bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Crack Risk Evaluation of Submerged Concrete Tunnel during Hardening Phase
Authors: Ji G. M. , Kanstad T. , Bjøntegaard Ø.
Published: December 2018

Cracking of concrete structures during the hardening phase often seriously compromises not only structure integrity but also durability and long‐term service life. Especially for large massive structures, for example, concrete submerged tunnel, the reliable crack risk evaluation at the hardening phase is critical to the successful design. Mineral additives such as silica fume (SF), blast furnace slag (BFS), and fly ash (FA) have been used extensively in production of high‐performance concrete in the last decades. The mineral additives such as FA and BFS not only reduce the hydration heat during the hardening phase but also have significant influence on the development of mechanic and viscoelastic properties at an early age. The main objective of the research is to propose a design methodology to select the appropriate composition of concrete for construction of the submerged tunnel. The influence of mineral additives such as FA and BFS on the risk of cracking during the hardening phase was investigated for the massive concrete structure. Five types of concrete mixes denoted as SV40, 40% BFS, 60% BFS, 40% FA, and 60% FA concrete are considered in the current study, and the measurement to reduce the initial temperature is also considered for 60% FA concrete. First, the well‐documented material models are verified by calibration of restraint stress development in the TSTM test by using the finite element method (FEM), and then the 3D thermal‐structural analysis is performed to assess the cracking risk for the submerged tunnel during the hardening phase. Based on analysis results, the 60% FA concrete has both the lowest maximum temperature and the lowest stress/strength ratio, and the cracking‐free design based on the current study ensures the successful construction of the submerged tunnel.
Gegen Qinlian Decoction Attenuates High‐Fat Diet‐Induced Steatohepatitis in Rats via Gut Microbiota
Authors: Guo Yi , Ding Pang-hua , Liu Li-juan , Shi Lei , Mao Tang-you , Li Jun-xiang , Wang Yun-liang
Published: December 2018

Gut microbiota play an important role in modulating energy contribution, metabolism, and inflammation, and disruption of the microbiome population is closely associated with chronic metabolic diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Gegen Qinlian decoction (GGQLD), a well‐known traditional Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), was previously found to regulate lipid metabolism and attenuate inflammation during NAFLD pathogenesis. However, the underlying mechanism of this process, as well as how the gut microbiome is involved, remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effect of varying doses of GGQLD on the total amount and distribution of gut bacteria in rats fed a high‐fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks. Our analysis indicates that Oscillibacter and Ruminococcaceae_g_unclassified are the dominant families in the HFD group. Further, HFD‐dependent differences at the phylum, class, and genus levels appear to lead to dysbiosis, characterized by an increase in the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and a dramatic increase in the Oscillibacter genus compared to the control group. Treatment with GGQLD, especially the GGQLL dose, improved these HFD‐induced changes in intestinal flora, leading to increased levels of Firmicutes, Clostridia, Lactobacillus, bacilli, and Erysipelotrichales that were similar to the controls. Taken together, our data highlight the efficacy of GGQLD in treating NAFLD and support its clinical use as a treatment for NAFLD/NASH patients.
miR-548b-3p Regulates Proliferation, Apoptosis, and Mitochondrial Function by Targeting CIP2A in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Lin Lin , Wang Yong
Published: December 2018

The roles of miR-548b-3p in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain undiscovered. This study aims to explore the roles and mechanisms of miR-548b-3p in HCC. Using TCGA database, we found that miR-548b-3p expression was lower in HCC compared to the normal tissues, which was further confirmed by RT-qPCR of 20 cases of surgically resected HCC and corresponding normal tissues. miR-548b-3p mimic and inhibitor were transfected into Huh7 and SK-Hep-1 cells, respectively. MTT, colony formation, and cell cycle assays showed that miR-548b-3p mimic suppressed cell growth and G1/S cell cycle transition. In contrast, miR-548b-3p inhibitor facilitated cell growth and cell cycle transition. miR-548b-3p mimic also increased cisplatin sensitivity by upregulating apoptosis rate. JC-1 staining showed that miR-548b-3p mimic downregulated mitochondrial membrane potential, while miR-548b-3p inhibitor showed the opposite effects in SK-Hep-1 cells. Using prediction software, we found that CIP2A was on the target list of miR-548b-3p. miR-548b-3p mimic downregulated CIP2A and its downstream target protein c-Myc. Luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that CIP2A was as a direct target of miR-548b-3p. CIP2A depletion partly reduced the effect of miR-548b-3p mimic/inhibitor on c-Myc. CIP2A depletion also reduced the effect of miR-548b-3p mimic/inhibitor on proliferation. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that miR-548b-3p was downregulated in HCC. miR-548b-3p regulates proliferation, apoptosis and mitochondrial function by targeting CIP2A in HCC.
Mechanisms of Intravascular Linear Ablation Induced Restenosis in Rabbit Abdominal Aorta
Authors: Chen Qiang , Wang Manman , Shao Shuai , Liu Hongze , Xia Xiaodong , Tse Gary , Yuan Meng , Zhang Yue , Liang Xue , Liu Tong , Li Guangping
Published: December 2018

Objectives. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the mainstay treatment for coronary artery disease but complications such as in-stent restenosis and thrombosis remain problematic. Radiofrequency balloon angioplasty (RBA) can improve lumen dimension, fusing intimal tears, and artery dissection but is associated with higher restenosis rate. Methods. After establishing an atherosclerosis model based on endothelial abrasion and high cholesterol diet, forty-five rabbits were randomly divided into three groups: RBA (n=20), percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) (n=20), and control groups (n=5). The RBA and PTA groups were subdivided according to harvested time posttreatment, respectively (1 hour, 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days). Aorta segments were then isolated for hematoxylin and eosin staining, Masson trichrome staining, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot for TLR-4, NF-κB, MCP-1, and VCAM-1expression. Results. At 28 days, intimal area was significantly lower in the RBA group compared to the PTA and control groups, whilst luminal and medial area were comparable in the RBA and PTA group but higher and lower than the control group, respectively. Expression of TLR-4, NF-κB, MCP-1, and VCAM-1 showed no significant difference between RBA and PTA groups. Conclusions. RBA can depress the intimal hyperplasia and promote dilatation of the artery to greater extents than PTA at 28 days. However, this did not involve TLR-4 signaling pathway, which likely plays a negligible role in mediating restenosis. Reduction of intimal hyperplasia may be due to injury of ablation to the tunica media and inhibition of VSMC proliferation and migration.
Low-Profile Ultra-Broadband Log-Period Monopole End-Fire Antenna
Authors: Ma Liang , Xu Rui , Wen Hongchen , Li Zhenbing , Li Jian , Huang Yongjun
Published: December 2018

This paper proposes an ultra-broadband (2–13 GHz) and low-profile log-period monopole end-fire antenna for the flush-mounted applications. 24 monopoles with a log-period rule are used to cover the whole operating frequency band, and those monopoles are printed on both sides of a low-loss dielectric layer vertically placed over a slot feeding line with wideband microstrip-to-slotline transition. The low profile is realized by bending the parts of the long monopoles so that the overall antenna size is obtained as 40 mm × 100 mm × 13.6 mm. The proposed antenna is fabricated, and the measured results agree with the simulated results very well. The measured results indicate that the proposed antenna can work at the whole 2–13 GHz band with very good end-fire radiation patterns and stable gain performances.
Viscoelastic and Textural Characteristics of Gels Obtained from Potato Starch Roasted under Several Temperature-Time Conditions
Authors: Torres María D. , Chenlo Francisco , Moreira Ramón
Published: December 2018

The influence of roasting conditions on the potato starch (PS) composition, solubility, crystallinity, gel-forming thermal profiles, and texture of the corresponding gels was studied. Thermorheological testing of roasted starches with (RPS) and without (RPSI) the soluble fraction was conducted on a stress-controlled rheometer. Texture profile analysis (TPA) was used to determine the RPS final gel texture. Solubility tests showed equivalent effects of starch roasting for samples treated at 190°C for 8 h (RPS190-8), 210°C for 6 h (RPS210-6), and 230°C for 4 h (RPS230-4). The apparent amylose content of RPS linearly increased with the decreasing degree of crystallinity. Elastic (G′) and viscous (G″) properties of RPS depended markedly on apparent amylose content and crystallinity. G′gel values of roasted starches linearly increased with the amylose content suggesting a promotion of the amylose breakdown with roasting temperature. Gels prepared with RPS roasted between 120 and 170°C exhibited intermediate strength and fully thermal reversible features. Roasting between 190 and 210°C favoured strong and fully thermal reversible gels. Although RPS230-4 gels exhibited similar strength to RPS190-8 and RPS210-4, no fully thermal reversible gels were obtained. The soluble fraction removal led to a drop the RPSI gels strength with increasing roasting temperature. No water syneresis was identified for RPS gels during one-week ageing, except for RPS230 gels. Relationships between textural parameters from TPA and viscoelastic gel properties determined by rheology were established.
Case Report and Literature Review of a Pathologic Mandibular Fracture from Metastatic Esophageal Adenocarcinoma
Authors: O’Brien Daniel C. , Jones Garrett , Yell Maggie , McChesney Jason
Published: December 2018

Distant metastasis to the jaws, including the maxilla or mandible, is very rare. Although the mandible is the preferred sight of these rare metastases, it is extremely rare for oral cavity malignancies to present as pathological mandibular fractures. Here, we present a case of esophageal adenocarcinoma metastasizing to the mandible, and the first reported case presenting with a pathological mandibular fracture secondary to esophageal adenocarcinoma. We also review the 9 other reported cases of metastatic esophageal adenocarcinoma to either the maxilla or mandible.
Estradiol Alleviates Intervertebral Disc Degeneration through Modulating the Antioxidant Enzymes and Inhibiting Autophagy in the Model of Menopause Rats
Authors: Jin Lin-Yu , Lv Zhen-Dong , Wang Kun , Qian Lie , Song Xiao-Xing , Li Xin-Feng , Shen Hong-Xing
Published: December 2018

Objective. To investigate the effects of menopause on redox balance in the intervertebral disc and to examine whether oxidative stress and autophagy were associated with disc degeneration in menopause rats. Methods. Thirty female Sprague‐Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups (sham, ovariectomized with vehicle, and ovariectomized with estrogen). At the end of the 3‐month treatment, the rats were examined by 3.0 T MRI. Serum estradiol (E2) level was measured. Redox balance of nucleus pulposus was determined by measuring total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px), glutathione (GSH), and oxidized glutathione (GSSG). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), immunohistochemical staining, and Western blot were used to determine the nucleus pulposus autophagy level. At the same time, Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to describe the relationship between intervertebral disc grade, oxidative stress status, serum E2, and autophagy level. Results. The level of serum E2 was significantly decreased by ovariectomy and can be corrected by the estrogen replacement therapy (ERT). In OVX rats, an increased oxidative stress and high level of autophagy were observed in nucleus pulposus tissue. ERT prevented the intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD), restored the redox balance, and reduced autophagy level. Conclusion. Ovariectomy induced oxidative stress, autophagy, and intervertebral disc degeneration. Autophagy of the intervertebral disc was negatively correlated with oxidative stress, and the level of autophagy can be reduced by ERT through modulating the redox balance and downregulating the autophagy level. Regulating the redox balance of IVD may be a potential therapeutic option for degeneration of the disc in the postmenopausal women.
Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance Patterns ofCampylobacterspp. Isolated from Broiler Chickens in the North of Tunisia
Authors: Gharbi Manel , Béjaoui Awatef , Ben Hamda Cherif , Jouini Ahlem , Ghedira Kais , Zrelli Chahrazed , Hamrouni Safa , Aouadhi Chedia , Bessoussa Ghaith , Ghram Abdeljelil , Maaroufi Abderrazek
Published: December 2018

The aim of the current study is to assess the prevalence ofCampylobacterinfection in broiler chickens, raised in intensive production conditions, and to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility of recoveredCampylobacterisolates. A total of 590 cloacal swab samples were taken from 13 broiler chicken flocks in the North East of Tunisia. All samples were tested for the presence of thermophilicCampylobacterby culture and PCR, targeting themapAandceuEgenes, respectively. Susceptibility to antimicrobial drugs was tested against 8 antibiotics. Prevalence ofCampylobacterinfection, relationship with geographic origins and seasons, antimicrobial resistance rates and patterns were analyzed. Total prevalence ofCampylobacterinfection in broiler flocks was in the range of 22.4%, with a predominance ofC. jejuni(68.9%), followed byC. coli(31.1%). Positive association was highlighted between the infection level and the season (P< 0.001), but no link was emphasized considering the geographic origin. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed very high resistance rates detected against macrolide, tetracycline, quinolones, and chloramphenicol, ranging from 88.6% to 100%. Lower resistance prevalence was noticed forβ-lactams (47% and 61.4%) and gentamicin (12.9%). 17 R-type patterns were observed, and a common pattern was found in 30.3% of isolates. This study provides updates and novel data on the prevalence and the AMR of broiler campylobacters in Tunisia, revealing the occurrence of high resistance to several antibiotics and emphasizing the requirement of better surveillance and careful regulation of antimicrobials use.
Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Complicated by Right Coronary Artery Pseudoaneurysm
Authors: Jawaid Yasir , Aqtash Obadah , Mansoor Kanaan , Ajmeri Aman N. , Fofie Frank , Amro Ahmed , Dial Larry
Published: December 2018

Loeys-Dietz syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant connective tissue disorder notable for rapidly progressive vascular aneurysmal disease and craniofacial defects. Patients are at an increased risk for aneurysm rupture and dissection at younger ages compared to other aneurysmal syndromes. Early surgical intervention is important for prevention of ruptures and/or dissection. The coronary arterial tree is mostly involved as a result of postoperative complications of an aortic root repair. This fact has been sparsely reported. We report a unique case of LDS2 presenting with chest pain that was later diagnosed as a pseudoaneurysm as a result of a right coronary artery graft dehiscence.
A Novel Oxidovanadium (IV)-Orotate Complex as an Alternative Antidiabetic Agent: Synthesis, Characterization, and Biological Assessments
Authors: Naglah Ahmed M. , Al-Omar Mohamed A. , Almehizia Abdulrahman A. , Bhat Mashooq A. , Afifi Walid M. , Al-Wasidi Asma S. , Al-Humaidi Jehan Y. , Refat Moamen S.
Published: December 2018

Diabetes is an increasingly common metabolic disorder with high comorbidity and societal and personal costs. Insulin replacement therapy is limited by a lack of oral bioavailability. Recent studies suggest vanadium has therapeutic potential. A newly synthesized complex between oxidovanadium (IV) and orotic acid (OAH3), [(OAH1)(VO)(NH3)2].3H2O, was characterized using spectroscopic and thermogravimetric techniques.In vivopotential was assessed in a streptozocin-induced rat model of diabetes. OAH3acts as a bidentate ligand in the formation of the dark green, crystalline oxidovanadium (IV) complex in a square pyramidal configuration. Treatment with oxidovanadium (IV)-orotatein vivosignificantly improved many biochemical parameters with minimal toxicity and restored pancreatic and hepatic histology. The results of the present work describe a safe, new compound for the treatment of diabetes.
A Gas Seepage Modeling Study for Mitigating Gas Accumulation Risk in Upper Protective Coal Seam Mining Process
Authors: Zhang Cun , Zhang Lei , Li Mingxue , Wang Chen
Published: December 2018

Protective coal seam mining (PCSM) is one of the most significant mitigation measures of regional outburst in the process of deep coal seam mining, which has high outburst risk in China. During the PCSM process, the phenomenon of methane concentration exceeding the limit usually occurs in the working face. It is vital to understand factors affecting gas emission from the protective seam working face (PSWF) and to obtain an equation for determining the quantity of gas emission. A gas seepage model (GSM) was developed to simulate the gas emission during the process of upper PCSM. In this study, an equation was formulated to determine the quantity of gas desorbed from the protected seam into PSWF. These equations have been developed by using Fick’s second law of diffusion and Darcy’s flow law. The relationship between permeability and stress was described in an elastic-plastic state, and the mechanics of surrounding rock were investigated. It can be concluded from GSM that the initial gas pressure of protected seam, the characteristics of interlayer rocks, and the ventilation pressure of PSWF were the main factors that influenced the desorption of gas emission from the protected seam into PSWF. The developed GSM was tested for calculating gas emission quantity from the PCSM process by utilizing the actual geological condition data of a coal mine, which is located in Hancheng, China. The results have shown great agreement with obtained field measurements, which is done by combining the fitting curve of ventilation air methane quantity for PSWF with an interlayer spacing. A loss coefficient (δ) of 1.012 × 10−3 was obtained in this study.
Elucidation of the Intestinal Absorption Mechanism of Loganin in the Human Intestinal Caco‐2 Cell Model
Authors: Xu Renjie , Yuan Yichu , Qi Jia , Zhou Jia , Guo Xiaowen , Zhang Jian , Zhan Ruanjuan
Published: December 2018

Loganin, iridoid glycosides, is the main bioactive ingredients in the plant Strychnos nux-vomica L. and demonstrates various pharmacological effects, though poor oral bioavailability in rats. In this study, the intestinal absorption mechanism of loganin was investigated using the human intestinal Caco‐2 cell monolayer model in both the apical‐to‐basolateral (A‐B) and the basolateral‐to‐apical (B‐A) direction; additionally, transport characteristics were systematically investigated at different concentrations, pHs, temperatures, and potential transporters. The absorption permeability (PappAB) of loganin, which ranged from 12.17 to 14.78 × 10−6cm/s, was high at four tested concentrations (5, 20, 40, and 80μM), while the major permeation mechanism of loganin was found to be passive diffusion with active efflux mediated by multidrug resistance‐associated protein (MRP) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP). In addition, it was found that loganin was not the substrate of efflux transporter P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) since the selective inhibitor (verapamil) of the efflux transporter exhibited little effects on the transport of loganin in the human intestinal Caco‐2 cells. Meanwhile, transport from the apical to the basolateral side increased 2.09‐fold after addition of a MRP inhibitor and 2.32‐fold after addition of a BCRP inhibitor. In summary, our results clearly demonstrate, for the first time, a good permeability of loganin in the human intestinal Caco‐2 cell model and elucidate, in detail, the intestinal absorption mechanism and the effects of transporters on iridoid glycosides compounds.
Sensory Profile of Chihuahua Cheese Manufactured from Raw Milk
Authors: Villalobos-Chaparro Sarai , Salas-Muñóz Erika , Gutiérrez-Méndez Néstor , Nevárez-Moorillón Guadalupe Virginia
Published: December 2018

Chihuahua cheese is a local artisanal cheese traditionally produced from raw milk. When this cheese is produced with pasteurized milk, cheesemakers complain that there are differences in taste and aroma as compared with traditional manufacturing. This work aimed to obtain a descriptive sensory analysis of Chihuahua cheese manufactured with raw milk under traditional conditions. Samples were collected in five cheese dairies at two different seasons (summer and autumn), and a Quantitative Descriptive Sensorial Analysis was done by a panel of trained judges. For aroma descriptors, cooked descriptor showed differences between dairies, and whey was different among dairies and sampling seasons (P<0.01); diacetyl, fruity (P<0.01), as well as free fatty acids, nutty and sulphur (P<0.05) descriptors varied between seasons. For flavour descriptors, bitter perception was different between dairies and seasons (P<0.01). Salty and creamy cheese was also different among dairies (P<0.01). A Principal Component Analysis for differences among dairies and sampling season demonstrated that the first three components accounted for 90% of the variance; variables were more affected by the sampling seasons than by the geographical location or if the dairy was operated by Mennonites. Chihuahua cheese sensorial profile can be described as a semi-matured cheese with a bitter flavour, slightly salted, and with a cream flavour, with aroma notes associated with whey and sour milk. Principal Component Analysis demonstrated season influence on flavour and aroma characteristics.
Detection of Subsurface Target Based on FDA-MIMO Radar
Authors: Liu Qinghua , Jiang Chang , Jin Liangnian , Ouyang Shan
Published: December 2018

As a new type of radar, the FDA-MIMO radar has a good improvement on side lobe suppression and target detection performance compared with the conventional MIMO radar. However, the existing researches on FDA-MIMO radar are almost based on far-field. In this paper, FDA-MIMO radar is applied to the detection of subsurface targets. Aimed at near-subsurface targets, we formulated the signal model of FDA-MIMO radar and combined it with the algorithm of grid of beam (GOB) to detect. Compared with conventional MIMO radar detection, we verified the effectiveness of the proposed method through theoretical simulation.
Combining Acute Kidney Injury with Gastrointestinal Pathology: A Clue to Acute Oxalate Nephropathy
Authors: Fox Benjamin , Saxena Nishkarsh , Schuppener Leah , Maursetter Laura
Published: December 2018

Acute oxalate nephropathy (AON) is an increasingly recognized cause of acute kidney injury (AKI). Herein, we present two cases of biopsy-proven acute oxalate nephropathy in patients with gastrointestinal malabsorption, coincidentally both stemming from cholangiocarcinoma. The first is a 73-year-old male who presented with syncope and was found to have severe, oliguric AKI in the setting of newly diagnosed, nonresectable cholangiocarcinoma. The second is a 64-year-old man with remote resection of cholangiocarcinoma who presented after routine laboratory monitoring showed significant AKI. Temporary dialysis was required in both cases before renal recovery occurred. Together, these cases should increase physicians’ suspicion of AON in the presence of malabsorption. By doing so, the workup of oxalate nephropathy can be expedited with prompt initiation of treatment.
Role of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) and Its Ligands in Kidney Inflammation and Damage
Authors: Rayego-Mateos Sandra , Rodrigues-Diez Raul , Morgado-Pascual Jose Luis , Valentijn Floris , Valdivielso Jose M. , Goldschmeding Roel , Ruiz-Ortega Marta
Published: December 2018

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by persistent inflammation and progressive fibrosis, ultimately leading to end-stage renal disease. Although many studies have investigated the factors involved in the progressive deterioration of renal function, current therapeutic strategies only delay disease progression, leaving an unmet need for effective therapeutic interventions that target the cause behind the inflammatory process and could slow down or reverse the development and progression of CKD. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (ERBB1), a membrane tyrosine kinase receptor expressed in the kidney, is activated after renal damage, and preclinical studies have evidenced its potential as a therapeutic target in CKD therapy. To date, seven official EGFR ligands have been described, including epidermal growth factor (EGF) (canonical ligand), transforming growth factor-α, heparin-binding epidermal growth factor, amphiregulin, betacellulin, epiregulin, and epigen. Recently, the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF/CCN2) has been described as a novel EGFR ligand. The direct activation of EGFR by its ligands can exert different cellular responses, depending on the specific ligand, tissue, and pathological condition. Among all EGFR ligands, CTGF/CCN2 is of special relevance in CKD. This growth factor, by binding to EGFR and downstream signaling pathway activation, regulates renal inflammation, cell growth, and fibrosis. EGFR can also be “transactivated” by extracellular stimuli, including several key factors involved in renal disease, such as angiotensin II, transforming growth factor beta (TGFB), and other cytokines, including members of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily, showing another important mechanism involved in renal pathology. The aim of this review is to summarize the contribution of EGFR pathway activation in experimental kidney damage, with special attention to the regulation of the inflammatory response and the role of some EGFR ligands in this process. Better insights in EGFR signaling in renal disease could improve our current knowledge of renal pathology contributing to therapeutic strategies for CKD development and progression.
Flavonoid‐Rich Ethanol Extract from the Leaves of Diospyros kaki Attenuates D‐Galactose‐Induced Oxidative Stress and Neuroinflammation‐Mediated Brain Aging in Mice
Authors: Ma Yingjuan , Ma Bin , Shang Yuying , Yin Qingqing , Wang Dejie , Xu Song , Hong Yan , Hou Xunyao , Liu Xueping
Published: December 2018

Aging is a major factor that contributes to neurological impairment and neuropathological changes, such as inflammation, oxidative stress, neuronal apoptosis, and synaptic dysfunction. Flavonoids act as protective antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory agents against various age‐related neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we investigated the protective effect and mechanisms of the flavonoid‐rich ethanol extract from the leaves of Diospyros kaki (FELDK) in the cortex and hippocampus of D‐galactose‐ (gal‐) aged mice. Our results showed that FELDK treatment restored memory impairment in mice as determined by the Y‐maze and Morris water maze tests. FELDK decreased oxidative stress levels via inhibiting reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) production and elevating antioxidative enzymes. FELDK also alleviated D‐gal‐induced neuroinflammation via suppressing the expression of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and receptor for AGEs (RAGE) and activating microgliosis and astrocytosis, nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) nuclear translocation, and downstream inflammatory mediators. Moreover, FELDK inhibited the phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K)/Akt and C‐jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) apoptotic signaling pathways and ameliorated the impairment of synapse‐related proteins. Hence, these results indicate that FELDK exerts neuroprotective effects on D‐gal‐induced brain aging. Thus, FELDK may be a potential therapeutic strategy for preventing and treating age‐related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
In Vivo Resistance to Ceftolozane/Tazobactam in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Arising by AmpC- and Non-AmpC-Mediated Pathways
Authors: Skoglund Erik , Abodakpi Henrietta , Rios Rafael , Diaz Lorena , De La Cadena Elsa , Dinh An Q. , Ardila Javier , Miller William R. , Munita Jose M. , Arias Cesar A. , Tam Vincent H. , Tran Truc T.
Published: December 2018

Two pairs of ceftolozane/tazobactam susceptible/resistant P. aeruginosa were isolated from 2 patients after exposure to β-lactams. The genetic basis of ceftolozane/tazobactam resistance was evaluated, and β-lactam-resistant mechanisms were assessed by phenotypic assays. Whole genome sequencing identified mutations in AmpC including the mutation (V213A) and a deletion of 7 amino acids (P210–G216) in the Ω-loop. Phenotypic assays showed that ceftolozane/tazobactam resistance in the strain with AmpCV213A variant was associated with increased β-lactamase hydrolysis activity. On the other hand, the deletion of 7 amino acids in the Ω-loop of AmpC did not display enhanced β-lactamase activity. Resistance to ceftolozane/tazobactam in P. aeruginosa is associated with changes in AmpC; however, the apparent loss of β-lactamase activity in AmpC∆7 suggests that non-AmpC mechanisms could play an important role in resistance to β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations.
Cartilage and Bone Serum Biomarkers as Novel Tools for Monitoring Knee Osteochondritis Dissecans Treated with Osteochondral Scaffold
Authors: Gabusi Elena , Paolella Francesca , Manferdini Cristina , Gambari Laura , Kon Elizaveta , Filardo Giuseppe , Mariani Erminia , Lisignoli Gina
Published: December 2018

Knee osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is a focal disease of the joint characterized by modifications of bone and cartilage tissues. Biomimetic osteochondral scaffolds are used to restore these tissues. The aim of this prognostic prospective cohort study was to evaluate serum biomarkers of cartilage (fragments or propeptide of type II collagen: CTXII, C2C, and CPII) and bone (tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) 5b and osteocalcin (OC)) turnover during follow-up of patients treated with an osteochondral scaffold, to identify which were related to healing outcome and clinical score. We found that cartilage (CPII) and bone (OC) synthetic biomarkers were significantly increased during the first-year follow-up, while the respective degradative markers (CTXII, C2C, and TRAP5b) were not modulated. Only CTXII/CPII and C2C/CPII cartilage ratios were significantly modulated, evidencing a higher remodeling of cartilage compared to bone tissue. Cartilage and bone single biomarkers or ratios at one-year follow-up showed values close to or similar to those of healthy subjects. International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score significantly increased from T0 to T2, while the Tegner score did not. Taking into consideration an IKDC score > 70 as clinical success, we found that all OCD cases with both CPII (> 300 pg/ml) and C2C/CPII (<0.35) presented IKDC scores of clinical success. OCD patients treated with an osteochondral scaffold showed an improvement at one-year follow-up, evidenced by both clinical and serum cartilage biomarkers. These data confirmed that cartilage and bone remodeling took place and showed that systemic biomarkers represent a sensitive tool for monitoring OCD patients during the follow-up.
CD3+ B-1a Cells as a Mediator of Disease Progression in Autoimmune-Prone Mice
Authors: Yamamoto Wakako , Toyoda Hidemi , Xu Dong-qing , Hanaki Ryo , Morimoto Mari , Nakato Daisuke , Ito Takahiro , Iwamoto Shotaro , Bonno Motoki , Tanaka Shigeki , Hirayama Masahiro
Published: December 2018

B-1a cells are distinguishable from conventional B cells, which are designated B-2 cells, on the basis of their developmental origin, surface marker expression, and functions. In addition to the unique expression of the CD5 antigen, B-1a cells are characterized by the expression level of CD23. Although B-1a cells are considered to be independent of T cells and produce natural autoantibodies that induce the clinical manifestations of autoimmune diseases, there is much debate on the role of B-1a cells in the development of autoimmune diseases. We examined the involvement of B-1a cells in autoimmune-prone mice with thelprgene. MRL/lprand B6/lprmice exhibited lupus and lymphoproliferative syndromes because of the massive accumulation of CD3+CD4-CD8-B220+ T cells. Interestingly, the B220+CD23-CD5+ (B-1a) cell population in the peripheral blood and peritoneal cavity increased with age and disease progression. Ninety percent of B-1a cells were CD3 positive (CD3+ B-1a cells) and did not produce tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma, or interleukin-10. To test the possible involvement of CD3+ B-1a cells in autoimmune disease, we tried to eliminate the peripheral cells by hypotonic shock through repeated intraperitoneal injections of distilled water. The fraction of peritoneal CD3+ B-1a cells decreased, and symptoms of the autoimmune disease were much milder in the distilled water-treated MRL/lprmice. These results suggest that CD3+ B-1a cells could be mediators of disease progression in autoimmune-prone mice.
Time-Course Comparative Metabolite Profiling under Osmotic Stress in Tolerant and Sensitive Tibetan Hulless Barley
Authors: Yuan Hongjun , Zeng Xingquan , Shi Jian , Xu Qijun , Wang Yulin , Jabu Dunzhu , Sang Zha , Nyima Tashi
Published: December 2018

Tibetan hulless barley is widely grown in the extreme environmental conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau which is characterized by cold, high salinity, and drought. Osmotic stress always occurs simultaneously with drought and its tolerance is a vital part of drought tolerance. The diversity of metabolites leading to osmotic stress tolerance was characterized using widely-targeted metabolomics in tolerant (XL) and sensitive (D) accessions submitted to polyethylene glycol. XL regulated a more diverse set of metabolites than D, which may promote the establishment of a robust system to cope with the stress in XL. Compounds belonging to the group of flavonoids, amino acids, and glycerophospholipids constitute the core metabolome responsive to the stress, despite the tolerance levels. Moreover, 8 h appeared to be a critical time point for stress endurance involving a high accumulation of key metabolites from the class of nucleotide and its derivative which provide the ultimate energy source for the synthesis of functional carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, and secondary metabolites in XL. This intrinsic metabolic adjustment helped XL to efficiently alleviate the stress at the later stages. A total of 22 diverse compounds were constantly and exclusively regulated in XL, representing novel stress tolerance biomarkers which may help improving stress tolerance, especially drought, in hulless barley.
The Effect of Desensitizing Toothpastes and Coffee Staining on the Optical Properties of Natural Teeth and Microhybrid Resin Composites: An In-Vitro Study
Authors: Turgut Sedanur , Kılınç Hamiyet , Ulusoy Kıvanç Utku , Bagis Bora
Published: December 2018

Objective. To evaluate the effect of different desensitizing toothpastes and coffee staining on the discoloration rate of natural human tooth and composite materials.Materials and Methods. A total of 56 human teeth and 56 composite specimens were used. After initial color measurements were taken, specimens and teeth were exposed to simulated toothbrushing with six desensitizing toothpastes containing different active ingredients: stannous fluoride, strontium acetate, potassium citrate and hydroxyapatite, cetylpyridinium chloride, arginine, and novamin. Specimens were then exposed to coffee staining. Throughout the staining procedure, the storing solution was refreshed every day and the specimens were brushed with the tested toothpastes. Color measurements and changes were recorded at each stage and analyzed with one-way ANOVA, Dunnett tests, and paired sample t-test (p<0.05).Results. The largest color change was obtained with the stannous fluoride toothpaste after coffee staining for natural teeth (2.6ΔE00⁎) and composite specimens (3.1ΔE00⁎). Coffee staining resulted in significant changes forΔE00⁎values of all groups, except for natural teeth brushed with a novamin-based (p= 0.06) toothpaste. For composite specimens, only the stannous fluoride and cetylpyridinium chloride-based toothpastes resulted in significant color changes relative to the control group.ΔL⁎andΔb⁎values were also increased after staining for all groups (p<0.05).Conclusions. Desensitizing toothpastes alone did not cause perceptible color changes; however, in combination with coffee staining, it tended to increased discoloration for both composites and natural teeth.
Preparation and Characterization of TATB/VitonA Nanocomposites
Authors: Xu Wenzheng , Pang Zhaoying , Wang Jingyu , Ping Chao , Wang Jie , Peng Jinyu
Published: December 2018

Nano-TATB particles were prepared by an ultrasonic-assisted spray method. Molecular dynamics simulation was used to select the best binder—VitonA. Then, using VitonA as a binder, TATB/VitonA nanocomposites were prepared by a compressed air spray evaporation method and the formation mechanism of TATB/VitonA nanocomposites was proposed. Meanwhile, the crystal morphology, particle size, crystal structure, thermal decomposition properties, and impact sensitivity properties of the raw materials of TATB, the prepared nano-TATB particles, and the TATB/VitonA nanocomposites were characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), laser particle size analyzer (LPSA), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and impact sensitivity instrument. The detonation performances of TATB/VitonA were calculated by the EXPLO5 program. The results indicated that the size of TATB/VitonA nanocomposites was 0.5–1 μm. The results also indicated that TATB/VitonA nanocomposites were composed of many nano-TATB particles (40–60 nm). The crystal structure of TATB/VitonA nanoparticles was not changed. The activation energy of TATB/VitonA nanocomposites was higher than nano-TATB particles by 42.62 kJ·mol−1, and the characteristic drop of the proportion of TATB/VitonA nanocomposites was higher than nano-TATB particles by 13.8 cm. The thermal stability of TATB/VitonA nanocomposites was higher, while their mechanical sensitivities were lower, which showed potential for sustainable use in the field of energetic materials.
Canagliflozin and Stroke in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Zhou Zien , Lindley Richard I. , Rådholm Karin , Jenkins Bronwyn , Watson John , Perkovic Vlado , Mahaffey Kenneth W. , de Zeeuw Dick , Fulcher Greg , Shaw Wayne , Oh Richard , Desai Mehul , Matthews David R. , Neal Bruce
Published: December 2018

Background and Purpose—

This study reports the detailed effects of canagliflozin on stroke, stroke subtypes, and vascular outcomes in participants with and without cerebrovascular disease (stroke or transient ischemic attack) at baseline from the CANVAS (Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study) Program.

Methods—

The CANVAS Program, comprising 2 similarly designed and conducted clinical trials, randomly assigned 10 142 participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus and high cardiovascular risk to canagliflozin or placebo. Its primary outcome was a composite of major adverse cardiovascular events. The main outcome of interest for this report was fatal or nonfatal stroke. Additional exploratory outcomes were stroke subtypes and other vascular outcomes defined according to standard criteria.

Results—

There were 1 958 (19%) participants with prior stroke or transient ischemic attack at baseline. These individuals were older, more frequently women, and had higher rates of heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and microvascular disease (all
P
<0.001) compared with those without such a history. There were 309 participants with stroke events during follow-up (123 had prior stroke or transient ischemic attack at baseline and 186 did not), at a rate of 7.93/1000 patient-years among those assigned canagliflozin and 9.62/1000 patient-years among placebo (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.69–1.09). Analysis of stroke subtypes found no effect on ischemic stroke (n=253, hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.74–1.22), a significant reduction for hemorrhagic stroke (n=30, hazard ratio, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.20–0.89) and no effect on undetermined stroke (n=29, hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.48–2.22). Effects on other cardiovascular outcomes were comparable among participants with and without stroke or transient ischemic attack at baseline.

Conclusions—

There were too few events in the CANVAS Program to separately define the effects of canagliflozin on stroke, but benefit is more likely than harm. The observed possible protective effect for hemorrhagic stroke was based on small numbers but warrants further investigation.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifiers: NCT01032629 and NCT01989754.
Colors in Context: A Pragmatic Neural Model for Grounded Language Understanding
Authors: Monroe Will , Hawkins Robert X.D. , Goodman Noah D. , Potts Christopher
Published: December 2018

We present a model of pragmatic referring expression interpretation in a grounded communication task (identifying colors from descriptions) that draws upon predictions from two recurrent neural network classifiers, a speaker and a listener, unified by a recursive pragmatic reasoning framework. Experiments show that this combined pragmatic model interprets color descriptions more accurately than the classifiers from which it is built, and that much of this improvement results from combining the speaker and listener perspectives. We observe that pragmatic reasoning helps primarily in the hardest cases: when the model must distinguish very similar colors, or when few utterances adequately express the target color. Our findings make use of a newly-collected corpus of human utterances in color reference games, which exhibit a variety of pragmatic behaviors. We also show that the embedded speaker model reproduces many of these pragmatic behaviors.
Aspect-augmented Adversarial Networks for Domain Adaptation
Authors: Zhang Yuan , Barzilay Regina , Jaakkola Tommi
Published: December 2018

We introduce a neural method for transfer learning between two (source and target) classification tasks or aspects over the same domain. Rather than training on target labels, we use a few keywords pertaining to source and target aspects indicating sentence relevance instead of document class labels. Documents are encoded by learning to embed and softly select relevant sentences in an aspect-dependent manner. A shared classifier is trained on the source encoded documents and labels, and applied to target encoded documents. We ensure transfer through aspect-adversarial training so that encoded documents are, as sets, aspect-invariant. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms different baselines and model variants on two datasets, yielding an improvement of 27% on a pathology dataset and 5% on a review dataset.
ABCNN: Attention-Based Convolutional Neural Network for Modeling Sentence Pairs
Authors: Yin Wenpeng , Schütze Hinrich , Xiang Bing , Zhou Bowen
Published: December 2018

How to model a pair of sentences is a critical issue in many NLP tasks such as answer selection (AS), paraphrase identification (PI) and textual entailment (TE). Most prior work (i) deals with one individual task by fine-tuning a specific system; (ii) models each sentence’s representation separately, rarely considering the impact of the other sentence; or (iii) relies fully on manually designed, task-specific linguistic features. This work presents a general Attention Based Convolutional Neural Network (ABCNN) for modeling a pair of sentences. We make three contributions. (i) The ABCNN can be applied to a wide variety of tasks that require modeling of sentence pairs. (ii) We propose three attention schemes that integrate mutual influence between sentences into CNNs; thus, the representation of each sentence takes into consideration its counterpart. These interdependent sentence pair representations are more powerful than isolated sentence representations. (iii) ABCNNs achieve state-of-the-art performance on AS, PI and TE tasks. We release code at: https://github.com/yinwenpeng/Answer_Selection .
Optimizing Statistical Machine Translation for Text Simplification
Authors: Xu Wei , Napoles Courtney , Pavlick Ellie , Chen Quanze , Callison-Burch Chris
Published: December 2018

Most recent sentence simplification systems use basic machine translation models to learn lexical and syntactic paraphrases from a manually simplified parallel corpus. These methods are limited by the quality and quantity of manually simplified corpora, which are expensive to build. In this paper, we conduct an in-depth adaptation of statistical machine translation to perform text simplification, taking advantage of large-scale paraphrases learned from bilingual texts and a small amount of manual simplifications with multiple references. Our work is the first to design automatic metrics that are effective for tuning and evaluating simplification systems, which will facilitate iterative development for this task.
Domain Adaptation for Syntactic and Semantic Dependency Parsing Using Deep Belief Networks
Authors: Yang Haitong , Zhuang Tao , Zong Chengqing
Published: December 2018

In current systems for syntactic and semantic dependency parsing, people usually define a very high-dimensional feature space to achieve good performance. But these systems often suffer severe performance drops on out-of-domain test data due to the diversity of features of different domains. This paper focuses on how to relieve this domain adaptation problem with the help of unlabeled target domain data. We propose a deep learning method to adapt both syntactic and semantic parsers. With additional unlabeled target domain data, our method can learn a latent feature representation (LFR) that is beneficial to both domains. Experiments on English data in the CoNLL 2009 shared task show that our method largely reduced the performance drop on out-of-domain test data. Moreover, we get a Macro F1 score that is 2.32 points higher than the best system in the CoNLL 2009 shared task in out-of-domain tests.
Unsupervised Lexicon Discovery from Acoustic Input
Authors: Lee Chia-ying , O’Donnell Timothy J. , Glass James
Published: December 2018

We present a model of unsupervised phonological lexicon discovery—the problem of simultaneously learning phoneme-like and word-like units from acoustic input. Our model builds on earlier models of unsupervised phone-like unit discovery from acoustic data (Lee and Glass, 2012), and unsupervised symbolic lexicon discovery using the Adaptor Grammar framework (Johnson et al., 2006), integrating these earlier approaches using a probabilistic model of phonological variation. We show that the model is competitive with state-of-the-art spoken term discovery systems, and present analyses exploring the model’s behavior and the kinds of linguistic structures it learns.
Large-scale Semantic Parsing without Question-Answer Pairs
Authors: Reddy Siva , Lapata Mirella , Steedman Mark
Published: December 2018

In this paper we introduce a novel semantic parsing approach to query Freebase in natural language without requiring manual annotations or question-answer pairs. Our key insight is to represent natural language via semantic graphs whose topology shares many commonalities with Freebase. Given this representation, we conceptualize semantic parsing as a graph matching problem. Our model converts sentences to semantic graphs using CCG and subsequently grounds them to Freebase guided by denotations as a form of weak supervision. Evaluation experiments on a subset of the Free917 and WebQuestions benchmark datasets show our semantic parser improves over the state of the art.