bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The biology of human overfeeding: A systematic review
Authors: Bray George A. , Bouchard Claude
Published: June 2020

This systematic review has examined more than 300 original papers dealing with the biology of overfeeding. Studies have varied from 1 day to 6 months. Overfeeding produced weight gain in adolescents, adult men and women and in older men. In longer term studies, there was a clear and highly significant relationship between energy ingested and weight gain and fat storage with limited individual differences. There is some evidence for a contribution of a genetic component to this response variability. The response to overfeeding was affected by the baseline state of the groups being compared: those with insulin resistance versus insulin sensitivity; those prone to obesity versus those resistant to obesity; and those with metabolically abnormal obesity versus those with metabolically normal obesity. Dietary components, such as total fat, polyunsaturated fat and carbohydrate influenced the patterns of adipose tissue distribution as did the history of low or normal birth weight. Overfeeding affected the endocrine system with increased circulating concentrations of insulin and triiodothyronine frequently present. Growth hormone, in contrast, was rapidly suppressed. Changes in plasma lipids were influenced by diet, exercise and the magnitude of weight gain. Adipose tissue and skeletal muscle morphology and metabolism are substantially altered by chronic overfeeding.
Can private governance boost public policy? Insights from public–private governance interactions in the fisheries and electricity sectors
Authors: Tzankova Zdravka
Published: June 2020

Based on the inductive analysis of two parallel cases of private environmental governance – private, market‐driven fisheries governance and private, market‐driven governance for electricity decarbonization – this paper uncovers a trigger for positive public policy spillovers from private environmental governance. It identifies circumstances that prompt groups of business actors working as private regulators to also take on a role as public policy advocates and supporters, revealing a potential for private governance initiatives that are targeted at a particular environmental problem to serve as a bolster for the public regulatory governance of that problem as well. Both private governance cases at the basis of this analysis feature groups of business actors seeking to meet voluntary sustainability goals through the tools of private governance (specifically, through flexing buyer power and private authority in an effort to reform environmentally problematic practices among particular groups of suppliers). In both cases, the business's inability to attain private sustainability goals though private governance means alone has given rise to business demand for facilitative public environmental policy and regulation. The analysis presented in this paper thus points to the occurrence of a particular and intriguing pattern of complementarity between private authority and public policy – one where public policy is called on to fill gaps left by private environmental governance and authority. And it identifies key conditions for such private‐governance‐driven recentering of public policy to occur, namely the presence of private supply chain greening goals and commitments that are economically, reputationally, and/or competitively critical for businesses to attain, combined with shortfalls in the capacity of businesses' private authority to bring about such attainment. The two case analysis further suggests the importance of ENGOs in identifying and activating some of the opportunities for leveraging shortfalls in private environmental governance to the advantage of public environmental policy and regulation.
Is competition from China so special?
Authors: Heid Benedikt , Mínguez Raúl , Minondo Asier
Published: June 2020

Competition from China is perceived as particularly damaging. We study whether this is true for firm performance. Using the universe of Spanish export transactions, we find that an increase in competition from China does not have a more damaging effect on export revenues, prices and number of exported products than an equally sized increase in competition from other countries. We document, though, that Chinese competition raises the probability that a firm ceases to export a good to a destination more than competition from other countries. This effect declines over time. We document an omitted variable bias in studies focusing only on Chinese competition, even when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity of destinations for different products within firms.
Contrato de seguro. La obligación de información y agravación del riesgo cibernético
Authors: Campoy Adilson José , Malfatti Marcio Alexandre , Malfatti Michelle Sampaio Lopes , Rumstain Thaís De Cássia
Published: June 2020

Brasil tiene leyes muy recientes que regulan el flujo de información que proporciona la tecnología, con reglas y consecuencias para aquellos que no cumplen, ya sea en el ámbito civil o penal. Sin embargo, el escenario mundial apunta a un aumento en el número de ataques cibernéticos y eso coloca a Brasil en una posición prominente en la vulnerabilidad a estos ataques. A partir de ahí, sigue la reflexión sobre el empeoramiento del riesgo en los contratos de seguro de responsabilidad y protección de datos cibernéticos y el deber de información inherente a todos los contratos de seguro.
Las medidas extraordinarias adoptadas en España y Europa en los seguros y en los planes de pensiones para combatir las consecuencias de la pandemia del Covid 19
Authors: Tapia Hermida Alberto Javier
Published: June 2020

Este estudio examina las medidas extraordinarias adoptadas en España y Europa en los seguros y en los planes de pensiones para combatir las consecuencias de la pandemia del COVID 19 comenzando por destacar su utilidad para los países iberoamericanos. Su contenido se distribuye en cuatro apartados que se refieren a las medidas extraordinarias adoptadas en el estatuto de las entidades aseguradoras (remuneración de los administradores y del personal directivo e información por las personas y entidades sujetas a supervisión), en los seguros de daños (el refuerzo del seguro de crédito a la exportación en Europa y en España), en los seguros de personas (el seguro de vida y la Póliza de protección del personal sanitario que luchan contra el COVID 19) y en los planes de pensiones (disponibilidad de los derechos consolidados).
El seguro y las garantías por impago de rentas en los arrendamientos de local de negocio en tiempos de pandemia (covid-19)
Authors: Bemito Osma Félix
Published: June 2020

Con el este trabajo se pretende reflexionar sobre el impacto de la alarma sanitaria derivada de la declaración de pandemia (Covid-19) en los contratos de arrendamientos de local de negocio, así como en los seguros y garantías vinculados directa o indirectamente al arrendamiento como a la actividad comercial.
Spatial cues can support auditory figure-ground segregation
Authors: Reed Darrin K. , Chait Maria , Tóth Brigitta , Winkler István , Shinn-Cunningham Barbara
Published: June 2020

A study by Tóth, Kocsis, Háden, Szerafin, Shinn-Cunningham, and Winkler [Neuroimage 141, 108 − 119 (2016)] reported that spatial cues (such as interaural differences or ITDs) that differentiate the perceived sound source directions of a target tone sequence (figure) from simultaneous distracting tones (background) did not improve the ability of participants to detect the target sequence. The present study aims to investigate more systematically whether spatially separating a complex auditory “figure” from the background auditory stream may enhance the detection of a target in a cluttered auditory scene. Results of the presented experiment suggest that the previous negative results arose because of the specific experimental conditions tested. Here the authors find that ITDs provide a clear benefit for detecting a target tone sequence amid a mixture of other simultaneous tone bursts.
Transformative Sport Service Research: Linking Sport Services With Well-Being
Authors: Inoue Yuhei , Sato Mikihiro , Filo Kevin
Published: June 2020

The performance of sport organizations has been traditionally examined from the perspective of attaining strategic and operational goals (e.g., profitability, sporting performance). However, contemporary examples point to a need to expand sport organizations’ goals through consideration of their contributions to well-being outcomes. The current special issue addresses this need by advancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of transformative sport service research (TSSR), which seeks to understand how personal and collective well-being can be improved through a range of services offered in the sport industry. This introduction article clarifies the scope of TSSR scholarship and then provides a synthesis of findings and implications from the eight articles included in the special issue. The overview concludes with a call for collective efforts to establish a focused body of knowledge that leads sport organizations to integrate the goal of optimizing consumer and employee well-being into the core of their operations.
Key Positions of HIV-1 Env and Signatures of Vaccine Efficacy Show Gradual Reduction of Population Founder Effects at the Clade and Regional Levels
Authors: Han Changze , Johnson Jacklyn , Dong Rentian , Kandula Raghavendranath , Kort Alexa , Wong Maria , Yang Tianbao , Breheny Patrick J. , Brown Grant D. , Haim Hillel
Published: June 2020

The Env protein of HIV-1 is the primary target in AIDS vaccine design. Frequent mutations in the virus increase the number of Env forms in each population, limiting the efficacy of AIDS vaccines. Comparison of newly emerging forms in different populations showed that each position of Env is evolving toward a specific combination of amino acids. Similar changes are occurring in different HIV-1 subtypes and geographic regions toward the same position-specific combinations of amino acids, often from distinct ancestral sequences. The predictable nature of HIV-1 Env evolution, as shown here, provides a new framework for designing vaccines that are tailored to the unique combination of variants expected to emerge in each virus subtype and geographic region.
Escherichia coli K-12 Lacks a High-Affinity Assimilatory Cysteine Importer
Authors: Zhou Yidan , Imlay James A.
Published: June 2020

This investigation discovered that
Escherichia coli
lacks a transporter dedicated to the assimilation of cysteine, an outcome that is in striking contrast to the many transporters devoted to the other 19 amino acids. We ascribe the lack of a high-affinity cysteine importer to two considerations. First, the chemical reactivity of this amino acid is unique, and its poorly controlled import can have adverse consequences for the cell. Second, our analysis suggests that the economics of biosynthesis depend sharply upon whether the cell is respiring or fermenting. In the anoxic habitats in which cysteine might be found, the value of import versus biosynthesis is strongly reduced compared to that in oxic habitats. These studies may explain why bacteria choose to synthesize rather than to import other useful biomolecules as well.
Identification of high-risk non-ST elevation myocardial infarction at presentation to emergency department. A prospective observational cohort study in North West England
Authors: Khand Aleem , Frost Freddy , Grainger Ruth , Fisher Michael , Chew Pei , Mullen Liam , Patel Billal , Obeidat Mohammed , Albouaini Khaled , Dodd James
Published: June 2020

Objectives

Early access to invasive coronary angiography and revascularisation for high-risk non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) improves outcomes and is supported by current guidelines. We sought to determine the most effective criteria at presentation to emergency department (ED) to identify high-risk NSTEMI.

Setting

Secondary care centre northwest England with national follow-up.

Participants

1642 consecutive patients (median age 59, 52% male) presenting to ED with a primary symptom of chest pain in whom there is suspicion of NSTEMI.

Primary and secondary measures

Multivariate logistic regression analysis for the prediction of all-cause death (primary) and major adverse cardiac event (MACE defined as all-cause death, unplanned coronary revascularisation and adjudicated NSTEMI (third universal definition)) (secondary measure) at 1 year.

Results

The incidence of adjudicated NSTEMI was 10.7%, and 1-year mortality was 6.3%. Independent predictors for all-cause death at 1 year were Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) >140, age (per decade increase) and high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) >50 ng/L. hs-cTnT >50 ng/L was associated with adjudicated index presentation NSTEMI in the greatest proportion of patients (61.7%). When using MACE at 12 months, as opposed to all-cause death, as an end point History, ECG, Age, Risk factors and Troponin (HEART) score ≥7 was included in the multivariate model and had better prediction of index NSTEMI than GRACE>140. Combining hs-cTnT >50 ng/L and a second independent predictor identified both a high proportion of index NSTEMI and elevated risk of all-cause death at 1 year.

Conclusions

hs-cTnT >50 ng/L or HEART score ≥7 appear effective strategies to identify high-risk NSTEMI at presentation to emergency room with chest pain. Multicentre prospective studies enriched with early presenters, and with competitor high-sensitive and point-of-care troponins, are required to validate and extend these findings.

Trial registration number

NCT02581540.
Qualitative and quantitative approach to assess the potential for automating administrative tasks in general practice
Authors: Willis Matthew , Duckworth Paul , Coulter Angela , Meyer Eric T , Osborne Michael
Published: June 2020

Objective

To identify the extent to which administrative tasks carried out by primary care staff in general practice could be automated.

Design

A mixed-method design including ethnographic case studies, focus groups, interviews and an online survey of automation experts.

Setting

Three urban and three rural general practice health centres in England selected for differences in list size and organisational characteristics.

Participants

Observation and interviews with 65 primary care staff in the following job roles: administrator, manager, general practitioner, healthcare assistant, nurse practitioner, pharmacy technician, phlebotomist, practice nurse, pharmacist, prescription clerk, receptionist, scanning clerk, secretary and medical summariser; together with a survey of 156 experts in automation technologies.

Methods

330 hours of ethnographic observation and documentation of administrative tasks carried out by staff in each of the above job roles, followed by coding and classification; semistructured interviews with 10 general practitioners and 6 staff focus groups. The online survey of machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics experts was analysed using an ordinal Gaussian process prediction model to estimate the automatability of the observed tasks.

Results

The model predicted that roughly 44% of administrative tasks carried out by staff in general practice are ‘mostly’ or ‘completely’ automatable using currently available technology. Discussions with practice staff underlined the need for a cautious approach to implementation.

Conclusions

There is considerable potential to extend the use of automation in primary care, but this will require careful implementation and ongoing evaluation.
Impact of a work-based feedback intervention on student performance during clinical placements in acute-care healthcare settings: a quasi-experimental protocol for the REMARK programme
Authors: Ossenberg Christine , Mitchell Marion , Henderson Amanda
Published: June 2020

Introduction

Current perspectives present feedback as a dynamic, dialogic process. It is widely accepted that feedback can have an impact on workplace performance, however, how dialogic feedback is enacted with the learner in authentic healthcare settings is less apparent. This paper seeks to describe the design and development of an implementation study to promote the learner voice in the feedback process and improve feedback encounters between learners and learning partners in healthcare settings.

Methods and analysis

A quasi-experimental study design will be used to evaluate whether implementation of a work-based intervention to improve feedback impacts student performance during clinical placements in healthcare settings. Student performance will be measured at three time points: baseline (pre), mid-placement (post-test 1) and end-placement (post-test 2) in keeping with standard assessment processes of the participating university. The intervention is underpinned by Normalisation Process Theory and involves a layered design that targets learners and learning partners using best-practice education strategies. Data regarding participants’ engagement with feedback during clinical placements and participants’ level of adoption of the intervention will be collected at the completion of the clinical placement period.

Ethics and dissemination

This study has ethics approval from both Griffith University and Metro South Health Human Research and Ethics committees. Dissemination of results will be local, national and international through forums, seminars, conferences and publications.
Development of ARCADIA: a tool for assessing the quality of peer-review reports in biomedical research
Authors: Superchi Cecilia , Hren Darko , Blanco David , Rius Roser , Recchioni Alessandro , Boutron Isabelle , González José Antonio
Published: June 2020

Objective

To develop a tool to assess the quality of peer-review reports in biomedical research.

Methods

We conducted an online survey intended for biomedical editors and authors. The survey aimed to (1) determine if participants endorse the proposed definition of peer-review report quality; (2) identify the most important items to include in the final version of the tool and (3) identify any missing items. Participants rated on a 5-point scale whether an item should be included in the tool and they were also invited to comment on the importance and wording of each item. Principal component analysis was performed to examine items redundancy and a general inductive approach was used for qualitative data analysis.

Results

A total of 446 biomedical editors and authors participated in the survey. Participants were mainly male (65.9%), middle-aged (mean=50.3, SD=13) and with PhD degrees (56.4%). The majority of participants (84%) agreed on the definition of peer-review report quality we proposed. The 20 initial items included in the survey questionnaire were generally highly rated with a mean score ranging from 3.38 (SD=1.13) to 4.60 (SD=0.69) (scale 1–5). Participants suggested 13 items that were not included in the initial list of items. A steering committee composed of five members with different expertise discussed the selection of items to include in the final version of the tool. The final checklist includes 14 items encompassed in five domains (Importance of the study, Robustness of the study methods, Interpretation and discussion of the study results, Reporting and transparency of the manuscript, Characteristics of peer reviewer’s comments).

Conclusion

Assessment of Review reports with a Checklist Available to eDItors and Authors tool could be used regularly by editors to evaluate the reviewers’ work, and also as an outcome when evaluating interventions to improve the peer-review process.
Characteristics of registered clinical trials assessing treatments for COVID-19: a cross-sectional analysis
Authors: Mehta Hemalkumar B , Ehrhardt Stephan , Moore Thomas J , Segal Jodi B , Alexander G Caleb
Published: June 2020

Objectives

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has prompted many initiatives to identify safe and efficacious treatments, yet little is known regarding where early efforts have focused. We aimed to characterise registered clinical trials assessing drugs or plasma treatments for COVID-19.

Design, setting and participants

Cross-sectional analysis of clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19 that were registered in the USA or in countries contributing to the WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. Relevant trial entries of drugs or plasma were downloaded on 26 March 2020, deduplicated, verified with reviews of major medical journals and WHO websites and independently analysed by two reviewers.

Main outcome(s)

Trial intervention, sponsorship, critical design elements and specified outcomes

Results

Overall, 201 clinical trials were registered for testing the therapeutic benefits of 92 drugs or plasma, including 64 in monotherapy and 28 different combinations. Only eight (8.7%) products or combinations involved new molecular entities. The other test therapies had a wide range of prior medical uses, including as antivirals, antimalarials, immunosuppressants and oncology treatments. In 152 trials (75.7%), patients were randomised to treatment or comparator, including 55 trials with some form of blinding and 97 open-label studies. The 49 (24.4%) of trials without a randomised design included 29 single armed studies and 20 trials with some comparison group. Most trial designs featured multiple endpoints. Clinical endpoints were identified in 134 (66.7%) of trials and included COVID-19 symptoms, death, recovery, required intensive care and hospital discharge. Clinical scales were being used in 33 (16.4%) trials, most often measures of oxygenation and critical illness. Surrogate endpoints or biomarkers were studied in 88 (42.3%) of trials, primarily assays of viral load. Although the trials were initiated in more than 17 countries or regions, 100 (49.8%) were registered in China and 78 (37.8%) in the USA. Registered trials increased rapidly, with the number of registered trials doubling from 1 March to 26 March 2020.

Conclusions

While accelerating morbidity and mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic has been paralleled by early and rapid clinical investigation, many trials lack features to optimise their scientific value. Global coordination and increased funding of high-quality research may help to maximise scientific progress in rapidly discovering safe and effective treatments.
Real-world insight into public access defibrillator use over five years
Authors: Torney Hannah , McAlister Olibhéar , Harvey Adam , Kernaghan Amy , Funston Rebecca , McCartney Ben , Davis Laura , Bond Raymond , McEneaney David , Adgey Jennifer
Published: June 2020

Background

Public access defibrillators (PADs) represent unique life-saving medical devices as they may be used by untrained lay rescuers. Collecting representative clinical data on these devices can be challenging. Here, we present results from a retrospective observational cohort study, describing real-world PAD utilisation over a 5-year period.

Methods

Data were collected between October 2012 and October 2017. Responders voluntarily submitted electronic data downloaded from HeartSine PADs, and patient demographics and other details using a case report form in exchange for a replacement battery and electrode pack.

Results

Data were collected for 977 patients (692 males, 70.8%; 255 females, 26.1%; 30 unknown, 3.1%). The mean age (SD) was 59 (18) years (range <1 year to 101 years). PAD usage occurred most commonly in homes (n=328, 33.6%), followed by public places (n=307, 31.4%) and medical facilities (n=128, 13.1%). Location was unknown in 40 (4.09%) events. Shocks were delivered to 354 patients. First shock success was 312 of 350 patients where it could be determined (89.1%, 95% CI 85.4% to 92.2%). Patients with reported response times ≤5 min were more likely to survive to hospital admission (89/296 (30.1%) vs 40/250 (16.0%), p<0.001). Response time was unknown for 431 events.

Conclusion

This is the first study to report global PAD usage in voluntarily submitted, unselected real-world cases and demonstrates the real-world effectiveness of PADs, as confirmed by first shock success.
Progress on microplastics research in the Yellow Sea, China
Authors: Li Qingjie , Sun Xiaoxia
Published: June 2020

Marine microplastics are a global problem and are causing considerable concern. As the largest marginal sea of the Western Pacific, the Yellow Sea is surrounded by China and the Korean Peninsula, and its coastal ecosystem is greatly affected by human activities. This article reviews the progress of microplastics research in the Yellow Sea in China, including studies on surface water, the seawater column, sediments, and marine organisms. The results indicate that plastic debris exists throughout the west Yellow Sea, with higher abundance of microplastics in water columns and sediments in the north part than those in the south part. Fibers <1 mm and transparent-colored particles dominated the samples collected. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and cellophane (CP) were the dominant debris types. The wide distribution of microplastics in the environment also results in animal ingestion. Sea cucumbers, accordingly, ingest more microplastic debris than other biologic taxa (zooplankton, shellfish, and fish) that have a bearing on their surrounding environment. By providing basic environmental assessment data regarding the Yellow Sea, this paper demonstrates that actions should be taken to reduce the consumption and emission of plastics into the environment.
Mortality of Atlantic salmon after catch and release angling: assessment of a recreational Atlantic salmon fishery in a changing climate
Authors: Van Leeuwen Travis E. , Dempson J. Brian , Burke Chantelle M. , Kelly Nicholas I. , Robertson Martha J. , Lennox Robert J. , Havn Torgeir B. , Svenning Martin , Hinks Ross , Guzzo Matthew M. , Thorstad Eva B. , Purchase Craig F. , Bates Amanda E.
Published: June 2020

Human activities have the potential to accelerate population-level decline by contributing to climate warming and decreasing the capacity of species to survive warming temperatures. Here we build a predictive model to test interactions between river warming and catch and release mortality in recreational fisheries for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by compiling and analyzing published data. We then test whether warming has occurred in rivers where angling occurs and whether angling opportunities have been restricted through increased river closures due to high water temperatures. We find that catch and release mortalities are low (<0.05) at cool river temperatures (<12 °C). At river temperatures often leading to fishery closures (between 18 and 20 °C), mortalities range from 0.07 to 0.33 (mean = 0.16). River temperatures on the east and southeast coasts of Newfoundland have warmed, leading to an increase in fishery closures in recent years. By contrast, river temperatures in southern Labrador have warmed slightly, with only one documented river closure. Accordingly, increasing temperatures will increase the frequency of river closures and likely result in higher mortality in caught and released Atlantic salmon in rivers that remain open to catch and release angling at warm water temperatures.
Analgesia additive interaction between tadalafil and morphine in an experimental animal model
Authors: Mehanna Mohammed , Domiati Souraya , Nakkash Chmaisse Hania , El Mallah Ahmed
Published: June 2020

Since both morphine and tadalafil have been proven to exert some of their analgesic activity through modulation of the NO–cGMP pathway, the aim of the current study is to evaluate the pharmacologic interaction between tadalafil and morphine to decrease the dose of morphine and subsequently its side effects. The assessment was carried out through isobolographic analysis relative to ED50s of both morphine and tadalafil obtained by tail-flick test on BALB/c mice. Morphine and tadalafil ED50s calculated from the dose–response curves were 8303 and 2080 μg/kg, respectively. The experimental ED50 values of morphine and tadalafil in their mixture were 4800 and 1210 μg/kg, respectively. Those results showed an additive interaction between morphine and tadalafil presented by a total fraction value for the mixture of 1160 μg/kg. This outcome can be interpreted by the fact that both drugs share common pathways, namely, NO–cGMP and opioid receptors. As a conclusion, the morphine and tadalafil combination showed an additive effect against acute pain, which is mediated through the central nervous system, thus providing a rationale for combining them to decrease morphine dose and thus minimizing its side effects.
Galectin-3 inhibition attenuates doxorubicin-induced cardiac dysfunction by upregulating the expression of peroxiredoxin-4
Authors: Tian Yunpeng , Lv Wei , Lu Chengzhi , Jiang Yiyao , Yang Xue , Song Minghao
Published: June 2020

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a highly efficient chemotherapeutic drug limited by its cardiotoxicity. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) overexpression is associated with several cardiovascular diseases. In this study, the in vivo models of DOX-treated rats and the in vitro model of DOX-treated H9C2 cells were used. DOX induced cardiac injury and dysfunction accompanied with the upregulation of Gal-3 at the end of the experiment, while inhibition of Gal-3 with modified citrus pectin (MCP) exhibited a dramatic improvement in cardiac function of the DOX-treated rats, as manifested by increased left ventricular systolic pressure and ±dp/dtmaxand decreased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. The plasma levels of myocardial injury markers such as lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, and cardiac troponin I were decreased after MCP treatment. In parallel, MCP attenuated myocardial tissue markers of oxidative stress such as hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde restored the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase and upregulated antioxidant peroxiredoxin-4 (Prx-4). To further verify the role of Prx-4, it was downregulated by siRNA-mediated knockdown in H9C2 cells. MCP could not reverse DOX-induced oxidative stress in Prx-4-knock-down cells. In conclusion, Gal-3 mediated DOX-induced cardiotoxicity and Gal-3 inhibition attenuated DOX-induced cardiac dysfunction by upregulating the expression of Prx-4 to reduce myocardial oxidative stress.
Semi-Rigid Connection in Timber Structure: Stiffness Reduction and Instability Interaction
Authors: Manuello A.
Published: June 2020

Latticed shells and domes usually consist of hundreds, sometimes thousands, beam elements connected by rigid or semi-rigid joints. These connecting elements result, generally, very sophisticated, made with different materials and constituted by disparate connection systems. Recently, the stiffness connections were studied, numerically and experimentally, as one of the most important factors influencing significantly the structural response of space structures and domes. Very often, in the design process, the joints are assumed to be hinged or clamped. This assumption may result significantly far from the actual condition of in-service structure and components, leading to not understanding or not being able to prevent sudden catastrophic collapses (buckling, snap-through). Thus, the inclusion of joint stiffness reduction in the numerical model is necessary, more and more also due to the types of external loads, such as overloads that occur during the life of the structure or, especially, seismic solicitations. In this paper, the stability of an existent timber dome has been studied increasing the yieldingness of the connecting nodes according to an original approach. In addition, sensitivity of this kind of structure to the amplitude and the geometrical imperfections shape have been also considered. Numerical analyses have been conducted with local displacement controls, to take into account the geometric nonlinearity effects. Results evidenced that the dome is affected by instability interaction for particular slenderness and stiffness reduction of the connections.
Continuous variable controlled quantum dialogue and secure multiparty quantum computation
Authors: Saxena Ashwin , Thapliyal Kishore , Pathak Anirban
Published: June 2020

A continuous variable (CV) controlled quantum dialogue (QD) scheme is proposed. The scheme is further modified to obtain two other protocols of (CV) secure multiparty computation. The first one of these protocols provides a solution of two-party socialist millionaire problem, while the second protocol provides a solution for a special type of multi-party socialist millionaire problem which can be viewed as a protocol for multiparty quantum private comparison. It is shown that the proposed scheme of (CV) controlled (QD) can be performed using bipartite entanglement and can be reduced to obtain several other two- and three-party cryptographic schemes in the limiting cases. The security of the proposed scheme and its advantage over corresponding discrete variable (DV) counterpart are also discussed. Specifically, the ignorance of an eavesdropper, i.e., information encoded by Alice/Bob, in the proposed scheme is shown to be more than that in the corresponding (DV) scheme, and thus the present scheme is less prone to information leakage inherent with the (DV) (QD) based schemes. It is further established that the proposed scheme can be viewed as a (CV) counterpart of quantum cryptographic switch which allows a supervisor to control the information transferred between the two legitimate parties to a continuously varying degree.
Unsupervised Translation Quality Estimation for Digital Entertainment Content Subtitles
Authors: Gupta Prabhakar , Sharma Mayank
Published: June 2020

We demonstrate the potential for using aligned bilingual word embeddings in developing an unsupervised method to evaluate machine translations without a need for parallel translation corpus or reference corpus. We explain different aspects of digital entertainment content subtitles. We share our experimental results for four languages pairs English to French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and present findings on the shortcomings of Neural Machine Translation for subtitles. We propose several improvements over the system designed by Gupta et al. [P. Gupta, S. Shekhawat and K. Kumar, Unsupervised quality estimation without reference corpus for subtitle machine translation using word embeddings, IEEE 13th Int. Conf. Semantic Computing, 2019, pp. 32–38.] by incorporating custom embedding model curated to subtitles, compound word splits and punctuation inclusion. We show a massive run time improvement of the order of [Formula: see text] by considering three types of edits, removing Proximity Intensity Index (PII) and changing post-edit score calculation from their system.
Developing conceptual models for the recognition of coseismic landslides hazard for shallow crustal and megathrust earthquakes in different mountain environments – an example from the Chilean Andes
Authors: Serey Alejandra , Sepúlveda Sergio A. , Murphy William , Petley David N. , De Pascale Gregory
Published: June 2020

Landslides represent the most frequent geological hazard in mountainous environments. Most notably, landslides are a major source of fatalities and damage related to strong earthquakes. The main aim of this research is to show through three-dimensional engineer-friendly computer drawings, different mountain environments where coseismic landslides could be generated during shallow crustal and megathrust earthquakes in the Andes of central Chile. We have determined topographic, geomorphological, geological and seismic controlling factors in the occurrence of earthquake-triggered landslides from: (1) a comparison of local earthquake-induced landslide inventories in Chile (the M
w
6.2, shallow crustal Aysén earthquake in 2007 (45.3° S) and the M
w
8.8, megathrust Maule earthquake in 2010 (32.5°S–38.5°S)) with others from abroad; and (2) analysis of large, prehistoric landslide inventories proposed as likely induced by seismic activity. With these results, we have built four representative geomodels of coseismic landslide geomorphological environments in the Andes of central Chile. Each one represents the possible landslide types that could be generated by a shallow crustal earthquake v. those likely to be generated by a megathrust earthquake. Additionally, the associated hazards and suggested mitigation measures are expressed in each scenario. These geomodels are a powerful tool for earthquake-induced landslide hazard assessment.

Thematic collection:
This article is part of the Ground models in engineering geology and hydrogeology collection available at:
https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/Ground-models-in-engineering-geology-and-hydrogeology
Ludo Hashing
Authors: Shi Shouqian , Qian Chen
Published: June 2020

Key-value lookup engines running in fast memory are crucial components of many networked and distributed systems such as packet forwarding, virtual network functions, content distribution networks, distributed storage, and cloud/edge computing. These lookup engines must be memory-efficient because fast memory is small and expensive. This work presents a new key-value lookup design, called Ludo Hashing, which costs the least space (3.76 + 1.05l bits per key-value item for l-bit values) among known compact lookup solutions including the recently proposed partial-key Cuckoo and Bloomier perfect hashing. In addition to its space efficiency, Ludo Hashing works well with most practical systems by supporting fast lookups, fast updates, and concurrent writing/reading. We implement Ludo Hashing and evaluate it with both micro-benchmark and two network systems deployed in CloudLab. The results show that in practice Ludo Hashing saves 40% to 80%+ memory cost compared to existing dynamic solutions. It costs only a few GB memory for 1 billion key-value items and achieves high lookup throughput: over 65 million queries per second on a single node with multiple threads.
Who Filters the Filters
Authors: Snyder Peter , Vastel Antoine , Livshits Ben
Published: June 2020

Ad and tracking blocking extensions are popular tools for improving web performance, privacy and aesthetics. Content blocking extensions generally rely on filter lists to decide whether a web request is associated with tracking or advertising, and so should be blocked. Millions of web users rely on filter lists to protect their privacy and improve their browsing experience. Despite their importance, the growth and health of filter lists are poorly understood. Filter lists are maintained by a small number of contributors who use undocumented heuristics and intuitions to determine what rules should be included. Lists quickly accumulate rules, and rules are rarely removed. As a result, users' browsing experiences are degraded as the number of stale, dead or otherwise not useful rules increasingly dwarf the number of useful rules, with no attenuating benefit. An accumulation of "dead weight" rules also makes it difficult to apply filter lists on resource-limited mobile devices. This paper improves the understanding of crowdsourced filter lists by studying EasyList, the most popular filter list. We measure how EasyList affects web browsing by applying EasyList to a sam- ple of 10,000 websites. We find that 90.16% of the resource blocking rules in EasyList provide no benefit to users in common browsing scenarios. We use our measurements of rule application rates to taxonomies ways advertisers evade EasyList rules. Finally, we propose optimizations for popular ad-blocking tools that (i) allow EasyList to be applied on performance constrained mobile devices and (ii) improve desktop performance by 62.5%, while preserving over 99% of blocking coverage. We expect these optimizations to be most useful for users in non-English locals, who rely on supplemental filter lists for effective blocking and protections.
Characterizing Policies with Optimal Response Time Tails under Heavy-Tailed Job Sizes
Authors: Scully Ziv , van Kreveld Lucas , Boxma Onno , Dorsman Jan-Pieter , Wierman Adam
Published: June 2020

We consider the tail behavior of the response time distribution in an M/G/1 queue with heavy-tailed job sizes, specifically those with intermediately regularly varying tails. In this setting, the response time tail of many individual policies has been characterized, and it is known that policies such as Shortest Remaining Processing Time (SRPT) and Foreground-Background (FB) have response time tails of the same order as the job size tail, and thus such policies are tail-optimal. Our goal in this work is to move beyond individual policies and characterize the set of policies that are tail-optimal. Toward that end, we use the recently introduced SOAP framework to derive sufficient conditions on the form of prioritization used by a scheduling policy that ensure the policy is tail-optimal. These conditions are general and lead to new results for important policies that have previously resisted analysis, including the Gittins policy, which minimizes mean response time among policies that do not have access to job size information. As a by-product of our analysis, we derive a general upper bound for fractional moments of M/G/1 busy periods, which is of independent interest.
Optimal Bidding Strategies for Online Ad Auctions with Overlapping Targeting Criteria
Authors: Tillberg Erik , Marbach Peter , Mazumdar Ravi
Published: June 2020

We analyze the problem of how to optimally bid for ad spaces in online ad auctions. For this we consider the general case of multiple ad campaigns with overlapping targeting criteria. In our analysis we first characterize the structure of an optimal bidding strategy. In particular, we show that an optimal bidding strategies decomposes the problem into disjoint sets of campaigns and targeting groups. In addition, we show that pure bidding strategies that use only a single bid value for each campaign are not optimal when the supply curves are not continuous. For this case, we derive a lower-bound on the optimal cost of any bidding strategy, as well as mixed bidding strategies that either achieve the lower-bound or can get arbitrarily close to it.
A High‐Fat Diet Exacerbates the Course of Experimental Trypanosoma cruzi Infection That Can Be Mitigated by Treatment with Simvastatin
Authors: de Souza Débora Maria Soares , de Paula Costa Guilherme , Leite Ana Luísa Junqueira , de Oliveira Daniela Silva , de Castro Pinto Kelerson Mauro , Farias Sílvia Elvira Barros , Simões Natália Figueiroa , de Paiva Nívia Carolina Nogueira , de Abreu Vieira Paula Melo , da Silva Camilo Adalton Mariano , Figueiredo Vivian Paulino , de Jesus Menezes Ana Paula , Talvani Andre
Published: June 2020

The protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi is responsible for triggering a damage immune response in the host cardiovascular system. This parasite has a high affinity for host lipoproteins and uses the low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor for its invasion. Assuming that the presence of LDL cholesterol in tissues could facilitate T. cruzi proliferation, dietary composition may affect the parasite‐host relationship. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate myocarditis in T. cruzi‐infected C57BL/6 mice—acute phase—fed a high‐fat diet and treated with simvastatin, a lipid‐lowering medication. Animals (n = 10) were infected with 5 × 103 cells of the VL‐10 strain of T. cruzi and treated or untreated daily with 20 mg/kg simvastatin, starting 24 h after infection and fed with a normolipidic or high‐fat diet. Also, uninfected mice, treated or not with simvastatin and fed with normolipidic or high‐fat diet, were evaluated as control groups. Analyses to measure the production of chemokine (C‐C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), interferon‐ (IFN‐) γ, interleukin‐ (IL‐) 10, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF); total hepatic lipid dosage; cholesterol; and fractions, as well as histopathological analysis, were performed on day 30 using cardiac and fat tissues. Our results showed that the high‐fat diet increased (i) parasite replication, (ii) fat accumulation in the liver, (iii) total cholesterol and LDL levels, and (iv) the host inflammatory state through the production of the cytokine TNF. However, simvastatin only reduced the production of CCL2 but not that of other inflammatory mediators or biochemical parameters. Together, our data suggest that the high‐fat diet may have worsened the biochemical parameters of the uninfected and T. cruzi‐infected animals, as well as favored the survival of circulating parasites.
Tissue Distribution Comparison of Six Active Ingredients from an Eucommiae Cortex Extract between Normal and Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats
Authors: Hu Hejia , Xiao Hongqin , Bao Hongsong , Li Mei , Xue Cun , Li YueTing , Wang Guangcheng , Chen Siying , Huang Yong , Zheng Lin , Wang AiMin , Li YongJun , Gong ZiPeng
Published: June 2020

Eucommiae Cortex (EC), a rare, nourishing medicinal herb that is native in China, has good effect in the treatment of hypertension. In this study, we compared tissue distribution of six representative active components of EC extract—genipinic acid (GA), protocatechuic acid (PCA), neochlorogenic acid (NCA), chlorogenic acid (CA), (+)‐pinoresinol di‐O‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside (PDG), and (+)‐pinoresinol 4′‐O‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside (PG)—between normal rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Each rat was intragastrically given EC extract at a dose of 5.4 g/kg. Rats were sacrificed at 10 min, 30 min, 2 h, and 8 h after administration; six rats were sacrificed at each time point. Then, we quickly harvested their major organs, including heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and brain. Using ultraperformance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐MS/MS), we determined the levels of the above mentioned six components in the organs of both types of rats and then analyzed differences in the tissue distribution. The results showed that levels of each component differed between SHRs and the normal group at each time point. As time progressed, the number of organs in which GA distribution in each tissue of SHRs differed from that of the normal group gradually increased: SHRs showed lower GA levels than normal rats. Levels of PG and PDG in both groups at 10 and 30 min were similar. NCA and CA in the SHR group and the normal group at 10 min, 30 min, and 2 h were also similar to some extent. The results indicated that the pathological state of spontaneous hypertension could affect tissue distribution of EC active components in rats.
Minimal Wave Speed in an Integrodifference System of Predator-Prey Type
Authors: Sun Baoju , Wu Fuzhen
Published: June 2020

This article studies the minimal wave speed of traveling wave solutions in an integrodifference predator-prey system that does not have the comparison principle. By constructing generalized upper and lower solutions and utilizing the theory of asymptotic spreading, we show the minimal wave speed of traveling wave solutions modeling the invasion process of two species by presenting the existence and nonexistence of nonconstant traveling wave solutions with any wave speeds.
An Analytical Study of the Diffraction of Light by a Circular Aperture Using Spherical Harmonics for n≤1
Authors: Ahmad Mahmoud , Kabalan Najah , Omran Samar
Published: June 2020

Based on the importance of spherical harmonics and their applicability in many physical problems, this research aimed to study the diffraction pattern of light by a circular aperture starting from the first Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction equation and to expand the polar radius of a point on the surface of the circular aperture based on spherical harmonics. We depended on this theoretical framework in our paper. We calculated the optical intensity compounds C00,C10,C11,C1−1 for n=0,1,m=−1,0,1. We studied the intensity distributions in three special cases (along the optical axis, at the geometrical focal plane, and along the boundary of the geometrical shadow). We presented numerical comparative examples to illustrate the variation of the intensity versus a ratio (Z/A is the ratio of the distance between the circular aperture and the observation plane to a radius of the circular aperture), and we used Maple program to represent these results. We noticed that the expansion we made using spherical harmonic analysis led to an increase in the number of fringes bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. We then concluded with a brief discussion of the results.