bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A new way to estimate disease prevalence from random partial‐mouth samples
Authors: Preisser John S. , Marks Sarah J. , Sanders Anne E. , Akinkugbe Aderonke A. , Beck James D.
Published: November 2016

Aim

Standard partial‐mouth estimators of chronic periodontitis (CP) that define an individual's disease status solely in terms of selected sites underestimate prevalence. This study proposes an improved prevalence estimator based on randomly sampled sites and evaluates its accuracy in a well‐characterized population cohort.

Methods

Importantly, this method does not require determination of disease status at the individual level. Instead, it uses a statistical distributional approach to derive a prevalence formula from randomly selected periodontal sites. The approach applies the conditional linear family of distributions for correlated binary data (i.e. the presence or absence of disease at sites within a mouth) with two simple working assumptions: (i) the probability of having disease is the same across all sites; and (ii) the correlation of disease status is the same for all pairs of sites within the mouth.

Results

Using oral examination data from 6793 participants in the Arteriolosclerosis Risk in Communities study, the new formula yields CP prevalence estimates that are much closer than standard partial mouth estimates to full mouth estimates.

Conclusions

Resampling of the cohort shows that the proposed estimators give good precision and accuracy for as few as six tooth sites sampled per individual.
The role of platelets in inflammatory immune responses in generalized aggressive periodontitis
Authors: Zhan Yalin , Lu Ruifang , Meng Huanxin , Wang Xian'e , Sun Xiaojun , Hou Jianxia
Published: November 2016

Aim

To investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers and platelet size in generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAgP).

Material and Methods

Periodontal, inflammatory and platelet indices were compared between 59 GAgP patients and 59 healthy subjects. Gingival biopsies from five patients and five healthy subjects were examined by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Changes in patient periodontal and platelet indices were re‐evaluated at 3 months after periodontal therapy.

Results

Platelet size was decreased significantly in GAgP patients compared to healthy subjects (p ≤ 0.003). Weak negative correlations between platelet size and periodontal parameters were found in GAgP patients (p ≤ 0.025). Platelet aggregates and adhesion to the endothelium or leucocytes were found in venules and connective tissues of gingival biopsies from GAgP patients. Mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet large cell ratio increased after periodontal therapy in GAgP patients (p ≤ 0.038). The increase in MPV was related to the decrease in bleeding index in GAgP patients after periodontal therapy (p < 0.001; r = 0.357).

Conclusion

Platelet size was reduced in GAgP patients compared to healthy controls, possibly due to the consumption of large platelets at sites of periodontal inflammation. Platelets may be involved in host responses to periodontal infection in GAgP.
A qualitative assessment of West Virginia pharmacist activities and attitude in diabetes management
Authors: Shatnawi Aymen , Latif David A.
Published: November 2016

Aims and objectives

The role of pharmacists in chronic disease state management has been shown to significantly improve patient health outcomes and reduce overall health care costs. The current study is designed to assess the roles and attitudes of West Virginia (WV) pharmacists toward diabetes, evaluate services provided, address pharmacist clinical understanding and training, and demonstrate the challenges that limit pharmacists ability to deliver an efficient disease state management.

Methods

We invited 435 preceptors affiliated with the University of Charleston School of Pharmacy to participate in the study using Qualtrics online survey software. The survey was divided into sections related to pharmacists, practice environment, pharmacist's roles in diabetes management, and challenges faced that limit their ability to deliver effective care to diabetic patients. Data were analyzed using 1‐way analysis of variance, and a P value ≤.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Of all eligible invited preceptors, 104 accessed the online survey based on the Qualtrics tracking tool, while 58 participated in the survey with a 56% response rate. Generally, WV pharmacists have positive attitudes regarding the provision of primary activities related to drug use and its associated problems. However, we report that WV pharmacists are less involved in providing education or recommendations regarding diabetes‐associated risk factors such as nephropathy, retinopathy, foot care, and gastroparesis. In addition, the majority of pharmacists indicated that they face many challenges related to patient and the practice site environment that limit their ability to provide optimum diabetes patient care services.

Conclusion

Despite the mounting evidence that pharmacists can improve diabetic patient outcomes while significantly reducing overall costs, WV pharmacists are less involved in providing education or counseling in a variety of areas related to disease state management. In addition, identifying pharmacist challenges provides significant information for future planning toward improving diabetic patient care.
The use of detention basins to reduce flash flood hazard in small and steep volcanic watersheds – a simulation from Madeira Island
Authors: Vieira I. , Barreto V. , Figueira C. , Lousada S. , Prada S.
Published: November 2016

Madeira, like many mountainous volcanic islands, is susceptible to flash floods. Throughout its history, about 40 large events resulted in more than 1200 victims and countless damages. Recently, urban areas expanded greatly, leading to a higher exposure of the population to flash floods. In order to analyse ways to reduce vulnerability and decrease hazard in the urbanised, flash flood prone watershed of the Machico River, the construction of detention basins (DB) is simulated. A hydrological and hydraulic model was performed to determine if they would be a viable option to protect downstream populations. Modelling suggests that two 12 m high outlet structures, and a storage capacity of 111 298 m3 (DB1) and 121 095 m3 (DB2), would reduce peak discharge by 72%, from a precipitation event with a return period of 100 years. Two identified sensitive Sections (S) had their fill rates reduced from 130.6% to 79.6% (S1) and from 128.6% to 33.4% (S2), thus preventing channel overflow. A concise economic analysis was made in terms of implementation and maintenance costs, as well as a SWOT analysis highlighting that DB should be regarded as a viable engineering solution to reduce vulnerability to flash floods hazards in volcanic islands with small, steep, and urbanised watersheds.
Heads you win, tails you lose: filtration processing for the microscopical examination of sperm heads
Authors: BREWIS I.A. , WATKINSON M.A. , VON RUHLAND C.J.
Published: November 2016

The sperm head plays a key role in many fertilisation events and determining the precise location of molecules within the head region is important in mechanistically dissecting the fertilisation process. Such molecules may be present in low copy number and many sperm head profiles must be examined to localise them to particular subcellular structures with confidence.

Filtration has traditionally been used for the purpose of concentrating biological material, such as free‐living cells, spores, and subcellular fractions, and little attempt has been made to extend the procedure to encompass the entire processing schedule, mainly due to the incompatibility of intermediate dehydrating solvents with membrane filters. The novel and simple technique of filtration processing that we describe produced a dense mat of cells, with several sperm heads being visible in coronal orientation in a high‐power field at the light microscopic level, and allowed positive immunocytochemical staining to be identified with confidence. This new technique exploits the low viscosity of LR White acrylic resin to allow the entire processing procedure to be undertaken in the filtration apparatus. In contrast, conventional techniques for preparing free‐living cells, namely pre‐embedding in a supportive matrix prior to processing, and centrifugation at each stage of the processing procedure, proved suboptimal, partly due to the final concentration that could be achieved, but mainly due to the random orientation of cells that these techniques afforded.
Collaborative and Bidirectional Feedback Between Students and Clinical Preceptors: Promoting Effective Communication Skills on Health Care Teams
Authors: Myers Kara , Chou Calvin L.
Published: November 2016

Current literature on feedback suggests that clinical preceptors lead feedback conversations that are primarily unidirectional, from preceptor to student. While this approach may promote clinical competency, it does not actively develop students’ competency in facilitating feedback discussions and providing feedback across power differentials (ie, from student to preceptor). This latter competency warrants particular attention given its fundamental role in effective health care team communication and its related influence on patient safety. Reframing the feedback process as collaborative and bidirectional, where both preceptors and students provide and receive feedback, maximizes opportunities for role modeling and skills practice in the context of a supportive relationship, thereby enhancing team preparedness. We describe an initiative to introduce these fundamental skills of collaborative, bidirectional feedback in the nurse‐midwifery education program at the University of California, San Francisco.
Identifying and Addressing Problems for Student Progression in Midwifery Clinical Education
Authors: Dyer Jane M. , Latendresse Gwen
Published: November 2016

Identifying challenges to progression for a health care profession student who is not meeting expectations in a busy clinical practice can be challenging yet can lead to assisting the student toward success. Preceptor preparation includes acquiring knowledge about the student's education program, understanding federal regulations designed to protect students, gathering background information about a student, learning to provide feedback, structuring the clinical experience, and completing student evaluations. Students in health care professions may have difficulties with cognitive, affective, or psychomotor learning, and the clinical preceptor can identify problems for student progression within these learning domains. Subsequently, specific solutions that are tailored to the individual student's needs can be developed, implemented, and evaluated. A structured evaluation of the student's performance by the clinical preceptor, in accordance with the education program's parameters, is essential. Through a structured process, preceptors can assist many students to achieve success, in spite of challenges. This article describes how the preceptor can prepare, identify the type(s) of problem(s), and develop learning solutions for students who are experiencing difficulties in clinical settings.
Precepting Challenge: Helping the Student Attain the Affective Skills of a Good Midwife
Authors: Krause Susan Agard
Published: November 2016

Preparing students for a career in midwifery is a rewarding venture. The knowledge and techniques necessary to meet the requirements of a safe, beginning‐level practitioner are familiar to experienced midwives. It is common for students to achieve learning outcomes in the classroom (actual or virtual) but struggle in the clinical setting. Other students may struggle academically but perform smoothly and comfortably when they apply knowledge and skills in the clinical setting. The cognitive and psychomotor domains of learning are represented by a student's application of knowledge and performance of skills. Affective skills of caring and professionalism are equally important. Research that describes characteristics of what is considered a good midwife identifies affective characteristics associated with effective midwifery practice. By attending equally to all domains of learning, the preceptor can more effectively support the student in attainment of the skills, values, and beliefs that make a good midwife. This article focuses on the acquisition of affective skills by students in the clinical setting. When affective skills are well developed, they require little attention, but if they are not, the recognition and remediation can be a difficult task for the preceptor. Acquisition of affective skills in the realms of caring and professionalism are necessary for midwifery practice. Effective teaching techniques and knowledge of the affective domain enhance the preceptors’ ability to evaluate and remediate deficiencies.
Precepting 101: Teaching Strategies and Tips for Success for Preceptors
Authors: Lazarus Judy
Published: November 2016

The current shortage of certified nurse‐midwives and certified midwives willing to serve as preceptors for midwifery education programs limits the number of students accepted into education programs. Preceptors are an essential link between academic programs and clinical practice and are indispensable to the growth of the midwifery profession. Preceptors create a safe environment for learning and teach adult learners through a variety of clinical teaching strategies. Novice preceptors need training and support to learn a new role, and experienced preceptors desire continued support and training. Before starting, preceptors need to identify sources of support and mentoring as well as understand the academic program's expectations for the student. This article draws on the clinical education literature to describe approaches to teaching all types of students. Practical strategies for integrating all levels of students into busy clinical settings are identified. Two approaches for clinical teaching, the Five Minute Preceptor and SNAPPS, are discussed in detail. Strategies for providing effective feedback and approaches to student evaluation are provided.
Flavor lexicon and characteristics of artisan goat cheese from the United States
Authors: Talavera Martin , Chambers Delores H.
Published: November 2016

The objective of this study was to further develop an existing lexicon for use in describing the flavor characteristics of a wide variety of artisan goat cheeses made in diverse geographic locations throughout of the United States. Highly trained sensory panelists reviewed published lexicons for cheese before establishing a lexicon of 39 flavor attributes to represent sensory characteristics for 47 artisan goat cheeses manufactured in different parts of the United States. Twenty‐eight attributes were present in a majority of samples and were able to describe most flavor characteristics. Other attributes were used occasionally to describe specific characteristics of certain cheeses. A large number of attributes were needed to describe flavor characteristics of cheese samples with more complex flavors (i.e., mold‐ripened samples). Samples with milder characteristics (chèvre‐style) needed a reduced number of terms and had lower intensities for most attributes. Feta‐style cheeses generally were more salty and cheddar‐style cheeses were mostly nutty, waxy, and sweet. Mold‐ripened cheeses had musty‐like characteristics and were more pungent and sharp. These attributes had higher intensities specifically for blue‐type cheeses. The goaty flavor attribute was higher for mold‐ripened cheeses but was characteristic of all the goat cheeses.

Practical applications

This study gathers previously developed flavor terms and combines them with new terms to describe the flavor characteristics of a broad variety of artisan cheeses made with goat's milk produced in different parts of the United States. This work can be a valuable resource for goat cheese producers. Any producer can use this study as a tool for learning, benchmarking, development, and quality control of goat cheese as it shows the types of flavors typical in a wide variety of goat cheeses.
Reconstructing the social constructionist view of emotions: from language to culture, including nonhuman culture
Authors: Aranguren Martin
Published: November 2016

The thesis of social constructionism is that emotions are shaped by culture and society. I build on this insight to show that existing social constructionist views of emotions, while providing valid research methods, overly restrict the scope of the social constructionist agenda. The restriction is due to the ontological assumption that social construction is indissociable from language. In the first part, I describe the details of the influential social constructionist views of Averill and Harré. Drawing on recent theorizing in psychology, I suggest that their fixation on language makes these approaches inadequate to the analysis of the social construction of human emotional experience. In the second part, I extend the argument to other species, suggesting that these social constructionist views are incapable of accommodating the fact, ascertained by primatologists, that animals have cultures, and that part of animal culture concerns the social molding of their emotions. I conclude that a reconstructed social constructionism should be regarded not as inimical to, but as part and parcel of, a nonreductive biology of emotions.
Multilingual coreference resolution
Authors: Kübler Sandra , Zhekova Desislava
Published: November 2016

This paper presents an overview of challenges and approaches in multilingual coreference resolution. We give an introduction to the terminology used in the field as well as to the basic approaches to resolving coreference relations and discuss the challenges that a system faces when new languages are added. Current systems show that multilinguality can either be approached by adding languages incrementally or it can be part of the original system design. The paper describes the challenges of multilinguality in coreference resolution with respect to existing evaluation criteria, annotation schemes, availability, usability, and accuracy of already existing linguistic tools for preprocessing.
Enregisterment: How linguistic items become linked with ways of speaking
Authors: Johnstone Barbara
Published: November 2016

A key question for sociolinguistics is how communicative signs and sets of signs come to index styles, identities, activities, genres, dialects, and other social and communicative practices. The concept of “enregisterment,” borrowed from linguistic anthropologists in the Piercian semiotic tradition, provides a useful heuristic for thinking about this process. This article offers a definition of enregisterment and considers each of its facets in turn. Using examples from research conducted in a U.S. city, the article answers these questions: What sorts of forms, linguistic and other, can become indexically linked with a way of speaking? What are the social and functional categories with which ways of speaking can be associated? What are the agents of enregisterment; what makes it happen? What ideological schemas can make it make sense to enregister a form in a particular way? And finally, under what interactional and historical conditions does the enregisterment of particular ways of speaking tend to occur?
The location of gender features in the syntax
Authors: Kramer Ruth
Published: November 2016

The goal of this paper is to critically review the results of linguistic research on the syntactic location of gender features. It has become relatively clear that gender features do not project their own phrase “GenP” and they are not located on the Num(ber) head that hosts number features. Instead, the field mostly agrees that gender features are located on the nominal—either on N or, in approaches that decompose lexical categories, on the nominalizing head n. Additional gender features have been proposed higher in the structure in order to capture certain processes that impose their own gender (e.g., diminutives are always feminine in the Semitic language Amharic) and to capture patterns of hybrid agreement (e.g., Russian nouns that are grammatically masculine but may trigger feminine agreement when referring to a woman).
SHAREHOLDER RISK MEASURES
Authors: Coculescu Delia , Rochet Jean‐Charles
Published: November 2016

The aim of this paper is to put forward a new family of risk measures that could guide investment decisions of private companies. But at the difference of the classical approach of Artzner, Delbaen, Eber, and Heath and the subsequent extensions of this model, our risk measures are built to reflect the risk perception of shareholders rather than regulators. Instead of an axiomatic approach, we derive risk measures from the optimal policies of a shareholder value‐maximizing company. We study these optimal policies and the related risk measures that we call shareholder risk measures. We emphasize the fact that due to the specific corporate environment, in particular the limited shareholders' liability and the possibility to pay out dividends from cash reserves, these risk measures are not convex. Also, they depend on the specific economic situation of the firm, in particular its current cash level, and thus they are not translation invariant. This paper bridges the gap between two important branches of mathematical finance: risk measures and optimal dividends.
Environmental control of carbon allocation matters for modelling forest growth
Authors: Guillemot Joannès , Francois Christophe , Hmimina Gabriel , Dufrêne Eric , Martin‐StPaul Nicolas K. , Soudani Kamel , Marie Guillaume , Ourcival Jean‐Marc , Delpierre Nicolas
Published: November 2016

We aimed to evaluate the importance of modulations of within‐tree carbon (C) allocation by water and low‐temperature stress for the prediction of annual forest growth with a process‐based model.

A new C allocation scheme was implemented in the CASTANEA model that accounts for lagged and direct environmental controls of C allocation. Different approaches (static vs dynamic) to modelling C allocation were then compared in a model–data fusion procedure, using satellite‐derived leaf production estimates and biometric measurements at c. 104 sites.

The modelling of the environmental control of C allocation significantly improved the ability of CASTANEA to predict the spatial and year‐to‐year variability of aboveground forest growth along regional gradients. A significant effect of the previous year's water stress on the C allocation to leaves and wood was reported. Our results also are consistent with a prominent role of the environmental modulation of sink demand in the wood growth of the studied species.

Data available at large scales can inform forest models about the processes driving annual and seasonal C allocation. Our results call for a greater consideration of C allocation drivers, especially sink–demand fluctuations, for the simulations of current and future forest productivity with process‐based models.
Matworld – the biogeochemical effects of early life on land
Authors: Lenton Timothy M. , Daines Stuart J.
Published: November 2016

Contents

Summary
531

I.
Introduction
531

II.
Mats as ecosystem engineers
532

III.
Archean oxygen oases
534

IV.
Proterozoic evidence
535

V.
Neoproterozoic greening?
535

VI.
Conclusions
535

Acknowledgements
536

References
536

There is growing evidence that life has been on land for billions of years. Microbial mats fuelled by oxygenic photosynthesis were probably present in terrestrial habitats from c. 3.0 billion yr ago (Ga) onwards, creating localized ‘oxygen oases’ under a reducing atmosphere, which left a characteristic oxidative weathering signal. After the Great Oxidation c. 2.4 Ga, the now oxidizing atmosphere masked that redox signal, but ancient soils record the mobilization of phosphorus and other elements by organic acids in weathering profiles. Evidence for Neoproterozoic ‘greening of the land’ and intensification of weathering c. 0.85–0.54 Ga is currently equivocal. However, the mid‐Palaeozoic c. 0.45–0.4 Ga shows global atmospheric changes consistent with increased terrestrial productivity and intensified weathering by the first land plants.
Situated technology in reproductive health care: Do we need a new theory of the subject to promote person‐centred care?
Authors: Stankovic Biljana
Published: November 2016

Going through reproductive experiences (especially pregnancy and childbirth) in contemporary Western societies almost inevitably involves interaction with medical practitioners and various medical technologies in institutional context. This has important consequences for women as embodied subjects. A critical appraisal of these consequences—coming dominantly from feminist scholarship—relied on a problematic theory of both technology and the subject, which are in contemporary approaches no longer considered as given, coherent and well individualized wholes, but as complex constellations that are locally situated and that can only be described empirically. In this study, we will be relying on the developments in phenomenological theory to reconceptualize women as technologically mediated embodied subjects and on the new paradigms in philosophy of technology and STS to reconstruct medical technology as situated—with the aim of reconceptualizing their relationship and exploring different possibilities for the mediating role of medical technology. It will be argued that technologization of female reproductive processes and alienating consequences for women are not necessary or directly interrelated. The role of technology varies from case to case and depends mainly on the nontechnological and relational aspects of institutional context, in which medical practitioners play a decisive role.
Reconciling conceptualisations of the body and person‐centred care of the older person with cognitive impairment in the acute care setting
Authors: Rushton Carole , Edvardsson David
Published: November 2016

In this article, we sought reconciliation between the “body‐as‐representation” and the “body‐as‐experience,” that is, how the body is represented in discourse and how the body of older people with cognitive impairment is experienced. We identified four contemporary “technologies” and gave examples of these to show how they influence how older people with cognitive impairment are often represented in acute care settings. We argued that these technologies may be mediated further by discourses of ageism and ableism which can potentiate either the repressive or productive tendencies of these technologies resulting in either positive or negative care experiences for the older person and/or their carer, including nurses. We then provided examples from research of embodied experiences of older people with dementia and of how nurses and other professionals utilized their inter‐bodily experiences to inform acts of caring. The specificity and individuality of these experiences were more conducive to positive care experiences. We conclude the article by proposing that the act of caring is one way nurses seek to reconcile the “body‐as‐representation” with the “body‐as‐experience” to mitigate the repressive effects of negative ageism and ableism. The act of caring, we argue, is the essence of caring enacted through the provision of person‐centred care which evokes nurses to respond appropriately to the older person's “otherness,” their “variation of being” while enabling them to enact a continuation of themselves and their own version of normality.
Epistatic and QTL × environment interaction effects on leaf area‐associated traits in maize
Authors: Wei Xiaomin , Wang Xiaobo , Guo Shulei , Zhou Jinlong , Shi Yong , Wang Huitao , Dou Dandan , Song Xiaoheng , Li Guohui , Ku Lixia , Chen Yanhui
Published: November 2016

Leaves play important roles, including in photosynthesis and transpiration, during plant development. Therefore, studying the genetic mechanisms affecting leaf size may contribute to improving plant architecture through molecular design. However, the genetic mechanisms that underlie these traits remain poorly understood. In this study, quantitative trait loci (QTL) for traits related to leaf area were identified using a set of recombinant inbred lines evaluated in three environments by 1226 single nucleotide polymorphic markers. In total, 16 QTL were detected with four QTL showing effects of greater than 10%. Five of the QTL explained 46.02%, seven of the QTL explained 46.77%, and four of the QTL explained 30.03% of the phenotypic variance of leaf length, width and area, respectively. Additional epistatic effects were identified for all of the maize chromosomes, except for chromosomes 7, 8 and 9. All of the epistatic effects involved pairs of loci on different chromosomes. Thus, a complex network controlling these traits was found in maize. These results provide useful information for understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling maize leaf size.
Classification of genotypes of leaf phenotype (P/tan) and seed phenotype (Y1 and Tan1) in tan sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)
Authors: Kawahigashi Hiroyuki , Nonaka Eri , Mizuno Hiroshi , Kasuga Shigemitsu , Okuizumi Hisato
Published: November 2016

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] pigments are associated with resistance to leaf diseases and grain deterioration. As a defence response, tan sorghum produces flavones (apigenin and luteolin), whereas wild‐type sorghum produces additional 3‐deoxyanthocyanidins (apigeninidin and luteolinidin). The dominant leaf colour gene P (Sb06g029550) controls 3‐deoxyanthocyanidin production; the loss of its function results in tan leaves. We investigated the polymorphism of the P gene alleles and found that 11 of 327 lines from sorghum core collections had tan phenotype due to the loss of Sb06g029550 function. Six alleles (with insertions 1–4, a deletion and a point mutation) were found in tan sorghum, most of them in African landraces. This distribution suggests that the tan phenotype arose independently in different geographical locations and was selected several times during sorghum domestication. As plants with white seed without tannin often have tan leaves, the polymorphism of the transcription factor genes Y1 (for white seeds) and Tan1 (for seed tannin) was analysed. The grain coloration was affected by these transcription factors as previously reported but the leaf coloration by wounding was not affected by them.
Fine mapping of the RSC8 locus and expression analysis of candidate SMV resistance genes in soybean
Authors: Zhao Lin , Wang Dagang , Zhang Hongyun , Shen Yingchao , Yang Yongqing , Li Kai , Wang Liqun , Yang Yunhua , Zhi Haijian
Published: November 2016

Soybean mosaic disease, caused by soybean mosaic virus (SMV), is one of the most broadly distributed viral diseases of soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) worldwide, which decreases seed quality and causes serious losses in yields. The accession ‘Kefeng No.1’ was previously shown to carry the RSC8 gene on chromosome 2, which confers resistance to SMV strain SC8. To fine map the RSC8 gene, we generated larger F2 population (2122 plants) from the cross between resistant accession ‘Kefeng No.1’ and susceptible variety ‘Nannong 1138‐2’. Using eight genomic‐SSR markers including four newly developed markers, we mapped this gene to a 30.8‐kb region containing two annotated genes between two markers, ZL‐42 and ZL‐52, on chromosome 2. The expression of genes Glyma.02G121500 and Glyma.02G121600 (encoding MADS‐box proteins) was higher in ‘Kefeng No.1’ plants than that in ‘Nannong 1138‐2’ plants, as determined by quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (QRT‐PCR). These results suggest that the two genes are likely involved in conferring SMV resistance. This study will facilitate marker‐assisted selection of this gene for use in soybean breeding programmes.
Molecular mapping of quantitative trait loci for grain moisture at harvest in maize
Authors: Song Wei , Shi Zi , Xing Jinfeng , Duan Minxiao , Su Aiguo , Li Chunhui , Zhang Ruyang , Zhao Yanxin , Luo Meijie , Wang Jidong , Zhao Jiuran
Published: November 2016

In maize, high grain moisture (GM) at harvest causes problems in harvesting, threshing, artificial drying, storage, transportation and processing. Understanding the genetic basis of GM will be useful for breeding low‐GM varieties. A quantitative genetics approach was used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) related to GM at harvest in field‐grown maize. The GM of a double haploid population consisting of 240 lines derived from Xianyu335 was evaluated in three planting seasons and a high‐density genetic linkage map covering 1546.4 cM was constructed. The broad‐sense heritability of GM at harvest was 71.0%. Using composite interval mapping, six QTL for GM at harvest were identified on five chromosomes (Chr). Two QTL located on Chr1, qgm1‐1 and qgm1‐2, explained 5.0% and 10.8% of the phenotypic variation in GM at harvest, respectively. The QTL qgm2, qgm3, qgm4 and qgm5 accounted for 3.3%, 8.3%, 5.4% and 11.0% of the mean phenotypic variation, respectively. Because of their consistent detection over multiple planting seasons, the detected QTL appear to be robust and reliable for the breeding of low‐GM varieties.
Transplantation‐associated thrombotic microangiopathy isolated to a congenital anomaly of the lung
Authors: Kummen Rebecca T. , Cuvelier Geoffrey D. E. , Stefanovici Camelia , Perry Anamarija M. , Higgins Rick , Yanofsky Rochelle , Lum Min Suyin A. , Wall Donna A.
Published: November 2016

TA‐TMA is a post‐hematopoietic stem cell transplant complication with clinical features of hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia. A 26‐month‐old child who had had an allogeneic transplant for treatment of DBA developed severe TA‐TMA with heavy red blood cell and platelet transfusion dependence. Incidentally, he was found to have a lung sequestration. TA‐TMA resolved and transfusion dependence resolved after resection of the sequestration. The finding suggests the malformation vasculature was selectively vulnerable to the trigger of TA‐TMA—raising perhaps a clue to basic pathophysiology of TA‐TMA and/or vascular malformations.
Genetic structure and fungicide sensitivity of Botrytis cinerea populations isolated from grapevine in northern Italy
Authors: Campia P. , Venturini G. , Moreno‐Sanz P. , Casati P. , Toffolatti S. L.
Published: November 2016

Grey mould, caused by Botrytis cinerea, is a disease severely affecting grape production in northern Italy. However, little information is available on the variability of B. cinerea populations associated with grapevine. The mode of reproduction, sensitivity to fungicides, and for the first time in Italy, the genetic structure of B. cinerea populations isolated from grapevine in a northern Italian region are reported. Botrytis cinerea isolates (317) were completely genotyped for six microsatellite loci and characterized for the presence of the transposable elements Boty and Flipper, for the mating type and for resistance to cyprodinil, fludioxonil, boscalid and fenhexamid. All the isolates were found to belong to B. cinerea Group II, indicating the absence of B. pseudocinerea in the investigated areas. The populations possess a high genotypic diversity, different frequencies of transposable elements and a mixed mode of reproduction. At a regional level, B. cinerea populations belong to a large and interconnected pathogen population that includes the major grape‐growing districts. The populations were generally sensitive to fungicides, with a low proportion (8%) of isolates resistant to cyprodinil, fludioxonil and boscalid. A small genetic distance was found between B. cinerea populations. However, the populations geographically isolated from the others by a mountain range showed a small but statistically significant genetic differentiation and a different pattern of fungicide resistance. The results show that northern Italian B. cinerea populations possess a high evolutionary potential and adaptive capacity.
Spatial genetic structure and dispersal of the cacao pathogen Moniliophthora perniciosa in the Brazilian Amazon
Authors: Artero A. S. , Silva J. Q. , Albuquerque P. S. B. , Bressan E. A. , Leal G. A. , Sebbenn A. M. , Griffith G. W. , Figueira A.
Published: November 2016

Moniliophthora perniciosa is the causal agent of witches’ broom in Theobroma cacao (cacao). Three biotypes of M. perniciosa are recognized, differing in host specificity, with two causing symptoms on cacao or Solanaceae species (C‐ and S‐biotypes), and the third found growing endophytically on lianas (L‐biotype). The objectives of this study were to clarify the genetic relationship between the three biotypes, and to identify those regions in the Brazilian Amazon with the greatest genetic diversity for the C‐biotype. Phylogenetic reconstruction based on the rRNA ITS regions showed that the C‐ and S‐biotypes formed a well‐supported clade separated from the L‐biotype. Analysis of 131 isolates genotyped at 11 microsatellite loci found that S‐ and especially L‐biotypes showed a higher genetic diversity. A significant spatial genetic structure was detected for the C‐biotype populations in Amazonia for up to 137 km, suggesting ‘isolation by distance’ mode of dispersal. However, in regions containing extensive cacao plantings, C‐biotype populations were essentially ‘clonal’, as evidenced by high frequency of repeated multilocus genotypes. Among the Amazonian C‐biotype populations, Acre and West Amazon displayed the largest genotypic diversity and might be part of the centre of diversity of the fungus. The pathogen dispersal may have followed the direction of river flow downstream from Acre, Rondônia and West Amazon eastward to the rest of the Amazon valley, where cacao is not endemic. The Bahia population exhibited the lowest genotypic diversity, but high allele richness, suggesting multiple invasions, with origin assigned to Rondônia and West Amazon, possibly through isolates from the Lower Amazon population.
Physiological markers of exercise capacity and lung disease severity in cystic fibrosis
Authors: Smith Laurie , Reilly Charles C. , MacBean Victoria , Jolley Caroline J. , Elston Caroline , Moxham John , Rafferty Gerrard F.
Published: November 2016

ABSTRACT

Background and objective

Peak aerobic capacity (VO2peak) is an important outcome measure in cystic fibrosis (CF), but measurement is not widely available and can be influenced by patient motivation, pain and fatigue. Alternative markers of disease severity would be helpful. Neural respiratory drive, measured using parasternal intercostal muscle electromyography (EMGpara), reflects the load to capacity balance of the respiratory system and provides a composite measure of pulmonary function impairment in CF. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between exercise capacity, EMGpara and established measures of pulmonary function in clinically stable adult CF patients.

Methods

Twenty CF patients (12 males, median (range) age: 22.3 (17.0–43.1) years) performed the 10‐m incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) maximally with contemporaneous measures of aerobic metabolism. EMGpara was recorded from second intercostal space at rest and normalized using peak electromyogram activity obtained during maximum respiratory manoeuvres and expressed as EMGpara%max (EMGpara expressed as a percentage of maximum).

Results

VO2peak was strongly correlated with ISWT distance (r = 0.864, P < 0.0001). Lung gas transfer (TLCO) % predicted was best correlated with VO2peak (r = 0.842, P < 0.0001) and ISWT distance (r = 0.788, P < 0.0001). EMGpara%max also correlated with VO2peak (−0.757, P < 0.0001), while the relationships between exercise outcome measures and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1
) % predicted and forced vital capacity (FVC) % predicted were less strong. A TLCO% predicted of <70.5% was the strongest predictor of VO2peak <32 mL/min/kg (area under the curve (AUC): 0.96, 100% sensitivity, 83.3% specificity). ISWT distance and EMGpara%max also performed well, with other pulmonary function variables demonstrating poorer predictive ability.

Conclusion

TLCO% predicted and EMGpara%max relate strongly to exercise performance markers in CF and may provide alternative predictors of lung disease progression.
History Matching of A Complex Epidemiological Model of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission By Using Variance Emulation
Authors: Andrianakis I. , Vernon I. , McCreesh N. , McKinley T. J. , Oakley J. E. , Nsubuga R. N. , Goldstein M. , White R. G.
Published: November 2016

Complex stochastic models are commonplace in epidemiology, but their utility depends on their calibration to empirical data. History matching is a (pre)calibration method that has been applied successfully to complex deterministic models. In this work, we adapt history matching to stochastic models, by emulating the variance in the model outputs, and therefore accounting for its dependence on the model's input values. The method proposed is applied to a real complex epidemiological model of human immunodeficiency virus in Uganda with 22 inputs and 18 outputs, and is found to increase the efficiency of history matching, requiring 70% of the time and 43% fewer simulator evaluations compared with a previous variant of the method. The insight gained into the structure of the human immunodeficiency virus model, and the constraints placed on it, are then discussed.
Rocking the boat: does perfect rowing crew synchronization reduce detrimental boat movements?
Authors: Cuijpers L. S. , Passos P. J. M. , Murgia A. , Hoogerheide A. , Lemmink K. A. P. M. , de Poel H. J.
Published: November 2016

In crew rowing, crew members need to mutually synchronize their movements to achieve optimal crew performance. Intuitively, poor crew coordination is often deemed to involve additional boat movements such as surge velocity fluctuations, heave, pitch, and roll, which would imply lower efficiency (eg, due to increased hydrodynamic drag). The aim of this study was to investigate this alleged relation between crew coordination and boat movements at different stroke rates. Fifteen crews of two rowers rowed in a double scull (ie, a two‐person boat) at 18, 22, 26, 30, and 34 strokes per minute. Oar angles (using potentiometers) and movements of the boat (using a three‐axial accelerometer‐gyroscope sensor) were measured (200 Hz). Results indicated that crew synchronization became more consistent with stroke rate, while surge, heave, and pitch fluctuations increased. Further, within each stroke rate condition, better crew synchronization was related to less roll of the boat, but increased fluctuations regarding surge, heave, and pitch. Together this demonstrates that while better crew synchronization relates to enhanced lateral stability of the boat, it inevitably involves more detrimental boat movements and hence involves lower biomechanical efficiency.
Heritability estimates of muscle strength‐related phenotypes: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Zempo H. , Miyamoto‐Mikami E. , Kikuchi N. , Fuku N. , Miyachi M. , Murakami H.
Published: November 2016

The purpose of this study was to clarify the heritability estimates of human muscle strength‐related phenotypes (H2‐msp). A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed (through August 22, 2016). Studies reporting the H2‐msp for healthy subjects in a sedentary state were included. Random‐effects models were used to calculate the weighted mean heritability estimates. Moreover, subgroup analyses were performed based on phenotypic categories (eg, grip strength, isotonic strength, jumping ability). Sensitivity analyses were also conducted to investigate potential sources of heterogeneity of H2‐msp, which included age and sex. Twenty‐four articles including 58 measurements were included in the meta‐analysis. The weighted mean H2‐msp for all 58 measurements was 0.52 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.48–0.56), with high heterogeneity (I2=91.0%, P<.001). Subgroup analysis showed that the heritability of isometric grip strength, other isometric strength, isotonic strength, isokinetic strength, jumping ability, and other power measurements was 0.56 (95% CI: 0.46–0.67), 0.49 (0.47–0.52), 0.49 (0.32–0.67), 0.49 (0.37–0.61), 0.55 (0.45–0.65), and 0.51 (0.31–0.70), respectively. The H2‐msp decreased with age (P<.05). In conclusion, our results indicate that the influence of genetic and environmental factors on muscle strength‐related phenotypes is comparable. Moreover, the role of environmental factors increased with age. These findings may contribute toward an understanding of muscle strength‐related phenotypes.
Seasonal differences in tillage draught on a sandy loam soil with long‐term additions of animal manure and mineral fertilizers
Authors: Peltre C. , Nyord T. , Christensen B. T. , Jensen J. L. , Thomsen I. K. , Munkholm L. J.
Published: November 2016

Energy requirements for soil tillage are closely linked to soil properties, such as clay, water and soil organic carbon (SOC) contents. Long‐term application of inorganic fertilizer and organic amendments affects SOC content but little is known about seasonal differences in tillage draught requirements of soils subject to contrasting nutrient management regimes. We assessed autumn and spring tillage draught following harvest of early‐sown and timely sown winter wheat grown on a sandy loam in the Askov Long‐Term Experiment on Animal Manure and Mineral Fertilizers. Draught force was related to soil texture, soil water and SOC content, shear strength and bulk density, nutrient management, and yield of the preceding winter wheat. Contents of clay and SOC ranged from 8.9 to 10.6% and from 0.98 to 1.36%, respectively. In the autumn and spring, SOC normalized by clay content explained 38 and 5% of the variation in specific draught, respectively. Specific draught did not differ significantly among individual fertilization treatments. SOC was closely correlated with clay and water contents and bulk density, and with yield of the preceding wheat. Draught force was significantly smaller in the spring than in the autumn. In the autumn when soils were drier (−700 hPa), tillage draught was correlated with several soil characteristics, whereas water content was the dominating parameter in the spring when soils were wetter (−100 hPa). The range of SOC contents observed in this study aligns with that observed in Danish sandy loams under intensive cultivation, and within this range, SOC per se had little effect on draught requirements.
Cargo selectivity of yeast sorting nexins
Authors: Bean Björn D.M. , Davey Michael , Conibear Elizabeth
Published: November 2016

Sorting nexins are PX domain‐containing proteins that bind phospholipids and often act in membrane trafficking where they help to select cargo. However, the functions and cargo specificities of many sorting nexins are unknown. Here, a high‐throughput imaging screen was used to identify new sorting nexin cargo in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Deletions of 9 different sorting nexins were screened for mislocalization of a set of green fluorescent protein (GFP)‐tagged membrane proteins found at the plasma membrane, Golgi or endosomes. This identified 27 proteins that require 1 or more sorting nexins for their correct localization, 23 of which represent novel sorting nexin cargo. Nine hits whose sorting was dependent on Snx4, the sorting nexin‐containing retromer complex, or both retromer and Snx3, were examined in detail to search for potential sorting motifs. We identified cytosolic domains of Ear1, Ymd8 and Ymr010w that conferred retromer‐dependent sorting on a chimeric reporter and identified conserved residues required for this sorting in a functional assay. This work defined a consensus sequence for retromer and Snx3‐dependent sorting.