bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of different manual brewing techniques to the sensory profile of the Indonesian Arabica and Robusta “natural coffees”
Authors: Sunarharum W B , Ahmad R , Primadiani E
Published: May 2020

The “natural coffee” produced through sun-drying has been a common coffee post-harvest processing practice and well-known to exhibit specific sensory characters. However, the sensory profile of coffee in a cup could be influenced by many other factors including the brewing techniques. The objective of this research was to study the effect of different manual brewing techniques i.e. Indonesian “tubruk” method, Vietnam drip, cold brew, and aero press to the sensory profile of two Indonesian “natural coffees” origin i.e. Robusta Gayo and Arabica Kerinci. Evaluation was performed on 33 sensory attributes using Sensory Descriptive Analysis method employing 10 trained student panellists. Data analysis was performed using Minitab 17 and the Unscrambler® X MVA software. The result showed that in total; as many as 21 attributes were rated by the panellist. The two samples showed different sensory profiles, particularly in some sensory attributes assessed. The different manual brewing techniques was also found to have significant impact (α = 0.05) on 17-18 sensory attributes, showing that each technique will be responsible for certain sensory characters perceived by coffee consumer.
The physical properties of coffee caviar as influenced by sodium alginate concentration and calcium sources
Authors: Sunarharum W B , Kambodji A D , Nur M
Published: May 2020

Coffee caviar is a product of spherification technique, which is one of well-known technique in molecular gastronomy. Spherification is a process when liquid turns into spheres in a bath due to the reaction such as between sodium alginate, calcium chloride, and calcium lactate in the gelation process. The objectives of this study are to know the effect of different formula used for caviar making to the physical characteristics of coffee caviar, and to choose the best formula for coffee caviar. Research was conducted under Randomized Block Design involving two variables i.e. the different concentration of sodium alginate (1%, 1.5% and 2 %) and different calcium sources (calcium lactate or calcium chloride). Evaluation was performed on the coffee-alginate solution (alginate sol) for viscosity, color (L*a*b*), total soluble solids, and pH, while the produced caviar was analyzed for texture, syneresis, as well as sensory properties (appearance, color, aroma, flavor, texture, overall liking, chewiness and gel strength). The result showed that the physical characteristic of the coffee caviars were diverse depending on the different formula used. The sodium alginate concentrations and calcium sources had significant effects (α=0.05) on the caviar texture, chewiness and gel strength. The best proportion for coffee caviar based on Derringer’s desirability function was 1.5% concentration of sodium alginate with the use of calcium chloride as calcium ions sources.
Viability of Crassocephalum crepidioides seeds due to Boron application
Authors: Lestari M W , Mardiyani S A , Murwani I , Ulfah M
Published: May 2020

Boron (B) is a microelement that is needed in plant growth, because it plays an important role in the production of grain, increases carbohydrate transport and increases enzyme activity, if it is given in the appropriate amount. This study aimed to determine the concentration of Boron to obtain the best viability of the seeds of Crassocephalum crepidioides. The research was conducted at the greenhouse, using Random Block Design. The treatment was the concentration level of Boron, consisting of four levels (0%, 50 mg/L, 100 mg/L, and 150 mg/L), carried out in triplicate. The observed variables included the number of flowers (florets), number of seeds per flower, seed germination (%), speed of seed germination, and growth potential (%). The results showed that the number of flowers and the number of seeds per floret was not significantly different for all treatments tested. Boron concentration of 150 mg/L produces better performance in seed germination, speed of seed germination, and growth potential.
Antioxidant activity optimisation of young Robusta coffee leaf kombucha by modifying fermentation time and withering pre-treatment
Authors: Fibrianto K , Zubaidah E , Muliandari N A , Wahibah L Y , Putri S D , Legowo A M , Al-Baarri A N
Published: May 2020

Kombucha is a fermented drink made from liquid tea. The fermentation is involving bacteria and yeast called Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) The current study aims to investigate the possibility of young Robusta coffee leaf tea as a raw material for kombucha, by optimizing its antioxidant activity and applying withering pre-treatment. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to design the observation up to 21 days. Within the duration of fermentation, the optimum IC50 was observed on the third days of fermentation. The results showed that withering treatment significantly affect the pH values, total sugar, total phenolic content, and IC50 of young coffee leaf kombucha. The sensory quality also shows that 5 out of 19 attributes, including brown color, sour taste, bitter taste, alcoholic aroma, sour aroma were also affected by the treatment (p-value<0.05). Regardless the chemical and sensory qualities, the kombucha was still significantly accepted (p-value<0.05) by the respondents.
Analysis of pulsed electric field (PEF) specific input energy and its effect to the tannin content of Areca (Areca catechu L.) seed powder extract
Authors: Rahmah N L , Sukardi  , Ahsan A M
Published: May 2020

Areca (Areca catechu L.) is one of the plants that contain phenolic compounds as tannin as antioxidant. Pre-treatment priorplant extraction using Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) has been reported to improve the yield and the qualityof the extracts. The specific input energy of PEF, counted an energy needed during the PEF process, was found to be influenced by voltage and duration of PEF. In this study, the relationship between specific input energy using variation voltage and duration of PEF was studied on extraction of areca seed. This research examined tannin levels and changes in areca cell structure before and after PEF. This research used Factorial Randomized Block Design with two factors. The first factor was PEF voltage with three levels of 3, 4 and 5 kV and the second factor was PEF duration with three levels of 3, 5 and 7 minutes. The obtained data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The results revealed that specific input energy of PEF in the range of 1.92-12.44 kJ/cm3did not have significant effects ontannin content of areca seeds extract. However, when it compared with control (without PEF pretreatment), better results was obtained on the tannin content. Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) analysis of areca seed powder demonstrated significane differences in structure and element concentration of samples with and without PEF pretreatment. The findings confirmed that PEF pretreatment offers great promise in tannin extraction.
The influence of temperature in swelling power, solubility, and water binding capacity of pregelatinised sweet potato starch
Authors: Ulfa G M , Putri W D R , Fibrianto K , Prihatiningtyas R , Widjanarko S B
Published: May 2020

Sweet potato is a common tuber in Indonesia, however it is less popular than cassava and corn. Sweet potato is alsorich for starch that can be used for many industrial applications, although it still have many drawbacks in native form. Pregelatinization can be used to overcome those drawbacks and increase its value. The swelling power (SP), solubility (S), and water binding capacity (WBC) of pregelatinized white sweet potato starch were analyzed. The starch were pregelatinized with different temperature at 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60°C. The swelling power and solubility of sweet potato starch ranged from 16.26-30.30 g/g and 1.58-26.39 %, respectively. Moreover, the WBC obtained are 76.07-232.37 %. Pregelatinized sweet potato starch showed a higher SP, S, and WBC as the increasing of temperature until some point. The variation obtained in the starches’ properties was important for some industrial requirements.
The changing profiles of organosulfuric compounds during black garlic processing
Authors: Ammelia S M , Suharti  , Retnosari R , Utomo Y , Sukarianingsih D , Wonorahardjo S
Published: May 2020

Black garlic is popular as food supplement as well as herbal medicine due to its rich and beneficial chemical contents. However, the chemical changes during the process are rarely investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of heating time on sulfur-containing compound profiles and antioxidant activity during fermentation process at 60°C by solvent extraction followed by GC-MS analysis, as well as antioxidant activity, using DPPH method. The result indicated that black garlic underwent changes of sulfur-containing organic secondary metabolites, such as allicin and its derivative compounds. The process also increased antioxidant activity in black garlic.
Effect of drying techniques on microstructure and functional properties of tragacanth-insulin microparticles
Authors: Nur M
Published: May 2020

Numerous antimicrobials, hormones and enzymes as bioactive peptides/proteins could take advantage of oral delivery. Microparticles produced by complexation of two polyelectrolytes may have prospective use as a carrier for oral administration of proteins/peptides. Food polysaccharides like alginate, carrageenan, pectin, tragacanth and dextran can be potential excipients for this purpose. In this research, microparticles were created by the inclusion of bioactive protein/peptides into a tragacanth hydrogel accompanied by drying process. Insulin was utilized as a bioactive proteins model. Bioactive protein and tragacanth microparticles created at various pH and drying methods (freeze drying and spray drying) were assessed by SEM analysis and ATR Fourier transform infrared (ATR FTIR). The SEM study revealed that sub spherical microparticle was produced using spray drying process while the porous structure was produced using the freeze-drying method. In FTIR study, the complexes between tragacanth and insulin displayed amide absorption bands appearing in the protein spectra and exhibited the formation of new chemical substances. This finding indicates that both spray and freeze dried microparticles may act as a potentially promising device for oral delivery of bioactive proteins and peptides
Performance analysis and traceability system using SCOR method in the orange fruit supply chain of Citrus reticulata Blanco (Case study in Batu City, East Java)
Authors: Kamal M A , Kurniawan M , Santoso I
Published: May 2020

Orange Fruit Batu 55 is a typical plant from the Batu City East Java in addition to apple plants. This orange has the advantage of sweet, fresh and harvest times 3 times a year. The level of competition is quite high in the market, making the Batu 55 tangerine fruit must be able to survive especially in facing the competition with imported products. Increasing the level of dependence and complexity of the current supply chain network makes supply chains as a whole more vulnerable to disruption. This study aims to describe the supply chain using the framework of the Food Supply Chain Network, measure supply chain performance, and identify the implementation of traceability systems of specific strain of Citrus reticulata Blanco namely Keprok Batu 55.
Determination pollution load capacity of Ngrowo River as wastewater receiver from hospital activities
Authors: Lusiana N , Rahadi B , Anggita Y
Published: May 2020

Industrialization and domestic activities very potentially to contribute water pollution addition especially into a river. One of domestic activities that may produce wastewater is a hospital activity. Public Regional Hospital in Tulungagung is located at Kedungwaru that will developed in order to further support the existing infrastructure. Assessment towards water quality and load pollution capacity of Ngrowo River as wastewater receiver is very important before hospital development began. The method used in this research was mass balance method, pollution index to determine of water pollution status based on the parameters of temperature, pH, total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate and phosphate. The quality parameters obtained in this study were compared with the class II water quality standard. The maximum pollutant load was calculated to determine the pollution load capacity. The result show that water quality of Ngrowo River was categorized in low pollution (around 3.75 – 3.99 for index pollution) based on class of II of water quality standard. Load pollution capacity at downstream have exceeded 28,673.3 kg/day for BOD and 34,339.3 kg/day for COD in existing condition. Based on the findings in this study, it is recommended that hospitals are obliged to have wastewater treatment plant installed. Such approach is critical to maintain the quality of surroundings environments as well as to prevent water pollution to occur.
Computational study of the potential of phenolic acids berries as an inhibitor of aldose reductase for diabetes mellitus treatment
Authors: Purnamasari V , Estiasih T , Sujuti H , Widjanarko S B
Published: May 2020

Berries are known to contain bioactive compounds that can function physiologically to optimise health status. One type of bioactive compound found in berries is phenolic acid. Fruits are known to have activities to inhibit aldose reductase (AR). Inhibition of AR can control of microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus, such as blindness, nephropathy and neuropathy. But some AR inhibitors show side effects due to cross-reactions with analogous enzymes, so the purpose of this study is to predict the ability of phenolic acids berries binding to AR and predict selectivity of berries phenolic acids as AR inhibitor through in silico studies. The inhibition activity of twelve berry phenolic acids on AR was analysed using in silico and compared with epalrestat as a commercial AR inhibitor. The phenolic acids were docked to AR using Autodock Vina in PyRx 0.8. 3D molecular interactions visualized using PyMOL were then analyzed with LigPlot+. Chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid show binding energy are higher affinity (-8.0 and -8.3 kcal/mol) than binding energy of epalrestat as a commercial AR inhibitor. The orientation of chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid with the active side of AR showed that the binding of two compounds on the active side of AR occupies the same position as the binding position of epalrestat. Analysis of the interaction of the chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid with AR indicates binding occurs in the pocket specificity of the active side of AR, so indicates that the two compounds have the potential as AR inhibitors.
The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol: pretreatment technology comparison
Authors: Wardani A K , Tanaka N C , Sutrisno A
Published: May 2020

The barrier to realising the potential of lignocellulosic bioethanol is the recalcitrance of cellulosic biomass. Overcoming this biomass recalcitrance is the key challenge to large scale production of lignocellulosic bioethanol. Pretreatment is an important and critical step that enables enzyme hydrolysis of lignocellulose conversion to ethanol. Finding a pretreatment method for reducing the high recalcitrance via cost-effective pretreatment methods would therefore be of great benefit. This study aims at investigating the effect of pretreatment on delignification process of sugarcane bagasse and oil palm trunk. Two methods of pretreatment were compared i.e. alkaline hydrogen peroxide pretreatment (1% and 5% H2O2) and subcritical water pretreatment (170°C, 2.2 MPa) for the effectiveness of reducing the lignin content. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis was also performed to investigate the effect of pretreatment on surface of lignocellulosic biomass. It was observed that alkaline hydrogen peroxide pretreatment gave better results than subcritical water pretreatment based on the lignin content for both lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreated sugarcane bagasse presented lower lignin content than pretreated oil palm trunk. Lignin was successfully removed until 56.99% under the best condition of 5% of alkaline hydrogen peroxide, at 28°C for 72 hours incubation. This study confirmed that alkaline pretreatment was found to have a better method for the conversion of lignocellulosic materials. Furthermore, sugarcane bagasse has a greater potential as basic raw materials used for the bioethanol production than oil palm trunk because it has lower content of lignin with higher content of cellulose.
Cognitive health expectancies of cardiovascular risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia
Authors: Zheng Lidan , Matthews Fiona E , Anstey Kaarin J
Published: May 2020

Background

Cognitive health expectancy estimates the proportion of the lifespan that is lived in good cognitive health at the population level. A number of cardiovascular diseases have been identified to be risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia including diabetes, stroke, heart diseases and hypertension. The aim of this study was to examine how these cardiovascular conditions relate to cognitive health expectancy.

Methods

Longitudinal data were obtained from the US Health and Retirement Study. Multistate modelling was used to estimate total life expectancy (LE), cognitive impairment free life expectancy (CIFLE) and years spent with cognitive impairment (CILE) across self-reported diabetes, hypertension, heart problems and stroke. Individual and cumulative effects of multiple cardiovascular conditions were examined.

Results

The presence of cardiovascular disease was associated with a 5- to 9-year decrease in LE and 4- to 8-year decrease in CIFLE at age 55. The outcomes varied in a hierarchical fashion by cardiovascular condition. Relative to other conditions, individuals with stroke had the shortest LE and CIFLE. Analysis of multiple cardiovascular risk factors revealed that each additional cardiovascular condition was associated with an exponential decrease in LE and CIFLE.

Conclusions

Having a cardiovascular condition is associated with a lower CIFLE and higher proportion of life lived with cognitive impairment. However, the outcomes vary depending on the type of cardiovascular condition. Reducing incidence of stroke and minimising exposure to multiple cardiovascular risk factors may be beneficial in helping to improve population estimates of cognitive health expectancy.
Practice-enhancing publications about the medication-use process in 2018
Authors: Vest Tyler A , Gazda Nicholas P , Schenkat Daniel H , Eckel Stephen F
Published: May 2020

Purpose

This article identifies, prioritizes, and summarizes published literature on the medication-use process (MUP) from calendar year 2018 that can impact health-system pharmacy daily practice. The MUP is the foundational system that provides the framework for safe medication utilization within the healthcare environment. The MUP is defined in this article as having the following steps: prescribing/transcribing, dispensing, administration, and monitoring. Articles that evaluated one of the steps were gauged for their usefulness toward daily practice change.

A PubMed search was conducted in February 2019 for articles published in calendar year 2018 using targeted Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords, targeted non-MeSH keywords, and the table of contents of selected pharmacy journals, providing a total of 43,977 articles. A thorough review identified 62 potentially significant articles: 9 for prescribing/transcribing, 12 for dispensing, 13 for administration, and 28 for monitoring. Ranking of the articles for importance by peers led to the selection of key articles from each category. The highest-ranked articles are briefly summarized, with a mention of why they are important within health-system pharmacy. The other articles are listed for further review and evaluation.

Conclusion

It is important to routinely review the published literature and to incorporate significant findings into daily practice. This article assists in identifying and summarizing recent impactful contributions to the MUP literature. Health-system pharmacists have an active role in improving the MUP in their institution, and awareness of significant published studies can assist in changing practice at the institutional level.
Capybara: equivalence ClAss enumeration of coPhylogenY event-BAsed ReconciliAtions
Authors: Wang Yishu , Mary Arnaud , Sagot Marie-France , Sinaimeri Blerina
Published: May 2020

Motivation

Phylogenetic tree reconciliation is the method of choice in analyzing host-symbiont systems. Despite the many reconciliation tools that have been proposed in the literature, two main issues remain unresolved: (i) listing suboptimal solutions (i.e. whose score is ‘close’ to the optimal ones) and (ii) listing only solutions that are biologically different ‘enough’. The first issue arises because the optimal solutions are not always the ones biologically most significant; providing many suboptimal solutions as alternatives for the optimal ones is thus very useful. The second one is related to the difficulty to analyze an often huge number of optimal solutions. In this article, we propose Capybara that addresses both of these problems in an efficient way. Furthermore, it includes a tool for visualizing the solutions that significantly helps the user in the process of analyzing the results.

Availability and implementation

The source code, documentation and binaries for all platforms are freely available at https://capybara-doc.readthedocs.io/.

Contact

yishu.wang@univ-lyon1.fr or blerina.sinaimeri@inria.fr

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
iSOM-GSN: an integrative approach for transforming multi-omic data into gene similarity networks via self-organizing maps
Authors: Fatima Nazia , Rueda Luis
Published: May 2020

Motivation

One of the main challenges in applying graph convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on gene-interaction data is the lack of understanding of the vector space to which they belong, and also the inherent difficulties involved in representing those interactions on a significantly lower dimension, viz Euclidean spaces. The challenge becomes more prevalent when dealing with various types of heterogeneous data. We introduce a systematic, generalized method, called iSOM-GSN, used to transform ‘multi-omic’ data with higher dimensions onto a 2D grid. Afterwards, we apply a CNN to predict disease states of various types. Based on the idea of Kohonen’s self-organizing map, we generate a 2D grid for each sample for a given set of genes that represent a gene similarity network.

Results

We have tested the model to predict breast and prostate cancer using gene expression, DNA methylation and copy number alteration. Prediction accuracies in the 94–98% range were obtained for tumor stages of breast cancer and calculated Gleason scores of prostate cancer with just 14 input genes for both cases. The scheme not only outputs nearly perfect classification accuracy, but also provides an enhanced scheme for representation learning, visualization, dimensionality reduction and interpretation of multi-omic data.

Availability and implementation

The source code and sample data are available via a Github project at https://github.com/NaziaFatima/iSOM_GSN.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Household Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, Zhuhai, China, 2020
Authors: Wu Jian , Huang Yiying , Tu Changli , Bi Chunping , Chen Zhigang , Luo Liyun , Huang Mingxing , Chen Meizhu , Tan Cuiyan , Wang Zhenguo , Wang Kongqiu , Liang YingJian , Huang Jin , Zheng Xiaobin , Liu Jing
Published: May 2020

Background

To illustrate the extent of transmission, identify affecting risk factors and estimate epidemiological modeling parameters of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in household setting.

Methods

We enrolled 35 confirmed index cases and their 148 household contacts, January 2020–February 2020, in Zhuhai, China. All participants were interviewed and asked to complete questionnaires. Household contacts were then prospectively followed active symptom monitoring through the 21-day period and nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal swabs were collected at 3–7 days intervals. Epidemiological, demographic, and clinical data (when available) were collected.

Results

Assuming that all these secondary cases were infected by their index cases, the second infection rate in household context is 32.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 22.4%–44.4%), with 10.4% of secondary cases being asymptomatic. Multivariate analysis showed that household contacts with underlying medical conditions, a history of direct exposure to Wuhan and its surrounding areas, and shared vehicle with an index patient were associated with higher susceptibility. Household members without protective measures after illness onset of the index patient seem to increase the risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection. The median incubation period and serial interval within household were estimated to be 4.3 days (95% CI: 3.4–5.3 days) and 5.1 days (95% CI: 4.3–6.2 days), respectively.

Conclusion

Early isolation of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 and prioritizing rapid contact investigation, followed by active symptom monitoring and periodic laboratory evaluation, should be initiated immediately after confirming patients to address the underlying determinants driving the continuing pandemic.
The Social Media Privacy Model: Privacy and Communication in the Light of Social Media Affordances
Authors: Trepte Sabine
Published: May 2020

Privacy has been defined as the selective control of information sharing, where control is key. For social media, however, an individual user’s informational control has become more difficult. In this theoretical article, I review how the term control is part of theorizing on privacy, and I develop an understanding of online privacy with communication as the core mechanism by which privacy is regulated. The results of this article’s theoretical development are molded into a definition of privacy and the social media privacy model. The model is based on four propositions: Privacy in social media is interdependently perceived and valued. Thus, it cannot always be achieved through control. As an alternative, interpersonal communication is the primary mechanism by which to ensure social media privacy. Finally, trust and norms function as mechanisms that represent crystallized privacy communication. Further materials are available at https://osf.io/xhqjy/
Deletion of fibroblast activation protein provides atheroprotection
Authors: Stein Sokrates , Weber Julien , Nusser-Stein Stefanie , Pahla Jürgen , Zhang Hui E , Mohammed Shafeeq A , Oppi Sara , Gaul Daniel S , Paneni Francesco , Tailleux Anne , Staels Bart , von Meyenn Ferdinand , Ruschitzka Frank , Gorrell Mark D , Lüscher Thomas F , Matter Christian M
Published: May 2020

Aims

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is upregulated at sites of tissue remodelling including chronic arthritis, solid tumours, and fibrotic hearts. It has also been associated with human coronary atherosclerotic plaques. Yet, the causal role of FAP in atherosclerosis remains unknown. To investigate the cause–effect relationship of endogenous FAP in atherogenesis, we assessed the effects of constitutive Fap deletion on plaque formation in atherosclerosis-prone apolipoprotein E (Apoe) or low-density lipoprotein receptor (Ldlr) knockout mice.

Methods and results

Using en face analyses of thoraco-abdominal aortae and aortic sinus cross-sections, we demonstrate that Fap deficiency decreased plaque formation in two atherosclerotic mouse models (−46% in Apoe and −34% in Ldlr knockout mice). As a surrogate of plaque vulnerability fibrous cap thickness was used; it was increased in Fap-deficient mice, whereas Sirius red staining demonstrated that total collagen content remained unchanged. Using polarized light, atherosclerotic lesions from Fap-deficient mice displayed increased FAP targets in terms of enhanced collagen birefringence in plaques and increased pre-COL3A1 expression in aortic lysates. Analyses of the Stockholm Atherosclerosis Gene Expression data revealed that FAP expression was increased in human atherosclerotic compared to non-atherosclerotic arteries.

Conclusions

Our data provide causal evidence that constitutive Fap deletion decreases progression of experimental atherosclerosis and increases features of plaque stability with decreased collagen breakdown. Thus, inhibition of FAP expression or activity may not only represent a promising therapeutic target in atherosclerosis but appears safe at the experimental level for FAP-targeted cancer therapies.
Eosinophilic esophagitis: comorbidities and atopic disease in Nevada
Authors: Anderson Julia , Moonie Sheniz , Hogan Mary Beth , Scherr Rebecca , Allenback Gayle
Published: May 2020

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a rare, immune-mediated illness. We aimed to examine the comorbidities and sensitization patterns associated with an EoE diagnosis in Nevada. The study goal was two-fold: to determine the most common EoE comorbidities and sequela in the state of Nevada using healthcare utilization records across all settings and to determine the most common food and aeroallergens in histologically positive EoE pediatric patients using clinical sensitization data. Esophageal obstruction/stricture was the most frequently reported diagnosis in adults with EoE (29.5%). Among pediatrics, the highest ranking comorbidities included asthma (13.4%); diseases of the stomach, duodenum, and intestine (7.26%); allergies (7.01%); and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (3.69%). Additionally, the top sensitizations reported in histologically positive EoE patients were largely pollen related (82.9%). Atopic disease and specifically food allergens are commonly reported as comorbid conditions with EoE in the literature. However, our clinical pediatric data set from this study revealed that aeroallergen sensitizations far exceeded that of food allergens (82.9% aero-positive vs. 17.1% dood positive). The high presence of esophageal stricture/obstruction in adults could be indicative of late diagnosis; in addition, the aeroallergen sensitization in children could suggest different clinical management techniques necessary may be needed for this disease. Education among healthcare providers regarding the presence of aeroallergen sensitization in this population may result in earlier diagnoses and help reduce morbidity and the cost from this disease.
Bacterial riboproteogenomics: the era of N-terminal proteoform existence revealed
Authors: Fijalkowska Daria , Fijalkowski Igor , Willems Patrick , Van Damme Petra
Published: May 2020

With the rapid increase in the number of sequenced prokaryotic genomes, relying on automated gene annotation became a necessity. Multiple lines of evidence, however, suggest that current bacterial genome annotations may contain inconsistencies and are incomplete, even for so-called well-annotated genomes. We here discuss underexplored sources of protein diversity and new methodologies for high-throughput genome reannotation. The expression of multiple molecular forms of proteins (proteoforms) from a single gene, particularly driven by alternative translation initiation, is gaining interest as a prominent contributor to bacterial protein diversity. In consequence, riboproteogenomic pipelines were proposed to comprehensively capture proteoform expression in prokaryotes by the complementary use of (positional) proteomics and the direct readout of translated genomic regions using ribosome profiling. To complement these discoveries, tailored strategies are required for the functional characterization of newly discovered bacterial proteoforms.
Ecological restoration for biodiversity conservation triggers response of bark beetle pests and their natural predators
Authors: Hekkala Anne-Maarit , Kärvemo Simon , Versluijs Martijn , Weslien Jan , Björkman Christer , Löfroth Therese , Hjältén Joakim
Published: May 2020

The restoration of forest structure and function is increasingly being used in boreal forests in order to halt the loss of biodiversity. Often ecological restoration is aimed at increasing the volume of dead and dying trees to enhance the biodiversity of deadwood-dependent organisms, but it may also increase population sizes of pest bark beetle species, even several years following restoration. Herein, we used a large-scale restoration experiment in Northern Sweden to assess the 5 years post-restoration effects of restorative gap cutting and prescribed burning on the populations of a set of economically harmful pest bark beetles (Ips typographus, Polygraphus poligraphus, Tomicus piniperda and Pityogenes chalcographus) and the most important predators of bark beetles, Thanasimus spp. In addition, we assessed the effects of forest stand characteristics at stand and landscape scale on the abundance of I. typographus. Five years post-restoration, gap-cut stands supported the highest abundances of P. poligraphus and contained the highest count of spruce trees newly attacked by bark beetles. By contrast, prescribed burning generally sustained the lowest abundances of pest bark beetles, especially I. typographus and P. poligraphus, and the highest abundance of their natural predators Thanasimus spp. The population abundance of I. typographus was also positively affected by the area of clear cuts within a 500 m radius from the stand. In conclusion, prescribed burning appears to be a safer method for ecological restoration than gap cutting in the long-term. According to our results, a risk of a local bark beetle outbreak still remains 5 years following the initiation of ecological restoration treatments on spruce-dominated mature gap-cut stands.
piRNA and Transposon Dynamics in Drosophila: A Female Story
Authors: Saint-Leandre Bastien , Capy Pierre , Hua-Van Aurelie , Filée Jonathan
Published: May 2020

The germlines of metazoans contain transposable elements (TEs) causing genetic instability and affecting fitness. To protect the germline from TE activity, gonads of metazoans produce TE-derived PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) that silence TE expression. In Drosophila, our understanding of piRNA biogenesis is mainly based on studies of the Drosophila melanogaster female germline. However, it is not known whether piRNA functions are also important in the male germline or whether and how piRNAs are affected by the global genomic context. To address these questions, we compared genome sequences, transcriptomes, and small RNA libraries extracted from entire testes and ovaries of two sister species: D. melanogaster and Drosophila simulans. We found that most TE-derived piRNAs were produced in ovaries and that piRNA pathway genes were strongly overexpressed in ovaries compared with testes, indicating that the silencing of TEs by the piRNA pathway mainly took place in the female germline. To study the relationship between host piRNAs and TE landscape, we analyzed TE genomic features and how they correlate with piRNA production in the two species. In D. melanogaster, we found that TE-derived piRNAs target recently active TEs. In contrast, although Drosophila simulans TEs do not display any features of recent activity, the host still intensively produced silencing piRNAs targeting old TE relics. Together, our results show that the piRNA silencing response mainly takes place in Drosophila ovaries and indicate that the host piRNA response is implemented following a burst of TE activity and could persist long after the extinction of active TE families.
Social media and the visibility of horrific violence
Authors: Duncombe Constance
Published: May 2020

Images are central to social media communication. Billions of images are shared across different social media platforms every day: photos, cartoons, GIFs and short video clips are exchanged by users, facilitating or framing discourse on participatory sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Many of these images depict events of extreme violence, which circulate uninhibited by the conventional constraints associated with traditional news media censorship. A question arises here as to how such images mobilize public and policy-making responses to atrocities. This article examines the political dynamics of violent social media images. I argue that the particular qualities of social media can play an important role in how the digital visibility of horrific violence influences policy-making as a response to such atrocities. There is an important connection between the properties of social media platforms that allow user images to reach a global audience in real time and the emotional responses that this level of circulation generates. In turn, the pressure created by events made globally visible through the circulation of violent images and the audience responses to those images puts governments in a position where they are forced to act, which has significant implications for policy-making.
Reaction Forces and Rib Function During Locomotion in Snakes
Authors: Capano John G
Published: May 2020

Synopsis

Locomotion in most tetrapods involves coordinated efforts between appendicular and axial musculoskeletal systems, where interactions between the limbs and the ground generate vertical (GV), horizontal (GH), and mediolateral (GML) ground-reaction forces that are transmitted to the axial system. Snakes have a complete absence of external limbs and represent a fundamental shift from this perspective. The axial musculoskeletal system of snakes is their primary structure to exert, transmit, and resist all motive and reaction forces for propulsion. Their lack of limbs makes them particularly dependent on the mechanical interactions between their bodies and the environment to generate the net GH they need for forward locomotion. As organisms that locomote on their bellies, the forces that enable the various modes of snake locomotion involve two important structures: the integument and the ribs. Snakes use the integument to contact the substrate and produce a friction-reservoir that exceeds their muscle-induced propulsive forces through modulation of scale stiffness and orientation, enabling propulsion through variable environments. XROMM work and previous studies suggest that the serially repeated ribs of snakes change their cross-sectional body shape, deform to environmental irregularities, provide synergistic stabilization for other muscles, and differentially exert and transmit forces to control propulsion. The costovertebral joints of snakes have a biarticular morphology, relative to the unicapitate costovertebral joints of other squamates, that appears derived and not homologous with the ancestral bicapitate ribs of Amniota. Evidence suggests that the biarticular joints of snakes may function to buttress locomotor forces, similar to other amniotes, and provide a passive mechanism for resisting reaction forces during snake locomotion. Future comparisons with other limbless lizard taxa are necessary to tease apart the mechanics and mechanisms that produced the locomotor versatility observed within Serpentes.
Weak Generalized Lifting Property, Bruhat Intervals, and Coxeter Matroids
Authors: Caselli Fabrizio , D’Adderio Michele , Marietti Mario
Published: May 2020

We provide a weaker version of the generalized lifting property that holds in complete generality for all Coxeter groups, and we use it to show that every parabolic Bruhat interval of a finite Coxeter group is a Coxeter matroid. We also describe some combinatorial properties of the associated polytopes.
Antimicrobial Treatment Duration in Sepsis and Serious Infections
Authors: Busch Lindsay M , Kadri Sameer S
Published: May 2020

Sepsis mortality has improved following advancements in early recognition and standardized management, including emphasis on early administration of appropriate antimicrobials. However, guidance regarding antimicrobial duration in sepsis is surprisingly limited. Decreased antibiotic exposure is associated with lower rates of de novo resistance development, Clostridioides difficile-associated disease, antibiotic-related toxicities, and health care costs. Consequently, data weighing safety versus adequacy of shorter treatment durations in sepsis would be beneficial. We provide a narrative review of evidence to guide antibiotic duration in sepsis. Evidence is significantly limited by noninferiority trial designs and exclusion of critically ill patients in many trials. Potential challenges to shorter antimicrobial duration in sepsis include inadequate source control, treatment of multidrug-resistant organisms, and pharmacokinetic alterations that predispose to inadequate antimicrobial levels. Additional studies specifically targeting patients with clinical indicators of sepsis are needed to guide measures to safely reduce antimicrobial exposure in this high-risk population while preserving clinical effectiveness.
Turbidimetric Method: A New, Ecological, and Fast Way to Evaluate of Vancomycin Potency
Authors: Nascimento Patrícia Aleixa do , Kogawa Ana Carolina , Salgado Hérida Regina Nunes
Published: May 2020

Background

Vancomycin, an antimicrobial, has many microbiological methods in literature, but it was not found any that follows the green chemistry principles.

Objective

The aim of this work was to develop and validate a new microbiological analytical method with a green view to determine the vancomycin potency in lyophilized powder using less quantity of diluents and culture medium, minimizing the costs and reducing the time of analysis.

Methods

The objective will be achieved using the microbiological method by turbidimetry.

Results

Water was used as the diluent to prepare the vancomycin solution. BHI broth as used as culture media for the growth of the S. aureus ATCC 25923. The method was linear in the range of 30, 39 and 50.7 µg/mL. It was selective, with vancomycin reference and sample absorbance values very similar. The precision of the method was proved at intraday (RSD 4.42 %), interday (RSD 3.56 %) and intermediate levels (RSD 2.03%). It was accurate with mean recovery of 100.71 % and robust when changes were performed in three parameters of the method and analyzed by the F-Test and t-Test.

Conclusions

The method for evaluating the potency of vancomycin in pharmaceutical product was successfully developed and validated.

Highlights

The method can be applied to routine quality control of vancomycin product as an alternative that contemplates the green analytical chemistry and the current pharmaceutical analyzes.
In situ scanning electron microscopy observations of filler material transport in branched carbon microtubes by Joule heating
Authors: Okada Masaki , Sasaki Daiya , Kohno Hideo
Published: May 2020

Y-branched or side-by-side-branched carbon microtubes with metal filler material were fabricated, and material transport in the branched microtubes with Joule heating was investigated using in situ scanning electron microscopy with micro-electrode probes. When a voltage and electric current were applied, the material enclosed in the microtubes moved from its original position. The movement was not related to the direction of the electric current; therefore, it is concluded that the movement was not due to electromigration, but rather a temperature gradient, volume expansion and increased vapor pressure by Joule heating. In Y-branched microtubes, a part of the metal filler material moved from one branch to another branch, which would be useful for microfluidic flow switching. A cylindrical filler material was also observed to be expelled from a branch while its shape was maintained, and this phenomenon is presumably caused by vaporization-induced high pressure and could find application in micro-mechanical manipulators such as punching needles. In side-by-side-branched carbon microtubes, Joule heating caused thermal volume expansion to fill the spaces in the branches that were initially empty. The microtubes then reverted to a state almost identical to the initial state with empty spaces when the electric current was turned off. These results suggest that thermal volume expansion could be employed for flow switching.
Introduction
Authors: Rubins Noah D , Papanastasiou Thomas-Nektarios , Kinsella N Stephan
Published: May 2020

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book’s main themes. It begins with a discussion of the concept of foreign direct investment (FDI). It then details the emergence of a New International Economic Order movement, in which a large number of States initiated a campaign against the prevailing norms of equal treatment for foreign investors, culminating in a U.N. resolution known as the Charter for Economic Rights and Duties of States. It also describes developing States’ changing attitudes toward FDI. Among the questions addressed by this are: What can an investor do to deter manifestations of political risk once the investment has been made? How can international law be brought to bear as protection against political risk? What remedies are available if political risk materializes to the investors’ detriment?
Investment Insurance
Authors: Rubins Noah D , Papanastasiou Thomas-Nektarios , Kinsella N Stephan
Published: May 2020

This chapter deals with the modalities of political risk insurance. Purchasing political risk insurance is one of the simplest and most direct steps that an investor can take to reduce exposure to political risk. Political risk insurance is similar in many respects to ordinary business risk insurance. It typically provides coverage against political risk such as currency inconvertibility, expropriation, and political violence. Such insurance is available from a number of sources, including State-sponsored insurance agencies such as United States’ Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), private insurers such as Lloyds of London, and the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The chapter focuses on the MIGA and OPIC insurance schemes. It also discusses other national insurance programmes and private insurers that offer political risk insurance.
State Responsibility and Remedies Under Customary International Law
Authors: Rubins Noah D , Papanastasiou Thomas-Nektarios , Kinsella N Stephan
Published: May 2020

This chapter covers the general background international law pertaining to State responsibility, in particular State responsibility incurred in relation to foreign investment, as well as the general nature and types of remedies available to investors when a State expropriates an investor’s property or interferes with its investment. The chapter first provides a short overview of the nature and sources of customary international law. It then discusses whether international law permits a sovereign State to bind itself to a contract with a national of another State. The chapter then deals with State responsibility for acts considered illegal under international law. The chapter summarizes the remedies generally available to the investor or its home State following the taking of the investor's property. Finally, it discusses host State immunity from the jurisdiction of the national courts of other States in connection with investment claims.