bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Consumers’ practical understanding of healthy food choices: a fake food experiment
Authors: Mötteli Sonja , Keller Carmen , Siegrist Michael , Barbey Jana , Bucher Tamara
Published: June 2016

Little is known about laypeople’s practical understanding of a healthy diet, although this is important to successfully promote healthy eating. The present study is the first to experimentally examine how consumers define healthy and balanced food choices for an entire day compared with normal choices and compared with dietary guidelines. We used an extensive fake food buffet (FFB) with 179 foods commonly consumed in the Swiss diet. The FFB is a validated method to investigate food choice behaviour in a well-controlled laboratory setting. People from the general population in Switzerland (n 187; 51·9 % females), aged between 18 and 65 years, were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the control group, the participants were instructed to serve themselves foods they would eat on a normal day, whereas in the ‘healthy’ group they were instructed to choose foods representing a healthy diet. Participants chose significantly more healthy foods, with 4·5 g more dietary fibre, 2 % more protein and 2 % less SFA in the ‘healthy’ group compared with the control group. However, in both experimental conditions, participants served themselves foods containing twice as much sugar and salt than recommended by dietary guidelines. The results suggest that laypeople lack knowledge about the recommended portion sizes and the amounts of critical nutrients in processed food, which has important implications for communicating dietary guidelines. Furthermore, the energy of the food served was substantially correlated with the energy needs of the participants, demonstrating the potential of the fake food buffet method.
Human Rights, NGO Shaming and the Exports of Abusive States
Authors: Peterson Timothy M. , Murdie Amanda , Asal Victor
Published: June 2016

Does the attention of human rights organizations limit exports from rights-abusing states? This article examines how naming and shaming by human rights organizations (HROs) conditions the influence of human rights abuse on exports, and argues that human rights abuse alone is insufficient to damage a state’s exports. However, as attention to abuse via HRO shaming increases, abuse has an increasingly negative impact on exports. Importantly, this relationship is also conditional on the respect for human rights among importing states; human rights abuse, even if it is shamed, has no effect when importers are similarly abusive. Empirical tests utilizing gravity models of trade incorporating data on physical integrity rights abuse and HRO shaming in 1990–2008 yield strong support for our expectations.
WOMEN, POLITICS, AND THE 1723 OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE TO GEORGE I
Authors: VALLANCE EDWARD
Published: June 2016

This article explores the last instance of mass public oath-taking in England, the tendering of the oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration in the aftermath of the Jacobite Atterbury Plot of 1722. The records of this exercise, surviving in local record offices, have been little examined by historians. The returns are, however, unusual not only in the level of detail they occasionally provide concerning subscribers (place of abode, occupation, and social status) but also in the consistently high numbers of women who can be found taking the oaths. Prior to 1723, the appearance of female subscribers on oath returns was exceptional and usually assumed to be accidental. As this article seeks to demonstrate, the targeting of women in 1723 was intentional and represented a recognition of women's economic and political influence in early Hanoverian England. Even so, the presence of women on these oath returns represented a breach in the normal exclusion of women from formal political participation. The article suggests that other means of presenting public loyalty, namely the loyal address, were subsequently preferred which both seemed more the product of popular enthusiasm rather than state direction and which could informally represent women without conferring a public political identity.
‘SIR YE BE NOT KYNG’: CITIZENSHIP AND SPEECH IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN ENGLAND
Authors: LIDDY CHRISTIAN D.
Published: June 2016

Few would argue against the intimate relationship between citizenship and speech in early modern England. Historians of political thought and literary scholars have explored the cultural and political impact of the English Renaissance, which turned subjects into citizens and which produced a learned, humanist, and oratorical model of citizenship, centred upon the virtues of the ‘articulate citizen’. But the English Renaissance did not give birth to citizenship. There was an older, vernacular, urban-based concept of citizenship, which was grounded in social practice rather than in intellectual tradition. This citizenship was shaped by multiple, competing, and conflicting impulses: inclusive, yet exclusive; participatory, yet discriminatory; a mixture of rights and duties. Speech both exposed and amplified these different senses of citizenship: who could speak and act against authority, and were there limits on what citizens could say and do? The tensions between urban citizenship and speech persisted throughout the late middle ages and into the early modern period. Local power struggles about the nature of civic authority helped to define ideas of citizenship and of free speech.
CHRISTIANITY AND THE INVENTION OF THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN, 1963–1967
Authors: BREWITT-TAYLOR SAM
Published: June 2016

This article argues that the myth of ‘the sexual revolution’, increasingly accepted in Britain's national media between 1963 and 1967, played a central role in causing the real transformation of British sexual culture that occurred from the late 1960s. It also argues that Christian agency played an important role in the framing and the legitimation of this myth. Until 1963, British debates about sexual morality had been dominated by Christian arguments. In 1963 and 1964, the existence of a rapid, widespread, inexorable, secular, and antinomian transformation of sexual mores was prominently proclaimed by Christian commentators, who thought it an inevitable consequence of ‘secularization’, whereas secular commentators usually objected that this narrative was insufficiently evidenced. After its initial discussion in the mainstream media in 1965, the ‘sexual revolution’ narrative was increasingly articulated without explicit reference to Christianity, but it usually retained theologically inspired structural features inherited from earlier religious discussions. In the late 1960s, elite perceptions of inexorable sexual liberalization decisively legitimated rapid decensorship, wider access to the pill, and the reimagination of ‘normal’ sexual behaviour, thereby importantly shaping real popular change. In this way, Christian clergymen made a significant, early, unwitting, and hitherto unacknowledged contribution to Britain's sexual revolution.
Allelic variations in the soluble starch synthase II gene family result in changes of grain quality and starch properties in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
Authors: FAN X. Y. , GUO M. , LI R. D. , YANG Y. H. , LIU M. , ZHU Q. , TANG S. Z. , GU M. H. , XU R. G. , YAN C. J.
Published: June 2016

Soluble starch synthase II (SSII) plays an important role in the biosynthesis of starch and in rice it consists of three isoforms encoded by SSII-1, SSII-2 and SSII-3. However, the genetic effects of various SSII alleles on grain quality have not been systematically characterized. In the present study, the japonica alleles on SSII-1, SSII-2 and SSII-3 (SSIIa) loci from a japonica cultivar, Suyunuo, were respectively introgressed by molecular marker-assisted selection into a typical indica cultivar, Guichao2, through successive backcrossing, generating three sets of near-isogenic lines (NILs). Grain quality and starch property analysis showed that NIL-SSII-3j exhibited significant decreases in the following parameters: amylose content, average granule size, and setback viscosity and consistency; but increases in peak viscosity, hot paste viscosity, gelatinization temperature and relative crystallinity. Moreover, the proportion of short amylopectin chains and branching degree also increased when compared with those of NIL-SSII-3i (Guochao2). Similar effects were observed in NIL-SSII-1j, and certain alterations in the fine structure of starch (granule size) were revealed. However, NIL-SSII-2j did not exert significant effect on grain quality and starch properties. In brief, among the SSII gene family, the functional diversity occurred on SSII-1 and SSII-3, and not on SSII-2. Therefore, it appears that more attention should be directed to SSII-1 and SSII-3 loci for improving the eating and cooking quality of rice.
Expressive particle verbs and conditions on particle fronting
Authors: TROTZKE ANDREAS , WITTENBERG EVA
Published: June 2016

In this paper, we propose a new distinction between expressive and non-expressive particle verbs in German. The basic observation for our proposal is that these two classes behave differently in the domain of particle fronting. In order to explain this difference, we will show that certain particle verbs are extreme degree expressions and that, therefore, a possible contrast across degrees makes fronting acceptable, even when the particle in isolation is non-contrastable. Our claims are supported by a rating study probing German native speakers’ intuitions about the likelihood of the occurrence of an utterance, without relying on acceptability judgments. We connect these new findings to other forms of non-information-structural fronting patterns that endow utterances with an emphatic flavor.
Language processing is not a race against time
Authors: Baggio Giosuè , Vicario Carmelo M.
Published: June 2016

We agree with Christiansen & Chater (C&C) that language processing and acquisition are tightly constrained by the limits of sensory and memory systems. However, the human brain supports a range of cognitive functions that mitigate the effects of information processing bottlenecks. The language system is partly organised around these moderating factors, not just around restrictions on storage and computation.
Socio-demographic influences on language structure and change: Not all learners are the same
Authors: Bergmann Till , Dale Rick , Lupyan Gary
Published: June 2016

The Now-or-Never bottleneck has important consequence for understanding why languages have the structures they do. However, not addressed by C&C is that the bottleneck may interact with who is doing the learning: While some languages are mostly learned by infants, others have a large share of adult learners. We argue that such socio-demographic differences extend and qualify C&C's thesis.
Now or … later: Perceptual data arenotimmediately forgotten during language processing
Authors: Bicknell Klinton , Jaeger T. Florian , Tanenhaus Michael K.
Published: June 2016

Christiansen & Chater (C&C) propose that language comprehenders must immediately compress perceptual data by “chunking” them into higher-level categories. Effective language understanding, however, requires maintaining perceptual information long enough to integrate it with downstream cues. Indeed, recent results suggest comprehenders do this. Although cognitive systems are undoubtedly limited, frameworks that do not take into account the tasks that these systems evolved to solve risk missing important insights.
Linguistic representations and memory architectures: The devil is in the details
Authors: Chacón Dustin Alfonso , Momma Shota , Phillips Colin
Published: June 2016

Attempts to explain linguistic phenomena as consequences of memory constraints require detailed specification of linguistic representations and memory architectures alike. We discuss examples of supposed locality biases in language comprehension and production, and their link to memory constraints. Findings do not generally favor Christiansen & Chater's (C&C's) approach. We discuss connections to debates that stretch back to the nineteenth century.
Gestalt-like representations hijack Chunk-and-Pass processing
Authors: Dumitru Magda L.
Published: June 2016

Christiansen & Chater (C&C) make two related and somewhat contradictory claims, namely that the ever abstract language representations built during Chunk-and-Pass processing allow for ever greater interference from extra-linguistic information, and that it is nevertheless the language system that re-codes incoming information into abstract representations. I analyse these claims and discuss evidence suggesting that Gestalt-like representations hijack Chunk-and-Pass processing.
IDENTIFICATION OF PAIRED NONSEPARABLE MEASUREMENT ERROR MODELS
Authors: Hu Yingyao , Sasaki Yuya
Published: June 2016

This paper studies the paired nonseparable measurement error models, where two measurements, X and Y, are produced by mutually independent unobservables, U, V, and W, through the system, X = g(U,V) and Y = h(U,W). We propose restrictions to identify the marginal distribution of the common component U and the conditional distributions of X and Y given U. Applying this method to twin panel data, we find the following robust reporting patterns for years of education: (1) self reports are accurate only when the true years of education are 16 or 18, typically corresponding to advanced university degrees in the US education system; (2) sibling reports are accurate whenever the true years of education are 12, 14, 16, and 18, which are typical diploma years.
HELD CAPTIVE BY SCRIPT: INTERPRETING “TAGGED” PRISONERS IN LATE CLASSIC MAYA SCULPTURE
Authors: Burdick Catherine E.
Published: June 2016

Although captive images have been examined for the Classic Maya, we lack a thorough understanding of depicted captives as a pictorial motif. Furthermore, the convention of “tagging” Late Classic Maya captive sculptures with identifying texts was understood a century ago, yet the ways in which these scripts functioned beyond the role of label are not well known. This layering of identifying texts onto captive figures presents interesting avenues of scholarly inquiry for understanding relationships among ancient Maya texts, figural images, and actual bodies. In this article I explore captive iconography and then suggest that the captive tagging convention is related to the tagging of possessed objects. The artistic tendency toward tagging the thigh with more frequency than other bodily regions suggests a secondary meaning for such markings, and I propose that these tags alluded to the post-sacrifice practice of removing the femur as a war trophy.
CLASSIC-PERIOD RITUAL CERAMICS FROM THE COAST OF CHIAPAS, MEXICO
Authors: Voorhies Barbara , Arvey Margaret
Published: June 2016

In 1947 Philip Drucker excavated an unusually dense concentration of artifacts from the plaza of a small Late Classic site on the inner coastal plain of Chiapas, Mexico that he proposed was a possible end-of-cycle ceremonial dump. Although the deposit contained both utilitarian and ritual items, only some of the latter have survived for present day investigation. Here we describe Drucker's excavations and the surviving ritual items, neither of which had ever been published in detail. We also examine archaeological expectations for end-of-cycle dumps based upon ethnohistoric descriptions of this Mesoamerican ritual practice and we explore the iconography of effigy censers, which constitute an important set of the items that Drucker collected. We conclude that this singular deposit most likely represents the material remains an end-of-cycle ritual as Drucker had originally proposed.
Monotonicity of Avoidance Coupling on KN
Authors: FELDHEIM OHAD N.
Published: June 2016

Answering a question by Angel, Holroyd, Martin, Wilson and Winkler [1], we show that the maximal number of non-colliding coupled simple random walks on the complete graph KN, which take turns, moving one at a time, is monotone in N. We use this fact to couple [N/4] such walks on KN, improving the previous Ω(N/log N) lower bound of Angel et al. We also introduce a new generalization of simple avoidance coupling which we call partially ordered simple avoidance coupling, and provide a monotonicity result for this extension as well.
Balancing profitability with social consciousness: Determinants of suppliers' intensity of participation in the EU school fruit scheme
Authors: von Germeten Jan-Paul , Hartmann Monika
Published: June 2016

The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of suppliers' intensity of participation in the European Union school fruit scheme (SFS) based on the example of the SFS in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2013/14, approximately 100 suppliers including many agricultural enterprises or farm shops took part in a telephone survey. The data were processed by a factor analysis. Multivariate regression and ordered logit analyses were used to examine the determinants of intensity of participation. The results indicate that economic as well as non-economic factors determine suppliers' intensity of participation in such programs, though the financial aspect was determined as the most influential single factor for participation. In addition, the feel-good factor from helping to improve children's dietary habits and supporting the local community has been identified as an important motive.
Measuring Atmospheric Aerosols Despite the Clouds
Authors: Yan Wudan
Published: June 2016

Researchers devise ways for remote sensors to integrate aerosol content above clouds into current methods of measurement.
Improved anti-leukemia activities of adoptively transferred T cells expressing bispecific T-cell engager in mice
Authors: Liu X , Barrett D M , Jiang S , Fang C , Kalos M , Grupp S A , June C H , Zhao Y
Published: June 2016

Despite the impressive clinical efficacy of T cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR-Ts), the current applications of CAR-T cell therapy are limited by major treatment-related toxicity. Thus, safer yet effective alternative approaches must be developed. In this study, we compared CD19 bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE)-transferred T cells that had been transfected by RNA electroporation with CD19 CAR RNA-transferred T cells both in vitro and in an aggressive Nalm6 leukemia mouse model. BiTEs were secreted from the transferred T cells and enabled both the transferred and bystander T cells to specifically recognize CD19+ cell lines, with increased tumor killing ability, prolonged functional persistence, increased cytokine production and potent proliferation compared with the CAR-T cells. More interestingly, in comparison with CD3/CD28 bead-stimulated T cells, T cells that were expanded by a rapid T-cell expansion protocol (REP) showed enhanced anti-tumor activities for both CAR and BiTE RNA-electroporated T cells both in vitro and in a Nalm6 mouse model (P<0.01). Furthermore, the REP T cells with BiTE RNAs showed greater efficacy in the Nalm6 leukemia model compared with REP T cells with CAR RNA (P<0.05) and resulted in complete leukemia remission.
Prophages mediate defense against phage infection through diverse mechanisms
Authors: Bondy-Denomy Joseph , Qian Jason , Westra Edze R , Buckling Angus , Guttman David S , Davidson Alan R , Maxwell Karen L
Published: June 2016

The activity of bacteriophages poses a major threat to bacterial survival. Upon infection, a temperate phage can either kill the host cell or be maintained as a prophage. In this state, the bacteria carrying the prophage is at risk of superinfection, where another phage injects its genetic material and competes for host cell resources. To avoid this, many phages have evolved mechanisms that alter the bacteria and make it resistant to phage superinfection. The mechanisms underlying these phentoypic conversions and the fitness consequences for the host are poorly understood, and systematic studies of superinfection exclusion mechanisms are lacking. In this study, we examined a wide range of Pseudomonas aeruginosa phages and found that they mediate superinfection exclusion through a variety of mechanisms, some of which affected the type IV pilus and O-antigen, and others that functioned inside the cell. The strongest resistance mechanism was a surface modification that we showed is cost-free for the bacterial host in a natural soil environment and in a Caenorhabditis. elegans infection model. This study represents the first systematic approach to address how a population of prophages influences phage resistance and bacterial behavior in P. aeruginosa.
Evidence for persistent and shared bacterial strains against a background of largely unique gut colonization in hospitalized premature infants
Authors: Raveh-Sadka Tali , Firek Brian , Sharon Itai , Baker Robyn , Brown Christopher T , Thomas Brian C , Morowitz Michael J , Banfield Jillian F
Published: June 2016

The potentially critical stage of initial gut colonization in premature infants occurs in the hospital environment, where infants are exposed to a variety of hospital-associated bacteria. Because few studies of microbial communities are strain-resolved, we know little about the extent to which specific strains persist in the hospital environment and disperse among infants. To study this, we compared 304 near-complete genomes reconstructed from fecal samples of 21 infants hospitalized in the same intensive care unit in two cohorts, over 3 years apart. The genomes represent 159 distinct bacterial strains, only 14 of which occurred in multiple infants. Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus epidermidis, common infant gut colonists, exhibit diversity comparable to that of reference strains, inline with introduction of strains from infant-specific sources rather than a hospital strain pool. Unlike other infants, a pair of sibling infants shared multiple strains, even after extensive antibiotic administration, suggesting overlapping strain-sources and/or genetic selection drive microbiota similarities. Interestingly, however, five strains were detected in infants hospitalized three years apart. Three of these were also detected in multiple infants in the same year. This finding of a few widely dispersed and persistent bacterial colonizers despite overall low potential for strain dispersal among infants has implications for understanding and directing healthy colonization.
Pulse generation with ultra-superluminal pulse propagation in semiconductor heterostructures by superradiant-phase transition enhanced by transient coherent population gratings
Authors: Vasil'ev Peter P , Penty Richard V , White Ian H
Published: June 2016

This paper reports the observation of ultra-superluminal pulse propagation in multiple-contact semiconductor heterostructures in a superradiant emission regime, and shows definitively that it is a different class of emission from conventional spontaneous or stimulated emission. Coherent population gratings induced in the semiconductor medium under strong electrical pumping have been shown to cause a major decrease of the group refractive index, in the range of 5–40%. This decrease is much greater than that caused by conventional carrier depletion or chirp mechanisms. The decrease in refractive index in turn causes faster-than-c propagation of femtosecond pulses. The measurement also proves the existence of coherent amplification of electromagnetic pulses in semiconductors at room temperature, the coherence being strongly enhanced by interactions of the light with coherent transient gratings locked to carrier gratings. This pulse-generation technique is anticipated to have great potential in applications where highly coherent femtosecond optical pulses must be generated on demand.
Quantum mechanical effects in plasmonic structures with subnanometre gaps
Authors: Zhu Wenqi , Esteban Ruben , Borisov Andrei G. , Baumberg Jeremy J. , Nordlander Peter , Lezec Henri J. , Aizpurua Javier , Crozier Kenneth B.
Published: June 2016

Metallic structures with nanogap features have proven highly effective as building blocks for plasmonic systems, as they can provide a wide tuning range of operating frequencies and large near-field enhancements. Recent work has shown that quantum mechanical effects such as electron tunnelling and nonlocal screening become important as the gap distances approach the subnanometre length-scale. Such quantum effects challenge the classical picture of nanogap plasmons and have stimulated a number of theoretical and experimental studies. This review outlines the findings of many groups into quantum mechanical effects in nanogap plasmons, and discusses outstanding challenges and future directions.
Synthetic mixed-signal computation in living cells
Authors: Rubens Jacob R. , Selvaggio Gianluca , Lu Timothy K.
Published: June 2016

Living cells implement complex computations on the continuous environmental signals that they encounter. These computations involve both analogue- and digital-like processing of signals to give rise to complex developmental programs, context-dependent behaviours and homeostatic activities. In contrast to natural biological systems, synthetic biological systems have largely focused on either digital or analogue computation separately. Here we integrate analogue and digital computation to implement complex hybrid synthetic genetic programs in living cells. We present a framework for building comparator gene circuits to digitize analogue inputs based on different thresholds. We then demonstrate that comparators can be predictably composed together to build band-pass filters, ternary logic systems and multi-level analogue-to-digital converters. In addition, we interface these analogue-to-digital circuits with other digital gene circuits to enable concentration-dependent logic. We expect that this hybrid computational paradigm will enable new industrial, diagnostic and therapeutic applications with engineered cells.
Intermolecular biparatopic trapping of ErbB2 prevents compensatory activation of PI3K/AKT via RAS–p110 crosstalk
Authors: Tamaskovic Rastislav , Schwill Martin , Nagy-Davidescu Gabriela , Jost Christian , Schaefer Dagmar C. , Verdurmen Wouter P. R. , Schaefer Jonas V. , Honegger Annemarie , Plückthun Andreas
Published: June 2016

Compensatory mechanisms, such as relief of AKT-ErbB3-negative feedback, are known to desensitize ErbB2-dependent tumours to targeted therapy. Here we describe an adaptation mechanism leading to reactivation of the PI3K/AKT pathway during trastuzumab treatment, which occurs independently of ErbB3 re-phosphorylation. This signalling bypass of phospho-ErbB3 operates in ErbB2-overexpressing cells via RAS-PI3K crosstalk and is attributable to active ErbB2 homodimers. As demonstrated by dual blockade of ErbB2/RAS and ErbB3 by means of pharmacological inhibition, RNA interference or by specific protein binders obstructing the RAS–p110α interaction, both routes must be blocked to prevent reactivation of the PI3K/AKT pathway. Applying these general principles, we developed biparatopic designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) trapping ErbB2 in a dimerization-incompetent state, which entail pan-ErbB inhibition and a permanent OFF state in the oncogenic signalling, thereby triggering extensive apoptosis in ErbB2-addicted tumours. Thus, these novel insights into mechanisms underlying network robustness provide a guide for overcoming adaptation response to ErbB2/ErbB3-targeted therapy.
North Atlantic Deep Water Production during the Last Glacial Maximum
Authors: Howe Jacob N. W. , Piotrowski Alexander M. , Noble Taryn L. , Mulitza Stefan , Chiessi Cristiano M. , Bayon Germain
Published: June 2016

Changes in deep ocean ventilation are commonly invoked as the primary cause of lower glacial atmospheric CO2. The water mass structure of the glacial deep Atlantic Ocean and the mechanism by which it may have sequestered carbon remain elusive. Here we present neodymium isotope measurements from cores throughout the Atlantic that reveal glacial–interglacial changes in water mass distributions. These results demonstrate the sustained production of North Atlantic Deep Water under glacial conditions, indicating that southern-sourced waters were not as spatially extensive during the Last Glacial Maximum as previously believed. We demonstrate that the depleted glacial δ13C values in the deep Atlantic Ocean cannot be explained solely by water mass source changes. A greater amount of respired carbon, therefore, must have been stored in the abyssal Atlantic during the Last Glacial Maximum. We infer that this was achieved by a sluggish deep overturning cell, comprised of well-mixed northern- and southern-sourced waters.
Engineering skyrmions in transition-metal multilayers for spintronics
Authors: Dupé B. , Bihlmayer G. , Böttcher M. , Blügel S. , Heinze S.
Published: June 2016

Magnetic skyrmions are localized, topologically protected spin structures that have been proposed for storing or processing information due to their intriguing dynamical and transport properties. Important in terms of applications is the recent discovery of interface stabilized skyrmions as evidenced in ultra-thin transition-metal films. However, so far only skyrmions at interfaces with a single atomic layer of a magnetic material were reported, which greatly limits their potential for application in devices. Here we predict the emergence of skyrmions in [4d/Fe2/5d]n multilayers, that is, structures composed of Fe biatomic layers sandwiched between 4d and 5d transition-metal layers. In these composite structures, the exchange and the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interactions that control skyrmion formation can be tuned separately by the two interfaces. This allows engineering skyrmions as shown based on density functional theory and spin dynamics simulations.
A two-neuron system for adaptive goal-directed decision-making in Lymnaea
Authors: Crossley Michael , Staras Kevin , Kemenes György
Published: June 2016

During goal-directed decision-making, animals must integrate information from the external environment and their internal state to maximize resource localization while minimizing energy expenditure. How this complex problem is solved by the nervous system remains poorly understood. Here, using a combined behavioural and neurophysiological approach, we demonstrate that the mollusc Lymnaea performs a sophisticated form of decision-making during food-searching behaviour, using a core system consisting of just two neuron types. The first reports the presence of food and the second encodes motivational state acting as a gain controller for adaptive behaviour in the absence of food. Using an in vitro analogue of the decision-making process, we show that the system employs an energy management strategy, switching between a low- and high-use mode depending on the outcome of the decision. Our study reveals a parsimonious mechanism that drives a complex decision-making process via regulation of levels of tonic inhibition and phasic excitation.
Interface strain in vertically stacked two-dimensional heterostructured carbon-MoS2 nanosheets controls electrochemical reactivity
Authors: Oakes Landon , Carter Rachel , Hanken Trevor , Cohn Adam P. , Share Keith , Schmidt Benjamin , Pint Cary L.
Published: June 2016

Two-dimensional (2D) materials offer numerous advantages for electrochemical energy storage and conversion due to fast charge transfer kinetics, highly accessible surface area, and tunable electronic and optical properties. Stacking of 2D materials generates heterogeneous interfaces that can modify native chemical and physical material properties. Here, we demonstrate that local strain at a carbon-MoS2 interface in a vertically stacked 2D material directs the pathway for chemical storage in MoS2 on lithium metal insertion. With average measured MoS2 strain of ∼0.1% due to lattice mismatch between the carbon and MoS2 layers, lithium insertion is facilitated by an energy-efficient cation-exchange transformation. This is compared with low-voltage lithium intercalation for unstrained MoS2. This observation implies that mechanical properties of interfaces in heterogeneous 2D materials can be leveraged to direct energetics of chemical processes relevant to a wide range of applications such as electrochemical energy storage and conversion, catalysis and sensing.
Resistance and Security Index of Networks: Structural Information Perspective of Network Security
Authors: Li Angsheng , Hu Qifu , Liu Jun , Pan Yicheng
Published: June 2016

Recently, Li and Pan defined the metric of theK-dimensional structure entropy of a structured noisy datasetGto be the information that controls the formation of theK-dimensional structure "Equation missing"ofGthat is evolved by the rules, order and laws ofG, excluding the random variations that occur inG. Here, we propose the notion ofresistance of networksbased on the one- and two-dimensional structural information of graphs. Given a graphG, we define theresistance of G, written "Equation missing", as the greatest overall number of bits required to determine the code of the module that is accessible via random walks with stationary distribution inG, from which the random walks cannot escape. We show that the resistance of networks follows theresistance law of networks, that is, for a networkG, the resistance ofGis "Equation missing", where "Equation missing"and "Equation missing"are the one- and two-dimensional structure entropies ofG, respectively. Based on the resistance law, we define thesecurity index of a network Gto be the normalised resistance ofG, that is, "Equation missing". We show that the resistance and security index are both well-defined measures for the security of the networks.
Quantum Router for Single Photons Carrying Spin and Orbital Angular Momentum
Authors: Chen Yuanyuan , Jiang Dong , Xie Ling , Chen Lijun
Published: June 2016

Quantum router is an essential element in the quantum network. Here, we present a fully quantum router based on interaction free measurement and quantum dots. The signal photonic qubit can be routed to different output ports according to one control electronic qubit. Besides, our scheme is an interferometric method capable of routing single photons carrying either spin angular momentum (SAM) or orbital angular momentum (OAM), or simultaneously carrying SAM and OAM. Then we describe a cascaded multi-level quantum router to construct a one-to-many quantum router. Subsequently we analyze the success probability by using a tunable controlled phase gate. The implementation issues are also discussed to show that this scheme is feasible.
The effector AWR5 from the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum is an inhibitor of the TOR
signalling pathway
Authors: Popa Crina , Li Liang , Gil Sergio , Tatjer Laura , Hashii Keisuke , Tabuchi Mitsuaki , Coll Núria S. , Ariño Joaquín , Valls Marc
Published: June 2016

Bacterial pathogens possess complex type III effector (T3E) repertoires that are
translocated inside the host cells to cause disease. However, only a minor
proportion of these effectors have been assigned a function. Here, we show that the
T3E AWR5 from the phytopathogen Ralstonia
solanacearum is an inhibitor of TOR, a central regulator in eukaryotes
that controls the switch between cell growth and stress responses in response to
nutrient availability. Heterologous expression of AWR5 in yeast caused growth inhibition and autophagy induction coupled
to massive transcriptomic changes, unmistakably reminiscent of TOR inhibition by
rapamycin or nitrogen starvation. Detailed genetic analysis of these phenotypes in
yeast, including suppression of AWR5-induced toxicity by mutation of CDC55 and TPD3,
encoding regulatory subunits of the PP2A phosphatase, indicated that AWR5 might
exert its function by directly or indirectly inhibiting the TOR pathway upstream
PP2A. We present evidence in planta that this T3E
caused a decrease in TOR-regulated plant nitrate reductase activity and also that
normal levels of TOR and the Cdc55 homologues in plants are required for R. solanacearum virulence. Our results suggest that the
TOR pathway is a bona fide T3E target and further prove that yeast is a useful
platform for T3E function characterisation.
Circulatory shear flow alters the viability and proliferation of circulating colon cancer cells
Authors: Fan Rong , Emery Travis , Zhang Yongguo , Xia Yuxuan , Sun Jun , Wan Jiandi
Published: June 2016

During cancer metastasis, circulating tumor cells constantly experience hemodynamic shear stress in the circulation. Cellular responses to shear stress including cell viability and proliferation thus play critical roles in cancer metastasis. Here, we developed a microfluidic approach to establish a circulatory microenvironment and studied circulating human colon cancer HCT116 cells in response to a variety of magnitude of shear stress and circulating time. Our results showed that cell viability decreased with the increase of circulating time, but increased with the magnitude of wall shear stress. Proliferation of cells survived from circulation could be maintained when physiologically relevant wall shear stresses were applied. High wall shear stress (60.5 dyne/cm2), however, led to decreased cell proliferation at long circulating time (1 h). We further showed that the expression levels of β-catenin and c-myc, proliferation regulators, were significantly enhanced by increasing wall shear stress. The presented study provides a new insight to the roles of circulatory shear stress in cellular responses of circulating tumor cells in a physiologically relevant model and thus will be of interest for the study of cancer cell mechanosensing and cancer metastasis.
Risk of recurrence of retinopathy of prematurity after initial intravitreal ranibizumab therapy
Authors: Chan Joyce J. T. , Lam Carol P. S. , Kwok Madeline K. M. , Wong Raymond L. M. , Lee Gary K. Y. , Lau Winnie W. Y. , Yam Jason C. S.
Published: June 2016

We report our experience with the use of intravitreal ranibizumab for the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). A retrospective review was performed on 138 consecutive infants screened at a single centre over 18 months. Intravitreal ranibizumab was offered in selected cases requiring treatment, such as aggressive posterior ROP or poor mydriasis. 2 eyes of 1 infant received intravitreal ranibizumab alone and 8 eyes of 5 infants received combined intravitreal ranibizumab and laser therapy. 3 out of 8 eyes treated initially with intravitreal ranibizumab monotherapy had persistent disease requiring laser therapy, and 3 out of 5 eyes with initial regression suffered disease recurrence at a mean of 7.6 weeks post-injection. 2 eyes treated first with laser followed by intravitreal ranibizumab had disease regression without recurrence. Our cohort demonstrate a significant rate of persistent disease and recurrence in ROP eyes treated initially with intravitreal ranibizumab monotherapy, which is greater and earlier than that reported for intravitreal bevacizumab in the BEAT-ROP study. Intravitreal ranibizumab may be useful as an initial treatment in selected cases of ROP when laser therapy as first line is suboptimal. However, close monitoring is important and adjunctive laser therapy may subsequently be needed in a majority of cases.
Direct repeat-mediated DNA deletion of the mating type MAT1-2 genes results in unidirectional mating type switching in Sclerotinia trifoliorum
Authors: Xu Liangsheng , Jardini Teresa M. , Chen Weidong
Published: June 2016

The necrotrophic fungal pathogen Sclerotinia trifoliorum exhibits ascospore dimorphism and unidirectional mating type switching - self-fertile strains derived from large ascospores produce both self-fertile (large-spores) and self-sterile (small-spores) offsprings in a 4:4 ratio. The present study, comparing DNA sequences at MAT locus of both self-fertile and self-sterile strains, found four mating type genes (MAT1-1-1, MAT1-1-5, MAT1-2-1 and MAT1-2-4) in the self-fertile strain. However, a 2891-bp region including the entire MAT1-2-1 and MAT1-2-4 genes had been completely deleted from the MAT locus in the self-sterile strain. Meanwhile, two copies of a 146-bp direct repeat motif flanking the deleted region were found in the self-fertile strain, but only one copy of this 146-bp motif (a part of the MAT1-1-1 gene) was present in the self-sterile strain. The two direct repeats were believed to be responsible for the deletion through homologous intra-molecular recombination in meiosis. Tetrad analyses showed that all small ascospore-derived strains lacked the missing DNA between the two direct repeats that was found in all large ascospore-derived strains. In addition, heterokaryons at the MAT locus were observed in field isolates as well as in laboratory derived isolates.
MALDI-Imaging Mass Spectrometry: a step forward in the anatomopathological characterization of stenotic aortic valve tissue
Authors: Mourino-Alvarez Laura , Iloro Ibon , de la Cuesta Fernando , Azkargorta Mikel , Sastre-Oliva Tamara , Escobes Iraide , Lopez-Almodovar Luis F. , Sanchez Pedro L. , Urreta Harkaitz , Fernandez-Aviles Francisco , Pinto Angel , Padial Luis R. , Akerström Finn , Elortza Felix , Barderas Maria G.
Published: June 2016

Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common form of valve disease. Once symptoms develop, there is an inexorable deterioration with a poor prognosis; currently there are no therapies capable of modifying disease progression and aortic valve replacement is the only available treatment. Our goal is to study the progression of calcification by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI-IMS) and get new insights at molecular level that could help in the understanding of this disease. In this work, we analyzed consecutive slices from aortic valve tissue by MALDI-IMS, to establish the spatial distribution of proteins and peptides directly from the surface of the histological sections. The analysis showed different structures corresponding to regions observed in conventional histology, including large calcification areas and zones rich in collagen and elastic fibers. Peptide extraction from the tissue, followed by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, provided the identification of collagen VI α-3 and NDRG2 proteins which correlated with the masses obtained by MALDI-IMS and were confirmed by immunohistochemistry. These results highlighted the molecular mechanism implied in AS using MALDI-IMS, a novel technique never used before in this pathology. In addition, we can define specific regions proving a complementary resolution of the molecular histology.
Long-Range Coulomb Effect in Intense Laser-Driven Photoelectron Dynamics
Authors: Quan Wei , Hao XiaoLei , Chen YongJu , Yu ShaoGang , Xu SongPo , Wang YanLan , Sun RenPing , Lai XuanYang , Wu ChengYin , Gong QiHuang , He XianTu , Liu XiaoJun , Chen Jing
Published: June 2016

In strong field atomic physics community, long-range Coulomb interaction has for a long time been overlooked and its significant role in intense laser-driven photoelectron dynamics eluded experimental observations. Here we report an experimental investigation of the effect of long-range Coulomb potential on the dynamics of near-zero-momentum photoelectrons produced in photo-ionization process of noble gas atoms in intense midinfrared laser pulses. By exploring the dependence of photoelectron distributions near zero momentum on laser intensity and wavelength, we unambiguously demonstrate that the long-range tail of the Coulomb potential (i.e., up to several hundreds atomic units) plays an important role in determining the photoelectron dynamics after the pulse ends.
A novel suicide shuttle plasmid for Streptococcus suis serotype 2 and Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus gene mutation
Authors: Liu Rui , Zhang Ping , Su Yiqi , Lin Huixing , Zhang Hui , Yu Lei , Ma Zhe , Fan Hongjie
Published: June 2016

The mariner-based Himar1 system has been utilized for creating mutant libraries of many Gram-positive bacteria. Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (SS2) and Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus (SEZ) are primary pathogens of swine that threaten the swine industry in China. To provide a forward-genetics technology for finding virulent phenotype-related genes in these two pathogens, we constructed a novel temperature-sensitive suicide shuttle plasmid, pMar4s, which contains the Himar1 system transposon, TnYLB-1, and the Himar1 C9 transposase from pMarA and the repTAs temperature-sensitive fragment from pSET4s. The kanamycin (Kan) resistance gene was in the TnYLB-1 transposon. Temperature sensitivity and Kan resistance allowed the selection of mutant strains and construction of the mutant library. The SS2 and SEZ mutant libraries were successfully constructed using the pMar4s plasmid. Inverse-Polymerase Chain Reaction (Inverse-PCR) results revealed large variability in transposon insertion sites and that the library could be used for phenotype alteration screening. The thiamine biosynthesis gene apbE was screened for its influence on SS2 anti-phagocytosis; likewise, the sagF gene was identified to be a hemolytic activity-related gene in SEZ. pMar4s was suitable for mutant library construction, providing more information regarding SS2 and SEZ virulence factors and illustrating the pathogenesis of swine streptococcosis.
Predicting the outcomes for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients using multiple biomarkers and suspension microarray assays
Authors: Huang Chien-Hua , Tsai Min-Shan , Chien Kuo-Liong , Chang Wei-Tien , Wang Tzung-Dau , Chen Shyr-Chyr , Ma Matthew Huei-Ming , Hsu Hsin-Yun , Chen Wen-Jone
Published: June 2016

Predicting the prognosis for cardiac arrest is still challenging. Combining biomarkers from diverse pathophysiological pathways may provide reliable indicators for the severity of injury and predictors of long-term outcomes. We investigated the feasibility of using a multimarker strategy with key independent biomarkers to improve the prediction of outcomes in cardiac arrest. Adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients with sustained return of spontaneous circulation were prospectively enrolled in this study. Blood samples were taken at 2 and 24 hours after cardiac arrest. Suspension microarray assays were used to test 21 different biomarkers. A total of 99 patients were enrolled, 45 of whom survived to hospital discharge. We identified 11 biomarkers that, when combined with clinical variables and factors of APACHE II score and history of arrhythmia, were independent determinants for outcome of in-hospital mortality (concordance = 0.9249, standard error = 0.0779). Three biomarkers combined with APACHE II and age were independent determinants for favorable neurological outcome at hospital discharge (area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve, 0.938; 95% confidence interval, 0.854 ~ 1.0). In conclusion, a systemic multiple biomarker approach using suspension microarray assays can identify independent predictors and model the outcomes of cardiac arrest patients during the post-cardiac arrest period.
Identification of key metabolic changes in renal interstitial fibrosis rats using metabonomics and pharmacology
Authors: Zhao Liangcai , Dong Minjian , Liao Shixian , Du Yao , Zhou Qi , Zheng Hong , Chen Minjiang , Ji Jiansong , Gao Hongchang
Published: June 2016

Renal fibrosis is one of the important pathways involved in end-stage renal failure. Investigating the metabolic changes in the progression of disease may enhance the understanding of its pathogenesis and therapeutic information. In this study, 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics was firstly used to screen the metabolic changes in urine and kidney tissues of renal interstitial fibrotic rats induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO), at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after operation, respectively. The results revealed that reduced levels of bioenergy synthesis and branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), as well as elevated levels of indoxyl sulfate (IS) are involved in metabolic alterations of renal fibrosis rats. Next, by pharmacological treatment we found that reduction of IS levels could prevent the renal fibrotic symptoms. Therefore, we suggested that urinary IS may be used as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of renal fibrosis and a therapeutic target for drugs. Novel attempt combining metabonomics and pharmacology was established that have ability to provide more systematic diagnostic and therapeutic information of diseases.