes in the heterogeneity of microvascular blood flow at the gut mucosa are closely related to mesenteric O2 extraction, thus supporting the role of decreasing functional capillary density and increased intercapillary distances on alterations of O2 uptake during development and resuscitation from septic shock. Addition of a low-fixed dose of dobutamine might reverse such flow heterogeneity, improving microcirculatory flow distribution and tissue O2 consumption.
Advantages of comparative studies in songbirds to understand the neural basis of sensorimotor integration
Authors: Murphy Karagh , James Logan S. , Sakata Jon T. , Prather Jonathan F.
Published: March 2017

Sensorimotor integration is the process through which the nervous system creates a link between motor commands and associated sensory feedback. This process allows for the acquisition and refinement of many behaviors, including learned communication behaviors such as speech and birdsong. Consequently, it is important to understand fundamental mechanisms of sensorimotor integration, and comparative analyses of this process can provide vital insight. Songbirds offer a powerful comparative model system to study how the nervous system links motor and sensory information for learning and control. This is because the acquisition, maintenance, and control of birdsong critically depend on sensory feedback. Furthermore, there is an incredible diversity of song organizations across songbird species, ranging from songs with simple, stereotyped sequences to songs with complex sequencing of vocal gestures, as well as a wide diversity of song repertoire sizes. Despite this diversity, the neural circuitry for song learning, control, and maintenance remains highly similar across species. Here, we highlight the utility of songbirds for the analysis of sensorimotor integration and the insights about mechanisms of sensorimotor integration gained by comparing different songbird species. Key conclusions from this comparative analysis are that variation in song sequence complexity seems to covary with the strength of feedback signals in sensorimotor circuits and that sensorimotor circuits contain distinct representations of elements in the vocal repertoire, possibly enabling evolutionary variation in repertoire sizes. We conclude our review by highlighting important areas of research that could benefit from increased comparative focus, with particular emphasis on the integration of new technologies.
Empirical Study and Modeling of Vehicular Communications at Intersections in the 5 GHz Band
Authors: Hadiwardoyo Seilendria A. , Tomás Andrés , Hernández-Orallo Enrique , Calafate Carlos T. , Cano Juan-Carlos , Manzoni Pietro
Published: March 2017

Event warnings are critical in the context of ITS, being dependent on reliable and low-delay delivery of messages to nearby vehicles. One of the main challenges to address in this context is intersection management. Since buildings will severely hinder signals in the 5 GHz band, it becomes necessary to transmit at the exact moment a vehicle is at the center of an intersection to maximize delivery chances. However, GPS inaccuracy, among other problems, complicates the achievement of this goal. In this paper we study this problem by first analyzing different intersection types, studying the vehicular communications performance in each type of intersection through real scenario experiments. Obtained results show that intersection-related communications depend on the distances to the intersection and line-of-sight (LOS) conditions. Also, depending on the physical characteristics of intersections, the presented blockages introduce different degrees of hampering to message delivery. Based on the modeling of the different intersection types, we then study the expected success ratio when notifying events at intersections. In general, we find that effective propagation of messages at intersections is possible, even in urban canyons and despite GPS errors, as long as rooftop antennas are used to compensate for poor communication conditions.
A New Method for Solving Multiobjective Bilevel Programs
Authors: Ji Ying , Qu Shaojian , Yu Zhensheng
Published: March 2017

We study a class of multiobjective bilevel programs with the weights of objectives being uncertain and assumed to belong to convex and compact set. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study about this class of problems. We use a worst-case weighted approach to solve this class of problems. Our “worst-case weighted multiobjective bilevel programs” model supposes that each player (leader or follower) has a set of weights to their objectives and wishes to minimize their maximum weighted sum objective where the maximization is with respect to the set of weights. This new model gives rise to a new Pareto optimum concept, which we call “robust-weighted Pareto optimum”; for the worst-case weighted multiobjective optimization with the weight set of each player given as a polytope, we show that a robust-weighted Pareto optimum can be obtained by solving mathematical programing with equilibrium constraints (MPEC). For an application, we illustrate the usefulness of the worst-case weighted multiobjective optimization to a supply chain risk management under demand uncertainty. By the comparison with the existing weighted approach, we show that our method is more robust and can be more efficiently applied to real-world problems.
Clinical Significance of Preoperative Albumin and Globulin Ratio in Patients with Gastric Cancer Undergoing Treatment
Authors: Mao Min-jie , Wei Xiao-li , Sheng Hui , Wang Xue-ping , Li Xiao-hui , Liu Yi-jun , Xing Shan , Huang Qi , Dai Shu-qin , Liu Wan-li
Published: March 2017

Background. The pretreatment albumin and globulin ratio (AGR) was an inflammation-associated factor which was related to the overall survival in various malignancies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of AGR in patients with gastric cancer. Method. This retrospective study included 862 cases pathologically diagnosed with gastric cancer. All patients were randomly divided into the testing group (431 cases) and validation group (431 cases). The relationships of AGR with clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression methods. Results. In the testing group, the median overall survival was 26.90 months and the cutoff value of AGR was 1.50 based on R language. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that lower AGR was correlated with poorer overall survival. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that AGR was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (HR: 0.584, 95% CI = 0.351–0.973, and p = 0.039). In the validation group, the median overall survival was 24.10 months. Lower AGR (≤1.50) also had a significantly poorer overall survival by Kaplan-Meier analysis. According to multivariate analysis, the AGR was also confirmed to be an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (HR: 0.578, 95% CI = 0.373–0.897, and p = 0.015). Conclusions. Our study suggested that the pretreatment AGR could be a prognostic biomarker for overall survival in patients with gastric cancer.
Distinguishing the Unique Neuropathological Profile of Blast Polytrauma
Authors: Hubbard W. Brad , Greenberg Shaylen , Norris Carly , Eck Joseph , Lavik Erin , VandeVord Pamela
Published: March 2017

Traumatic brain injury sustained after blast exposure (blast‐induced TBI) has recently been documented as a growing issue for military personnel. Incidence of injury to organs such as the lungs has decreased, though current epidemiology still causes a great public health burden. In addition, unprotected civilians sustain primary blast lung injury (PBLI) at alarming rates. Often, mild‐to‐moderate cases of PBLI are survivable with medical intervention, which creates a growing population of survivors of blast‐induced polytrauma (BPT) with symptoms from blast‐induced mild TBI (mTBI). Currently, there is a lack of preclinical models simulating BPT, which is crucial to identifying unique injury mechanisms of BPT and its management. To meet this need, our group characterized a rodent model of BPT and compared results to a blast‐induced mTBI model. Open field (OF) performance trials were performed on rodents at 7 days after injury. Immunohistochemistry was performed to evaluate cellular outcome at day seven following BPT. Levels of reactive astrocytes (GFAP), apoptosis (cleaved caspase‐3 expression), and vascular damage (SMI‐71) were significantly elevated in BPT compared to blast‐induced mTBI. Downstream markers of hypoxia (HIF‐1α and VEGF) were higher only after BPT. This study highlights the need for unique therapeutics and prehospital management when handling BPT.
Dynamic Search Mechanism with Threat Prediction in a GNSS Receiver
Authors: Liu Fang , Liu Meng
Published: March 2017

With the development of GNSS and the application of multimode signals, efficient GNSS receiver research has become very important. However, threat signals in the received signal are inevitable, which will represent important threats to navigation applications and will lead to leakage and fault detection for the receiver. Therefore, the searches with threat prediction in GNSS signals have been regarded as the important problem for GNSS receivers. In view of the limitations and nonadaptability of the current search technologies as well as on the basis of the proportionality peak judgment mechanism, a dynamic search mechanism with threat prediction (DSM-TP) is proposed in this paper, in which we define a series of preset coefficients and a threat index to optimize the decision mechanism. The simulation results demonstrate that the DSM-TP method can predict the threat situation and can adapt to lower SNR environments compared to the traditional method. In addition, the DSM-TP method can avoid the impact of threats, and the detection capability of the new method is better than the detection capability of the traditional method.
Celiac Disease Presenting with Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura
Authors: Sarbay Hakan , Cosan Sarbay Billur , Akın Mehmet , Kocamaz Halil , Tosun Mahya Sultan
Published: March 2017

Celiac disease (CD) is an immunological disorder. Clinical manifestations occur as a result of intestinal mucosa damage and malabsorption. CD is also associated with extraintestinal manifestations and autoimmune disorders. The coexistence of CD and autoimmune diseases has been described before. In this article, a patient with CD presenting with thrombocytopenia is discussed.
Integrating Transcriptomics, Proteomics, and Metabolomics Profiling with System Pharmacology for the Delineation of Long-Term Therapeutic Mechanisms of Bufei Jianpi Formula in Treating COPD
Authors: Zhao Peng , Li Jiansheng , Li Ya , Tian Yange , Yang Liping , Li Suyun
Published: March 2017

In previous work, we identified 145 active compounds from Bufei Jianpi formula (BJF) by system pharmacology and found that BJF showed short-term effect on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rats. Here, we applied the transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomics approaches to illustrate the long-term anti-COPD action and its system mechanism of BJF. BJF has obvious anti-COPD effect through decreasing inflammatory cytokines level, preventing protease-antiprotease imbalance and collagen deposition on week 32 by continuous oral administration to rats from weeks 9 to 20. Subsequently, applying the transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomics techniques, we detected a number of regulated genes, proteins, and metabolites, mainly related to antioxidant activity, focal adhesion, or lipid metabolism, in lung tissues of COPD and BJF-treated rats. Afterwards, we integrated system pharmacology target, transcript, protein, and metabolite data sets and found that many genes, proteins, and metabolites in rats BJF-treated group and the target proteins of BJF were mainly attributed to lipid metabolism, inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and focal adhesion. Taken together, BJF displays long-term anti-COPD effect probably by system regulation of the lipid metabolism, inflammatory response pathways oxidative stress, and focal adhesion.
Cognitive-Behavioral Coping, Illness Perception, and Family Adaptability in Oncological Patients with a Family History of Cancer
Authors: Postolica Roxana , Iorga Magdalena , Petrariu Florin Dumitru , Azoicai Doina
Published: March 2017

Aim. The study investigated the differences between patients with and without a family history of cancer regarding coping strategies, illness perception, and family adaptability to the disease. Material and Methods. A total of 124 patients diagnosed with cancer were included in the research (55 of them with a family history of cancer). The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Strategic Approach to Coping Scale, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale, and the Illness Perception Questionnaire were applied. The data were processed using the SPSS 21 software. Results. Patients with previous records of cancer in the family get significantly higher scores for the illness coherence factor. Family satisfaction is significantly higher for patients with a genetic risk, compared to the one reported by patients who suffer from the disease but have no genetic risk. Cognitive-behavioral coping strategies and family cohesion are factors that correlate with an adaptive perception of the illness in the case of patients with a family history of cancer. Conclusion. Results are important for the construction of strategies used for patients with a family history of cancer.
Performance Analysis of User Pairing Algorithm in Full-Duplex Cellular Networks
Authors: Noh Wonjong , Shin Wonjae , Choi Hyun-Ho
Published: March 2017

In a full duplexing (FD) wireless cellular network, a base station operates in FD mode, while the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) users operate in half duplexing (HD) mode. Thus, the downlink and uplink transmissions occur simultaneously so that interuser interference from a UL to a DL user occurs. In an FD network, the main challenge to minimize the interuser interference is user pairing, which determines a pair of DL and UL users who use the same radio resource simultaneously. We formulate a nonconvex optimization problem for user pairing to maximize the cell throughput. Then, we propose a heuristic user pairing algorithm with low complexity. This algorithm is designed such that the DL user having a better signal quality has higher priority to choose its paired UL user for throughput maximization. Thereafter, we conduct theoretical performance analysis of the FD cellular system based on stochastic geometry and analyze the impact of the user paring algorithm on the performance of the FD cellular system. Results show that the FD system that uses the proposed user pairing algorithm effectively reduces the interuser interference and approaches optimal performance. It also considerably outperforms the FD system using a random user pairing and almost doubles the conventional HD system in terms of cell throughput.
Development of Isothermal Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of Porcine Circovirus Type 2
Authors: Yang Yang , Qin Xiaodong , Sun Yingjun , Cong Guozheng , Li Yanmin , Zhang Zhidong
Published: March 2017

Porcine circovirus virus type II (PCV2) is the etiology of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), porcine dermatitis, nephropathy syndrome (PDNS), and necrotizing pneumonia. Rapid diagnosis tool for detection of PCV2 plays an important role in the disease control and eradication program. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assays using a real-time fluorescent detection (PCV2 real-time RPA assay) and RPA combined with lateral flow dipstick (PCV2 RPA LFD assay) were developed targeting the PCV2 ORF2 gene. The results showed that the sensitivity of the PCV2 real-time RPA assay was 102copies per reaction within 20 min at 37°C and the PCV2 RPA LFD assay had a detection limit of 102copies per reaction in less than 20 min at 37°C. Both assays were highly specific for PCV2, with no cross-reactions with porcine circovirus virus type 1, foot-and-mouth disease virus, pseudorabies virus, porcine parvovirus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, and classical swine fever virus. Therefore, the RPA assays provide a novel alternative for simple, sensitive, and specific identification of PCV2.
Immigrant Arrival and Tuberculosis among Large Immigrant- and Refugee-Receiving Countries, 2005–2009
Authors: White Zachary , Painter John , Douglas Paul , Abubakar Ibrahim , Njoo Howard , Archibald Chris , Halverson Jessica , Robson John , Posey Drew L.
Published: March 2017

Objective. Tuberculosis control in foreign-born populations is a major public health concern for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States, large immigrant- and refugee-receiving countries that comprise the Immigration and Refugee Health Working Group (IRHWG). Identifying and comparing immigration and distribution of foreign-born tuberculosis cases are important for developing targeted and collaborative interventions.Methods. Data stratified by year and country of birth from 2005 to 2009 were received from these five countries. Immigration totals, tuberculosis case totals, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) case totals from source countries were analyzed and compared to reveal similarities and differences for each member of the group.Results. Between 2005 and 2009, there were a combined 31,785,002 arrivals, 77,905 tuberculosis cases, and 888 MDR TB cases notified at the federal level in the IRHWG countries. India, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines accounted for 41.4% of the total foreign-born tuberculosis cases and 42.7% of the foreign-born MDR tuberculosis cases to IRHWG.Interpretation. Collaborative efforts across a small number of countries have the potential to yield sizeable gains in tuberculosis control for these large immigrant- and refugee-receiving countries.