bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dose tapering for ciclosporin in cats with nonflea‐induced hypersensitivity dermatitis
Authors: Steffan Jean , Roberts Elizabeth , Cannon Andrea , Prélaud Pascal , Forsythe Peter , Fontaine Jacques , King Stephen , Seewald Wolfgang
Published: March 2013

Background

Little information is available on the ciclosporin dose‐tapering regimen and clinical response in the treatment of feline hypersensitivity dermatitis.

Hypothesis/Objectives

To test a dose‐tapering regimen and assess efficacy and clinical safety for up to 18 weeks.

Animals

Eighty‐eight client‐owned cats with feline hypersensitivity dermatitis.

Methods

Cats that received either a placebo or ciclosporin at 2.5 mg/kg or 7 mg/kg daily for 6 weeks were given 7 mg/kg ciclosporin daily for 4 weeks. Depending on the clinical response, the dose was tapered from daily to every other day over the next 4 weeks and further to twice a week for an additional 4 weeks.

Results

After all cats received 7 mg/kg for 4 weeks, the dose could be tapered to every other day for the next 4 weeks in 70% of cats remaining in the study. During the next 4 weeks, 57, 15 and 22% of cats remaining in the study could be treated at twice a week, every other day or daily, respectively. After the first 4 weeks, the mean lesion score and owner‐assessed pruritus improved over baseline by 69 and 61%, respectively, and remained stable during the following 8 weeks. Approximately 65% of the cats in the study were reported to have an adverse event (AE), very often mild and resolving spontaneously. The most frequentAEs were gastrointestinal and included primarily vomiting and diarrhoea. Eighty per cent ofAEs occurred when cats were on daily treatment.

Conclusions and clinical importance

Results suggest that the induction dose of 7 mg/kg ciclosporin can be tapered as soon as 4 weeks without deterioration of the clinical response. Establishment of the lowest effective dosing regimen of ciclosporin reduced the frequency ofAEs.
On the Theory of Elastic Undamageable Materials
Authors: Voyiadjis George Z. , Kattan Peter I.
Published: March 2013

In this work, both the concepts of Voyiadjis–Kattan materials and undamageable materials are introduced. The Voyiadjis–Kattan material of order n is defined as a nonlinear elastic material that has a higher-order strain energy form in terms of n. The undamageable material is obtained as the limit of the Voyiadjis–Kattan material of order n as n goes to infinity. The relations of these types of materials to other nonlinear elastic materials from the literature are outlined. Also, comparisons of these types of materials with rubber materials are presented. Finally, a proof is given to show that the value of the damage variable remains zero in an undamageable material throughout the deformation process. It is hoped that these proposed new types of materials will open the way to new areas of research in both damage mechanics and materials science.
Modeling of Grain Shape Effect on Multiaxial Plasticity of Metallic Polycrystals
Authors: Abdul-Latif A.
Published: March 2013

A simplified nonincremental interaction law is used describing the nonlinear elastic-inelastic behavior of FCC polycrystals proposed recently (Abdul-Latif and Radi, 2010, “Modeling of the Grain Shape Effect on the Elastic-Inelastic Behavior of Polycrystals with Self-Consistent Scheme,” ASME J. Eng. Mater. Technol., 132(1), p. 011008). In this scheme, the elastic strain defined at the granular level based on the Eshelby's tensor is assumed to be isotropic, uniform and compressible. Hence, the approach considers that the inclusion (grain) has an ellipsoidal shape of half axes defining by a, b and c such as a ≠ b = c. The granular heterogeneous inelastic strain is locally determined using the slip theory. Both elastic and inelastic granular strains depend on the granular aspect ratio (α = a/b). An aggregate of grains of ellipsoidal shape is supposed to be randomly distributed with a distribution of aspect ratios having a log-normal statistical function. The effect of this distribution on the mechanical behavior is investigated. A host of cyclic inelastic behavior of polycrystalline metals is predicted under uniaxial and multiaxial loading paths. Using the aluminum alloy 2024, an original complex cyclic loading path type is proposed and carried out experimentally. After the model parameters calibration, the elastic-inelastic cyclic behavior of this alloy is quantitatively described by the model. As a conclusion, the model can successfully describe the elasto-inelastic at the overall and local levels.
Three-Dimensional Simulation-Based Optimum Design of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell System
Authors: Rao Singiresu S. , Hu Yi , Matar Saif
Published: March 2013

A three-dimensional, single-phase, multicomponent mathematical model is used for the analysis of a liquid-fed direct methanol fuel cell. Liquid phase is considered on the anode side, and gas phase is considered on the cathode side. The electrochemical kinetics, continuity, momentum, and species transport for methanol, water, and oxygen are all coupled to solve for different optimization scenarios. The effect of methanol crossover due to diffusion and electro-osmotic drag is incorporated into the model. A finite-volume-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code is used for the analysis and simulation of the performance of the fuel cell. The analysis model is coupled with the genetic algorithm and sequential quadratic programming optimization technique in seeking the global optimum solution of the fuel cell. Three optimization problems are considered. In the first problem, the maximization of the power density of the fuel cell with lower and upper bounds on the design variables is considered. The second problem considers the maximization of the power density with a constraint on the minimum allowable operating voltage as well as lower and upper bounds on the design variables. In the third problem, the minimization of the cost of the fuel cell is considered with constraints on the minimum allowable operating voltage and the minimum permissible power density as well as lower and upper bounds on the design variables. The performance characteristics of the optimum fuel cell, in the form of graphs of polarization (voltage versus current density), power density versus current density, power density versus voltage, methanol crossover versus current density, and methanol crossover versus voltage are presented and explained to help designers better understand the significance of the optimization results.
Viscoelastic Responses of Silicone-Rubber-Based Magnetorheological Elastomers Under Compressive and Shear Loadings
Authors: Li Rui , Sun L. Z.
Published: March 2013

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are adaptive composite materials in the sense that their mechanical properties are tailored by the applied magnetic field. In this paper we developed both isotropic and anisotropic silicone-rubber-based MREs. We examined the zero-magnetic-field dynamic stiffness and damping along with the magnetic field induced changes (the magnetorheological (MR) effect) for the viscoelastic properties of the MREs by conducting both compression and shear investigations. While the anisotropic MREs exhibited substantial magnetic-field-dependent viscoelastic properties at a medium magnetic field, the isotropic ones showed a negligible MR effect. The magnetic filler structure and concentration, loading frequency, and dynamic strain amplitude were all confirmed to play significant roles in the dynamic mechanical performance of the MREs.
Intrinsic Localized Modes of Harmonic Oscillations in Nonlinear Oscillator Arrays
Authors: Ikeda Takashi , Harata Yuji , Nishimura Keisuke
Published: March 2013

Intrinsic localized modes (ILMs) are investigated in an array with N Duffing oscillators that are weakly coupled with each other when each oscillator is subjected to sinusoidal excitation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of ILMs in nonlinear multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) systems. In the theoretical analysis, van der Pol's method is employed to determine the expressions for the frequency response curves for fundamental harmonic oscillations. In the numerical calculations, the frequency response curves are shown for N = 2 and 3 and compared with the results of the numerical simulations. Basins of attraction are shown for a two-oscillator array with hard-type nonlinearities to examine the possibility of appearance of ILMs when an oscillator is disturbed. The influences of the connecting springs for both hard- and soft-type nonlinearities on the appearance of the ILMs are examined. Increasing the values of the connecting spring constants may cause Hopf bifurcation followed by amplitude modulated motion (AMM) including chaotic vibrations. The influence of the imperfection of an oscillator is also investigated. Bifurcation sets are calculated to show the influence of the system parameters on the excitation frequency range of ILMs. Furthermore, time histories are shown for the case of N = 10, and many patterns of ILMs may appear depending on the initial conditions.
Almost Periodic Solutions for a Class of Stochastic Differential Equations
Authors: Liu Yongjian , Liu Aimin
Published: March 2013

In this paper, the existence and uniqueness of the square-mean almost periodic solutions to a class of the semilinear stochastic equations is studied. In particular, the condition of the uniform exponential stability of the linear operator is essentially removed, only using the exponential dichotomy of the linear operator. Some new criteria ensuring the existence and uniqueness of the square-mean almost periodic solution for the system are presented. Finally, an example of a kind of the stochastic cellular neural networks is given. These obtained results are important in signal processing and the in design of networks.
Efficient Parallel Simulation of Large Flexible Body Systems With Multiple Contacts
Authors: Khude Naresh , Stanciulescu Ilinca , Melanz Daniel , Negrut Dan
Published: March 2013

This contribution outlines a computational framework for the analysis of flexible multibody dynamics contact problems. The framework combines a flexible body formalism, specifically, the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF), with a discrete continuous contact force model to address many-body dynamics problems, i.e., problems with hundreds of thousands of rigid and deformable bodies. Since the computational effort associated with these problems is significant, the analytical framework is implemented to leverage the computational power available on today's commodity graphical processing unit (GPU) cards. The framework developed is validated against commercial and research finite element software. The robustness and efficiency of this approach is demonstrated through numerical simulations. The resulting simulation capability is shown to result in 2 orders of magnitude shorter simulation times for systems with a large number of flexible beams that might typically be encountered in hair or polymer simulations.
Passive Dynamic Biped Walking—Part II: Stability Analysis of the Passive Dynamic Gait
Authors: Koop Derek , Wu Christine Q.
Published: March 2013

Passive dynamic walking is an excellent tool for evaluating biped stability measures, due to its simplicity, but an understanding of the stability, in the classical definition, is required. The focus of this paper is on analyzing the stability of the passive dynamic gait. The stability of the passive walking model, validated in Part I, was analyzed with Lyapunov exponents, and the geometry of the basin of attraction was determined. A novel method was created to determine the 2D projection of the basin of attraction of the model. Using the insights gained from the stability analysis, the relation between the angular momentum and the stability of gait was examined. The angular momentum of the passive walker was not found to correlate to the stability of the gait.
Protein Replacement Therapies for Rare Diseases: A Breeze for Regulatory Approval?
Authors: Gorzelany Jennifer A. , de Souza Mark P.
Published: March 2013

Protein replacement therapies for rare monogenic diseases have a higher probability of regulatory approval compared with biologics, small molecules, and grant-funded orphan drugs.
NETs Are a Source of Citrullinated Autoantigens and Stimulate Inflammatory Responses in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Khandpur Ritika , Carmona-Rivera Carmelo , Vivekanandan-Giri Anuradha , Gizinski Alison , Yalavarthi Srilakshmi , Knight Jason S. , Friday Sean , Li Sam , Patel Rajiv M. , Subramanian Venkataraman , Thompson Paul , Chen Pojen , Fox David A. , Pennathur Subramaniam , Kaplan Mariana J.
Published: March 2013

Neutrophil NETs may contribute to pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Sticky Substrates Snatch Bugs from Blood
Authors: Seker Erkin
Published: March 2013

Magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with a synthetic ligand remove bacteria from whole blood while sparing red blood cells.
Cultivating Our “Frienemies”: Viewing Immunity as Microbiome Management
Authors: Harvill Eric T.
Published: March 2013

Immunology has been studied and understood in the context of the compelling problems of infectious disease. But our rapidly growing knowledge of immune interactions with our healthy microbiota, and the many benefits it confers, suggests there may be value to an alternative view: that mechanisms of defense against pathogens are one aspect of a complex system with the broader purpose of managing our healthy microbiome. From this perspective, adaptive immunity may be viewed as a flexible system for simultaneously recruiting and managing a near limitless number of potential symbionts. This perspective can allow for reinterpretation of many observations and can suggest new experiments to help us better understand our complex interactions with the microbes that surround us.
Overexpression of Specific Cysteine Peptidases Confers Pathogenicity to a Nonpathogenic Entamoeba histolytica Clone
Authors: Matthiesen Jenny , Bär Ann-Katrein , Bartels Anne-Kathrin , Marien Dennis , Ofori Susann , Biller Laura , Tannich Egbert , Lotter Hannelore , Bruchhaus Iris
Published: March 2013

Cysteine peptidases (CPs) of
Entamoeba histolytica
are considered to be important pathogenicity factors. Previous studies have found that under standard axenic culture conditions, only four (
ehcp-a1
,
ehcp-a2
,
ehcp-a5
, and
ehcp-a7
) out of 35 papain-like
ehcp
genes present in the
E. histolytica
genome are expressed at high levels. Little is known about the expression of CPs in
E. histolytica
during amoebic liver abscess (ALA) formation. In the current study, a quantitative real-time PCR assay was developed to determine the expression of the various
ehcp
genes during ALA formation in animal models. Increased expression of four
ehcp
genes (
ehcp-a3
,
-a4
,
-a10
, and
-c13
) was detected in the gerbil and mouse models. Increased expression of another three
ehcp
genes (
ehcp-a5
,
-a6
, and
-a7
) was detected in the mouse model only, and two other
ehcp
genes (
ehcp-b8
and
-b9
) showed increased expression in the gerbil model only. Trophozoites of the nonpathogenic
E. histolytica
HM-1:IMSS clone A1, which was unable to induce ALAs, were transfected with vectors enabling overexpression of those CPs that are expressed at high levels under culture conditions or during ALA formation. Interestingly, overexpression of
ehcp-b8
,
-b9
, and
-c13
restored the pathogenic phenotype of the nonpathogenic clone A1 whereas overexpression of various other peptidase genes had no effect on the pathogenicity of this clone.

IMPORTANCE
Entamoeba histolytica
is a widespread and clinically important protozoan parasite. It normally exists in the human intestine without causing clinical symptoms but can invade the intestinal mucosa, which causes serious intestinal (amoebic colitis) and extraintestinal (amoebic liver abscess [ALA]) diseases. The identification of factors responsible for the invasion of the parasite and disease formation is a major topic in the field. Here, we investigate the roles of different papain-like cysteine peptidases (CPs) as pathogenicity factors. We show that the expression of some of the peptidases that are normally expressed at low levels increases during ALA formation. Furthermore, nonpathogenic amoebae can be transformed to pathogenic amoebae, simply by specific overexpression of some of these CPs. Our findings reinforce the importance of CPs as pathogenicity factors of
E. histolytica
.
The Fungal Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus Regulates Growth, Metabolism, and Stress Resistance in Response to Light
Authors: Fuller Kevin K. , Ringelberg Carol S. , Loros Jennifer J. , Dunlap Jay C.
Published: March 2013

Light is a pervasive environmental factor that regulates development, stress resistance, and even virulence in numerous fungal species. Though much research has focused on signaling pathways inAspergillus fumigatus, an understanding of how this pathogen responds to light is lacking. In this report, we demonstrate that the fungus does indeed respond to both blue and red portions of the visible spectrum. Included in theA. fumigatuslight response is a reduction in conidial germination rates, increased hyphal pigmentation, enhanced resistance to acute ultraviolet and oxidative stresses, and an increased susceptibility to cell wall perturbation. By performing gene deletion analyses, we have found that the predicted blue light receptor LreA and red light receptor FphA play unique and overlapping roles in regulating the described photoresponsive behaviors ofA. fumigatus. However, our data also indicate that the photobiology of this fungus is complex and likely involves input from additional photosensory pathways beyond those analyzed here. Finally, whole-genome microarray analysis has revealed thatA. fumigatusbroadly regulates a variety of metabolic genes in response to light, including those involved in respiration, amino acid metabolism, and metal homeostasis. Together, these data demonstrate the importance of the photic environment on the physiology ofA. fumigatusand provide a basis for future studies into this unexplored area of its biology.

IMPORTANCEConsiderable effort has been taken to understand how the mold pathogenAspergillus fumigatussenses its environment to facilitate growth within the immunocompromised host. Interestingly, it was shown that the deletion of a blue light photoreceptor in two divergent fungal pathogens,Cryptococcus neoformansandFusarium oxysporum, leads to an attenuation of virulence in their respective animal infection models. This suggests that light signaling pathways are conservatively involved in the regulation of fungal pathogenesis. However, an understanding of whether and howA. fumigatusresponds to light is lacking. Here we demonstrate that this organism coordinates broad aspects of its physiology with the photic environment, including pathways known to be involved in virulence, such as carbohydrate metabolism and oxidative stress resistance. Moreover, the photoresponse ofA. fumigatusdiffers in notable ways from the well-studied modelAspergillus nidulans. Therefore, this work should represent a general advancement in both photobiology andA. fumigatusresearch communities.
Can a psychosocial intervention programme teaching coping strategies improve the quality of life of Iranian women? A non-randomised quasi-experimental study
Authors: Addelyan Rasi Hamideh , Timpka Toomas , Lindqvist Kent , Moula Alireza
Published: March 2013

Objectives

To assess whether a psychosocial intervention teaching coping strategies to women can improve quality of life (QOL) in groups of Iranian women exposed to social pressures.

Design

Quasi-experimental non-randomised group design involving two categories of Iranian women, each category represented by non-equivalent intervention and comparison groups.

Setting

A large urban area in Iran.

Participants

44 women; 25 single mothers and 19 newly married women.

Interventions

Seventh-month psychosocial intervention aimed at providing coping strategies.

Primary outcome measures

Effect sizes in four specific health-related domains and two overall perceptions of QOL and health measured by the WHOQOL-BREF instrument.

Results

Large effect sizes were observed among the women exposed to the intervention in the WHOQOL-BREF subdomains measuring physical health (r=0.68; p<0.001), psychological health (r=0.72; p<0.001), social relationships (r=0.52; p<0.01), environmental health (r=0.55; p<0.01) and in the overall perception of QOL (r=0.72; p<0.001); the effect size regarding overall perception of health was between small and medium (r=0.20; not significant). Small and not statistically significant effect sizes were observed in the women provided with traditional social welfare services.

Conclusions

Teaching coping strategies can improve the QOL of women in societies where gender discrimination is prevalent. The findings require reproduction in studies with a more rigorous design before the intervention model can be recommended for widespread distribution.
Incidence and risk factors for mortality of vertebral osteomyelitis: a retrospective analysis using the Japanese diagnosis procedure combination database
Authors: Akiyama Toru , Chikuda Hirotaka , Yasunaga Hideo , Horiguchi Hiromasa , Fushimi Kiyohide , Saita Kazuo
Published: March 2013

Objective

To examine the incidence of vertebral osteomyelitis (VO) and the clinical features of VO focusing on risk factors for death using a Japanese nationwide administrative database.

Design

Retrospective observational study.

Setting

Hospitals adopting the Diagnosis Procedure Combination system during 2007–2010.

Participants

We identified 7118 patients who were diagnosed with VO (International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes: A18.0, M46.4, M46.5, M46.8, M46.9, M48.9 and M49.3, checked with the detailed diagnoses in each case and all other codes indicating the presence of a specific infection) and hospitalised between July and December, 2007–2010, using the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database.

Main outcome measures

The annual incidence of VO was estimated. Logistic regression analysis was performed to analyse factors affecting in-hospital mortality in the VO patients. Dependent variables included patient characteristics (age, sex and comorbidities), procedures (haemodialysis and surgery) and hospital factors (type of hospital and hospital volume).

Results

Overall, 58.9% of eligible patients were men and the average age was 69.2 years. The estimated incidence of VO increased from 5.3/100 000 population per year in 2007 to 7.4/100 000 population per year in 2010. In-hospital mortality was 6%. There was a linear trend between higher rates of in-hospital mortality and greater age. A higher rate of in-hospital mortality was significantly associated with haemodialysis use (ORs, 10.56 (95% CI 8.12 to 13.74)), diabetes (2.37 (1.89 to 2.98)), liver cirrhosis (2.63 (1.49 to 4.63)), malignancy (2.68, (2.10 to 3.42)) and infective endocarditis (3.19 (1.80 to 5.65)).

Conclusions

Our study demonstrates an increasing incidence of VO, and defines risk factors for death with a nationwide database. Several comorbidities were significantly associated with higher rates of in-hospital death in VO patients.
Descriptive study of possible link between cardioankle vascular index and homocysteine in vascular-related diseases
Authors: Wang Hongyu , Liu Jinbo , Wang Qi , Zhao Hongwei , Shi Hongyan , Yu Xiaolan , Fu Xiaobao
Published: March 2013

Objectives

Cardioankle vascular index (CAVI) is a new index of arterial stiffness independent of immediate blood pressure. Homocysteine (Hcy) is an independent risk factor for vascular diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Hcy and CAVI in the vascular-related diseases.

Design

Descriptive research.

Participants

88 patients (M/F 46/42) with or without hypertension, coronary artery disease or arteriosclerosis obliterans were enrolled to our study. They were divided into two groups according to the level of Hcy.

Methods

CAVI, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV) and carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (CR-PWV) were measured by VS-1000 and Complior apparatus.

Results

There was significant correlation between Hcy and CF-PWV, CR-PWV, CAVI in the entire group (r=0.33, p=0.002; r=0.51, p<0.001; r=0.42, p<0.001, respectively). And there was significant correlation between Hcy and CF-PWV, CR-PWV, CAVI in the vascular-related disease group (r=0.23, p=0.048; r=0.51, p<0.001; r=0.392, p=0.001, respectively). The level of Hcy was significantly higher in patients with one or more vascular diseases than in patients without vascular diseases. The levels of CF-PWV, CR-PWV and CAVI were significantly higher in Hcy ≥15 μmol/l group than in Hcy <5 μmol/l group (13.7±3.0 vs 10.8±2.5, p < 0.001; 10.6±2.1 vs 9.2±1.6, p=0.001; 9.30±2.1 vs 7.79±2.1, p=0.001, respectively). Multiple linear regression showed that Hcy, body mass index (BMI) and age were independent associating factors of CAVI in the entire study group (β=0.421, p=0.001; β=−0.309, p=0.006; β=0.297, p=0.012, respectively). And Hcy, BMI and age were independent influencing factors of CAVI in the vascular-related disease group (β=0.434, p=0.001; β=−0.331, p=0.009; β=0.288, p=0.022, respectively).

Conclusions

CAVI was positively correlated with Hcy in the vascular-related diseases.
Why residents of Dutch deprived neighbourhoods are less likely to be heavy drinkers: the role of individual and contextual characteristics
Authors: Kuipers Mirte A G , Jongeneel-Grimen Birthe , Droomers Mariël , Wingen Marleen , Stronks Karien , Kunst Anton E
Published: March 2013

Background

Earlier research has shown that residents of Dutch deprived neighbourhoods drink less alcohol than people in other areas. We aimed to assess the role of individual and neighbourhood characteristics in a cross-sectional, nationwide, multilevel study.

Methods

Individual data of 30 117 Dutch adults, living in 1722 neighbourhoods across the Netherlands, were obtained from the 2004 to 2009 national health survey (POLS). Chronic heavy alcohol consumption was measured as ≥14 drinks/week for women and ≥21 for men, and episodic heavy drinking as ≥6 drinks/day at least once a week. Neighbourhood deprivation was dichotomous; deprived districts as selected by the Dutch government versus other areas. Multilevel logistic regression models of the association between deprivation and heavy drinking were corrected for age, gender, household composition, population density and potential predictors ethnicity, socioeconomic status (education, income), neighbourhood-level social cohesion and percentage Muslims.

Results

The prevalence of heavy drinking was lower in deprived neighbourhoods than in the rest of the Netherlands. This association was found for both chronic and episodic heavy drinking (OR=0.58 (0.47 to 0.72) and OR=0.57 (0.45 to 0.72), respectively). Adding ethnicity to the model reduced these associations by approximately one half. Socioeconomic composition did not contribute to the relationship. The proportion of Muslims explained a small part, while social cohesion explained even less of the association. Stronger associations were observed for women and older adults than for men and younger adults.

Conclusions

The lower prevalence of heavy drinking occurring in deprived areas is largely explained by the ethnicity of neighbourhood residents.
Dynamic response of vertically loaded helical and driven steel piles
Authors: Elkasabgy Mohamed , El Naggar M. Hesham
Published: March 2013

The dynamic performance of helical piles is of significant interest because such piles can offer an efficient alternative to conventional piling systems in many applications where the foundation is subjected to dynamic loads. This paper presents the results of full-scale dynamic vertical load tests on a 9.0 m double-helix, large-capacity helical pile and a driven steel pile of the same length and shaft geometry. Comparing the results is considered necessary to evaluate, qualitatively and quantitatively, the dynamic performance characteristics of large-capacity helical piles. The test piles were closed-ended steel shafts with an outer diameter of 324 mm. The piles were subjected to harmonic (quadratic) loading of different force intensities acting within a frequency range that covered the resonant frequencies of the tested pile–soil–cap systems. The dynamic and static properties of the subsurface soil adjacent to the test piles were determined using the seismic cone penetration technique and the conventional soil boring and testing methods. In addition, field observations are compared with calculated responses using the program DYNA 6 to better understand the pile–soil interaction for the case of helical piles. The effects of soil nonlinearity and pile–soil separation were accounted for in the analysis by employing a weak boundary zone around the piles in the analytical model. The experimental results show that the dynamic behaviour of helical piles is essentially the same as that of driven steel piles with the same geometric properties (without the helix plates). In addition, it was demonstrated that the program DYNA 6 can accurately simulate the behaviour of both helical and driven piles.
Uplift behaviour of helical anchors in clay
Authors: Wang D. , Merifield R.S. , Gaudin C.
Published: March 2013

Helical anchors have been used widely as foundations for transmission towers and pipelines to resist uplift loadings. In this paper, the undrained uplift behaviour of helical anchors in clays is studied using the centrifuge model test and a “large deformation finite element” (LDFE) approach. Nine model anchors were tested in a geotechnical beam centrifuge, with different combinations of the number of helical plates, plate spacing, and embedment depth. The numerical solutions from the LDFE approach are then compared with the centrifuge data and semi-theoretical solutions. Additional LDFE analyses are undertaken to understand the failure mechanisms of multi-plate anchors and applicability of existing semi-theoretical methods. By considering the combined influences of embedment depth, plate spacing, and soil strength profile, a simple procedure is further presented to predict the uplift capacity of helical anchors.
Real-time polymerase chain reaction for detection of encapsulated Haemophilus influenzae using degenerate primers to target the capsule transport gene bexA
Authors: Law Dennis K.S. , Tsang Raymond S.W.
Published: March 2013

A real-time polymerase chain reaction assay that uses degenerate primers and a dual-labelled probe was developed to detect the bexA gene of Haemophilus influenzae, including those belonging to non-b serotypes as well as clonal division II strains. This assay is sensitive and specific, detecting 20 copies of the gene, but negative with a variety of bacteria associated with meningitis and bacteremia or septicemia.
Glucocorticoids downregulate systemic nitric oxide synthesis and counteract overexpression of hepatic heme oxygenase-1 during endotoxin tolerance
Authors: Soriano Renato N. , Ravanelli Maria I. , Batalhao Marcelo E. , Carnio Evelin C. , Branco Luiz G.S.
Published: March 2013

Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 has antioxidant and cytoprotective properties if properly expressed, whereas nitric oxide (NO) impairs tissue perfusion when greatly increased in the blood circulation. Here we hypothesized that the NO and HO-1 systems are altered during lipopolysaccharide (LPS) tolerance, and that glucocorticoids are crucial modulators of systemic NO production and hepatic HO-1 expression during this intriguing phenomenon of cellular reprogramming. Adrenalectomized (ADX) rats with or without administration of dexamethasone (DEX) were challenged with LPS for 3 consecutive days. The plasma levels of corticosterone and nitrate (NOx), and expression of HO-1 protein were assessed. During tolerance, corticosterone levels were elevated, NOx reduced, and HO-1 overexpressed. ADX rats challenged with LPS for 3 consecutive days exhibited a ∼9-fold increase in NOx and a ∼6-fold increase in HO-1, reverted by DEX. Our findings strongly support the fact that glucocorticoids downregulate systemic NO synthesis and counteract hepatic HO-1 overexpression during LPS tolerance.
A NEW ENSEMBLE METHOD FOR FEATURE RANKING IN TEXT MINING
Authors: SADEGHI SABEREH , BEIGY HAMID
Published: March 2013

Dimensionality reduction is a necessary task in data mining when working with high dimensional data. A type of dimensionality reduction is feature selection. Feature selection based on feature ranking has received much attention by researchers. The major reasons are its scalability, ease of use, and fast computation. Feature ranking methods can be divided into different categories and may use different measures for ranking features. Recently, ensemble methods have entered in the field of ranking and achieved more accuracy among others. Accordingly, in this paper a Heterogeneous ensemble based algorithm for feature ranking is proposed. The base ranking methods in this ensemble structure are chosen from different categories like information theoretic, distance based, and statistical methods. The results of the base ranking methods are then fused into a final feature subset by means of genetic algorithm. The diversity of the base methods improves the quality of initial population of the genetic algorithm and thus reducing the convergence time of the genetic algorithm. In most of ranking methods, it's the user's task to determine the threshold for choosing the appropriate subset of features. It is a problem, which may cause the user to try many different values to select a good one. In the proposed algorithm, the difficulty of determining a proper threshold by the user is decreased. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated on four different text datasets and the experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms all other five feature ranking methods used for comparison. One advantage of the proposed method is that it is independent to the classification method used for classification.
DENSE STRUCTURAL EXPECTATION MAXIMISATION WITH PARALLELISATION FOR EFFICIENT LARGE-NETWORK STRUCTURAL INFERENCE
Authors: FOGELBERG CHRISTOPHER , PALADE VASILE
Published: March 2013

Research on networks is increasingly popular in a wide range of machine learning fields, and structural inference of networks is a key problem. Unfortunately, network structural inference is time consuming and there is an increasing need to infer the structure of ever-larger networks. This article presents the Dense Structural Expectation Maximisation (DSEM) algorithm, a novel extension of the well-known SEM algorithm. DSEM increases the efficiency of structural inference by using the time-expensive calculations required in each SEM iteration more efficiently, and can be O(N) times faster than SEM, where N is the size of the network. The article has also combined DSEM with parallelisation and evaluated the impact of these improvements over SEM, individually and combined. The possibility of combining these novel approaches with other research on structural inference is also considered. The contributions also appear to be usable for all kinds of structural inference, and may greatly improve the range, variety and size of problems which can be tractably addressed. Code is freely available online at: http://syntilect.com/cgf/pubs:software .
SEMI-SUPERVISED FUZZY CLUSTERING WITH LEARNABLE CLUSTER DEPENDENT KERNELS
Authors: BCHIR OUIEM , FRIGUI HICHEM , ISMAIL MOHAMED MAHER BEN
Published: March 2013

Many machine learning applications rely on learning distance functions with side information. Most of these distance metric learning approaches learns a Mahalanobis distance. While these approaches may work well when data is in low dimensionality, they become computationally expensive or even infeasible for high dimensional data. In this paper, we propose a novel method of learning nonlinear distance functions with side information while clustering the data. The new semi-supervised clustering approach is called Semi-Supervised Fuzzy clustering with Learnable Cluster dependent Kernels (SS-FLeCK). The proposed algorithm learns the underlying cluster-dependent dissimilarity measure while finding compact clusters in the given data set. The learned dissimilarity is based on a Gaussian kernel function with cluster dependent parameters. This objective function integrates penalty and reward cost functions. These cost functions are weighted by fuzzy membership degrees. Moreover, they use side-information in the form of a small set of constraints on which instances should or should not reside in the same cluster. The proposed algorithm uses only the pairwise relation between the feature vectors. This makes it applicable when similar objects cannot be represented by a single prototype. Using synthetic and real data sets, we show that SS-FLeCK outperforms several other algorithms.
MULTIOBJECTIVE PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION BASED ON DIMENSIONAL UPDATE
Authors: XU HEMING , WANG YINGLIN , XU XIN
Published: March 2013

For multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), two particles may be incomparable, i. e., not dominated by each other. The personal best and the global best for the particle become less optimal, thus the convergence becomes slow. Even worse, an archive of a limited size can not cover the entire region dominated by the Pareto front, the uncovered region can contain unidentifiable nondominated solutions that are not optimal, and thus the precision the algorithm achieves encounters a plateau. Therefore we propose dimensional update, i. e., evaluating the particle's fitness after updating each variable of its position. Separate consideration of the impact of each variable decreases the occurrence of incomparable relations, thus improves the performance. Experimental results validate the efficiency of our algorithm.
Muscle mTORC1 suppression by IL-6 during cancer cachexia: a role for AMPK
Authors: White James P. , Puppa Melissa J. , Gao Song , Sato Shuichi , Welle Stephen L. , Carson James A.
Published: March 2013

Although catabolic signaling has a well-established role in muscle wasting during cancer cachexia, the suppression of anabolic signaling also warrants further investigation. In cachectic tumor-bearing mice, circulating IL-6 levels are associated with suppressed muscle protein synthesis and mTORC1 signaling. We have found AMPK and IGF-I/insulin signaling, two well-known regulators of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), are altered with the progression of cachexia. How IL-6 can induce suppression of mTORC1 signaling remains to be established. The purpose of this study was to examine mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) activation and regulation by IL-6 during cancer cachexia. IL-6 effects on mTOR activation were examined in Apc Min/+ mouse skeletal muscle and C2C12 myotubes. Systemic IL-6 overexpression in Apc Min/+ mice produced a dose-dependent suppression of mTOR signaling that corresponded to induction of STAT3 and AMPK phosphorylation. This result was also evident in IL-6-treated myotubes. Basal mTOR activation and mTOR responsiveness to glucose administration were suppressed in cachectic skeletal muscle. However, insulin induction of mTOR activity was maintained in IL-6-treated myotubes. Whereas IL-6 suppression of myotube mTOR activity was rescued by AMPK inhibition, inhibition of STAT3 signaling was not sufficient to rescue IL-6 suppression of mTOR activity. Last, treadmill exercise training was able to prevent IL-6-induced inhibition of mTOR signaling in Apc Min/+ mice independently of activated STAT. In conclusion, we report dose-dependent suppression of mTOR activity by IL-6 and suppressed mTOR responsiveness to glucose administration in Apc Min/+ mice. IL-6 suppression of mTOR activity was dependent on AMPK activation and independent of STAT signaling in myotubes.
Toll-like receptor 2 mediates high-fat diet-induced impairment of vasodilator actions of insulin
Authors: Jang Hyun-Ju , Kim Hae-Suk , Hwang Daniel H. , Quon Michael J. , Kim Jeong-a
Published: March 2013

Obesity is characterized by a chronic proinflammatory state that leads to endothelial dysfunction. Saturated fatty acids (SFA) stimulate Toll-like receptors (TLR) that promote metabolic insulin resistance. However, it is not known whether TLR2 mediates impairment of vascular actions of insulin in response to high-fat diet (HFD) to cause endothelial dysfunction. siRNA knockdown of TLR2 in primary endothelial cells opposed palmitate-stimulated expression of proinflammatory cytokines and splicing of X box protein 1 (XBP-1). Inhibition of unfolding protein response (UPR) reduced SFA-stimulated expression of TNFα. Thus, SFA stimulates UPR and proinflammatory response through activation of TLR2 in endothelial cells. Knockdown of TLR2 also opposed impairment of insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of eNOS and subsequent production of NO. Importantly, insulin-stimulated vasorelaxation of mesenteric arteries from TLR2 knockout mice was preserved even on HFD (in contrast with results from arteries examined in wild-type mice on HFD). We conclude that TLR2 in vascular endothelium mediates HFD-stimulated proinflammatory responses and UPR that accompany impairment of vasodilator actions of insulin, leading to endothelial dysfunction. These results are relevant to understanding the pathophysiology of the cardiovascular complications of diabetes and obesity.
Differences in movement-related cortical activation patterns underlying motor performance in children with and without developmental coordination disorder
Authors: Pangelinan Melissa M. , Hatfield Bradley D. , Clark Jane E.
Published: March 2013

Behavioral deficits in visuomotor planning and control exhibited by children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have been extensively reported. Although these functional impairments are thought to result from “atypical brain development,” very few studies to date have identified potential neurological mechanisms. To address this knowledge gap, electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from 6- to 12-yr-old children with and without DCD ( n = 14 and 20, respectively) during the performance of a visuomotor drawing task. With respect to motor performance, typically developing (TD) children exhibited age-related improvements in key aspects of motor planning and control. Although some children with DCD performed outside this TD landscape (i.e., age-related changes within the TD group), the group developmental trajectory of the children with DCD was similar to that of the TD children. Despite overall similarities in performance, engagement of cortical resources in the children with DCD was markedly different from that in their TD counterparts. While the patterns of activation are stable in TD children across the age range, the young children with DCD exhibited less engagement of motor cortical brain areas and the older children with DCD exhibited greater engagement of motor cortical brain areas than their TD peers. These results suggest that older children with DCD may employ a compensatory strategy in which increased engagement of relevant motor resources allows these children to perform comparably to their TD peers. Moreover, the magnitude of activation was related to several kinematic measures, particularly in children with DCD, suggesting that greater engagement in motor resources may underlie better behavioral performance.
Protective Effect of Quercetin on Chloroquine-Induced Oxidative Stress and Hepatotoxicity in Mice
Authors: Kumar Mishra Shrawan , Singh Prabhat , Rath Srikanta Kumar
Published: March 2013

The present study was aimed to find out the protective effect of quercetin on hepatotoxicity resulting by commonly used antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ). Swiss albino mice were administered with different amounts of CQ ranging from human therapeutic equivalent of 360 mg/kg body wt. to as high as 2000 mg/kg body wt. We observed statistically significant generation of reactive oxygen species, liver toxicity, and oxidative stress. Our observation of alterations in biochemical parameters was strongly supported by real-time PCR measurement of mRNA expression of key biochemical enzymes involved in hepatic toxicity and oxidative stress. However, the observed hepatotoxicity and accompanying oxidative stress following CQ administration show dose specific pattern with little or apparently no effect at therapeutic dose while having severe effects at higher dosages. We further tested quercetin, an antioxidant flavanoid, against CQ-induced hepatoxicity and found encouraging results as quercetin was able to drastically reduce the oxidative stress and hepatotoxicity resulting at higher dosages of CQ administration. In conclusion, our study strongly suggests co administration of antioxidant flavonoid like quercetin along with CQ for antimalarial therapy. This is particularly important when CQ is administered as long-term prophylactic treatment for malaria as chronic exposure has shown to be resulting in higher dose level of drug in the body.
Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Spinal Cord due to Different Etiologies and Improvement of MRI Findings
Authors: Gürsoy Azize Esra , Kolukısa Mehmet , Babacan-Yıldız Gülsen , Çelebi Arif
Published: March 2013

Subacute combined degeneration (SCD) is a rare neurological complication of vitamin B12 deficiency, characterized by demyelination of the dorsal and lateral spinal cord. Herein, we describe three cases, who presented with SCD, one related to reduced intake of vitamin B12 because of a vegetarian diet and two related to nitrous oxide exposure during surgery. MR images of our patients revealed symmetrical hyperintense signals in dorsal and lateral columns in T2 weighted series. After treatment with intramuscular B12 injections (1 mg daily for 2 weeks, once weekly thereafter for three months) all patients showed improvement of their symptoms. Abnormalities of the spinal cord on MRI resolved in three months. In conclusion, SCD either due to nitrous oxide exposure or due to reduced intake of vitamin B12 is a reversible condition, when detected and treated early.
Dynamics of a Single Species in a Fluctuating Environment under Periodic Yield Harvesting
Authors: Hasanbulli Mustafa , Rogovchenko Svitlana P. , Rogovchenko Yuriy V.
Published: March 2013

We discuss the effect of a periodic yield harvesting on a single species population whose dynamics in a fluctuating environment is described by the logistic differential equation with periodic coefficients. This problem was studied by Brauer and Sánchez (2003) who attempted the proof of the existence of two positive periodic solutions; the flaw in their argument is corrected. We obtain estimates for positive attracting and repelling periodic solutions and describe behavior of other solutions. Extinction and blow-up times are evaluated for solutions with small and large initial data; dependence of the number of periodic solutions on the parameterσassociated with the intensity of harvesting is explored. Asσgrows, the number of periodic solutions drops from two to zero. We provide bounds for the bifurcation parameter whose value in practice can be efficiently approximated numerically.