bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nutritional Interventions to Prevent and Treat Osteoarthritis. Part I: Focus on Fatty Acids and Macronutrients
Authors: Lopez Hector L.
Published: May 2012

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause of musculoskeletal disability in elderly individuals, and it places an enormous economic burden on society. Management of OA is primarily focused on palliative relief by using agents such as nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs and analgesics. However, such an approach is limited by a narrow therapeutic focus that fails to address the progressive and multimodal nature of OA. Given the favorable safety profile of most nutritional interventions, identifying disease‐modifying nutritional agents capable of improving symptoms and also preventing, slowing, or even reversing the degenerative process in OA should remain an important paradigm in translational and clinical research. Applying advances in nutritional science to musculoskeletal medicine remains challenging, given the fluid and dynamic nature of the field, along with a rapidly developing regulatory climate over manufacturing and commerce requirements. The aim of this article is to review the available literature on effectiveness and potential mechanism of macronutrients for OA, with a focus on the following: long‐chain ω‐3 essential fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, functional ω‐6 fatty acid γ‐linolenic acid, and macronutrient composition of background diet. There also is a discussion about the concept of rational polysupplementation via the strategic integration of multiple nutraceuticals with potential complementary mechanisms for improving outcomes in OA. As applied nutritional science evolves, it will be important to stay on the forefront of proteomics, metabolomics, epigenetics, and nutrigenomics, because they hold enormous potential for developing novel therapeutic and prognostic breakthroughs in many areas of medicine, including OA.
Emptying non-adiabatic filling boxes: the effects of heat transfers on the fluid dynamics of natural ventilation
Authors: Lane-Serff G. F. , Sandbach S. D.
Published: May 2012

A model for steady flow in a ventilated space containing a heat source is developed, taking account of the main heat transfers at the upper and lower boundaries. The space has an opening at low level, allowing cool ambient air to enter the space, and an opening near the ceiling, allowing warm air to leave the space. The flow is driven by the temperature contrast between the air inside and outside the space (natural ventilation). Conductive heat transfer through the ceiling and radiant heat transfer from the ceiling to the floor are incorporated into the model, to investigate how these heat transports affect the flow and temperature distribution within the space. In the steady state, a layer of warm air occupies the upper part of the space, with the lower part of the space filled with cooler air (although this is warmer than the ambient air when the radiant transfer from ceiling to floor is included). Suitable scales are derived for the heat transfers, so that their relative importance can be characterized. Explicit relationships are found between the height of the interface, the opening area and the relative size of the heat transfers. Increasing heat conduction leads to a lowering of the interface height, while the inclusion of the radiant transfer tends to increase the interface height. Both of these effects are relatively small, but the effect on the temperatures of the layers is significant. Conductive heat transfer through the upper boundary leads to a significant lowering of the temperature in the space as a proportion of the injected heat flux is taken out of the space by conduction rather than advection. Radiative transfer from the ceiling to floor results in the lower layer becoming warmer than the ambient air. The results of the model are compared with full-scale laboratory results and a more complex unsteady model, and are shown to give results that are much more accurate than models which ignore the heat transfers.
Particle image velocimetry measurements of a transitional boundary layer under free stream turbulence
Authors: Nolan K. P. , Walsh E. J.
Published: May 2012

High-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of bypass transition reveal the breakdown of the ubiquitous streaks into turbulent spots. Individual streak velocity profiles are examined and contrasted with the root mean square profiles typically reported. An estimation of streak amplitude based on the modulation of the instantaneous boundary layer thickness is proposed. Examination of the PIV velocity fields shows how turbulent spot precursors, identified with concurrent hot-film recordings, consist of streamwise arrangements of positive and negative streaks. As secondary instability progresses, the interface between these streaks is observed to result in turbulent structures. In an attempt to further elucidate the role of the free stream turbulence, correlation maps are generated to determine the extent of the wall-normal fluctuations. Significant damping of the free stream is found within the boundary layer for all Reynolds numbers prior to the onset of spot precursors.
Modelling turbulent skin-friction control using linearized Navier–Stokes equations
Authors: Duque-Daza C. A. , Baig M. F. , Lockerby D. A. , Chernyshenko S. I. , Davies C.
Published: May 2012

Linearized Navier–Stokes equations are solved to investigate the impact on the growth of near-wall turbulent streaks that arises from streamwise-travelling waves of spanwise wall velocity. The percentage change in streak amplification due to the travelling waves, over a range of wave parameters, is compared to published direct numerical simulation (DNS) predictions of turbulent skin-friction reduction; a clear correlation between the two is observed. Linearized simulations at a much higher Reynolds number, more relevant to aerospace applications, produce results that show no marked differences to those obtained at low Reynolds number. It is also observed that there is a close correlation between DNS data of drag reduction and a very simple characteristic of the ‘generalized’ Stokes layer generated by the streamwise-travelling waves.
Introduction: have we ever been ‘transnational’? Towards a history of science across and beyond borders
Authors: TURCHETTI SIMONE , HERRAN NÉSTOR , BOUDIA SORAYA
Published: May 2012

In recent years, historians have debated the prospect of offering new ‘transnational’ or ‘global’ perspectives in their studies. This paper introduces the reader to this special issue by analysing characteristics, merits and flaws of these approaches. It then considers how historians of science have practised transnational history without, however, paying sufficient attention to the theoretical foundations of this approach. Its final part illustrates what benefits may derive from the application of transnational history in the field. In particular, we suggest looking at the construction of transnational networks in science, and discuss some of the methodological consequences of adopting this approach.
Plant pathogens, insect pests and weeds in a changing global climate: a review of approaches, challenges, research gaps, key studies and concepts
Authors: JUROSZEK P. , von TIEDEMANN A.
Published: May 2012

Climate change biology is witnessing a significant quantity of new publications each year, which compromises efforts to keep up-to-date on the rapidly growing body of climate change biology literature. The present paper provides an overview on research approaches and challenges in climate change biology with respect to plant pathogens, insect pests and weeds (collectively termed ‘pests’ here). It also summarizes the suggestions of researchers about how to conceptualize and prioritize future research strategies. Recently published key studies demonstrate that climate change research is qualitatively advancing and that the interactions among environmental and biotic factors which have been found are complex. This complexity hinders attempts to generalize responses of pests to changes in climate. The challenge remains to identify the most significant causal relationships and to separate them from other factors such as crop management practices, which may also influence the observed changes in pest distribution and prevalence in managed ecosystems. In addition, the present overview shows that there are still gaps in many research areas, while other fields have been intensively investigated. For example, the identification of potential benefits in plant protection that may emerge from future climate change has not been explored as extensively as the potential threats. However, encouraging developments can be observed in recent climate change research, for instance the increased number of studies performed under subtropical and tropical climatic conditions, the increased availability of results from multi-factorial field experiments and modelling studies do consider increasingly pest–crop–climate interactions. Further progress can be expected, provided that researchers, sponsors and other stakeholders maintain their interest in climate change biology research.
Gender indexicality in the Native Americas: Contributions to the typology of social indexicality
Authors: Fleming Luke
Published: May 2012

This article provides a global survey of categorical gender indexicality that reveals the near exclusive presence of the phenomenon in the languages of the Native Americas, a fact for which a historical rationale is offered. The survey is helpful in contributing to our understanding of social indexicality in three ways. First, while two-place (orrelational) social indexicals, like honorifics, have been well studied, one-place (orabsolute) social indexicals have not. Systems of gender indexicality, overwhelmingly of the absolute type, thus help flesh out the typology of social indexicality. Second, the survey illustrates the remarkable complementarity of semantic gender, as a category of denotation, and social gender, as an aspect of identity indexed in discourse, in particular as these overlap in cases of gender deixis. Finally, the study of gender indexicality in the Native Americas reveals that not all gender indexicality is equally gender performative. A number of diagnostics of a categorical type—from ubiquitous rule-governed regularity of patterning to quotability—illustrate that in the cases discussed, forms are highly presupposing, not performative, of the social gender of the speech participants they index. (Gender, indexicality, deixis, Native Americas)*
Understanding emotion: Lessons from anxiety
Authors: Button Katherine S. , Lewis Glyn , Munafò Marcus R.
Published: May 2012

We agree that conceptualisation is key in understanding the brain basis of emotion. We argue that by conflating facial emotion recognition with subjective emotion experience, Lindquist et al. understate the importance of biological predisposition in emotion. We use examples from the anxiety disorders to illustrate the distinction between these two phenomena, emphasising the importance of both emotional hardware and contextual learning.
Overcoming the emotion experience/expression dichotomy
Authors: Caruana Fausto , Gallese Vittorio
Published: May 2012

We challenge the classic experience/expression dichotomous account of emotions, according to which experiencing and expressing an emotion are two independent processes. By endorsing Dewey's and Mead's accounts of emotions, and capitalizing upon recent empirical findings, we propose that expression is part of the emotional experience. This proposal partly challenges the purely constructivist approach endorsed by the authors of the target article.
Scaffolding emotions and evolving language
Authors: Jablonka Eva , Ginsburg Simona
Published: May 2012

We suggest that, in animals, the core-affect system is linked to partially assimilated behavioral dispositions that act as developmental scaffolds for the ontogenetic construction of emotions. We also propose that in humans the evolution of language altered the control of emotions, leading to categories that can be adequately captured only by emotion-words.
The sleeping brain and the neural basis of emotions
Authors: Kirov Roumen , Brand Serge , Kolev Vasil , Yordanova Juliana
Published: May 2012

In addition to active wake, emotions are generated and experienced in a variety of functionally different states such as those of sleep, during which external stimulation and cognitive control are lacking. The neural basis of emotions can be specified by regarding the multitude of emotion-related brain states, as well as the distinct neuro- and psychodynamic stages (generation and regulation) of emotional experience.
Prime elements of subjectively experienced feelings and desires: Imaging the emotional cocktail
Authors: Buck Ross W.
Published: May 2012

Primary affects exist at an ecological-communicative level of analysis, and therefore are not identifiable with specific brain regions. The constructionist view favored in the target article, that emotions emerge from “more basic psychological processes,” does not specify the nature of these processes. These more basic processes may actually involve specific neurochemical systems, that is, primary motivational-emotional systems (primes), associated with specific feelings and desires that combine to form the “cocktail” of experienced emotion.
A systems approach to the brain basis of emotion also needs developmental and locationist views – the case of Tourette's Syndrome
Authors: Rothenberger Aribert
Published: May 2012

The closeness of somatosensory phenomena and emotional states can be critically extended into a clinical perspective by referring to Tourette's Syndrome (TS). Two examples are discussed in this commentary: (1) the neurodevelopmental approach to the pre- and post-tic sensorimotor urges, and (2) the TS treatment with deep brain stimulation. It is shown that in TS, both views (locationist and constructionist) need to be combined along the lifespan in order to get a more realistic picture of the brain basis of emotion.
Narrative constructions and the life history issue in brain–emotions relations
Authors: Unoka Zsolt , Berán Eszter , Pléh Csaba
Published: May 2012

Emotional reactions are rather flexible, due to the schema-like organization of complex socio-emotional situations. Some data on emotion development, and on certain pathological conditions such as alexithymia, give further support for the psychological constructivist view put forward by Lindquist et al. Narrative organization is a key component of this schematic organization. The self-related nature of narrative organization provides scaffolding to the contextual dependency of emotions.
Neuronal deactivation is equally important for understanding emotional processing
Authors: Vigil Jacob M. , Dukes Amber , Coulombe Patrick
Published: May 2012

In their analyses of the neural correlates of discrete emotionality, Lindquist et al. do not consider the numerous drawbacks to inferring psychological processes based on currently available cognitive neurometric technology. The authors also disproportionately emphasize the relevance of neuronal activation over deactivation, which, in our opinion, limits the scope and utility of their conclusions.
What can neuroimaging meta-analyses really tell us about the nature of emotion?
Authors: Hamann Stephan
Published: May 2012

In Vytal and Hamann (2010) we reported a neuroimaging meta-analysis that found that basic emotions can be distinguished by their brain activation correlates, in marked contrast to Lindquist et al.'s conclusions in the target article. Here, I discuss implications of these findings for understanding emotion, outline limitations of using meta-analyses and neuroimaging as the sole basis for deciding between emotion views, and suggest that these views are essentially compatible and could be adapted and combined into an integrated emotion framework.
Psychological constructionism and cultural neuroscience
Authors: Hechtman Lisa A. , Pornpattananangkul Narun , Chiao Joan Y.
Published: May 2012

Lindquist et al. argue that emotional categories do not map onto distinct regions within the brain, but rather, arise from basic psychological processes, including conceptualization, executive attention, and core affect. Here, we use examples from cultural neuroscience to argue that psychological constructionism, not locationism, captures the essential role of emotion in the social and cultural brain.
The construction of emotional experience requires the integration of implicit and explicit emotional processes
Authors: Quirin Markus , Lane Richard D.
Published: May 2012

Although we agree that a constructivist approach to emotional experience makes sense, we propose that implicit (visceromotor and somatomotor) emotional processes are dissociable from explicit (attention and reflection) emotional processes, and that the conscious experience of emotion requires an integration of the two. Assessments of implicit emotion and emotional awareness can be helpful in the neuroscientific investigation of emotion.
Functional specialization does not require a one-to-one mapping between brain regions and emotions
Authors: Scarantino Andrea
Published: May 2012

Lindquist et al. have assumed that functional specialization requires a one-to-one mapping between brain regions and discrete emotions. This assumption is in tension with the fact that regions can have multiple functions in the context of different, possibly distributed, networks. Once we open the door to other forms of functional specialization, neuroimaging data no longer favor constructionist models over natural kind models.
A MODEL FOR ASSESSMENT OF TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS: MAST
Authors: Kidholm Kristian , Ekeland Anne Granstrøm , Jensen Lise Kvistgaard , Rasmussen Janne , Pedersen Claus Duedal , Bowes Alison , Flottorp Signe Agnes , Bech Mickael
Published: May 2012

Objectives: Telemedicine applications could potentially solve many of the challenges faced by the healthcare sectors in Europe. However, a framework for assessment of these technologies is need by decision makers to assist them in choosing the most efficient and cost-effective technologies. Therefore in 2009 the European Commission initiated the development of a framework for assessing telemedicine applications, based on the users’ need for information for decision making. This article presents the Model for ASsessment of Telemedicine applications (MAST) developed in this study.

Methods: MAST was developed through workshops with users and stakeholders of telemedicine.

Results: Based on the workshops and using the EUnetHTA Core HTA Model as a starting point a three-element model was developed, including: (i) preceding considerations, (ii) multidisciplinary assessment, and (iii) transferability assessment. In the multidisciplinary assessment, the outcomes of telemedicine applications comprise seven domains, based on the domains in the EUnetHTA model.

Conclusions: MAST provides a structure for future assessment of telemedicine applications. MAST will be tested during 2010–13 in twenty studies of telemedicine applications in nine European countries in the EC project Renewing Health.
The set of badly approximable vectors is strongly C1 incompressible
Authors: BRODERICK RYAN , FISHMAN LIOR , KLEINBOCK DMITRY , REICH ASAF , WEISS BARAK
Published: May 2012

We prove that the countable intersection of C1-diffeomorphic images of certain Diophantine sets has full Hausdorff dimension. For example, we show this for the set of badly approximable vectors in ℝd, improving earlier results of Schmidt and Dani. To prove this, inspired by ideas of McMullen, we define a new variant of Schmidt's (α,β)-game and show that our sets are hyperplane absolute winning (HAW), which in particular implies winning in the original game. The HAW property passes automatically to games played on certain fractals, thus our sets intersect a large class of fractals in a set of positive dimension. This extends earlier results of Fishman to a more general set-up, with simpler proofs.
Decorating the Neolithic: an Evaluation of the Use of Plaster in the Enhancement of Daily Life in the Middle Pre-pottery Neolithic B of the Southern Levant
Authors: Clarke Joanne
Published: May 2012

During the Middle Pre-pottery Neolithic B in the southern Levant the use of lime plaster in both ritual and domestic contexts increased significantly relative to previous periods. Its properties of whiteness, purity, plasticity and antisepsis would have made it a natural choice for decorating, and through the act of colouring disparate categories of objects were linked together. Plaster appears to have transcended its own inherent value as a material due to its interconnectedness with mortuary ritual. Because of its ubiquity, this socially ascribed value was accessible to everyone. This article will claim that plaster, and the act of plastering both ritual and domestic contexts played a key role in the creation and maintenance of community cohesion and social well-being.
The Long and Winding Road that Leads to Angkor
Authors: Higham Charles
Published: May 2012

In the late sixteenth century, Portuguese missionaries encountered a vast city at Angkor. Abandoned for 150 years, it had been partially restored as a Buddhist piligrimage centre but many of the monuments had been given over to the forest. They wondered about its origins. Some suggested that it was the work of Trajan, others of Alexander the Great. Following the establishment of the French colonial empire in Southeast Asia three centuries later, and in the absence of any information on prehistoric societies, the civilization of Angkor was seen as the result of Indianization, whereby Indian religions, architecture, writing and language were adopted by the indigenous inhabitants. This article presents the results of twenty years of research in the upper Mun Valley of northeast Thailand, an area that was part of the Kingdom of Angkor and seat of the dynasty of two of its greatest kings, Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII. For the first time, the entire prehistoric cultural sequence from late hunter-gatherers to the end of the Iron Age has been documented and dated. We find that after the ingress of rice farmers from southern China in the mid second millennium BC, there were two surges in social complexity. Both were coincidental with the availability of new exotic goods through exchange. The first took place in the initial Bronze Age, in the eleventh century BC, and was followed by several centuries of relative poverty in mortuary practices. The second took place in the late Iron Age and led directly to the foundation of powerful chiefdoms from which can be traced the genesis of early civilizations in Southeast Asia, including that of Angkor.
SAMI2‐PE: A model of the ionosphere including multistream interhemispheric photoelectron transport
Authors: Varney R. H. , Swartz W. E. , Hysell D. L. , Huba J. D.
Published: May 2012

In order to improve model comparisons with recently improved incoherent scatter radar measurements at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory we have added photoelectron transport and energy redistribution to the two dimensional SAMI2 ionospheric model. The photoelectron model uses multiple pitch angle bins, includes effects associated with curved magnetic field lines, and uses an energy degradation procedure which conserves energy on coarse, non‐uniformly spaced energy grids. The photoelectron model generates secondary electron production rates and thermal electron heating rates which are then passed to the fluid equations in SAMI2. We then compare electron and ion temperatures and electron densities of this modified SAMI2 model with measurements of these parameters over a range of altitudes from 90 km to 1650 km (L = 1.26) over a 24 hour period. The new electron heating model is a significant improvement over the semi‐empirical model used in SAMI2. The electron temperatures above the F‐peak from the modified model qualitatively reproduce the shape of the measurements as functions of time and altitude and quantitatively agree with the measurements to within ∼30% or better during the entire day, including during the rapid temperature increase at dawn.
Spectral effects of space weathering on Mercury: The role of composition and environment
Authors: Riner Miriam A. , Lucey Paul G.
Published: May 2012

The unique composition and space environment of Mercury provides an opportunity to test models of space weathering and can potentially provide constraints on the relative importance of physical and chemical processes involved in space weathering. In this work we apply a space weathering model to multispectral images of Mercury and incorporate the geologic context of spectra into the interpretation of the model results. We find that albedo variations on Mercury's surface cannot be explained by the addition of an opaque mineral alone. Instead, differential accumulation of space weathering products, related to composition, contributes significantly to albedo variations on Mercury's surface. Even relatively immature crater ejecta on Mercury have several times more space weathering derived iron than mature lunar soils, complicating interpretations of Mercury's surface composition.
Conditions at the expanded Jovian magnetopause and implications for the solar wind interaction
Authors: Desroche M. , Bagenal F. , Delamere P. A. , Erkaev N.
Published: May 2012

Using idealized models of the magnetosheath and magnetosphere magnetic fields, plasma densities, and plasma flow, we test for the steady state viability of processes mediating the interaction between the solar wind and the Jovian magnetosphere. The magnetopause is modeled as an asymmetric paraboloid with variable asymmetry. The subsolar standoff of the magnetopause has been shown to exhibit a bimodal probability distribution (Joy et al., 2002). Only the expanded magnetopause is considered, with a standoff of ∼90 RJ. We test where on the magnetopause surface large‐scale reconnection may be affected by either a shear flow or diamagnetic drift due to a pressure gradient across the magnetopause boundary. We also test for the onset of the Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability. We find that reconnection is inhibited on the dawn flank due to the large shear flows in this region, regardless of magnetopause shape or interplanetary magnetic field orientation. The presence of a high energy plasma population in the magnetosphere may inhibit reconnection over much of the magnetopause area, except when the fields are antiparallel. Additionally, most of the dawn flank of the magnetopause is Kelvin‐Helmholtz unstable, regardless of magnetopause asymmetry; and the dusk flank tailward of the planet is Kelvin‐Helmholtz unstable when the magnetopause is highly oblate.
Buckwheat trypsin inhibitor with helical hairpin structure belongs to a new family of plant defence peptides
Authors: Oparin Peter B. , Mineev Konstantin S. , Dunaevsky Yakov E. , Arseniev Alexander S. , Belozersky Mikhail A. , Grishin Eugene V. , Egorov Tsezi A. , Vassilevski Alexander A.
Published: May 2012

A new peptide trypsin inhibitor named BWI-2c was obtained from buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) seeds by sequential affinity, ion exchange and reversed-phase chromatography. The peptide was sequenced and found to contain 41 amino acid residues, with four cysteine residues involved in two intramolecular disulfide bonds. Recombinant BWI-2c identical to the natural peptide was produced in Escherichia coli in a form of a cleavable fusion with thioredoxin. The 3D (three-dimensional) structure of the peptide in solution was determined by NMR spectroscopy, revealing two antiparallel α-helices stapled by disulfide bonds. Together with VhTI, a trypsin inhibitor from veronica (Veronica hederifolia), BWI-2c represents a new family of protease inhibitors with an unusual α-helical hairpin fold. The linker sequence between the helices represents the so-called trypsin inhibitory loop responsible for direct binding to the active site of the enzyme that cleaves BWI-2c at the functionally important residue Arg19. The inhibition constant was determined for BWI-2c against trypsin (1.7×10−10 M), and the peptide was tested on other enzymes, including those from various insect digestive systems, revealing high selectivity to trypsin-like proteases. Structural similarity shared by BWI-2c, VhTI and several other plant defence peptides leads to the acknowledgement of a new widespread family of plant peptides termed α-hairpinins.
Molecular actions of smoking cessation drugs at α4β2 nicotinic receptors defined in crystal structures of a homologous binding protein
Authors: Billen Bert , Spurny Radovan , Brams Marijke , van Elk René , Valera-Kummer Soledad , Yakel Jerrel L. , Voets Thomas , Bertrand Daniel , Smit August B. , Ulens Chris
Published: May 2012

Partial agonists of the α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), such as varenicline, are therapeutically used in smoking cessation treatment. These drugs derive their therapeutic effect from fundamental molecular actions, which are to desensitize α4β2 nAChRs and induce channel opening with higher affinity, but lower efficacy than a full agonist at equal receptor occupancy. Here, we report X-ray crystal structures of a unique acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP) from the annelid
Capitella teleta
, Ct-AChBP, in complex with varenicline or lobeline, which are both partial agonists. These structures highlight the architecture for molecular recognition of these ligands, indicating the contact residues that potentially mediate their molecular actions in α4β2 nAChRs. We then used structure-guided mutagenesis and electrophysiological recordings to pinpoint crucial interactions of varenicline with residues on the complementary face of the binding site in α4β2 nAChRs. We observe that residues in loops D and E are molecular determinants of desensitization and channel opening with limited efficacy by the partial agonist varenicline. Together, this study analyzes molecular recognition of smoking cessation drugs by nAChRs in a structural context.
Computational model of a circulation current that controls electrochemical properties in the mammalian cochlea
Authors: Nin Fumiaki , Hibino Hiroshi , Murakami Shingo , Suzuki Toshihiro , Hisa Yasuo , Kurachi Yoshihisa
Published: May 2012

Sound-evoked mechanical stimuli permit endolymphatic K
+
to enter sensory hair cells. This transduction is sensitized by an endocochlear potential (EP) of +80 mV in endolymph. After depolarizing the cells, K
+
leaves hair cells in perilymph, and it is then circulated back to endolymph across the lateral cochlear wall. In theory, this process entails a continuous and unidirectional current carried by apical K
+
channels and basolateral K
+
uptake transporters in both the marginal cell and syncytial layers of the lateral wall. The transporters regulate intracellular and extracellular [K
+
], allowing the channels to form K
+
diffusion potentials across each of the two layers. These diffusion potentials govern the EP. What remains uncertain is whether these transport mechanisms accumulating across diverse cell layers make up a continuous circulation current in the lateral wall and how this current might affect the characteristics of the endolymph. To address this question, we developed an electrophysiological model that incorporates channels and transporters of the lateral wall and channels of hair cells that derive a circulation current. The simulation replicated normal experimental EP values and reproduced experimentally measured changes in the EP and intra- and extracellular [K
+
] in the lateral wall when different transporters and channels were blocked. The model predicts that, under these different conditions, the circulation current’s contribution to the EP arises from different sources. Finally, our model also accurately simulated EP loss in a mouse model of a chloride channelopathy associated with deafness.
The controversial question of “French Jewish literature”
Authors: Lévy Clara , Schecker Cherry
Published: May 2012

Is there is specific Jewish literature in France? The study of Jewish authors and their writing is not sufficient grounds to indicate that such a group exists as a sociohistoriacal entity; that their existence is real and not merely nominal. The question of the existence of Jewish literature — not to be confused with Jewish writing — is a central preoccupation of the community press, in which preferred answers are formulated with reference to an organised group of artists rather than in terms of artistic expression. We will attempt to show how and by what devices the position adopted by the press in question, often lacking in coherence and sufficient justification, has influenced that adopted by certain writers and academics.
Exploring “North” and “South” in post-Soviet Bishkek: Discourses and perceptions of rural-urban migration
Authors: Flynn Moya , Kosmarskaya Natalya
Published: May 2012

In this paper we explore, through the narratives and perspectives of “old residents” in post-Soviet Bishkek, the dominant discourse which has emerged towards rural migrants arriving to the city from other areas of Kyrgyzstan from the late Soviet period onwards. We investigate the existence of a primarily “antagonistic” discourse in relation to the migrants and analyze this in detail to understand how it illuminates wider concerns amongst residents about what is occurring in their city, and about wider processes of social change in Kyrgyzstan. The paper provides a revealing insight into the processes of urban change in post-Soviet Central Asia, and demonstrates the ways in which confrontation with the everyday harsh realities of post-Soviet transformation can lead to the negative “othering” of one group of urban residents by another. We also demonstrate how the “old residents”’ perceptions of migrants reveal important insights into emerging notions and constructions of identity in the post-Soviet period, related in this case to understandings of “North” and “South'1 and related concepts of what is “urban” and what is “Kyrgyz”.
Abel-Jacobi map, integral Hodge classes and decomposition of the diagonal
Authors: Voisin Claire
Published: May 2012

Given a smooth projectivenn-foldYY, withH3,0(Y)=0H^{3,0}(Y)=0, the Abel-Jacobi map induces a morphism from each smooth variety parameterizing codimension22-cycles inYYto the intermediate JacobianJ(Y)J(Y), which is an abelian variety. Assumingn=3n=3, we study in this paper the existence of families of11-cycles inYYfor which this induced morphism is surjective with rationally connected general fiber, and various applications of this property. WhenYYitself is rationally connected with trivial Brauer group, we relate this property to the existence of an integral cohomological decomposition of the diagonal ofYY. We also study this property for cubic threefolds, completing the work of Iliev-Markushevich-Tikhomirov. We then conclude that the Hodge conjecture holds for degree44integral Hodge classes on fibrations into cubic threefolds over curves, with some restriction on singular fibers.
BAIUCAS: a novel BLAST-based algorithm for the identification of upstream open reading frames with conserved amino acid sequences and its application to theArabidopsis thalianagenome
Authors: Takahashi Hiro , Takahashi Anna , Naito Satoshi , Onouchi Hitoshi
Published: May 2012

Motivation: Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) are often found in the 5′-untranslated regions of eukaryotic messenger RNAs. Some uORFs have been shown to encode functional peptides involved in the translational regulation of the downstream main ORFs. Comparative genomic approaches have been used in genome-wide searches for uORFs encoding bioactive peptides, and by comparing uORF sequences between a few selected species or among a small group of species, uORFs with conserved amino acid sequences (UCASs) have been identified in plants, mammals and insects. Regulatory regions within uORF-encoded peptides that are involved in translational control are typically 10–20 amino acids long. Detection of homology between such short regions largely depends on the selection of species for comparison. To maximize the chances of identifying UCASs with short conserved regions, we devised a novel algorithm for homology search among a large number of species and the automatic selection of uORFs conserved in a wide range of species.

Results: In this study, we developed the BAIUCAS (BLAST-based algorithm for identification of UCASs) method and identified 18 novel Arabidopsis uORFs whose amino acid sequences are conserved across diverse eudicot species, which include uORFs not found in previous comparative genomic studies due to low sequence conservation among species. Therefore, BAIUCAS is a powerful method for the identification of UCASs, and it is particularly useful for the detection of uORFs with a small number of conserved amino acid residues.

Contact: onouchi@abs.agr.hokudai.ac.jp

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Effects of Nighttime Air Temperature During Kernel Development of Field‐Grown Rice on Physicochemical and Functional Properties
Authors: Lanning Sarah B. , Siebenmorgen Terry J. , Ambardekar Amogh A. , Counce Paul A. , Bryant Rolfe J.
Published: May 2012

Elevated nighttime air temperatures (NTATs) occurring during critical grain‐filling stages affected rice physicochemical properties, which impacted functional quality. Six cultivars were grown at multiple field locations from northern to southern Arkansas during 2007 to 2010. Nighttime temperatures were recorded throughout production at each of the locations, and 95th percentiles of NTATs were calculated for each cultivar's reproductive (R) stages. Amylose content and crude protein content decreased linearly, whereas total lipid content increased linearly, with increasing NTATs occurring during the grain‐filling stages (R6–R8). Effects of NTAT on proximate composition influenced functional properties. Peak viscosities increased linearly as NTAT increased, whereas setback viscosities decreased. Setback viscosities were linearly correlated to NTATs for medium‐grain cultivars, but correlations were quadratic for the long‐grain cultivars. Gelatinization temperatures increased linearly with increasing NTAT. The R stages in which correlations were strongest varied by cultivar and by property, hypothesized to result from differences in kernel development patterns among cultivars. These findings have significant implications for rice production scientists and processors, in that understanding the effects of NTAT on physicochemical and functional properties may help explain and reduce quality variation.
Dermatomyositis Presenting With Focal Scleroderma-Like Skin Changes
Authors: Chai Yaohui , Bertorini Tulio E. , Khan Raja B. , Randall M. Barry , Shadle Mariallan K.
Published: May 2012

Objective:

To describe an unusual focal scleroderma-like skin changes in patient with dermatomyositis.

Methods:

Review of clinical records, laboratory investigations, and muscle and skin biopsies.

Results:

The patient developed unusual skin lesions characterized by symmetrical atrophy and hardening of focal skin and muscle over the lateral upper arms and posterior shoulders, and the left temporal and pectoral areas. Extensive blood work-up for scleroderma and other connective-tissue diseases was negative. A skin biopsy showed distinct pathologic features including increased interstitial mucin, hyperpigmentation, and perivascular lymphocytic inflammation without severe fibrosis. The scleroderma-like skin changes and muscle weakness improved with immunotherapy.

Conclusions:

Dermatomyositis can manifest with focal scleroderma-like skin changes clinically and reticular erythematous mucinosis-like changes pathologically, and these distinct skin changes represent a new variant of skin lesions of dermatomyositis.
The Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score
Authors: Barnett Carolina , Katzberg Hans , Nabavi Maryam , Bril Vera
Published: May 2012

Objective:

To determine whether the quantitative myasthenia gravis score (QMGS) accurately represents disease severity in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG).

Methods:

One hundred thirty-five patients with MG from 2 previous randomized studies were included. QMGS correlation with the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) score, quality of life scale, acetylcholine receptor antibodies (AChRAbs), and electrophysiological parameters was studied.

Results:

The QMGS showed a good correlation with the MGFA scale (r
2 = 0.54, P < 0.0001), jitter (r
s = 0.40, P < 0.0001), and 15-item quality of life scale (r
s = 0.41, P = 0.007) and was less well correlated with the 60-item myasthenia gravis–specific quality of life survey and other electrophysiological markers. No correlation was demonstrated with AchRAb titers, but AchRAb-positive patients had higher QMGS (14.2 ± 4.5) than AchRAb-negative patients (12.0 ± 3.7, P = 0.008).

Conclusions:

These results demonstrate that the QMGS is a valid marker for disease severity as shown by the MGFA scale, quality of life scale, and jitter, supporting the use of the QMGS as a primary outcome measure in clinical trials of MG.
A Novel MPZ Gene Mutation in Exon 2 Causing Late-Onset Demyelinating Charcot–Marie–Tooth Disease
Authors: Chavada Govindsinh , Rao D. Ganesh , Martindale Joanne , Hadjivassiliou Marios
Published: May 2012

The myelin protein zero gene (MPZ) encodes the major structural protein component of myelin in the peripheral nervous system. More than 120 mutations in MPZ have been detected so far. Clinical phenotypes include CMT1B, CMT2, Dejerine–Sottas syndrome, and congenital hypomyelination neuropathy. We report a new previously unreported mutation in the MPZ gene causing a demyelinating peripheral neuropathy. The initial apparent absence of a family history resulted in the patient being treated for an inflammatory neuropathy with some subjective improvement. We subsequently identified another affected member of the same family with the same genotype leading to the correct diagnosis. Both the affected individuals had an 8–base pair deletion, c.160_167delTCCCGGGT in MPZ exon 2.
Late-Onset Axial Myopathy and Camptocormia in a Calpainopathy Carrier
Authors: Liewluck Teerin , Goodman Brent P.
Published: May 2012

Camptocormia is a debilitating gait disorder characterized by the hyperflexion of the thoracolumbar spine during the upright position. Its etiologies are heterogenous, including parkinsonism and various neuromuscular disorders. Here, we report a camptocormia patient due to a late-onset axial myopathy with numerous lobulated fibers. The patient's father reportedly had similar symptoms. Myriad lobulated fibers are common among patients with an autosomal recessive muscular dystrophy due to calpain-3 gene (CAPN3) mutations or calpainopathy. CAPN3 sequencing revealed a single c.759-761delGAA mutation. Calpainopathy carriers are generally asymptomatic. The presence of lobulated fibers in this patient suggests that camptocormia could be a manifestation of calpainopathy carrier, although the possibility of a coexisting undiagnosed myopathy cannot be excluded. The current patient should spur the evaluation of camptocormia among calpainopathy carriers.
Molecular dating of human-to-bovid host jumps by
Staphylococcus aureus
reveals an association with the spread of domestication
Authors: Weinert Lucy A. , Welch John J. , Suchard Marc A. , Lemey Philippe , Rambaut Andrew , Fitzgerald J. Ross
Published: May 2012

Host species switches by bacterial pathogens leading to new endemic infections are important evolutionary events that are difficult to reconstruct over the long term. We investigated the host switching of
Staphylococcus aureus
over a long evolutionary timeframe by developing Bayesian phylogenetic methods to account for uncertainty about past host associations and using estimates of evolutionary rates from serially sampled whole-genome data. Results suggest multiple jumps back and forth between human and bovids with the first switch from humans to bovids taking place around 5500 BP, coinciding with the expansion of cattle domestication throughout the Old World. The first switch to poultry is estimated at around 275 BP, long after domestication but still preceding large-scale commercial farming. These results are consistent with a central role for anthropogenic change in the emergence of new endemic diseases.
Reconstructing the flight kinematics of swarming and mating in wild mosquitoes
Authors: Butail Sachit , Manoukis Nicholas , Diallo Moussa , Ribeiro José M. , Lehmann Tovi , Paley Derek A.
Published: May 2012

We describe a novel tracking system for reconstructing three-dimensional tracks of individual mosquitoes in wild swarms and present the results of validating the system by filming swarms and mating events of the malaria mosquitoAnopheles gambiaein Mali. The tracking system is designed to address noisy, low frame-rate (25 frames per second) video streams from a stereo camera system. Because flyingA. gambiaemove at 1–4 m s−1, they appear as faded streaks in the images or sometimes do not appear at all. We provide an adaptive algorithm to search for missing streaks and a likelihood function that uses streak endpoints to extract velocity information. A modified multi-hypothesis tracker probabilistically addresses occlusions and a particle filter estimates the trajectories. The output of the tracking algorithm is a set of track segments with an average length of 0.6–1 s. The segments are verified and combined under human supervision to create individual tracks up to the duration of the video (90 s). We evaluate tracking performance using an established metric for multi-target tracking and validate the accuracy using independent stereo measurements of a single swarm. Three-dimensional reconstructions ofA. gambiaeswarming and mating events are presented.
Mechanical state, material properties and continuous description of an epithelial tissue
Authors: Bonnet Isabelle , Marcq Philippe , Bosveld Floris , Fetler Luc , Bellaïche Yohanns , Graner François
Published: May 2012

During development, epithelial tissues undergo extensive morphogenesis based on coordinated changes of cell shape and position over time. Continuum mechanics describes tissue mechanical state and shape changes in terms of strain and stress. It accounts for individual cell properties using only a few spatially averaged material parameters. To determine the mechanical state and parameters in theDrosophilapupa dorsal thorax epithelium, we severedin vivothe adherens junctions around a disc-shaped domain comprising typically a hundred cells. This enabled a direct measurement of the strain along different orientations at once. The amplitude and the anisotropy of the strain increased during development. We also measured the stress-to-viscosity ratio and similarly found an increase in amplitude and anisotropy. The relaxation time was of the order of 10 s. We propose a space–time, continuous model of the relaxation. Good agreement with experimental data validates the description of the epithelial domain as a continuous, linear, visco-elastic material. We discuss the relevant time and length scales. Another material parameter, the ratio of external friction to internal viscosity, is estimated by fitting the initial velocity profile. Together, our results contribute to quantify forces and displacements, and their time evolution, during morphogenesis.