bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early Brain Imaging can Predict Autism: Application of Machine Learning to a Clinical Imaging Archive
Authors: Katuwal Gajendra J. , Baum Stefi A. , Michael Andrew M.
Published: November 2018

A comprehensive investigation of early brain alterations in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is critical for understanding the neuroanatomical underpinnings of autism and its early diagnosis. Most previous brain imaging studies in ASD, however, are based on children older than 6 years – well after the average age of ASD diagnosis (~46 months). In this study, we use brain magnetic resonance images that were collected as part of clinical routine from patients who were later diagnosed with ASD. Using 15 ASD subjects of age three to four years and 18 age-matched non-ASD subjects as controls, we perform comprehensive comparison of different brain morphometric features and ASD vs. non-ASD classification by Random Forest machine learning method. We find that, although total intracranial volume (TIV) of ASD was 5.5 % larger than in non-ASD, brain volumes of many other brain areas (as a percentage of TIV) were smaller in ASD and can be partly attributed to larger (>10 %) ventricles in ASD. The larger TIV in ASD was correlated to larger surface area and increased amount of cortical folding but not to cortical thickness. The white matter regions in ASD had less image intensity (predominantly in the frontal and temporal regions) suggesting myelination deficit. We achieved 95 % area under the ROC curve (AUC) for ASD vs. non-ASD classification using all brain features. When classification was performed separately for each feature type, image intensity yielded the highest predictive power (95 % AUC), followed by cortical folding index (69 %), cortical and subcortical volume (69 %), and surface area (68 %). The most important feature for classification was white matter intensity surrounding the rostral middle frontal gyrus and was lower in ASD (d = 0.77, p = 0.04). The high degree of classification success indicates that the application of machine learning methods on brain features holds promise for earlier identification of ASD. To our knowledge this is the first study to leverage a clinical imaging archive to investigate early brain markers in ASD.
Genetic control of gene expression and splicing in the developing human brain
Authors: Walker Rebecca L. , Ramaswami Gokul , Hartl Christopher , Mancuso Nicholas , Gandal Michael J. , de la Torre-Ubieta Luis , Pasaniuc Bogdan , Stein Jason L. , Geschwind Daniel H.
Published: November 2018

Most genetic risk for human diseases lies within non-coding regions of the genome, which is predicted to regulate gene expression, often in a tissue and stage specific manner. This has motivated building of extensive eQTL resources to understand how human allelic variation affects gene expression and splicing throughout the body, focusing primarily on adult tissue. Given the importance of regulatory pathways during brain development, we characterize the genetic control of the developing human cerebral cortical transcriptome, including expression and splicing, in 201 mid-gestational human brains, to understand how common allelic variation affects gene regulation during development. We leverage expression and splice quantitative trait loci to identify genes and isoforms relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders and brain volume. These findings demonstrate genetic mechanisms by which early developmental events have a striking and widespread influence on adult anatomical and behavioral phenotypes, as well as the evolution of the human cerebral cortex.

Highlights

Genome wide map of human fetal brain eQTLs and sQTLs provides a new view of genetic control of expression and splicing.

There is substantial contrast between genetic control of transcript regulation in mature versus developing brain.

We identify novel regulatory regions specific to fetal brain development.

Integration of eQTLs and GWAS reveals specific relationships between expression and disease risk for neuropsychiatric diseases and relevant human brain phenotypes.
Representation of music genres based on the spectro-temporal modulation responses of the human brain
Authors: Nakai Tomoya , Koide-Majima Naoko , Nishimoto Shinji
Published: November 2018

Music genre is an essential category for understanding human musical preferences and is provided based on the abstract categorization upon complex auditory stimuli. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported the involvement of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) in response to general music-related features. However, it remains largely unclear how abstract categories of music genre are represented in the brain and what acoustic features are more suited for explaining such representations. Here we examined comprehensive cortical representations and functional organization of music genres using 540 music clips. We applied a voxel-wise modeling approach to music-evoked brain activity measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We observed distinct cortical organizations for different music genres in the bilateral STG, which revealed the representational relationship between various music genres, e.g., classical and hip-hop music showed opposite representations. Representations of music genres were largely explained by spectro-temporal modulation, which was modeled by a biologically plausible spectro-temporal modulation-transfer function (MTF) model. Our results elucidate the quantitative representation of music genres in the human cortex and indicate the possibility of modeling our abstract categorization of complex auditory stimuli based on the brain activity.

Significance statement

Music genre is an essential category for understanding human preferences of music. However, it is largely unknown how abstract categories of music genre are represented in the brain. Here, we examined comprehensive cortical representations of music genres by building voxel-wise models of fMRI data collected while human subjects listened to 540 music clips. We found distinct cortical organizations for various music genres in the bilateral STG. Such genre-specific cortical organization was explained by the biologically plausible MTF model. The current study elucidates the quantitative representation of music genres in the human cortex for the first time and indicates the possibility of modeling our abstract categorization of complex auditory stimuli based on the brain activity.
Common garden experiment reveals altered nutritional values and DNA methylation profiles in micropropagated three elite Ghanaian sweet potato genotypes
Authors: Akomeah Belinda , Quain Marian D. , Ramesh Sunita A. , Rodríguez López Carlos M.
Published: November 2018

Micronutrient deficiency is the cause of multiple diseases in developing countries. Staple crop biofortification is an efficient means to combat such deficiencies in the diets of local consumers. Biofortified lines of sweet potato (Ipomoea batata L. Lam) with enhanced beta-carotene content have been developed in Ghana to alleviate Vitamin A Deficiency. These genotypes are propagated using meristem micropropagation to ensure the generation of virus-free propagules. In vitro culture exposes micropropagated plants to conditions that can lead to the accumulation of somaclonal variation with the potential to generate unwanted aberrant phenotypes. However, the effect of micropropagation induced somaclonal variation on the production of key nutrients by field-grown plants has not been previously studied. Here we assessed the extent of in vitro culture induced somaclonal variation, at a phenotypic, compositional and genetic/epigenetic level, by comparing field-maintained and micropropagated lines of three elite Ghanaian sweet potato genotypes grown in a common garden. Although micropropagated plants presented no observable morphological abnormalities compared to field maintained lines, they presented significantly lower levels of iron, total protein, zinc, and glucose. Methylation Sensitive Amplification Polymorphism analysis showed a high level of in vitro culture induced molecular variation in micropropagated plants. Epigenetic, rather than genetic variation, accounts for most of the observed molecular variability. Taken collectively, our results highlight the importance of ensuring the clonal fidelity of the micropropagated biofortified lines in order to reduce potential losses in the nutritional value prior to their commercial release.
Sleepless and Desynchronized: Impaired Inter Trial Phase Coherence of Steady-State Potentials Following Sleep Deprivation
Authors: Eidelman-Rothman M , Ben-Simon E , Freche D , Keil A , Hendler T , Levit-Binnun N
Published: November 2018

1.

Sleep loss has detrimental effects on cognitive and emotional functioning. These impairments have been associated with alterations in EEG measures of power spectrum and event-related potentials, however the impact of sleep loss on inter trial phase coherence (ITPC), a measure of phase consistency over experimental trials, remains mostly unknown. ITPC is thought to reflect the ability of the neural response to temporally synchronize with relevant events, thus optimizing information processing.

In the current study we investigated the effects of sleep deprivation on information processing by evaluating the phase consistency of steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as well as amplitude-based measures of ssVEP, obtained from a group of 18 healthy individuals following 24 hours of total sleep deprivation and after a night of habitual sleep. An ssVEP task was utilized, which included the presentation of dots flickering at 7.5 Hz, along with a cognitive-emotional task. Our results show that ITPC is significantly reduced under sleep deprivation relative to habitual sleep. Interestingly, decreased ITPC under sleep deprivation was associated with decreased behavioral performance in the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), a validate measure of reduced vigilance following lack of sleep.

The results suggest that the capability of the brain to synchronize with rhythmic stimuli is disrupted without sleep. Thus, decreased ITPC may represent an objective and mechanistic measure of sleep loss, allowing future work to study the relation between brain-world synchrony and the specific functional impairments associated with sleep deprivation.
Single-molecule kinetics of pore assembly by the membrane attack complex
Authors: Parsons Edward S. , Stanley George J. , Pyne Alice L. B. , Hodel Adrian W. , Nievergelt Adrian P. , Menny Anaïs , Yon Alexander R. , Rowley Ashlea , Richter Ralf P. , Fantner Georg E. , Bubeck Doryen , Hoogenboom Bart W.
Published: November 2018

The membrane attack complex (MAC) is a hetero-oligomeric protein assembly that kills pathogens by perforating their cell envelopes. The MAC is formed by sequential assembly of soluble complement proteins C5b, C6, C7, C8 and C9, but little is known about the rate-limiting steps in this process. Here, we use rapid atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging to show that MAC proteins oligomerize within the membrane, unlike structurally homologous bacterial pore-forming toxins. C5b6 interacts with the lipid bilayer prior to recruiting C7 and C8. We discover that incorporation of the first C9 is the kinetic bottleneck of MAC formation, after which rapid C9 oligomerization completes the pore. This defines the kinetic basis for MAC assembly and provides insight into how human cells are protected from bystander damage by the cell surface receptor CD59, which is offered a maximum temporal window to halt the assembly at the point of C9 insertion.
Exploratory study of factors associated with human brucellosis in mainland China based on time-series-cross-section data from 2005 to 2016
Authors: Lin Yun , Zhang Tao , Zhang Xingyu
Published: November 2018

Objective

Many studies focused on reasons behind the increasing incidence and the spread of human brucellosis in mainland China, yet most of them lacked comprehensive consideration with quantitative evidence. Hence, this study aimed to further investigate the epidemic mechanism and associated factors of human brucellosis in China so as to provide suggestions on more effective countermeasures.

Methods

Data of human brucellosis incidence and some associated factors in economy, animal husbandry, transportation and health were collected at provincial level from 2005-2016. Time series plot and cluster analysis were first used to visualize incidence levels and categorize provinces based on their incidence level and epidemic trend of human brucellosis. Furthermore, according to the characteristics of data, the dynamic panel data model in combination with supervised principal component analysis was proposed to explore the effects of associated factors on human brucellosis.

Results

① The incidence rate of human brucellosis has increased threefold (from 1.41 in 2005 to 4.22 in 2016) in mainland China. Incidence rates in the north have always been higher than those in the south, but the latter also experienced an upward trend especially in the recent five years. ② The 31 provinces of mainland China were categorized into three clusters, and each cluster had its own characteristics of incidence level and epidemic trend. ③ Public health expenditure and rural medical expenditure proportion were potential protective factors of human brucellosis, with attribute risks of −0.74 and −1.04 respectively. Other factors (such as amount of sheep, total length of highways, etc.) exhibited relatively trivial effects.

Conclusions

The epidemic status of human brucellosis has changed in both spatial and temporal dimensions in recent years. Apart from those traditional control measures, more attention should be paid to the improvement of medical healthcare especially in rural areas in order to strengthen the control effect.
Ab initio structure determination of [Eu5(C2H4O2)6(CH3CO2)3]
n
by X-ray powder diffraction
Authors: Abdallah Amal , Ammar Souad , Ban Voraksmy , Sibille Romain , Francois Michel
Published: November 2018

The compound [Eu5(C2H4O2)6(CH3CO2)3]
n
was synthesized by dissolving acetate europium salt in ethylene glycol solvent and heating under reflux for a short time. Its structure was solved ab initio from synchrotron powder diffraction data using optimization methods in direct space. The compound has a very large unit-cell volume of 23679 Å3 and the highest centred cubic symmetry space group, Ia{\bar 3}d (No. 230). The porous metal–organic framework structure is similar to those usually observed in zeolites, with pores volumes of 82 Å3, which is of potential interest for gas storage.
Role of halogen-involved intermolecular interactions and existence of isostructurality in the crystal packing of —CF3 and halogen (Cl or Br or I) substituted benzamides
Authors: Mondal Pradip Kumar , Shukla Rahul , Biswas Subha , Chopra Deepak
Published: November 2018

A total of 23 benzamides are obtained through a simple reaction between chloro-/bromo-/iodoaniline and trifluoromethylbenzoyl chloride and characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Crystal structures of three series of benzamides based on N-chlorophenyl–trifluoromethyl–benzamide (nine compounds), N-bromophenyl–trifluoromethyl–benzamide (six compounds), and N-iodophenyl–trifluoromethyl–benzamide (eight compounds) are prepared to analyse the halogen-mediated noncovalent interactions. The influences of Cl/Br/I and trifluoromethyl substituents on the respective interactions are examined in the presence of a strong N—H...O hydrogen bond. This exercise has resulted in the documentation of frequently occurring supramolecular synthons involving halogen atoms in the crystal packing of benzamide molecules in the solid state. In the present study, a detailed quantitative evaluation has been performed on the nature, energetics, electrostatic contributions, and topological properties of short and directional intermolecular interactions derived from the electron density on halogenated benzamides in the solid state. Besides these, the occurrence of three-, two- and one-dimensional isostructurality in halogen (Cl or Br or I) substituted benzamide analogues is also investigated. A `region of co-existence' involving halogen-based intermolecular interactions in the vicinity of the sum of the van der Waals radii has been identified. Thus, the nature of the halogen (effective size), type of interaction and the packing characteristics via presence of additional interactions establish the subtle, yet important, role of cooperativity in intermolecular interactions in crystal packing.
Cocrystals with tunable luminescence colour self-assembled by a predictable method
Authors: Li Lili , Liu Zheng Fei , Wu Wen Xin , Jin Wei Jun
Published: November 2018

Organic light-emitting materials play an essential role in the field of luminescent materials because they are easily prepared and they have controllable luminescent properties. Here it is shown that intermolecular interactions and luminescent properties of cocrystals can be predicted using the molecular surface electrostatic potential of selected π-hole/σ-hole...π bonding donor haloperfluorobenzenes and acceptor acenaphthene (AC). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data reveal that actual bonding patterns in five cocrystals assembled from haloperfluorobenzenes and AC are in accordance with predictable patterns of intermolecular interactions; that is π-hole...π bond is the major interaction in AC–octafluoronaphthalene, AC–1,4-dibromotetrafluorobenzene and AC–1,3,5-tribromo-2,4,6-trifluorobenzene cocrystals, whereas σ-hole...π bond is the major interaction in AC–1,4-diiodotetrafluorobenzene and AC–1,3,5-trifluoro-2,4,6-triiodobenzene cocrystals. The luminescent properties of the cocrystals are affected by the bonding patterns between AC and haloperfluorobenzenes; the π-hole...π bond leads to weak phosphorescence, whereas the σ-hole...π bond results in weak delayed fluorescence and relatively strong phosphorescence.
Crystal and solution structures of calcium complexes relevant to problematic waste disposal: calcium gluconate and calcium isosaccharinate
Authors: Bugris V. , Dudás Cs. , Kutus B. , Harmat V. , Csankó K. , Brockhauser S. , Pálinkó I. , Turner Peter , Sipos P.
Published: November 2018

The single-crystal structures of calcium D-gluconate and calcium α-D-isosaccharinate have been determined using X-ray diffraction at 100 K. Surprisingly, given its significance in industrial and medical applications, the structure of calcium D-gluconate has not previously been reported. Unexpectedly, the gluconate crystal structure comprises coordination polymers. Unusually, the calcium coordination number is nine. Adjacent metal centres are linked by three μ-oxo bridges, with a metal–metal separation of 3.7312 (2) Å. One of the gluconate ligands contradicts a suggestion from 1974 that a straight chain conformation is associated with an intramolecular hydrogen bond. This ligand binds to three adjacent metal centres. The use of synchrotron radiation provided an improved crystal structure with respect to that previously reported for the isosaccharinate complex, allowing the location of the hydroxy hydrogen sites to be elucidated. In contrast to the gluconate structure, there are no μ-oxo bridges in the isosaccharinate coordination polymer and the isosaccharinate bridging coordination is such that the distance between adjacent metal centres, each of which is eight-coordinate, is 6.7573 (4) Å. Complementing the crystal structure determinations, modelling studies of the geometries and coordination modes for the aqueous [CaGluc]+ and [CaIsa]+ complexes are presented and discussed.
“Not so globalised”: contrasting media discourses on education and competitiveness in four countries
Authors: Davis Edward Rock , Wilson Rachel
Published: November 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse contrasting discourses on education and competitiveness from four countries to show the different national values that are a key driver in economic development.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses content analysis to compare and contrast the newspaper discourse surrounding the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in four countries with above OECD average performance: Japan and South Korea (improving performance) and Australia and Finland (declining performance). PISA has attracted much government and public attention because it reflects education and the economic value of that education.

Findings

There are key contrasts in the discourses of the four countries. Despite shifts to globalised perspectives on education, strong national and cultural differences remain. Educational competitiveness and economic competitiveness are strong discourses in Japan and South Korea, while in Australia and Finland, the focus is on educational competitiveness. The media in Finland has few references to economic competitiveness and it does not feature in Australia. The discourse themes on PISA from 2001 to 2015 are presented with trends in educational attainment and shifting national perspectives on education.

Research limitations/implications

Analysis is limited to the top two circulation newspapers in English language in each country over 2001 to 2015. These newspapers in Finland, Japan and South Korea include translated content from local language papers.

Originality/value

The paper provides longitudinal perspectives to understand the contrasting societal values placed on education and how these relate to perspectives on competitiveness. This media evidence on national discourses can inform education policy orientations in the four countries examined.
The measuring and monitoring of human trafficking
Authors: Saner Raymond , Yiu Lichia , Rush Laurel
Published: November 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulty of measuring and monitoring of human trafficking within the context of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The challenges that come with monitoring an invisible crime such as human trafficking within the SDG context are due to the fact that the indicators pertaining to human trafficking fall into the category of “difficult to define and collect” type of data. This paper sheds light on these measuring difficulties and makes recommendations how to overcome them.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used is a policy analysis drawing on secondary literature and surveys and interviews with victims of human trafficking reported in publicly available documents. Comparative analysis also draws on laws and institutional agreements and treaties on human trafficking developed by governments, international organizations and regional organizations.

Findings

The different ways that have been proposed to collect and analyze data on trafficking victims highlight the complications of monitoring trafficking in both national and global contexts in situations where human rights violation and crime are situated at the nexus of the poverty, injustice, development and weak institutions. The paper brings to the attention of the international community that the current SDG indicators are inadequate for measuring human trafficking and need to be urgently improved.

Originality/value

This paper makes new contributions to the study of human trafficking in the context of the SDGs and proposes seven points of future action in order to create intersectoral linkages and better data collection in order to gain a fuller picture on human trafficking.
Accounting of the Soul: Enumeration, Affect, and Soul Searching among American Jewry
Authors: Kravel‐Tovi Michal
Published: November 2018

This ethnographic article complicates the common wisdom that the American Jewish elite cares “obsessively” about its constituents’ numbers. The article shows the ways in which population numbers matter to American Jewish leaders but also how they matter differently to various sectors of the community. Alongside those who are eager speakers of the language of quantification, there are those who feel unease with what, they feel, creates a reductive and irrelevant conversation about Jewish life in the United States. The article argues that by using the language of numbers and debating affectively over its value, American Jews debate who they are as a collective and struggle to define what counts for the future of the community as a highly diverse, shifting, and assimilating minority group. Building on the metaphor of “accounting of the soul”—one prevalent in religious and public discourses calling to Jews to look at their inner‐soul workings—the article suggests that numbers serve as an effective and affective proxy for divergent communal calculations and reflections. American Jewry presents a compelling case study with which to think through the affective attitudes toward quantification, the cultural value of numbers, and the polyvalent work that they do for collectives. [quantification, numbers, statistics, demography, affect, American Jewry]
Moral standards in managerial decisions: In search of a comprehensive theoretical framework
Authors: Procópio Marcos Luís
Published: November 2018

Although ethical decision‐making theory has evolved over the years, within the field of management, research still revolves around James Rest’s (1986) four‐step framework, dominated by a positivist epistemology and a quantitative methodology. Given that currently there is a call for a theoretical, epistemological, and methodological renovation for the enlargement and enrichment of knowledge about how decisions are morally made in organizations, this paper has a double aim. First, by showing the models’ main flaws and limitations, it critically assesses the prominent theoretical models of Rest, Trevino, and Jones. Then, for decision making in organizations, the paper aims to posit a fresh moral theory that addresses the phenomenon from a comprehensive epistemological perspective. To do so, it steps back from those prominent models in order to review John Dewey’s “theory of moral life.” At the core of the proposed comprehensive theoretical framework are Dewey’s concepts of a “moral standard” and “valuation.” Finally, the paper shows how the Dewey‐based framework can both overcome the flaws and limitations that are identified in those prominent models and can enrich empirical research, therefore contributing to developing as a whole the ethical decision‐making field.
Harnessing stem cells and biomaterials to promote neural repair
Authors: Bruggeman K F , Moriarty N , Dowd E , Nisbet D R , Parish C L
Published: November 2018

With the limited capacity for self‐repair in the adult CNS, efforts to stimulate quiescent stem cell populations within discrete brain regions, as well as harness the potential of stem cell transplants, offer significant hope for neural repair. These new cells are capable of providing trophic cues to support residual host populations and/or replace those cells lost to the primary insult. However, issues with low‐level adult neurogenesis, cell survival, directed differentiation and inadequate reinnervation of host tissue have impeded the full potential of these therapeutic approaches and their clinical advancement. Biomaterials offer novel approaches to stimulate endogenous neurogenesis, as well as for the delivery and support of neural progenitor transplants, providing a tissue‐appropriate physical and trophic milieu for the newly integrating cells. In this review, we will discuss the various approaches by which bioengineered scaffolds may improve stem cell‐based therapies for repair of the CNS.
Antibiotics suppress colon tumorigenesis through inhibition of aberrant DNA methylation in an azoxymethane and dextran sulfate sodium colitis model
Authors: Hattori Naoko , Niwa Tohru , Ishida Tatsuya , Kobayashi Kyosuke , Imai Toshio , Mori Akiko , Kimura Kana , Mori Takeshi , Asami Yukio , Ushijima Toshikazu
Published: November 2018

Chronic inflammation is involved in the development of colon cancer by inducing mutations and aberrant DNA methylation in colon epithelial cells. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that colonic microbiota modulates the inflammation response in the host and influences colon tumorigenesis. However, the influence of colonic microbiota on aberrant DNA methylation remains unknown. Here, we show the effect of colonic microbes on DNA methylation and tumorigenicity using a mouse model of human ulcerative colitis. Mice treated with azoxymethane (AOM) and dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) showed an increase in degree of colitis, as estimated by body weight, occult blood, and stool consistency/diarrhea at 2 weeks after treatment, but treatment with antibiotics markedly reduced the severity of the colitis. Although mucosal hyperplasia and increased inflammation‐related genes were observed in the colonic epithelial cells of the AOM/DSS‐treated mice, treatment with antibiotics abrogated these changes. In addition, treatment with antibiotics significantly decreased the number of mucosal nodules from 5.9 ± 5.3 to 0.2 ± 0.6 (P < .01) and area of occupancy from 50.1 ± 57.4 to 0.5 ± 1.4 mm2 (P < .01). Aberrant DNA methylation of three marker CpG islands (Cbln4, Fosb, and Msx1) was induced by AOM/DSS treatment in colonic mucosae, but this increase was suppressed by 50%‐92% (P < .05) with antibiotic treatment. Microbiome analysis showed that this change was associated with a decrease of the Clostridium leptum subgroup. These data indicate that antibiotics suppressed tumorigenesis through inhibition of aberrant DNA methylation induced by chronic inflammation.
Coupling function of cyclin‐dependent kinase 2 and Septin2 in the promotion of hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Xu Chenzhou , Zhang Wei , Zhang Xuening , Zhou Danhua , Qu Lishuai , Liu Jinxia , Xiao Mingbing , Ni Runzhou , Jiang Feng , Ni Wenkai , Lu Cuihua
Published: November 2018

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common and aggressive malignant tumor with a poorly defined molecular mechanism. Cyclin‐dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) and Septin2 (SEPT2) are 2 known oncogenic molecules but the mechanism of functional interactions remains unclear. Here, we interestingly found that CDK2 and SEPT2 show very similar dynamic expression during the cell cycle. Both CDK2 and SEPT2 show the highest protein levels in the G2/M phase, resulting in CDK2 interacting with SEPT2 and stabilizing SEPT2 in HCC. In a panel of 8 pairs of fresh HCC tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues, both western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays demonstrate that CDK2 expression is highly correlated with SEPT2. HCC with high expression of both CDK2 and SEPT2 are more likely to relapse. This observation is further demonstrated by a large panel of 100 HCC patients. In this large panel, high expression of both CDK2 and SEPT2 significantly correlates with tumor differentiation and microvascular invasion, which is an independent prognostic factor in HCC patients. In summary, our results reveal a cooperative function between CDK2 and SEPT2. HCC with high expression of CDK2 and SEPT2 might be more aggressive and respond poorly to current therapy.
A Bayesian‐weighted approach to predicting the number of newly discovered rare species
Authors: Shen Tsung‐Jen , Chen Youhua
Published: November 2018

In natural ecological communities, most species are rare and thus susceptible to extinction. Consequently, the prediction and identification of rare species are of enormous value for conservation purposes. How many newly found species will be rare in the next field survey? We took a Bayesian viewpoint and used observed species abundance information in an ecological sample to develop an accurate way to estimate the number of new rare species (e.g., singletons, doubletons, and tripletons) in an additional unknown sample. A similar method has been developed for incidence‐based data sets. Five seminumerical tests (3 abundance cases and 2 incidence cases) showed that our proposed Bayesian‐weight estimator accurately predicted the number of new rare species with low relative bias and low relative root mean squared error and, accordingly, high accuracy. Finally, we applied the proposed estimator to 6 conservation‐directed empirical data sets (3 abundance cases and 3 incidence cases) and found the prediction of new rare species was quite accurate; the 95% CI covered the true observed value very well in most cases. Our estimator performed similarly to or better than an unweighted estimator derived from Chao et al. and performed consistently better than the naïve unweighted estimator. We recommend our Bayesian‐weight estimator for conservation applications, although the unweighted estimator of Chao et al. may be better under some circumstances. We provide an R package RSE (rare species estimation) at https://github.com/ecomol/RSE for implementation of the estimators.
How socio‐economic disadvantage modifies health outcomes in children with cerebral palsy
Authors: Oskoui Maryam , Messerlian Carmen
Published: November 2018

This commentary is on the original article by Woolfenden et al. on pages 586–592 of this issue.
Post‐9/11 Masculinist Incursions in Iraq and Afghanistan: Women’s Bodies as Bullets in Imperialist Agendas
Authors: Ridouane Abdelmajid
Published: November 2018

The gender question in the Middle East now serves ends beyond the local. It may be registered within a cluster of international patriarchal war‐promoting discourses that find tremendous benefit in the historical bulk of literature that demonizes the Middle Eastern male and victimizes the female. This article attempts to defend two related arguments, both of which are well served by Foucault’s Biopolitics (Foucault, The birth of biopolitics), in which he correlates between territorial control and the violence inherent to any hegemony’s preoccupation with the body (i.e., the Middle Eastern/Muslim woman’s body) and Achille Mbembe’s theory of Necroplotics and its designation of who “may live” and who “must die” (Mbembé, 2003:11–4). I argue that in the post‐9/11 era, the world has witnessed a globalist civilizational masculinist incursion on its demonized Middle Eastern/Islamic Other. The militaristic discourse at work seems to be self‐appropriating the Middle Eastern/Muslim woman’s body as a site of sexual oppression and (mis)using it to its own means. The impetus of the 9/11 necropolitics, aggressively transposes gender dialog/conflict in the Middle East/Muslim countries from a benign social and intellectual interface, where different alliances may be negotiated, to an aggressive militaristic zone, where the “bogeyman” must “die.”
The intrinsically disordered nature of the peroxisomal protein translocation machinery
Authors: Barros‐Barbosa Aurora , Rodrigues Tony A. , Ferreira Maria J. , Pedrosa Ana G. , Teixeira Nélson R. , Francisco Tânia , Azevedo Jorge E.
Published: November 2018

Despite having a membrane that is impermeable to all but the smallest of metabolites, peroxisomes acquire their newly synthesized (cytosolic) matrix proteins in an already folded conformation. In some cases, even oligomeric proteins have been reported to translocate the organelle membrane. The protein sorting machinery that accomplishes this feat must be rather flexible and, unsurprisingly, several of its key components have large intrinsically disordered domains. Here, we provide an overview on these domains and their interactions trying to infer their functional roles in this protein sorting pathway.
Phylogenetically weighted regression: A method for modelling non‐stationarity on evolutionary trees
Authors: Davies T. Jonathan , Regetz James , Wolkovich Elizabeth M. , McGill Brian J.
Published: November 2018

Aim

Closely related species tend to resemble each other in their morphology and ecology because of shared ancestry. When exploring correlations between species traits, therefore, species cannot be treated as statistically independent. Phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) attempt to correct statistically for this shared evolutionary history. Almost all such approaches, however, assume that correlations between traits are constant across the tips of the tree, which we refer to as phylogenetic stationarity. We suggest that this assumption of phylogenetic stationarity might be often violated and that relationships between species traits might evolve alongside clades, for example, owing to the effects of unmeasured traits or other latent variables. Specific examples range from shifts in allometric scaling relationships between clades (e.g., basal metabolic rate and body mass in endotherms, and tree diameter and biomass in trees) to the differing relationship between leaf mass per area and shade tolerance in deciduous versus evergreen trees and shrubs.

Innovation

Here, we introduce an exploratory modelling framework, phylogenetically weighted regression, which represents an extension of geographically weighted regression (GWR) used in spatial studies, to allow non‐stationarity in model parameters across a phylogenetic tree. We demonstrate our approach using empirical data on flowering time and seed mass from a well‐studied plant community in southeastern Sweden. Our model reveals strong, diverging trends across the phylogeny, including changes in the sign of the relationship between clades.

Main conclusions

By allowing for phylogenetic non‐stationarity, we are able to detect shifting relationships among species traits that would be obscured in traditional PCMs; thus, we suggest that PWR might be an important exploratory tool in the search for key missing variables in comparative analyses.
Morphological diversity of freshwater fishes differs between realms, but morphologically extreme species are widespread
Authors: Su Guohuan , Villéger Sébastien , Brosse Sébastien
Published: November 2018

Aim

The aim was to analyse the morphological diversity of the world freshwater fish fauna. We tested to which extent the distributions of morphological traits are supported by extreme morphologies and how those extreme morphologies are distributed among realms and affect the functional vulnerability. We also analysed the contribution of between‐ and within‐order morphological variability to the morphological differences between realms.

Major taxa studied

Freshwater fish.

Location

Global.

Time period

1960s–2010s.

Methods

We used a global database of freshwater fishes from the six realms. Ten morphological traits were measured on 9,150 species, that is, 75% of the ca. 13,000 freshwater fish species. A principal components analysis was conducted to combine the 10 traits into a multidimensional space. We used Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests to compare the difference in morphological diversity between the six realms and between and within the major fish orders. We then identified the morphologically extreme species and quantified their contributions to the morphological range to assess the functional vulnerability and redundancy of fish faunas in the six biogeographical realms for freshwater ecosystems.

Results

We report a strong morphological variability among freshwater fishes of the world, with significant morphological differences among realm fish faunas, caused by an interplay between taxonomic composition of the realm faunas and morphological differences within orders among the realms. Morphologically extreme species accounted for a large percentage of the filling of the global morphological space and are distributed throughout the world.

Main conclusions

Fish morphological diversity is largely supported by a few species with extreme trait combinations, indicating that functional vulnerability exists throughout the world. Our results suggest that more attention should be paid to these morphologically extreme species and that they should be protected to ensure the sustainability of functions they support.
Comparative study on the donor site aesthetic outcome between epidermal graft and split‐thickness skin graft
Authors: Kanapathy Muholan , Mosahebi Afshin
Published: November 2018

Donor site aesthetic outcomes of epidermal graft (EG) vs split‐thickness skin graft (SSG) have yet to be objectively compared. Here, we evaluate donor site healing using a validated scar assessment tool and digital colorimetric technique, which compares colour in a consistent and objective manner. Ten patients (SSG (n = 5) and EG (n = 5)) were included. Donor site scarring was evaluated using the Vancouver Scar Scale (VSS) at Week 6 and Month 3. Colorimetric measurement was performed at Weeks 3 and 6 and Month 3. The mean donor site healing time for EG was significantly shorter (EG: 4.6 days (95% c.i. 3.8‐5.3), SSG: 16.8 days (95% c.i. 13.3‐20.1) (P = 0.003)). The VSS scores of the EG donor site were lower at Week 6 and Month 3(P < 0.001). The colour match between the donor site and surrounding skin for EG was better compared with SSG at all time points and was almost identical to their surrounding healthy skin at Month 3. This study is the first to objectively measure the clinical appearance of the EG donor site against SSG. EG donor site has faster healing with excellent scarring and good colour match with its surrounding normal skin at all time points compared with SSG.
Differences in Rural and Urban Health Information Access and Use
Authors: Chen Xuewei , Orom Heather , Hay Jennifer L. , Waters Erika A. , Schofield Elizabeth , Li Yuelin , Kiviniemi Marc T.
Published: November 2018

Purpose

Rural residents may have lower access to and use of certain health information sources relative to urban residents. We investigated differences in information source access and use between rural and urban US adults and whether having low health literacy might exacerbate rural disparities in access to and use of health information.

Methods

Six hundred participants (50% rural) completed an online survey about access and use of 25 health information sources. We used logistic regression models to test associations between rurality and access to and use of health information sources and whether rurality interacted with health literacy to predict the access and use.

Findings

Compared to urban residents, rural residents had lower access to health information from sources including primary care providers, specialist doctors, blogs, and magazines, and less use of search engines. After accounting for sociodemographics, rural residents only had lower access to specialist doctors than urban residents. Rural residents with limited health literacy had lower access to mass media and scientific literature but higher use of corporations/companies than rural residents with adequate health literacy and urban residents regardless of health literacy level.

Conclusions

Some differences in access to and use of health information sources may be accounted for by sociodemographic differences between rural and urban populations. There may be structural barriers such as shortage of specialist doctors and limited media exposure that make it harder for rural residents to access health information, especially those with limited health literacy.
A review of inorganic UV filters zinc oxide and titanium dioxide
Authors: Schneider Samantha L. , Lim Henry W.
Published: November 2018

Photoprotection has become integral in the prevention of keratinocyte cancer and photoaging. Organic ultraviolet (UV) filters such as oxybenzone and octinoxate have become controversial due to their potential impact on the environmental and their potential human health risks. As such, inorganic UV filters, zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2), have become paramount in discussions about photoprotection. ZnO and TiO2 are used in sunscreens as nanoparticles, which denotes a size <100 nm. The smaller size of these mineral particles increases their cosmetic acceptability by users as they are much less visible after application. ZnO has a broad UVA‐UVB absorption curve, while TiO2 provides better UVB protection. Overall, the human health risks with inorganic filters are extremely low given a lack of percutaneous absorption; however, there is potential risk when exposed via inhalation, prompting recommendations against spray sunscreen products with nanoparticles. At this time, the known risk to the environment is low though the risk stratification may evolve with increasing usage of these filters and higher environmental concentrations. The continued practice of photoprotection is critical. The public should be counseled to seek shade, use photoprotective clothing including hats and glasses in addition to sunscreens on sun‐exposed skin. For those concerned about emerging evidence of environmental impact of organic UV filters, based on current evidence, ZnO and TiO2‐containing sunscreens are safe alternatives.
Repeated exposure to temperature variation exacerbates airway inflammation through TRPA1 in a mouse model of asthma
Authors: Du Chenqiu , Kang Jun , Yu Wei , Chen Mingqing , Li Baizhan , Liu Hong , Wang Han
Published: November 2018

Background and objective

Studies from epidemiology suggest that ambient temperature is one of the underlying triggers and potential causes of asthma. The aim of this study was to examine the impact and the molecular mechanism of temperature‐invoked airway inflammation using an experimental model of asthma in BALB/c mice.

Methods

Mice were exposed to different temperature conditions (steady 26°C, 26°C/18°C cycle, 26°C/10°C cycle) and received sensitization and challenge of ovalbumin (OVA) during a 21‐day period. HC030031, a selective transient receptor potential A1 (TRPA1) channel blocker, was used to investigate the underlying mechanism of TRPA1 in ‘asthmatic’ airways. After the final OVA challenge, in vivo lung function was measured, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and pulmonary inflammation were assessed.

Results

The temperature variations, especially the largest temperature difference (16°C), exacerbated airway inflammation in OVA‐induced mice, increasing the levels of serum total‐IgE (immunoglobulin E) and IgG1, inflammatory cells and cytokines in BALF. Analysis of histopathological changes and lung function verified that repeated exposure to very cold and changed temperatures aggravated airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Significant upregulation of TRPA1 expression was revealed by immunohistochemistry in the presence of the largest temperature variation (26°C/10°C cycle), while administration of HC030031 successfully inhibited TRPA1 expression, thus attenuating the asthma‐like pathological features.

Conclusion

Repeated exposure to temperature variation exacerbated experimental ‘asthma’ and TRPA1 mediated this temperature‐dependent inflammatory effect.
Rethinking Risk Assessment for Public Utility Safety Regulation
Authors: Danner Carl , Schulman Paul
Published: November 2018

To aid in their safety oversight of large‐scale, potentially dangerous energy and water infrastructure and transportation systems, public utility regulatory agencies increasingly seek to use formal risk assessment models. Yet some of the approaches to risk assessment used by utilities and their regulators may be less useful for this purpose than is supposed. These approaches often do not reflect the current state of the art in risk assessment strategy and methodology. This essay explores why utilities and regulatory agencies might embrace risk assessment techniques that do not sufficiently assess organizational and managerial factors as drivers of risk, nor that adequately represent important uncertainties surrounding risk calculations. Further, it describes why, in the special legal, political, and administrative world of the typical public utility regulator, strategies to identify and mitigate formally specified risks might actually diverge from the regulatory promotion of “safety.” Some improvements are suggested that can be made in risk assessment approaches to support more fully the safety oversight objectives of public regulatory agencies, with examples from “high‐reliability organizations” (HROs) that have successfully merged the management of safety with the management of risk. Finally, given the limitations of their current risk assessments and the lessons from HROs, four specific assurances are suggested that regulatory agencies should seek for themselves and the public as objectives in their safety oversight of public utilities.