bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design and Development of RunForFun Mobile Application
Authors: Anci Anthony , Wiradinata Trianggoro
Published: April 2018

Race run for 5 km or 10 km has been trending recently in many places in Indonesia, especially in Surabaya where there were at least 11 events of race run. The participant's number also increased significantly compared to years before. However, among several race run events, it was seen that some events tended to be replicative and monotone, while among the participants recently were identified the need for increasing the fun factor. RunForFun is a mobile application which designed for participants to reach new experience when participating in a race run event. The mobile application will run on Android OS. The development method of this mobile application would use Reverse Waterfall method. The development of this mobile application uses Ionic Framework which utilizes Cordova as its base to deploy to smartphone devices. Subsequently, RunForRun was tested on 10 participants, and the test shows a significant increase in the fun factor from run race participants.
Energy Saving Potential from Shading Design for Residential House in Rural Area
Authors: Perwita Sari Dany , Chiou Yun-shang
Published: April 2018

There are some architectural factors in the energy saving design of residential houses in Taiwan. In addition, in rural area, window glazing is a key factor to reducing electricity. For these purposes, a simulation model of exterior shading has been done in this study. Various types of shading devices have been analysed and compared in terms of energy savings. Simulation analysis by DesignBuilder reveals that shading devices has substantial impact to minimizing energy consumption. The results derived in this paper could provide useful suggestions for the shading design of residential buildings at rural area in Taiwan.
Partial-factor Energy Efficiency Model of Indonesia
Authors: Nugroho Fathul , Syaifudin Noor
Published: April 2018

This study employs the partial-factor energy efficiency to reveal the relationships between energy efficiency and the consumption of both, the renewable energy and non-renewable energy in Indonesia. The findings confirm that consumption of non-renewable energy will increase the inefficiency in energy consumption. On the other side, the use of renewable energy will increase the energy efficiency in Indonesia. As the result, the Government of Indonesia may address this issue by providing more support to the development and the consumption of renewable energy in order to increase the energy efficiency and vise versa.
Determination of Generator Steady State Stability Limit for Multimachine System based on Network Losses Concept
Authors: Rusilawati  , Budi Sulistiawati Irrine , Soeprijanto Adi , Seto Wibowo Rony
Published: April 2018

In the multimachine circumstances, it is difficult to analyze the steady state stability of each generator. In previous research, analysis of the steady state stability limit has been carried out but only look at the stability of the overall system. Therefore, to analyze the stability of each generator, the multimachine system must be changed into a Single Machine to Infinite Bus (SMIB) system by collecting all the loads into one central load in the infinite bus. The method to change from the multimachine system to SMIB system is presented in this paper. The multimachine system is converted into an equivalent impedance (req and xeq) and an equivalent load based on losses concept. After req and xeq is calculated, then by using steady state stability limit concept, the value of the maximum generation of each generator units can be determined. By means of maximum generation is the maximum output power limit that can be generated without causing unstability. ETAP simulation is used to validate the calculation results of the proposed method. The method was applied to units generator in Java Bali system 500 kV.
Study on the Mechanism of Cold and Negative Temperature Coefficient in Natural Process of Gasoline Hydrocarbon
Authors: Yakun Qu , Jun Long , Han Zhou
Published: April 2018

In this paper, the stoichiometric mechanism of gas phase oxidation process of gasoline hydrocarbons was studied through using theoretical stoichiometry. The reason of the phenomenon of cold flame and negative temperature coefficient in the reaction of hydrocarbon molecules before the flame was explained from the molecular level. During the gas phase oxidation process, the alkoxy radical RO· reacts with hydroxyl ·OH to form a relatively stable intermediate such as aldehyde (or ketone) and H2O molecules, and the free radical chain reaction process.The temperature of the reaction process is very low, while the release of a large number of heat, the formation of aldehydes (or ketones) from the excited state back to the ground state when the emission of about 400nm wavelength of light blue fluorescence.
Research and Design of Fixed Photovoltaic Support Structure Based on SAP2000
Authors: Wang Xingxing , Ji Guangjian , Gu Hai , Lv Shuaishuai , Ni Hongjun , Wang Ping , Chen Ke , Meng Yue
Published: April 2018

In the solar photovoltaic power station project, PV support is one of the main structures, and fixed photovoltaic PV support is one of the most commonly used stents. For the the actual demand in a Japanese photovoltaic power, SAP2000 finite element analysis software is used in this paper, based on Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS C 8955-2011), describing the system of fixed photovoltaic support structure design and calculation method and process. The results show that: (1) according to the general requirements of 4 rows and 5 columns fixed photovoltaic support, the typical permanent load of the PV support is 4679.4N, the wind load being 1.05kN/m2, the snow load being 0.89kN/m2and the seismic load is 5877.51N; (2) by theoretical calculation of the two ends extended beam model, the beam span under the rail is determined 2200mm; (3) by the way of using the single factor experiment, through the calculation and analysis of SAP2000, the three best supporting points of the support of the W stent are determined; (4) by comprehensive simulation, the optimal parameters for the rail, beam, support and bolt are 60× 60× 1.0, 60× 60× 1.0, 40× 50× 2.0, and M10 respectively.
A Comparative Study of Refrigerant Side Condensing Heat Transfer Coefficient for Horizontal Mini Channel
Authors: Parekh Ashok , Patel Tejendra , Tailor Parbhubhai
Published: April 2018

Heat exchanger developments are driven by increase in energetic efficiency and emission reduction. To reach the required standards, new systems are required based on mini-channels along with macro channels also. Mini-channels can be described as tubes with one or more ports extruded in aluminium or any other material like copper, steel etc. with hydraulic diameter in the range of 0.2 to 3 mm. Its use in refrigeration systems became a reality; thanks to the human ability to make micro-scale systems. Some heat exchanger enterprises have some models developed specially for their use in automotive sector, cooling sector and industrial refrigeration without having knowledge of how these reduced geometries affect the most important parameters such as pressure drop and the heat transfer coefficient. To overcome this, an exhaustive literature review of the last two decades has been performed to determinate the state of the research. Among all the publications, several models have been reviewed to check the predicting capacities of them as most of them were developed for macro channels along with single port mini-channel tubes. This work presents a comparative study of existing heat transfer correlations for horizontal flow through mini-channels. Present work total 317 experimental results of condensation heat transfer coefficient obtained from several published literatures and also various condensation heat transfer correlations are reviewed for horizontal flow through mini-channels. Results of condensation heat transfer coefficient obtained for various correlations are compared with the experimental results. Among all correlations used the Bohdalet’s correlation gives value of condensation heat transfer coefficient closer to experimental results and has a mean relative deviation (MRD) of 5.4 % whereas mean absolute relative deviation (MARD) of 20.72%.Hence in present work the effort has been made to find better model to predict the condensation heat transfer coefficient which can fit the experimental data with least MRD and MARD.
Mobile application tool for individual maintenance users on high-rise residential buildings in South Korea
Authors: Cha Hee-Sung , Kim Jun , Kim Do-Hee , Shin Jia , Lee Kun-Hee
Published: April 2018

Since 1980’s, the rapid economic growth resulted in so many aged apartment buildings in South Korea. Nevertheless, there is insufficient maintenance practice of buildings. In this study, to facilitate the building maintenance the authors classified the building defects into three levels according to their level of performance and developed a mobile application tool based on each level’s appropriate feedback. The feedback structure consisted of ‘Maintenance manual phase’, ‘Online feedback phase’, ‘Repair work phase of the specialty contractors’. In order to implement each phase the authors devised the necessary database for each phase and created a prototype system that can develop on its own. The authors expect that the building users can easily maintain their buildings by using this application.
The Influence of Technoethics on Industrial Design
Authors: Fan Zhong , Ge Yanming
Published: April 2018

Technoethics is an interdisciplinary research area that means ethics in technology. Technology is transformed into the products in our daily life by industrial design and the negative effects of technology abuse makes ethics issues cannot be ignored. But design ethics research rarely from the perspective of technoethics, which is worth reviewing and summarizing. This review focused on the influence of technoethics on industrial design in the context of technological development. Through studying technoethics and industrial design from the 19th century, we find they have similar developing processes and the early 20th century and 1970s are two key point in time. This article aims to present the development of technoethics and industrial design intuitively on a timeline to discuss the impact on industrial design from the perspective of technoethics.
Cyber Physical Autonomous Mobile Robot (CPAMR) Framework in the Context of Industry 4.0
Authors: Lee Yoon Ket , Goh Yeh Huann , Tew Yiqi
Published: April 2018

Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing creates intelligent object networking and independent process management through Internet of thing and data services. Cyber-Physical System (CPS) communicates among humans, machines and products through Internet of Things (IoT). In this paper a cyber physical autonomous mobile robot (CPAMR) IoT infrastructure system has been proposed. It is capable of performing human-machine interact by allowing users to place and manage orders using cloud platform. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system processes the data and send the product's data to Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag system for storage and printout. Through Remote Telemetry Unit (RTU), the status of the product, CPAMR system and workstations or machineries are linked to the cloud platform. Initially, system identify the locations of CPAMR, product and the desired workstation. After gathering all the required information, Artificial Intelligence Algorithms (AIA) performs real time route map planning according to the shortest distance between CPAMR and the destination. This route map planning will then be sent to the CPAMR’s micro-controller for operation. While the CPAMR is moving, it moves according to the planned route map with the assistance of the Obstacle Avoidance System until it reaches the destination and notifies cloud platform. Three individual projects representing three main functions of the proposed CPAMR have been carried out. Results show that the framework of the project is viable.
Geometry Modification of Helical Gear for Reduction of Static Transmission Error
Authors: Park Jeonghyun , Seo Changjun , Boo Kwangsuck , Kim Heungseob
Published: April 2018

Gear systems are extensively employed in mechanical systems since they allow the transfer of power with a variety of gear ratios. So gears cause the inherent deflections and deformations due to the high pressure which occurs between the meshing teeth when transmit power and results in the transmission error. It is usually assumed that the transmission error and variation of the gear mesh stiffness are the dominant excitation mechanisms. Predicting the static transmission error is a necessary condition to reduce noise radiated from the gear systems. This paper aims to investigate the effect of tooth profile modifications on the transmission error of helical gear. The contact stress analysis was implemented for different roll positions to find out the most critical roll angle in view point of root flank stress. The PPTE (peak-to-peak of transmission error) is estimated at the roll angles by different loading conditions with two dimensional FEM. The optimal profile modification from the root to the tip is proposed.
Heat Transfer Characteristics of Flooded Type Evaporator for Seawater Cooling System
Authors: Yoon Jung-In , Son Chang-Hyo , Han Hyung-Min , Lee Kwang-Seok , Lee Jung-Mok , You In-Duck
Published: April 2018

In these days, many studies on ocean fisheries have been conducted for developing their own industries. Especially, the efforts of using seawater cooling system were actively conducted to keep the caught fisheries fresh, increase the catches, and decrease the manpower. The purpose of this study is to suggest design criteria of seawater cooling system using the flood-type evaporator. In this study, the seawater cooling system using flooded-type evaporator was manufactured as a prototype capacitating 15kW. This study examined performance of the seawater cooling system and then compared the performance with the system capacitating 163kW and 238kW, which is actually being loaded on the fishery boats. In addition, heat transfer characteristics of the flooded-type evaporator used in the equipment are analysed.
Extended Application Of Time-Varying Observer For Rigid Rotors Unbalance Estimation During Acceleration
Authors: Yu Xunxing , Mao Kuanmin , Zhu Yaming
Published: April 2018

Unbalance is one of essential problems for modern rotating machines. In this work, an improved time-varying observer is proposed to estimate the unbalance of rigid rotor during acceleration. In order to fitting different speed acceleration laws, the unbalance forces have been included in an new designed augmented states, meanwhile the state space model of rigid rotor has been also developed. The developed state space model is transformed to a canonical transformation and a new designed time-varying observer can be obtained. The estimated unbalances can be directly obtained by using this time-varying observer. This method would be very helpful for active balancing control strategy during acceleration.
Gold nanoparticles as nanosources of heat
Authors: Baffou Guillaume
Published: April 2018

Under illumination at their plasmonic resonance wavelength, gold nanoparticles can absorb incident light and turn into efficient nanosources of heat remotely controllable by light. This fundamental scheme is at the basis of an active field of research coined thermoplasmonics and encompasses numerous applications in physics, chemistry and biology at the micro and nano scales.
Retinal prosthesis system: a revolutionary advancement for the severely visually impaired
Authors:   Second Sight Medical Products
Published: April 2018

Despite all the advancements in modern ophthalmology, disease can affect vision, resulting in blindness. Worldwide, there are 200 000 people who have retinitis pigmentosa, 2 million with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and 6 million have other forms of sight loss.
Changes in Phase Angle and Handgrip Strength Induced by Suspension Training in Older Women
Authors: Campa Francesco , Silva Analiza , Toselli Stefania
Published: April 2018

This study aimed to present a suspension exercise training program suitable for older adults and to verify the effect of 12 weeks of training on handgrip strength (HS) and anthropometric and bioelectrical impedance parameters in older adults. Thirty older women (age 66.1±4.7 years, BMI 30.6±5.3 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a training group (TG, n=15) or a control group (CG, n=15). The TG participated in a 12-week suspension training program, while the CG maintained their normal physical activity habits for the duration of the study. Anthropometric, bioelectrical impedance and strength parameters were evaluated before and after the intervention period. There was a significant group by time interaction (p<0.05) for triceps, biceps, subscapular skinfold, percentage of fat mass, phase angle (PhA), resistance, reactance, specific resistance, specific reactance and HS, with significant improvements in the TG after the intervention period (p<0.05) even after adjusting for age and BMI. The results suggest that suspension training promotes increases in PhA and HS in older women.
Antibiotika in der Veterinärmedizin: Einsatz und Reduktion
Authors: Blaha Thomas
Published: April 2018

After a short history of the development of antimicrobial substances and the initially underestimated resistance problem, the paper describes the method of monitoring the use of antibiotics in food animals at farm level. The resulting benchmarking led to a remarkable reduction of the amount of antibiotics used in animals. However, it is also explained that, apart from reducing the use of antibiotics, the rules for “prudent use” of antibiotics have to be complied with. Concluding, a critical analysis of the effectiveness of the current interpretation of the “critically important antimicrobials for human medicine is discussed.
Multiresistente Bakterien: Antibiotikaverordnung und Reserveantibiotika
Authors: Kern Winfried
Published: April 2018

Ascertaining critical indications for antibiotics and rational prescribing can delay and minimize the spread of antibiotic resistance. Room for improvement lies in particular in a stricter indication, in shortening antibiotic treatment and in initiating more targeted therapies with narrow-spectrum drugs. Not all infections due to multidrug-resistant organisms require treatment with reserve drugs. Detailed susceptibility testing together with enhanced knowledge of pharmacokinetics and -dynamics are needed for adequate treatment decisions. There are some new drugs with interesting spectrum of activity in development. The problem of antimicrobial resistance in human medicine, however, must also be seen in the context of “One Health” interactions between various systems including environmental issues and food production.
Optimale medikamentöse Therapie bei Patienten nach akutem Koronarsyndrom
Authors: Stähli Barbara , Landmesser Ulf
Published: April 2018

Antithrombotic therapy and other secondary preventive measures such as lifestyle changes, lipid lowering and blood pressure control, along with coronary revascularization strategies, can markedly improve clinical outcomes in patients after an acute coronary syndrome. Current guideline-recommended secondary preventive measures in patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome event according to the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) are summarized in this review.
Sizing and placement of distributed generation and energy storage for a large-scale distribution network employing cluster partitioning
Authors: Hu Di , Ding Ming , Bi Rui , Liu Xianfang , Rong Xiuting
Published: April 2018

With the massive production of renewable energy, negative power flows occur in many areas due to the input of a high proportion of renewable power into medium- and lower-voltage systems. These negative power flows alter the traditional radiative pattern of power distribution and cause operational safety problems such as overvoltage and massive transmission losses. Exploiting the reverse flow within certain areas as well as the different outwarding power characteristics of different substations with the aim of ensuring power supply quality would reduce the need to install energy storage systems. Here, a grid partitioning method is proposed that considers the complementary characteristics as well as electrical distances of different substations. A planning model is proposed considering the potential profitability of installing renewable power generation and clustering outwarding power and transmission losses. The uncertainty of renewable power generation and load is considered using worst-case scenarios to form a robust optimization model. The effectiveness of cluster planning is confirmed, and the robustness of the planning schemes is evaluated by applying the proposed model to a real-world 35–110 KV distribution network in Anhui Province, China.
Treatment with cyclic adenosine monophosphate modulators prior to in vitro maturation alters the lipid composition and transcript profile of bovine cumulus–oocyte complexes and blastocysts
Authors: Razza Eduardo M. , Sudano Mateus J. , Fontes Patricia K. , Franchi Fernanda F. , Belaz Katia Roberta A. , Santos Priscila H. , Castilho Anthony C. S. , Rocha Daniele F. O. , Eberlin Marcos N. , Machado Mariana F. , Nogueira Marcelo F. G.
Published: April 2018

Mammalian oocytes resume meiosis spontaneously after removal from the ovarian follicle. We tested the effects of a 2-h prematuration treatment (Pre-IVM) with forskolin (FSK) and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX) in bovine cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) on the lipid content of oocytes and blastocysts, on the membrane lipid composition of blastocysts and on the transcriptional profiling of cumulus cells and blastocysts in a high-throughput platform. Embryonic development rates to the morula (mean 56.1%) or blastocyst (mean 26.3%) stages were unaffected by treatment. Lipid content was not affected after Pre-IVM, but was increased after IVM in treated oocytes. Conversely, the lipid content was reduced in Pre-IVM blastocysts. Pre-IVM COCs generated blastocysts containing blastomeres with more unsaturated lipids in their membranes. Pre-IVM also altered the relative abundance of 31 gene transcripts after 2 h and 16 transcripts after 24 h in cumulus cells, while seven transcripts were altered in blastocysts. Our results suggest that the Pre-IVM treatment affected the lipid composition and transcriptional profiles of COCs and blastocysts. Therefore, Pre-IVM with FSK and IBMX could be used either to prevent spontaneous meiotic resumption during IVM or to modulate lipid composition in the membrane and cytoplasm of blastocysts, potentially improving bovine embryos.
The Matthew effect in science funding
Authors: Bol Thijs , de Vaan Mathijs , van de Rijt Arnout
Published: April 2018

Significance

Why do scientists with similar backgrounds and abilities often end up achieving very different degrees of success? A classic explanation is that academic achievement exhibits a “Matthew effect”: Early successes increase future success chances. We analyze data from a large academic funding program that present a unique opportunity to quantify the Matthew effect and identify generative mechanisms. Our results show that winners just above the funding threshold accumulate more than twice as much funding during the subsequent eight years as nonwinners with near-identical review scores that fall just below the threshold. This effect is partly caused by nonwinners ceasing to compete for other funding opportunities, revealing a “participation” mechanism driving the Matthew effect.
Elucidation of the trigonelline degradation pathway reveals previously undescribed enzymes and metabolites
Authors: Perchat Nadia , Saaidi Pierre-Loïc , Darii Ekaterina , Pellé Christine , Petit Jean-Louis , Besnard-Gonnet Marielle , de Berardinis Véronique , Dupont Maeva , Gimbernat Alexandra , Salanoubat Marcel , Fischer Cécile , Perret Alain
Published: April 2018

Significance

The experimental dissection of novel metabolic pathways, from genes and enzymes to metabolites, is a key issue for improving our knowledge of the enzymatic capabilities of the microbial world and providing accurate functional annotation of genomes. We used an integrative methodology combining the phenotyping of a complete genome-scale mutant collection of
Acinetobacter baylyi
ADP1 with an untargeted liquid chromatography/MS-based approach to uncover the degradation pathway of trigonelline (TG), a widespread osmolyte. We provide extensive information about this unusual
N-
heterocyclic aromatic degradation route that expands the metabolite repertoire. The occurrence of conserved gene clusters for TG dissimilation in soil, plant-associated, and marine bacteria underlines its environmental abundance.
Polycomb protein SCML2 facilitates H3K27me3 to establish bivalent domains in the male germline
Authors: Maezawa So , Hasegawa Kazuteru , Yukawa Masashi , Kubo Naoki , Sakashita Akihiko , Alavattam Kris G. , Sin Ho-Su , Kartashov Andrey V. , Sasaki Hiroyuki , Barski Artem , Namekawa Satoshi H.
Published: April 2018

Significance

The germline is responsible for the reproduction of an entire organism through the recovery of totipotency after fertilization. This ability is presumably associated with a chromatin feature known as bivalent chromatin domains, which are marked with both repressive and active histone modifications. In this study, we determine the identity of bivalent domain genes in the male germline of mice and the regulatory mechanism for these genes. We demonstrate that SCML2 facilitates a repressive modification, H3K27me3, thereby establishing bivalent domains in the germline. Our study identifies a possible germline mechanism by which differentiated and unipotent germ cells give rise to a totipotent zygote following fertilization.
Measuring the alternation strength of causative verbs
Authors: Romain Laurence
Published: April 2018

This paper presents a method for quantitative and qualitative analyses of the
causative alternation in English, where verbs may alternate between a transitive
(causative) construction (Santa crinkled his eyes) and an
intransitive (non-causative) construction (His eyes
crinkled).1 The aim of this
paper is to present a method designed to measure the alternation strength of
causative verbs, i.e. the extent to which they alternate between the two
constructions. One of the central elements this paper investigates is the Theme,
i.e. the participant that is in subject position in the intransitive
construction and object position in the transitive construction. A distinctive
collostructional analysis (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004) shows that certain
verbs are significantly attracted to one of either two constructions while
others are equivalently distributed in the two constructions. However, after
careful analysis it appears that very few Themes actually overlap between the
two constructions (Lemmens
forthcoming) which indicates that each construction seems to be
rather restrictive regarding which Themes they recruit. The low degree of
alternation of the Themes leads us to ask ourselves the extent to which the
alternation is part of a speaker’s knowledge of their language.
Vestibular assessment and management in adults
Authors: Seedat Tasneem , Khoza-Shangase Katijah , Sebothoma Ben
Published: April 2018

Background:

There is scarcity of research in vestibular assessment and management within the South African context.

Methods:

The current study explored the current practices of South African Audiologists in the assessment and management of vestibular disorders in adults. A survey research methodology with a cross-sectional research design was adopted. The current study made use of a 29 item web-based survey, and surveyed 32 audiologists from across the country on their practices around vestibular assessment and management in adults presenting with vestibular symptoms. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:

Current findings revealed that 53% of participants in the study were conducting vestibular assessments, even though 75% reported seeing patients presenting with vestibular symptoms in their practices. 34.4% of participants indicated using a core test battery adapted to the patient’s case history when assessing patients with vestibular disorders. The most common assessments performed were peripheral vestibular examinations and oculomotor tests. Furthermore, a majority (59.4%) of the participants do not have any high-tech equipment at their practice. Of the sample, 62.5% of the participants do not perform vestibular management. Of the individuals who do perform vestibular management, vestibular rehabilitation therapy and canalith repositioning maneuvers were the most common treatment procedures performed. The most commonly referred to professional is the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist, and 50% of participants make 0-5 referrals per week for patients with vestibular disorders. With regards to the facilitators and barriers to practice, 53% indicated that lack of vestibular equipment was the main barrier to practice, whereas 50% indicated that the main facilitator to practice was the fact that there were patients presenting with vestibular symptoms.

Conclusion:

Current findings raise implications about the provision of vestibular function services in both public and private sectors in South Africa. Implications for training and resource planning and allocation are highlighted.
Determinants of Uncontrolled Hypertension in Rural Communities in South Asia—Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka
Authors: Jafar Tazeen H , Gandhi Mihir , Jehan Imtiaz , Naheed Aliya , de Silva H Asita , Shahab Hunaina , Alam Dewan , Luke Nathasha , Wee Lim Ching ,   COBRA-BPS Study Group
Published: April 2018

BACKGROUND

Uncontrolled blood pressure (BP) is a leading risk factor for death and disability in South Asia. We aimed to determine the cross-country variation, and the factors associated with uncontrolled BP among adults treated for hypertension in rural South Asia.

METHODS

We enrolled 1,718 individuals aged ≥40 years treated for hypertension in a cross-sectional study from rural communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Multivariable logistic regression model was used to determine the factors associated with uncontrolled BP (systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg).

RESULTS

Among hypertensive individuals, 58.0% (95% confidence interval (CI) 55.7, 60.4) had uncontrolled BP: 52.8% (49.0, 56.6) in Bangladesh, 70.6% (65.7, 75.1) in Pakistan, and 56.5% (52.7, 60.1) in Sri Lanka. The odds (odds ratio (95% CI)) of uncontrolled BP were significantly higher in individuals with lower wealth index (1.17 (1.02, 1.35)); single vs. married (1.46 (1.10, 1.93)); higher log urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (1.41 (1.24, 1.60)); lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (1.23 (1.01, 1.49)); low vs. high adherence to antihypertensive medication (1.50 (1.16, 1.94)); and Pakistan (2.91 (1.60, 5.28)) vs. Sri Lanka. However, the odds were lower in those with vs. without self-reported kidney disease (0.51 (0.28, 0.91)); and receiving vs. not receiving statins (0.62 (0.44, 0.87)).

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of individuals with treated hypertension have uncontrolled BP in rural Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka with significant disparities among and within countries. Urgent public health efforts are needed to improve access and adherence to antihypertensive medications in disadvantaged populations in rural South Asia.
Personalized regression enables sample-specific pan-cancer analysis
Authors: Lengerich Benjamin J , Aragam Bryon , Xing Eric P
Published: April 2018

Motivation

In many applications, inter-sample heterogeneity is crucial to understanding the complex biological processes under study. For example, in genomic analysis of cancers, each patient in a cohort may have a different driver mutation, making it difficult or impossible to identify causal mutations from an averaged view of the entire cohort. Unfortunately, many traditional methods for genomic analysis seek to estimate a single model which is shared by all samples in a population, ignoring this inter-sample heterogeneity entirely. In order to better understand patient heterogeneity, it is necessary to develop practical, personalized statistical models.

Results

To uncover this inter-sample heterogeneity, we propose a novel regularizer for achieving patient-specific personalized estimation. This regularizer operates by learning two latent distance metrics—one between personalized parameters and one between clinical covariates—and attempting to match the induced distances as closely as possible. Crucially, we do not assume these distance metrics are already known. Instead, we allow the data to dictate the structure of these latent distance metrics. Finally, we apply our method to learn patient-specific, interpretable models for a pan-cancer gene expression dataset containing samples from more than 30 distinct cancer types and find strong evidence of personalization effects between cancer types as well as between individuals. Our analysis uncovers sample-specific aberrations that are overlooked by population-level methods, suggesting a promising new path for precision analysis of complex diseases such as cancer.

Availability and implementation

Software for personalized linear and personalized logistic regression, along with code to reproduce experimental results, is freely available at github.com/blengerich/personalized_regression.
No Spouse, No Son, No Daughter, No Kin in Contemporary China: Prevalence, Correlates, and Differences in Economic Support
Authors: Zhou Zhangjun , Verdery Ashton M , Margolis Rachel
Published: April 2018

Objectives

China’s recent demographic and social changes might undermine the sustainability of its family-oriented system for elder care. We investigate kin availability among adults aged 45+ in contemporary China, with an emphasis on child gender.

Method

Using nationally representative survey data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011), we examine the prevalence and correlates of lacking different kin types and combinations, and we test associations between kin availability and received economic support.

Results

Kinlessness is low in China (less than 2% lack a spouse/partner and children), but kin availability is patterned by gender, age group, and sociodemographic characteristics. More than twice as many older adults have no spouse/partner and no daughter (3.2%) as those who have no spouse/partner and no son (1.4%). Adults without close kin are disadvantaged across health, wealth, and economic support. In contrast to traditional expectations, we find that those with only daughters are more similar to those with mixed sex children, whereas those with only sons are more similar to those without children in receipt of economic support.

Discussion

Access to kin forms the basis of an emergent system of stratification in China, which will be amplified as cohorts with only one child age into older adulthood.
Resolution of the apparent discrepancy between the number of massive subhaloes in Abell 2744 and ΛCDM
Authors: Mao Tian-Xiang , Wang Jie , Frenk Carlos S , Gao Liang , Li Ran , Wang Qiao , Cao Xiaoyue , Li Ming
Published: April 2018

Schwinn et al. have recently compared the abundance and distribution of massive substructures identified in a gravitational lensing analysis of Abell 2744 by Jauzac et al. and N-body simulation, and found no cluster in Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) simulation that is similar to Abell 2744. Schwinn et al. identified the measured projected aperture masses with the actual masses associated with subhaloes in the Millenium XXL N-body simulation. We have used the high-resolution Phoenix cluster simulations to show that such an identification is incorrect: the aperture mass is dominated by mass in the body of the cluster that happens to be projected along the line of sight to the subhalo. This enhancement varies from factors of a few to factors of more than 100, particularly for subhaloes projected near the centre of the cluster. We calculate aperture masses for subhaloes in our simulation and compare them to the measurements for Abell 2744. We find that the data for Abell 2744 are in excellent agreement with the matched predictions from ΛCDM. We provide further predictions for aperture mass functions of subhaloes in idealized surveys with varying mass detection thresholds.
Factors Associated With Revision Surgery After Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures
Authors: Sprague Sheila , Schemitsch Emil H. , Swiontkowski Marc , Della Rocca Gregory J. , Jeray Kyle J. , Liew Susan , Slobogean Gerard P. , Bzovsky Sofia , Heels-Ansdell Diane , Zhou Qi , Bhandari Mohit ,   on behalf of the FAITH Investigators
Published: April 2018

Background:

Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device.

Methods:

We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation.

Results:

Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25–2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (for every 5-point increase) (HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.02–1.39; P = 0.027), displaced fracture (HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.44–3.23; P < 0.001), unacceptable quality of implant placement (HR 2.70, 95% CI 1.59–4.55; P < 0.001), and smokers treated with cancellous screws versus smokers treated with a sliding hip screw (HR 2.94, 95% CI 1.35–6.25; P = 0.006). Additionally, for every 10-year decrease in age, participants experienced an average increased risk of 39% for hardware removal.

Conclusions:

Results of this study may inform future research by identifying high-risk patients who may be better treated with arthroplasty and may benefit from adjuncts to care (HR 1.39, 95% CI 1.05–1.85; P = 0.020).

Level of Evidence:

Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Current Publication Rates of Abstracts Presented at the Orthopaedic Trauma Association Annual Meetings: 2005–2010
Authors: Lee Ryan , Mamidi Ishwarya S. , Gu Alex , Cohen Jordan S. , Probasco William , DeBritz James
Published: April 2018

Objectives:

To evaluate the publication rate of abstracts presented at the 2005–2010 Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) Annual Meetings.

Methods:

All abstracts from the 2005 to 2010 OTA meetings were identified through the OTA's official website. Each abstract was searched across PubMed and Google to determine its publication status. The overall publication rate of abstracts was determined, along with the first authors' sex, number of authors, time and journal of publication, and analyzed with statistical testing.

Results:

Of the 392 abstracts presented at the 2005–2010 OTA meetings, the overall publication rate was 66.3%, with an overall mean time to publication of 28.3 months. The Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma published 38.5% of published OTA abstracts, the most of any journal. The proportions of published OTA abstracts with female first authors exhibit increasing trends within the time period.

Conclusion:

The quality of research presented at OTA meetings is relatively high compared with other orthopaedic meetings, with 66.3% of OTA abstracts progressing to peer-reviewed publication. The publication rate of 2005–2010 OTA abstracts was greater than that of the 1990–1995 abstracts. The Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma remains the most frequent publisher of manuscripts presented as abstracts at OTA meetings. Although most abstracts are eventually published, the information presented at these meetings, like all scholarly work, should be critically evaluated as they have undergone a less robust peer-review process and may be modified in the future in preparation for publication.
Differentiating Usual Interstitial Pneumonia From Nonspecific Interstitial Pneumonia Using High-resolution Computed Tomography
Authors: Zhan Xi , Koelsch Tilman , Montner Steven M. , Zhu Allen , Vij Rekha , Swigris Jeffery J. , Chung Jonathan H.
Published: April 2018

Purpose:

The purpose of this article was to determine whether a novel finding on coronal computed tomography (CT) can help differentiate usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) from nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) in order to obviate lung biopsy.

Materials and Methods:

Two chest radiologists, blinded to clinical data, reviewed 3 preselected coronal images from CT scans, performed within 1 year of surgical lung biopsy (SLB), from 51 patients with biopsy-proven UIP and 15 with biopsy-proven NSIP. The 198 (66×3) images were anonymized and randomized. The radiologists assessed each coronal image for the presence or absence of the straight-edge sign (SES) on both the right and left sides, anecdotally thought to be more common in NSIP than in UIP. The SES was defined as reticulation isolated to the lung bases with sharp demarcation in the craniocaudal plane and without substantial extension along the lateral margins of the lungs. A validation cohort from a second medical center was also evaluated to reassess our findings.

Results:

The absence of a bilateral SES yielded a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value of 56.9%, 93.3%, 96.7%, and 38.9%, respectively, for UIP on SLB. The unilateral or bilateral absence of the SES yielded a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and negative predictive value of 76.5%, 66.7%, 88.6%, and 45.5%, respectively, for UIP on SLB. For the 11 subjects with an overall CT pattern consistent with NSIP but a pathologic diagnosis of UIP, the SES was absent in 6 (54.5%) subjects. In the validation cohort, the SES was much more common in NSIP than in UIP (46.6% compared with 3.3%, respectively; P<0.001).

Conclusion:

The absence of the SES has a high PPV for biopsy-proven UIP. Bilateral absence of the SES has high specificity (93.3%) for biopsy-proven UIP. The SES may be useful for differentiating UIP from NSIP.
Desferrioxamine biosynthesis: diverse hydroxamate assembly by substrate-tolerant acyl transferase DesC
Authors: Ronan Jade L. , Kadi Nadia , McMahon Stephen A. , Naismith James H. , Alkhalaf Lona M. , Challis Gregory L.
Published: April 2018

Hydroxamate groups play key roles in the biological function of diverse natural products. Important examples include trichostatin A, which inhibits histone deacetylases via coordination of the active site zinc(II) ion with a hydroxamate group, and the desferrioxamines, which use three hydroxamate groups to chelate ferric iron. Desferrioxamine biosynthesis in
Streptomyces
species involves the DesD-catalysed condensation of various
N
-acylated derivatives of
N
-hydroxycadaverine with two molecules of
N
-succinyl-
N
-hydroxycadaverine to form a range of linear and macrocyclic tris-hydroxamates. However, the mechanism for assembly of the various
N
-acyl-
N
-hydroxycadaverine substrates of DesD from
N
-hydroxycadaverine has until now been unclear. Here we show that the
desC
gene of
Streptomyces coelicolor
encodes the acyl transferase responsible for this process. DesC catalyses the
N
-acylation of
N
-hydroxycadaverine with acetyl, succinyl and myristoyl-CoA, accounting for the diverse array of desferrioxamines produced by
S. coelicolor
. The X-ray crystal structure of DesE, the ferrioxamine lipoprotein receptor, in complex with ferrioxamine B (which is derived from two units of
N
-succinyl-
N
-hydroxycadaverine and one of
N
-acetyl-
N
-hydroxycadaverine) was also determined. This showed that the acetyl group of ferrioxamine B is solvent exposed, suggesting that the corresponding acyl group in longer chain congeners can protrude from the binding pocket, providing insights into their likely function. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Frontiers in epigenetic chemical biology'.

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Frontiers in epigenetic chemical biology’.
Bioinformatics challenges and perspectives when studying the effect of epigenetic modifications on alternative splicing
Authors: Pacini Clare , Koziol Magdalena J.
Published: April 2018

It is widely known that epigenetic modifications are important in regulating transcription, but several have also been reported in alternative splicing. The regulation of pre-mRNA splicing is important to explain proteomic diversity and the misregulation of splicing has been implicated in many diseases. Here, we give a brief overview of the role of epigenetics in alternative splicing and disease. We then discuss the bioinformatics methods that can be used to model interactions between epigenetic marks and regulators of splicing. These models can be used to identify alternative splicing and epigenetic changes across different phenotypes.

This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Frontiers in epigenetic chemical biology’.
Molecular atlas of postnatal mouse heart development
Authors: Talman Virpi , Teppo Jaakko , Pöhö Päivi , Movahedi Parisa , Vaikkinen Anu , Karhu S. Tuuli , Trošt Kajetan , Suvitaival Tommi , Heikkonen Jukka , Pahikkala Tapio , Kotiaho Tapio , Kostiainen Risto , Varjosalo Markku , Ruskoaho Heikki
Published: April 2018

Rationale

Mammals lose the ability to regenerate their hearts within one week after birth. During this regenerative window, cardiac energy metabolism shifts from glycolysis to fatty acid oxidation, and recent evidence suggests that metabolism may participate in controlling cardiomyocyte cell cycle. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating the loss of postnatal cardiac regeneration are not fully understood.

Objective

This study aims at providing an integrated resource of mRNA, protein and metabolite changes in the neonatal heart to identify metabolism-related mechanisms associated with the postnatal loss of regenerative capacity.

Methods and Results

Mouse ventricular tissue samples taken on postnatal days 1, 4, 9 and 23 (P01, P04, P09 and P23, respectively) were analyzed with RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and global proteomics and metabolomics. Differential expression was observed for 8547 mRNAs and for 1199 of the 2285 quantified proteins. Furthermore, 151 metabolites with significant changes were identified. Gene ontology analysis, KEGG pathway analysis and fuzzy c-means clustering were used to identify biological processes and metabolic pathways either up- or downregulated on all three levels. Among these were branched chain amino acid degradation (upregulated at P23) and production of free saturated and monounsaturated medium- to long-chain fatty acids (upregulated at P04 and P09; downregulated at P23). Moreover, the HMG-CoA synthase (HMGCS)-mediated mevalonate pathway and ketogenesis were transiently activated. Pharmacological inhibition of HMGCS in primary neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes reduced the percentage of BrdU+ cardiomyocytes, providing evidence that the mevalonate and ketogenesis routes may participate in regulating cardiomyocyte cell cycle.

Conclusions

This is the first systems-level resource combining data from genome-wide transcriptomics with global quantitative proteomics and untargeted metabolomics analyses of the mouse heart throughout the early postnatal period. This integrated multi-level data of molecular changes associated with the loss of cardiac regeneration may open up new possibilities for the development of regenerative therapies.