bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Public versus private equity
Authors: Stulz René M
Published: January 2020

The last 20 years or so have seen a sharp decline in public equity. I present a framework that explains the forces that cause the listing propensity of firms to change over time. This framework highlights the benefits and costs of a public listing compared to the benefits and costs of financing with private equity. With this framework, the decline in public equity is explained by the increased supply of funds for private equity and changes in the nature of firms. The increase in the importance of intangible assets makes it costlier for young firms to be public when the alternative is funding through private equity from investors who have specialized knowledge that enables them to better understand the business model of young firms and contribute to the development of that business model in contrast to passive public equity investors.
Preparing for CBME: How often are faculty observing residents?
Authors: George Sheenagh J K , Manos Sarah , Wong Kenny K
Published: January 2020

Background

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada officially launched ‘Competence by Design’ in July 2017, moving from time-based to outcomes-based training. Transitioning to competency-based medical education (CBME) necessitates change in resident assessment. A greater frequency of resident observation will likely be required to adequately assess whether entrustable professional activities have been achieved.

Purpose

Characterize faculty and resident experiences of direct observation in a single paediatric residency program, pre-CBME implementation. Qualitatively describe participants’ perceived barriers and incentives to participating in direct observation.

Methods

Surveys were sent to paediatric residents and faculty asking for demographics, the frequency of resident observation during an average 4-week rotation, perceived ideal frequency of observation, and factors influencing observation frequency. Descriptive data were analyzed. Institutional research ethics board approval was received.

Results

The response rate was 54% (34/68 faculty and 16/25 residents). When asked the MAXIMUM frequency FACULTY observed a resident take a history, perform a physical examination, or deliver a plan, the median faculty reply was 1, 2, and 3, for outpatient settings and 0, 1, and 2, for inpatient settings. The median RESIDENT reply was 2, 4, and 10 for outpatient settings and 1, 2, and 20 for inpatient settings. When asked the MINIMUM frequency for each domain, the median FACULTY and RESIDENT reply was 0, except for delivering a plan in the inpatient setting. Faculty reported observing seniors delivering the plan more frequently than junior residents. Faculty and resident median replies for how frequently residents should be observed for each domain were the same, three to four, three to four, and five to six times. Four per cent of faculty reported regularly scheduling observations, and 77% of residents regularly ask to be observed. The most common barriers to observation were too many patients to see and both faculty and residents were seeing patients at the same time. Most faculty and resident responders felt that observation frequency could be improved if scheduled at the start of the rotation; faculty were provided a better tool for assessment; and if residents asked to be observed.

Conclusions

This study provides baseline data on how infrequent faculty observation is occurring and at a frequency lower than what faculty and residents feel is necessary. The time needed for observation competes with clinical service demands, but better scheduling strategies and assessment tools may help.
Plasma Membrane Aquaporin Members PIPs Act in Concert to Regulate Cold Acclimation and Freezing Tolerance Responses in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Rahman Arifa , Kawamura Yukio , Maeshima Masayoshi , Rahman Abidur , Uemura Matsuo
Published: January 2020

Aquaporins play a major role in plant water uptake at both optimal and environmentally stressed conditions. However, the functional specificity of aquaporins under cold remains obscure. To get a better insight to the role of aquaporins in cold acclimation and freezing tolerance, we took an integrated approach of physiology, transcript profiling and cell biology in Arabidopsis thaliana. Cold acclimation resulted in specific upregulation of PIP1;4 and PIP2;5 aquaporin (plasma membrane intrinsic proteins) expression, and immunoblotting analysis confirmed the increase in amount of PIP2;5 protein and total amount of PIPs during cold acclimation, suggesting that PIP2;5 plays a major role in tackling the cold milieu. Although single mutants of pip1;4 and pip2;5 or their double mutant showed no phenotypic changes in freezing tolerance, they were more sensitive in root elongation and cell survival response under freezing stress conditions compared with the wild type. Consistently, a single mutation in either PIP1;4 or PIP2;5 altered the expression of a number of aquaporins both at the transcriptional and translational levels. Collectively, our results suggest that aquaporin members including PIP1;4 and PIP2;5 function in concert to regulate cold acclimation and freezing tolerance responses.
The Price of Twin Earth
Authors: Ashby Brandon James
Published: January 2020

Liberals about perceptual contents claim that perceptual experiences can represent kinds and specific, familiar individuals as such; they also claim that the representation of an individual or kind as such by a perceptual experience will be reflected in the phenomenal character of that experience. Conservatives always deny the latter and sometimes also the former claim. I argue that neither liberals nor conservatives have adequately appreciated how the content internalism/externalism debate bears on their views. I show that perceptual content internalism entails conservativism when conjoined with one other, extremely plausible premise. Hence, liberals are committed to perceptual contents externalism, yet they have failed to fully address the consequences that this has for their view. Moreover, the argument is easily adapted to perceptual experiences of Twin Earthable properties, like colour and shape. I use this last result to show why existing conservative arguments that appeal to Twin Earth plausibly overgeneralize.
CP violations in a predictive A4 symmetry model
Authors: Nguyen T Phong , Hue L T , Si D T , Thuc T T
Published: January 2020

We will investigate numerically a seesaw model with $A_4$ flavor symmetry to find allowed regions satisfying the current experimental neutrino oscillation data, then use them to predict physical consequences. Namely, the lightest active neutrino mass is of the order of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-2})$ eV. The effective neutrino mass $|\langle m\rangle|$ associated with neutrinoless double beta decay is in the range $[0.002 \,\mathrm{eV},0.038\,\mathrm{eV}]$ and $[0.048\,\mathrm{eV},0.058\,\mathrm{eV}]$, corresponding to the normal and the inverted hierarchy schemes, respectively. Other relations among relevant physical quantities are shown, so that they can be determined if some of them are confirmed experimentally. The recent data of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe ($\eta_B$) can be explained via leptogenesis caused by the effect of the renormalization group evolution on the Dirac Yukawa couplings, provided the right-handed neutrino mass scale $M_0$ ranges from $\mathcal{O}(10^8)$ GeV to $\mathcal{O}(10^{12})$ GeV for $\tan\beta =3$. This allowed $M_0$ range is different from the scale of $\mathcal{O}(10^{13})$ GeV for other effects that also generate a consistent $\eta_B$ from leptogenesis. The branching ratio of the decay $ \mu \rightarrow\,e\gamma$ may reach future experimental sensitivity for very light values of $M_0$. Hence, it will be inconsistent with the $M_0$ range predicted from the $\eta_B$ data whenever this decay is detected experimentally.
GAMMA SPECTRUM STABILIZATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RADIATION MONITORING STATIONS USING NAI(TL) DETECTOR
Authors: Hung Dinh Tien , Van Hiep Cao , Khang Pham Dinh , Hai Nguyen Xuan , Anh Nguyen Ngoc , Dinh D A , Hao T V Nhan , Pham V
Published: January 2020

Gamma spectrum measured by an NaI(Tl) detector is known to be unstable with the in situ temperature. In the present work, an advanced method has been applied to stabilize the gamma spectrum measured by the NaI(Tl) detector at environmental radiation monitoring (ERM) stations. The method is based on experimental data obtained under controlled conditions in laboratory. In the temperature range from 4 to 45°C, the relative deviation of the peak positions within the stabilized gamma spectrum is less than 2%. To test this method in a real scenario, it has been integrated into the ERM station at the Military Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering in Hanoi, Vietnam. The results show that the proposed method is ready for a real application.
Physical Illnesses Before Diagnosed as Schizophrenia: A Nationwide Case-Control Study
Authors: Chen Yi-Lung , Pan Chun-Hung , Chang Chi-Kang , Chen Pao-Huan , Chang Hu-Ming , Tai Ming-Hong , Su Sheng-Shiang , Tsai Shang-Ying , Chen Chiao-Chicy , Kuo Chian-Jue
Published: January 2020

Some physical illnesses are potentially associated with the development of schizophrenia. However, few studies have investigated these associations. Here, we examined physical illnesses and medical utilization patterns existing before patients received a diagnosis of schizophrenia. We enrolled a large representative cohort of the general population in Taiwan (N = 1 000 000) and identified 1969 young patients with a new diagnosis of schizophrenia from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2013. We conducted a nested case-control study based on risk-set sampling. Each case was age-matched and sex-matched with 4 controls selected from the general population. The case and control groups were compared on the basis of various clinical characteristics. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the magnitude of risk associated with newly diagnosed schizophrenia. Within the 1 year before the schizophrenia diagnosis, the cases were most likely to visit the psychiatry department, followed by internal medicine and family medicine departments. According to multivariate analysis, compared with the controls, the cases had substantially higher risk of physical conditions in the prodromal phase, including hypertension (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] = 1.93, P = .001), other forms of heart disease (aRR = 2.07, P < .001), cerebrovascular diseases (aRR = 2.96, P = .001), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aRR = 1.50, P = .005), asthma (aRR = 1.76, P = .003), and irritable bowel syndrome (aRR = 2.00, P < .001). A wide range of psychiatric diseases and concomitant use of medications were significantly associated with schizophrenia development. In conclusion, several physical illnesses were identified to be associated with schizophrenia development, indicating that people with these illnesses could be vulnerable to schizophrenia.
Localization of Early-Stage Visual Processing Deficits at Schizophrenia Spectrum Illness Onset Using Magnetoencephalography
Authors: Sklar Alfredo L , Coffman Brian A , Salisbury Dean F
Published: January 2020

Impairments in early-stage visual processing are observed in chronic psychosis. However, their presence, localization within the brain, and contribution to cognitive symptoms remain less well established early in disease course. The present study utilized magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine sensory responses within primary visual cortex (V1). MEG was recorded from 38 individuals diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum illness at first psychotic episode (FESz) and 38 matched healthy controls (HC) during visual search tasks. The inverse solution for cortical activity contributing to the M100 visual evoked field was derived. Task performance and V1 activation were compared between groups. FESz exhibited a reduced V1 response relative to HC. This group deficit, however, was selective for the left hemisphere (LH). A similar interaction was observed for response time with FESz exhibiting slower responses to right visual field targets, a difference not observed among HC. Among FESz, larger LH V1 activity was associated with larger hallucination subscale scores on the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms. Early-stage visual processing deficits localized to V1 are present at disease onset in the schizophrenia spectrum. This impairment appears to be restricted to the LH, consistent with previous reports detailing a predominantly LH disease process in early psychosis, and activity within this region was associated with an increased experience of hallucinations. These findings detail the cortical responses contributing to visual processing impairments and their relationship with symptoms at disease onset, advancing our understanding of their developmental trajectory over the course of psychotic illness.
Winter is coming: harsh environments limit independent reproduction of cooperative-breeding queens in a socially polymorphic ant
Authors: De Gasperin Ornela , Blacher Pierre , Grasso Guglielmo , Chapuisat Michel
Published: January 2020

Cooperative breeding animals frequently inhabit harsh environments. It is widely accepted that harsh environments hinder independent reproduction, and this constraint maintains individuals in family groups. Yet the assumption that harsh ecological conditions reduce the success of members of cooperative breeding groups when breeding independently has not been experimentally tested. We addressed this shortcoming using the socially polymorphic Alpine silver ant,
Formica selysi
. This species has single-queen (independent breeders) and multiple-queen (cooperative breeders) colonies coexisting within populations. We placed newly mated queens emerging from each type of colony to breed alone in either a harsh or mild winter condition and recorded their brood production and survival. Queens emerging from single-queen colonies were unaffected by the winter condition and were more successful at founding a nest independently than queens from multiple-queen colonies. By contrast, queens from multiple-queen colonies had higher mortality after a harsh than after a mild winter. These results support the long-held assumption that harsh environments constrain independent reproduction of members of cooperative breeding groups.
Dynamics of the energy seascape can explain intra-specific variations in sea-crossing behaviour of soaring birds
Authors: Nourani E. , Vansteelant W. M. G. , Byholm P. , Safi K.
Published: January 2020

Thermal soaring birds extract energy from the atmosphere to achieve energetically low-cost movement. When encountering regions that are energetically costly to fly over, such as open seas, they should attempt to adjust the spatio-temporal pattern of their passage to maximize energy extraction from the atmosphere over these ecological barriers. We applied the concept of energy landscapes to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of energy availability over the open sea for soaring flight. We specifically investigated how the ‘energy seascape' may shape age-specific sea-crossing behaviour of European honey buzzards,
Pernis apivorus
, over the Mediterranean Sea in autumn. We found uplift potential over the sea to be the main determinant of sea-crossing distance, rather than wind conditions. Considering this variable as a proxy for available energy over the sea, we constructed the energy seascape for the autumn migration season using 40 years of temperature data. Our results indicate that early-migrating adult buzzards are likely to encounter adverse energy subsidence over the Mediterranean, whereas late-migrating juveniles face less adverse flight conditions, and even conditions conducive to soaring flight. Our study provides evidence that the dynamics of the energy landscape can explain intra-specific variation in migratory behaviour also at sea.
Three-dimensional multi-source localization of underwater objects using convolutional neural networks for artificial lateral lines
Authors: Wolf Ben J. , van de Wolfshaar Jos , van Netten Sietse M.
Published: January 2020

This research focuses on the signal processing required for a sensory system that can simultaneously localize multiple moving underwater objects in a three-dimensional (3D) volume by simulating the hydrodynamic flow caused by these objects. We propose a method for localization in a simulated setting based on an established hydrodynamic theory founded in fish lateral line organ research. Fish neurally concatenate the information of multiple sensors to localize sources. Similarly, we use the sampled fluid velocity via two parallel lateral lines to perform source localization in three dimensions in two steps. Using a convolutional neural network, we first estimate a two-dimensional image of the probability of a present source. Then we determine the position of each source, via an automated iterative 3D-aware algorithm. We study various neural network architectural designs and different ways of presenting the input to the neural network; multi-level amplified inputs and merged convolutional streams are shown to improve the imaging performance. Results show that the combined system can exhibit adequate 3D localization of multiple sources.
Assessing the predictability of nonlinear dynamics under smooth parameter changes
Authors: Cenci Simone , Medeiros Lucas P. , Sugihara George , Saavedra Serguei
Published: January 2020

Short-term forecasts of nonlinear dynamics are important for risk-assessment studies and to inform sustainable decision-making for physical, biological and financial problems, among others. Generally, the accuracy of short-term forecasts depends upon two main factors: the capacity of learning algorithms to generalize well on unseen data and the intrinsic predictability of the dynamics. While generalization skills of learning algorithms can be assessed with well-established methods, estimating the predictability of the underlying nonlinear generating process from empirical time series remains a big challenge. Here, we show that, in changing environments, the predictability of nonlinear dynamics can be associated with the time-varying stability of the system with respect to smooth changes in model parameters, i.e. its local structural stability. Using synthetic data, we demonstrate that forecasts from locally structurally unstable states in smoothly changing environments can produce significantly large prediction errors, and we provide a systematic methodology to identify these states from data. Finally, we illustrate the practical applicability of our results using an empirical dataset. Overall, this study provides a framework to associate an uncertainty level with short-term forecasts made in smoothly changing environments.
Three-dimensional numerical simulation of soft-tissue wound healing using constrained-mixture anisotropic hyperelasticity and gradient-enhanced damage mechanics
Authors: Zuo Di , Avril Stéphane , Yang Haitian , Mousavi S. Jamaleddin , Hackl Klaus , He Yiqian
Published: January 2020

Healing of soft biological tissues is the process of self-recovery or self-repair after injury or damage to the extracellular matrix (ECM). In this work, we assume that healing is a stress-driven process, which works at recovering a homeostatic stress metric in the tissue by replacing the damaged ECM with a new undamaged one. For that, a gradient-enhanced continuum healing model is developed for three-dimensional anisotropic tissues using the modified anisotropic Holzapfel–Gasser–Ogden constitutive model. An adaptive stress-driven approach is proposed for the deposition of new collagen fibres during healing with orientations assigned depending on the principal stress direction. The intrinsic length scales of soft tissues are considered through the gradient-enhanced term, and growth and remodelling are simulated by a constrained-mixture model with temporal homogenization. The proposed model is implemented in the finite-element package Abaqus by means of a user subroutine UEL. Three numerical examples have been achieved to illustrate the performance of the proposed model in simulating the healing process with various damage situations, converging towards stress homeostasis. The orientations of newly deposited collagen fibres and the sensitivity to intrinsic length scales are studied through these examples, showing that both have a significant impact on temporal evolutions of the stress distribution and on the size of the damage region. Applications of the approach to carry out
in silico
experiments of wound healing are promising and show good agreement with existing experiment results.
Optical coherence elastography by ambient pressure modulation for high-resolution strain mapping applied to patterned cross-linking
Authors: Kling Sabine
Published: January 2020

The purpose of this study was to develop a novel non-contact optical coherence elastography (OCE) approach to measure laterally and axially highly resolved corneal strain distribution at different stages of patterned corneal cross-linking (CXL). Freshly enucleated rat eyes were obtained and prepared for accelerated patterned CXL treatment with distinct ultraviolet (UV) patterns (central, peripheral, bow-tie irradiation). Each cornea was measured repeatedly, in three different conditions: (i) virgin, (ii) after epithelial debridement and 0.5% hypo-osmolar riboflavin instillation for 30 min, and (iii) after patterned CXL at 9 mW cm
−2
for 10 min. For biomechanical assessment, the corneal deformation response to an ambient pressure variation of −2 mmHg was recorded by OCE. Strain maps were obtained from phase and magnitude changes in the complex optical coherence tomography signal. Virgin corneas presented negative strain (−2.7 ± 1.1‰) in the anterior cornea and positive strain (1.9 ± 1.3‰) in the posterior cornea. A pronounced shift towards positive strains in the anterior cornea (particularly in UV-irradiated regions) was observed after CXL. Patterned UV irradiation induced localized strain alterations closely matching the geometry of the irradiation pattern. This study demonstrates the possibility of non-contact OCE by ambient pressure modulation, which could substantially improve the early diagnosis of corneal degeneration, advance research in small-animal eyes and refine
in vitro
mechanical investigation.
Parasite diversity and ecology in a model species, the guppy (
Poecilia reticulata
) in Trinidad
Authors: Mohammed Ryan S. , King Stanley D. , Bentzen Paul , Marcogliese David , van Oosterhout Cock , Lighten Jackie
Published: January 2020

The guppy (
Poecilia reticulata
) is a model species in ecology and evolution. Many studies have examined effects of predators on guppy behaviour, reproduction, survival strategies, feeding and other life-history traits, but few have studied variation in their parasite diversity. We surveyed parasites of 18 Trinidadian populations of guppy, to provide insight on the geographical mosaic of parasite variability, which may act as a source of natural selection acting on guppies. We found 21 parasite species, including five new records for Trinidad. Spatial variation in parasite diversity was significantly higher than that of piscine predators, and significant variation in parasite richness among individuals and populations was correlated with: (i) host size, (ii) snail species richness, and (iii) the distance between populations. Differences in parasite species richness are likely to play an important, yet underestimated role in the biology of this model species of vertebrate ecology and evolution.
A framework for experimental scenarios of global change in marine systems using coral reefs as a case study
Authors: Geraldi Nathan R. , Klein Shannon G. , Anton Andrea , Duarte Carlos M.
Published: January 2020

Understanding the consequences of rising CO
2
and warming on marine ecosystems is a pressing issue in ecology. Manipulative experiments that assess responses of biota to future ocean warming and acidification conditions form a necessary basis for expectations on how marine taxa may respond. Although designing experiments in the context of local variability is most appropriate, local temperature and CO
2
characteristics are often unknown as such measures necessitate significant resources, and even less is known about local future scenarios. To help address these issues, we summarize current uncertainties in CO
2
emission trajectories and climate sensitivity, examine region-specific changes in the ocean, and present a straightforward global framework to guide experimental designs. We advocate for the inclusion of multiple plausible future scenarios of predicted levels of ocean warming and acidification in forthcoming experimental research. Growing a robust experimental base is crucial to understanding the prospect form and function of marine ecosystems in the Anthropocene.
Nutrients recycle and the growth of
Scenedesmus obliquus
in synthetic wastewater under different sodium carbonate concentrations
Authors: Duan Yun , Guo Xin , Yang Jingjing , Zhang Mingmei , Li Yangyang
Published: January 2020

This study illustrated the growth of
Scenedesmus obliquus
and recycle of nutrients in wastewater combined with inorganic carbon under autotrophic conditions.
Scenedesmus obliquus
was cultivated under different conditions by adding sodium carbonate (Na
2
CO
3
) at 15–40 mg l
−1
separately in wastewater containing high nitrogen and phosphorus content. The growth characteristics of
S. obliquus
, pH and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) changes of microalgae liquid, the recycle rate of ammonia and phosphorus and lipid content were determined. The changes of pH and DIC showed that
S. obliquus
could use Na
2
CO
3
to grow, with lipid contents of 18–25%. Among all Na
2
CO
3
concentrations, 20 mg l
−1
was the optimum, of which
S. obliquus
had the highest NH
3
-N recycle of 52% and

P

O
4

3
–

P

recycle of 67%. By the 14th day, its biomass production also reaches the maximum of 0.21 g l
−1
. However, inorganic carbon fixation rate was inversely proportional to its concentration. Moreover, the biomass was in positive correlation with the Na
2
CO
3
concentration except 20 mg l
−1
, which provided a possibility that
S. obliquus
could be acclimatized to adjust to high concentrations of inorganic carbon to promote biomass accumulation and recycle of nutrients.
Nesterenkonia muleiensis sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from sap of Populus euphratica
Authors: Wang Ruijun , Anwar Nusratgul , Ding Jinglin , Ye Yanghui , Ren Yanhu , Fu Geyi , Chen Can , Xu Jinzhong , Wu Min
Published: January 2020

A novel, Gram-stain-positive, aerobic, non-endospore-forming, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium designated RB2T was isolated from sap of Populus euphratica collected in Mulei county, Xinjiang province, PR China. RB2T was able to grow at 10–45 °C (optimum 35 °C), pH 6.0–12.0 (optimum 8.0) and with 0–12 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 1 %). The genomic DNA G+C content was 63.5 % (from the genome sequence). The results of the chemotaxonomic analysis indicated that the predominant isoprenoid quinones were MK-8 and MK-9. The major fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The major polar lipids of RB2T were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and two glycolipids. The peptidoglycan type of RB2T was A4α, l-Lys–Gly–l-Glu. The results of the phylogenetic analysis, along with the phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, indicate that strain RB2T represents a novel species of the genus

Nesterenkonia

, for which the name Nesterenkonia muleiensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is RB2T (=MCCC 1K03528T=KCTC 49017T).
Sphingobacterium olei sp. nov., isolated from oil-contaminated soil
Authors: Liu Bin , Yang Xiaojun , Sheng Mengyao , Yang Zhou , Qiu Jiguo , Wang Chenghong , He Jian
Published: January 2020

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile and non-spore-forming bacterium, designated HAL-9T, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil in Daqing oilfield, Heilongjiang Province, PR China. Strain HAL-9T was able to degrade quizalofop-p-ethyl and diclofop-methyl. Growth was observed at 10–35 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 6.0–10.0 (optimum, pH 7.0) and salinity of 0 %–5.0 % (w/v; optimum 1.0 %). The results of phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene indicated that strain HAL-9T belongs to the genus

Sphingobacterium

and showed the highest sequence similarity (98.3 %) to

Sphingobacterium alkalisoli

Y3L14T, followed by

Sphingobacterium mizutaii

DSM 11724T (95.1 %) and

Sphingobacterium lactis

DSM 22361T (95.1 %). Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) was the only isoprenoid quinone. The predominant cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1
ω7c and/or C16 : 1
ω6c), iso-C15: 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, three phosphoglycolipids and three unidentified lipids. The draft genome of strain HAL-9T was 5.41 Mb. The G+C content of strain HAL-9T was 40.6 mol%. Furthermore, the average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization values between strain HAL-9T and

S. alkalisoli

Y3L14T were 86.2 % and 32.8 %, respectively, which were below the standard thresholds for species differentiation. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic evidence, strain HAL-9T represents a novel species in the genus

Sphingobacterium

, for which the name Sphingobacterium olei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HAL-9T (=ACCC 61581T=CCTCC AB 2019176T=KCTC 72287T).
High-Throughput Functional Evaluation ofBRCA2Variants of Unknown Significance
Authors: Ikegami Masachika , Kohsaka Shinji , Ueno Toshihide , Momozawa Yukihide , Tamura Kenji , Shimomura Akihiko , Hosoya Noriko , Kobayashi Hiroshi , Tanaka Sakae , Mano Hiroyuki
Published: January 2020

Numerous nontruncating missense variants of theBRCA2gene have been identified, but there is a lack of convincing evidence, such as familial data, demonstrating their clinical relevance and they thus remain unactionable. To assess the pathogenicity of variants of unknown significance (VUSs) withinBRCA2, we developed a novel method, the MANO-B method, for high-throughput functional evaluation utilizingBRCA2-deficient cells and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. The estimated sensitivity and specificity of this assay compared to those of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classification system were 95% and 95%, respectively. We classified the pathogenicity of 186BRCA2VUSs with our original computational pipeline, resulting in the classification of 126 mutations as “neutral/likely neutral”, 23 as “intermediate”, and 37 as “deleterious/likely deleterious”. We further invented a simplified, on-demand annotation system, the Accurate BRCA Companion Diagnostic (ABCD) test, as a companion diagnostic for PARP inhibitors in patients with unknownBRCA2VUSs. The ABCD test classification was reproducible and consistent with that of a large-scale MANO-B method.
Structural determinants of dynamic fluctuations between segregation and integration on the human connectome
Authors: Fukushima Makoto , Sporns Olaf
Published: January 2020

While segregation and integration of neural information in the neocortex are thought to be important for human behavior and cognition, the neural substrates enabling their dynamic fluctuations remain elusive. To tackle this problem, we aim to identify specific network features of the connectome (the complete set of structural brain connections) that are responsible for the emergence of dynamic fluctuations between segregated and integrated patterns in human resting-state fMRI functional connectivity. The contributions of network features to the dynamic fluctuations were examined by constructing randomly rewired surrogate connectome data in which network features of interest were selectively preserved, and then by assessing the magnitude of fluctuations simulated with these surrogates. Our analysis demonstrates significant contributions from spatial geometry and network topology of the connectome, as well as from localized structural connections involving visual areas. By providing a structural account of dynamic fluctuations in functional connectivity, this study offers new insights into generative mechanisms driving temporal changes in segregation and integration in the brain.
Is cathodal prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation capable of affecting inhibitory control and sustained attention? A single-blind, crossover, sham-controlled study
Authors: Sá Canabarro Soraya Lage de , Karolina Paniago Cássia , Magalhães Santos Priscilla , Rosa Lorena da Silva , Espíndola Leite Borges Vitória , McManus Daniel Pimentel , Garcia Ana , Satler Corina , Brasil-Neto Joaquim P. , Tavares Maria Clotilde Henriques
Published: January 2020

Background

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) has been shown to promote performance improvement of normal individuals in tests of executive function, including tasks that demand sustained attention and inhibitory control. The presumed mechanism is facilitation of prefrontal cortex activation, since a-tDCS is thought to increase cortical excitability. Only a few studies, however, have investigated the effects of inhibitory, cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS) on cognitive tasks, and reported results are often inconsistent. Studies about the effects of c-tDCS upon accuracy and reaction times are particularly scant.

Objective/Hypothesis

This study assessed the effects of inhibitory c-tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (l-DLPFC) on the performance of neurologically intact young adults in Stroop and reaction time tests.

Methods

Seventeen healthy undergraduate students (ten women) performed Stroop and reaction time tasks after delivery of c-tDCS (1 mA, 20 min) over l-DLFPC or a sham session. All subjects underwent both real and sham sessions, which were separated by an interval of one week. We hypothesized that c-tDCS might lead to an impairment of inhibitory control and attention abilities.

Results

We found an interference effect on the Stroop task and also a ceiling effect on the reaction Time task. There were no statistically significant performance differences in any of the neuropsychological tests as a function of stimulation condition and/or subject gender.

Conclusions

C-tDCS over the l-DLPFC of neurologically intact young individuals did not affect performance in Stroop Test accuracy or in reaction times, irrespective of subject gender. These results raise the possibility that c-tDCS inhibitory effects, well documented for the primary motor area, do not necessarily apply to higher order associative areas. The assumption that c-tDCS has inhibitory effects upon any cortical area, common in clinical trials, should be made with caution.
Static and Dynamic Aspects of Cerebro-Cerebellar Functional Connectivity are Associated with Self-reported Measures of Impulsivity: A Resting-State fMRI Study
Authors: Abdallah Majd , Farrugia Nicolas , Chirokoff Valentine , Chanraud Sandra
Published: January 2020

Converging evidence from human and animal studies predict a possible role of the cerebellum in impulsivity. However, this hypothesis has not been thoroughly investigated within the framework of functional connectivity (FC). To address this issue, we employed resting-state fMRI data and two self-reports of impulsivity (UPPS-P and BIS/BAS) from a large group of healthy young individuals (N=134). We identified cerebral and cerebellar resting-state networks, and evaluated the association of static (strength) and dynamic (temporal variability) aspects of cerebro-cerebellar FC with different elements of self-reported impulsivity. Our results revealed that the behavioral inhibition and approach systems (BIS/BAS) were inversely associated with basal ganglia-cerebellar and fronto-cerebellar FC strength, respectively. In addition, we found that lack of premeditation was inversely associated with the temporal variability of FC between the cerebellum and top-down control networks that included sub-regions of the prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and posterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, we found that sensation seeking was associated with the temporal variability of FC between the cerebellum and networks that included cortical control regions and sub-cortical reward regions: the basal ganglia and the thalamus. Together, these findings indicate that the cerebellum may contribute to different forms of impulsivity through its connections to large-scale control and reward networks.
Tick-Borne bacterial and protozoan animal pathogens shape the native microbiome withinHyalomma anatolicum anatolicumandRhipicephalus microplustick vectors
Authors: Adegoke Abdulsalam , Kumar Deepak , Rashid Muhammad Imran , Durrani Aneela Zameer , Sajid Muhammad Sohail , Karim Shahid
Published: January 2020

Background

Ticks vector a variety of bacterial, viral, and protozoan pathogens of public and animal health significance. Ticks also harbor a diverse community of microbes linked with their biological processes like hematophagy and hence vector competence. The interactions between bacterial and/or protozoan pathogens and their tick vector microbiome are yet to be investigated. In lieu of this, this study was designed to define the microbial composition of uninfected and infectedHyalomma (H.) anatolicum anatolicumandRhipicephalus (R.) microplustick species.

Methodology/Principal findings

A total of 320H. anatolicumandR. micropluswere screened for the presence of the protozoan (Theileriasp.), and bacterial (Anaplasma marginale) pathogens by PCR. Subsequently, the microbiome of uninfected and infected individualH. anatolicumandR. micropluswere analyzed. The highly conserved V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced using the MiSeq Illumina platform. The microbiome of femaleH. anatolicum anatolicumticks was dominated by the endosymbiontCandidatus Midichloria mitochondrii(CMM) andFrancisella-like endosymbiont (FLE) which were not affected by pathogen infection.Ehrlichiaspecies was detected inA. marginale-infected maleH. anatolicum anatolicum(6.2%) as opposed to theTheileriasp.-infected femaleH. anatolicum anatolicum.Coxiellasp. was also detected in uninfected (2.96%) andA. marginale-infected (4.25%), but not inTheileriasp.-infectedR. microplusticks. Analysis of the eukaryote composition in the respectively ticks also revealed the presence of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging toPlasmodium (P.) falciparuminTheileriasp.-infectedH. a. anatolicumandR. microplusticks, whileHepatozoon americanumdetected fromTheileriasp.-infected and uninfectedH. a. anatolicum.

Conclusion and Significance

This study establishes the extent of the diversity of microbial community of two important tick species from Pakistan and also revealed the presence ofTheileriaandA. marginaleand additional pathogenic bacteria that could be of public health significance. We hypothesized that infection with either a protozoan or bacterial pathogen will alter the microbial composition within these tick species. Interestingly, we reported the detection of the malarial parasite (P. falciparum) from ticks infected with the protozoan pathogen (Theileriasp.). Further validation experiments are required on endosymbionts and pathogens of ticks to investigate how they could be important in the epidemiology of human and animal pathogens.
Tree diversity and the temporal stability of mountain forest productivity: testing the effect of species composition, through asynchrony and overyielding
Authors: Jourdan Marion , Piedallu Christian , Baudry Jonas , Morin Xavier
Published: January 2020

Climate change modifies ecosystem processes directly through its effect on environmental conditions, but also indirectly by changing community composition. Theoretical studies and grassland experiments suggest that diversity may increase and stabilize communities’ productivity over time. Few recent studies on forest ecosystems suggested the same pattern but with a larger variability between the results. In this paper, we aimed to test stabilizing diversity effect for two kinds of mixtures (Fagus sylvatica-Quercus pubescensandFagus sylvatica-Abies alba), and to assess how climate may affect the patterns. We used tree ring data from forest plots distributed along a latitudinal gradient across French Alps. We found that diversity effect on stability in productivity varies with stand composition. Most beech–fir stands showed a greater stability in productivity over time than monocultures, while beech–oak stands showed a less stable productivity. Considering non-additive effects, no significant trends were found, regardless the type of mixed stands considered. We further highlighted that these patterns could be partially explained by asynchrony between species responses to annual climatic conditions (notably to variation in temperature or precipitation), overyielding, and climatic conditions. We also showed that the intensity of the diversity effect on stability varies along the ecological gradient, consistently with the stress gradient hypothesis for beech-oak forests, but not for beech-fir forests. This study showed the importance of the species identity on the relationships between diversity, climate and stability of forest productivity. Better depicting diversity and composition effects on forest ecosystem functioning appears to be crucial for forest managers to promote forest adaptation and maintain timber resource in the context of on-going climate change.
Control tools to selectively produce purple bacteria for microbial protein in raceway reactors
Authors: Alloul Abbas , Cerruti Marta , Adamczyk Damian , Weissbrodt David G. , Vlaeminck Siegfried E.
Published: January 2020

Purple non-sulfur bacteria (PNSB) show potential for microbial protein production on wastewater as animal feed. They offer good selectivity (i.e. uneven community with high abundance of one species) when grown anaerobically in the light. However, the cost of a closed anaerobic photobioreactor (PBR) is prohibitive for protein production. While open raceway reactors are cheaper, their feasibility to selectively grow PNSB is thus far unexplored. This study developed tools to boost PNSB abundance in the biomass of a raceway reactor fed with volatile fatty acids as carbon source. For oxygen availability as tool, not stirring in the night (i.e. reduced oxygen supply) elevated the PNSB abundance from 8% to 20%. For light availability as tool, a 24-h illumination increased the PNSB abundance from 8% to 31% compared to a 12-h light/12-h dark regime. A reactor run at 2-d sludge retention time at the highest surface-to-volume ratio (10 m2m-3increased light availability) showed productivities up to 0.2 g protein L-1d-1and the highest PNSB abundance (78%). The estimated production cost is €1.9 kg-1dry weight (vs. PBR €11.4 kg-1dry weight). This study pioneered in PNSB-based microbial protein production in raceways, yielding cost efficiency along with high selectivity when avoiding the combined availability of oxygen, COD and darkness.

Graphical abstract
Spatial receptive field structure of double-opponent cells in macaque V1
Authors: De Abhishek , Horwitz Gregory D.
Published: January 2020

The spatial processing of color is important for visual perception. Double-opponent (DO) cells likely contribute to this processing by virtue of their spatially opponent and cone-opponent receptive fields (RFs). However, the representation of visual features by DO cells in the primary visual cortex of primates is unclear because the spatial structure of their RFs has not been fully characterized. To fill this gap, we mapped the RFs of DO cells in awake macaques with colorful, dynamic white noise patterns. The spatial RF of each neuron was fitted with a Gabor function and a Difference of Gaussians (DoG) function. The Gabor function provided the more accurate description for most DO cells, a result that is incompatible with the traditionally assumed center-surround RF organization. A slightly modified (non-concentric) DoG function, in which the RFs have a circular center and a crescent-shaped surround, performed nearly as well as the Gabor model. For comparison, we also measured the RFs of simple cells. We found that the superiority of the Gabor fits over DoG fits was slightly more decisive for simple cells than for DO cells. The implications of these results on biological image processing and visual perception are discussed.
A genome-wide association study finds genetic variants associated with neck or shoulder pain in UK Biobank
Authors: Meng Weihua , Chan Brian W , Harris Cameron , Freidin Maxim B , Hebert Harry L , Adams Mark J , Campbell Archie , Hayward Caroline , Zheng Hua , Zhang Xianwei , Colvin Lesley A , Hales Tim G , Palmer Colin NA , Williams Frances MK , McIntosh Andrew , Smith Blair H
Published: January 2020

Background

Common types of musculoskeletal conditions include pain in the neck and shoulder areas. This study seeks to identify the genetic variants associated with neck or shoulder pain based on a genome-wide association approach using 203,309 subjects from the UK Biobank cohort and look for replication evidence from the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) and TwinsUK.

Methods

Cases in the UK Biobank were determined by a question which asked the participants if they had experienced pain in the neck or shoulder in the previous month influencing daily activities. Controls were the UK Biobank participants who reported no pain anywhere in the last month. A genome-wide association study was performed adjusting for age, sex, BMI and 9 population principal components. Significant and independent genetic variants were then sent to GS:SFHS and TwinsUK for replication.

Results

We identified 3 genetic loci that were associated with neck or shoulder pain in the UK Biobank samples. The most significant locus was in an intergenic region in chromosome 17, rs12453010, havingP= 1.66 × 10-11. The second most significant locus was located in theFOXP2gene in chromosome 7 withP= 2.38 × 10-10for rs34291892. The third locus was located in theLINC01572gene in chromosome 16 withP= 4.50 × 10-8for rs62053992. In the replication stage, among 4 significant and independent genetic variants, rs2049604 in theFOXP2gene and rs62053992 in theLINC01572gene were weakly replicated in GS:SFHS (P =0.0240 andP= 0.0202, respectively). None of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were replicated in the TwinsUK cohort (P> 0.05).

Conclusions

We have identified 3 loci associated with neck or shoulder pain in the UK Biobank cohort, two of which were weakly supported in a replication cohort. Further evidence is needed to confirm their roles in neck or shoulder pain.

Significance

This is the first genome-wide association study on neck or shoulder pain. We have identified 3 genetic loci (an intergenic region in chromosome 17, theFOXP2gene in chromosome 7, and theLINC01572gene in chromosome 16) that are associated with neck or shoulder pain using the UK Biobank cohort, among which theFOXP2gene and theLINC01572gene were weakly replicated by the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (P< 0.05). The SNP heritability was 0.11, indicating neck or shoulder pain is a heritable trait. The tissue expression analysis suggested that neck or shoulder pain was related to multiple brain tissues, indicating the involvement of neuron function. The results will inform further research in the characterisation of the mechanisms of neck or shoulder pain.