bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An interesting case of systemic lupus erythematosus in a patient with Moebius syndrome
Authors: Tenorio Jefferson da Rocha , Figueiredo Marília Andrade , Espindula Aline , Gallottini Marina , Ortega Karem López
Published: January 2018

Moebius’ syndrome (MS) is characterized by a nonprogressive facial palsy associated with impairment in eye abduction, which can be uni‐ or bilateral. Some authors raise the possibility that patients with MS may suffer from social stigmatism due to their facial dysmorphism and that constant teasing and bullying perpetrated by people in the same social circle are adjuvants in the development of low self‐esteem, behavioral problems, and even psychiatric disorders. Psychological stress, anxiety, and depression are factors contributing to both development and impairment of autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The objective of this work is to report the case of a patient with MS who developed SLE. In the present case report, we have emphasized the importance of both clinical dental examination and surgeon–dentist in the early diagnosis of systemic diseases by considering that these conditions can affect both syndromic and normoreactive patients.
Principles of cross‐network communication in human resting state fMRI
Authors: Mitra Anish , Raichle Marcus E.
Published: January 2018

Directed signaling among and within the large‐scale networks of the human brain is functionally critical. Recent advances in our understanding of spontaneous fluctuations of the fMRI BOLD signal have provided strategies to study the spatial‐temporal properties of directed signaling at infra‐slow frequencies. Herein we explore the relationship between two canonical systems of the human brain, the default mode network (DMN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN) whose anti‐correlated relationship is well known but poorly understood. We find that within the DMN, activity moves from retrosplenial to prefrontal cortex whereas in the DAN activity moves from the frontal eye fields to the parietal cortex. Bi‐directional communication between the two networks occurs via their earliest elements (i.e., from the retrosplenial cortex of the DMN to the frontal eye fields of the DAN). This framework for network communication appears to generalize across all networks providing an expanded basis for understanding human brain function.
Change Pathways in Indigenous and Nonindigenous Youth Suicide
Authors: Goebert Deborah A. , Hamagami Fumiaki , Hishinuma Earl S. , Chung‐Do Jane J. , Sugimoto‐Matsuda Jeanelle J.
Published: January 2018

Multivariate dynamic relationships among suicide attempts, anxiety and/or depressive symptoms, hope, and help‐seeking were examined across time in Native Hawaiian and non‐Hawaiian adolescents, using data from a 5‐year longitudinal cohort study (N = 7,317). The rate of suicide attempts decreased over time, but this reduction was significantly less among Native Hawaiian youth than their non‐Hawaiian peers. There were also significant differences between groups in hope and help‐seeking, with Native Hawaiian youth increasing help‐seeking and decreasing hope to a greater degree. Youth‐centered, cultural approaches to suicide prevention are essential in enhancing well‐being in indigenous communities.
Cultural fit of emotions and health implications: A psychosocial resources model
Authors: Yoo Jiah , Miyamoto Yuri
Published: January 2018

Emerging evidence on cultural differences in health implications of emotions suggests that the cultural fit of emotions (i.e., accordance with culturally normative and prevalent patterns of emotions) is associated with better health. However, the mechanisms underlying the links between culture, emotions, and health are not clear. In this paper, we propose a psychosocial resources model of cultural fit as an integrative framework to guide the future work in this area. Following the review of cultural differences in emotions, we next review the accumulating evidence showing that culture modulates the link between emotions and health in such a way that the cultural fit of emotions positively predicts health. We then propose that psychosocial resources (e.g., resilience, meaning in life, and social support) play an important role in linking the cultural fit of emotions to health. The psychosocial resources model proposes that the emotion–health link is modulated and sustained via the relevance of emotions to resources and coping in a given cultural context. The model is supported by a line of research suggesting the role of cultural fit in the attainment of resources and another line of research showing the importance of psychosocial resources in health. Lastly, future directions will be discussed for research incorporating culture into the study of emotion and health.
Grounding as a Side‐Effect of Grounding
Authors: Larsson Staffan
Published: January 2018

In relation to semantics, “grounding” has (at least) two relevant meanings. “Symbol grounding” is the process of connecting symbols (e.g., words) to perception and the world. “Communicative grounding” is the process of interactively adding to common ground in dialog. Strategies for grounding in human communication include, crucially, strategies for resolving troubles caused by various kinds of miscommunication. As it happens, these two processes of grounding are closely related. As a side‐effect of grounding an utterance, dialog participants (DPs) may adjust the meanings they assign to linguistic expressions, in a process of semantic coordination. Meanings of at least some expressions (e.g., concrete nouns) include perceptual aspects which enable DPs to classify entities as falling under the expression or not based on their perception of those entities. We show how perceptual grounding of symbols can be achieved in a process of interactively adding to common ground. This requires that perceptual aspects of meaning can be updated as a result of participating in linguistic interaction, thereby enabling fine‐grained semantic coordination of perceptually grounded linguistic meanings. A formal semantics for low‐level perceptual aspects of meaning is presented, tying these together with the logical‐inferential aspects of meaning traditionally studied in formal semantics. The key idea is to model perceptual meanings as classifiers of perceptual input. This requires a framework where intensions are (a) represented independently of extensions, and (b) structured objects which can be modified as a result of learning. We use Type Theory with Records (TTR), a formal semantics framework which starts from the idea that information and meaning are founded on our ability to perceive and classify the world, that is, to perceive objects and situations as being of types. As an example of our approach, we show how a simple classifier of spatial information based on the Perceptron can be cast in TTR.
Effect on transcriptome and metabolome of stacked transgenic maize containing insecticidal cry and glyphosate tolerance epsps genes
Authors: Wang Xu‐jing , Zhang Xin , Yang Jiang‐tao , Wang Zhi‐xing
Published: January 2018

Gene stacking is a developing trend in agricultural biotechnology. Unintended effects in stacked transgenic plants are safety issues considered by the public and researchers. Omics techniques provide useful tools to assess unintended effects. In this paper, stacked transgenic maize 12‐5×IE034 that contained insecticidal cry and glyphosate tolerance G10‐epsps genes was obtained by crossing of transgenic maize varieties 12‐5 and IE034. Transcriptome and metabolome analyses were performed for different maize varieties, including 12‐5×IE034, 12‐5, IE034, and conventional varieties collected from different provinces in China. The transcriptome results were as follows. The nine maize varieties had obvious differences in gene expression. There were 3561–5538 differentially expressed genes between 12‐5×IE034 and its parents and transgenic receptor, which were far fewer than the number of differentially expressed genes in different traditional maize varieties. Cluster analysis indicated that there were close relationships between 12‐5×IE034 and its parents. The metabolome results were as follows. For the nine detected maize varieties, the number of different metabolites ranged from 0 to 240. Compared with its parents, 12‐5 and IE034, the hybrid variety 12‐5×IE034 had 15 and 112 different metabolites, respectively. Hierarchical cluster analysis with Pearson's correlation analysis showed that the differences between 12‐5×IE034 and its parents were fewer than those between other maize varieties. Shikimate pathway‐related genes and metabolites analysis results showed that the effects of hybrid stacking are less than those from transformation and differing genotypes. Thus, the differences due to breeding stack were fewer than those due to natural variation among maize varieties. This paper provides scientific data for assessing unintended effects in stacked transgenic plants.
Plant species composition in an international trading port and residential areas of Kobe, Japan
Authors: Kawamata Emi , Shimono Yoshiko , Tominaga Tohru
Published: January 2018

Invasive alien plants have caused negative ecological and economic impacts and numerous studies have focused on determining which traits make these plants successful invaders. Although it is commonly believed that only a small proportion of introduced species can become invasive, it is unknown why many alien species fail to establish. In order to identify the alien species that are exhibiting a limited distribution in their new habitat, the vegetation in an international trading port, which is a primary site for the introduction of alien plants, and residential areas of Kobe, western Japan, were surveyed every month from April–October, 2014. A total of 167 species, of which 59.3% were annual and 61.2% were alien, was found. Species that originated in Mediterranean regions were the dominant alien species, followed by those from North America. A principal component analysis showed that the species compositions were different between the port and the residential areas, particularly in spring. The species from the port areas were major weeds from the cereal crop fields of North America and Australia, but were limited in distribution in Japan. The residence time might be too short to allow them to expand or climatic differences between the areas where these aliens are naturally dominant and Japan could serve as ecological barriers to the range expansion of such species.
Invasion process and potential spread ofAmaranthus retroflexusin China
Authors: Qin Z , Zhang J‐E , Jiang Y‐P , Wei H , Wang F‐G , Lu X‐N
Published: January 2018

Amaranthus retroflexus, a troublesome agricultural weed native to North America, has expanded its distribution in large areas of China since its introduction around 1905. Geographical interpretation of changes in their distribution ranges could provide valuable insights on its spatiotemporal invasion patterns and could be used to predict the extent of its future spread. Based on compiled historical distribution occurrences ofA. retroflexusin North American and Chinese ranges, invaded ecological niche models for three hypothetical invasion stages were developed. Native models on the basis of all available records within the North American range were also generated for reciprocal comparison with the invaded model. Climate similarity between native and invasive ranges was also investigated.Amaranthus retroflexushas exhibited a rapid and large range expansion after about a 50‐year lag, especially in central and western China. It established a relative stable distribution in the 1960s and has been undergoing a more continuous westward expansion since then. PresentlyA. retroflexushas not yet reached full occupancy of suitable habitats in China. The results highlight prioritising habitats in south‐western China for monitoring and control to prevent its further spread.
Knowledge Articulation
Authors: Obstfeld David
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines the essential role of knowledge articulation in enabling brokers to mobilize and coordinate others’ actions to get new things done. First, the chapter examine the tacit/explicit conceptualization of knowledge and its implications for knowledge articulation. Second, the chapter revisits Carlile’s 3T model (knowledge transfer, knowledge translation, and knowledge transformation) and how it bridges between brokerage and knowledge articulation. Third, the chapter focuses on three initially dyadic processes for articulating knowledge: mutual intelligibility, persuasion, and enlistment. Then the chapter turns to ethnographic data to illustrate knowledge articulation in terms of five practices or communicative dimensions: moving between back stage and front stage; moving between complex and simple; moving among the past, present, and future; balancing familiarizing and defamiliarizing; and establishing credibility by laying down markers. Finally, the chapter revisits the relationship between brokerage processes and knowledge articulation in getting new things done.
Creators and Producers
Authors: Khaire Mukti
Published: January 2018

Producers are firms that have a direct economic stake in the value of the goods they bring to market. These are distinct from the individuals who create the good: creators, such as artists, musicians, and writers. Creators rarely take their creations directly to market; in most cases, a third-party firm—a producer firm—vets and collates many different creations to present to the consumer. Elsewhere, fashion designers and chefs often start their own firms—creator firms—that sell only their own creations. All producers must bridge the worlds of art and business, which entails three challenges: market making, building and maintaining trust between managers and creators, and reputation building. Creator firms may be more likely to introduce content innovations, and producer firms may introduce delivery innovations, while some innovations may combine both. Inducing consumption of these innovations requires changing beliefs, making it the most challenging kind of pioneer entrepreneurship.
Power and Unpredictability
Authors: Khaire Mukti
Published: January 2018

Because they operate at the cusp of culture and commerce, which are two very different worlds, producers face significant operational challenges that increase the uncertainty they face and decrease their power balance in the ecosystem. In particular, producers—both creator firms and producer firms, albeit to varying degrees—are constrained by the power wielded over them by cultural norms, by intermediaries, and by creators. The locus of these tensions is the product that producers bring to the market and about which they can neither create nor harbor illusions. Entrepreneurship—pioneer entrepreneurship and otherwise—as a producer is therefore exceedingly difficult and should be undertaken only by highly motivated, dedicated individuals.
Art, Work, and Endlessness in the 2000s
Authors: Bernes Jasper
Published: January 2018

This chapter skips forward several decades, to the 2000s, and looks at the legacy of the transformations discussed in the preceding chapters. Bernes examines the debates that followed the emergence of “Flarf” and “conceptual poetry,” both movements that foregrounded their relationship to contemporary office work. He focuses in particular on the relationship between Flarf poetry, with its rebellious use of work time, work machinery, and work jargon, and the increase in interworker aggression, which he attributes to the inability of workers to find outlets for resistance. Bernes links this horizontalized aggression with the phenomenon of the “Internet troll,” who responds to the emasculation that male workers feel as a consequence of the restructuring of labor. By the 2000s, firms had so thoroughly neutralized the aesthetic critique of labor mobilized by preceding generations of artists that it persisted only in various forms of minor rebellion and acting out.
Introduction
Authors: Belco Michelle , Rottinghaus Brandon
Published: January 2018

This book takes the next step in the study of unilateral power by quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing how the president’s unilateral orders are part of a separate and shared power system. The chapters that follow explore both the prerogatives presidents undertake and obligations they fulfill with respect to their independent and administrator executive functions. It builds on several generations of scholarship on the presidency and draws from both public law and behavioral approaches. Debate over the use of unilateral orders suggests that a president’s ability to act without the consent of Congress is largely unchecked by traditional institutional arrangements whereas others suggest presidents are more likely to be restrained by Congress because many unilateral powers are justified with interbranch authority.
An Independent President or Administrator?
Authors: Belco Michelle , Rottinghaus Brandon
Published: January 2018

Chapter 5 considers the unilateral actions of the dual roles of the president at the agenda-setting stage, before legislation has been introduced. At this stage, presidents have the incentive and ability to act as administrators to issue a routine order and as independent presidents more likely to issue a command. This is the most familiar and potentially dangerous type of president―those who use their unilateral powers to manage the political system in a way that corresponds to their preferences and their agenda. Because Congress is focused on identifying the topics to include on the agenda and deciding in committee the direction legislation should take, presidents do not necessarily need to work with Congress; instead, they can act independently creating edicts, which they expect others to follow.
Conclusion
Authors: Belco Michelle , Rottinghaus Brandon
Published: January 2018

Chapter 8 concludes with the argument that, with respect to unilateral orders, presidents often have the authority to be independent but do not always act that way. Independent presidents engage their executive authority, and discretion, to act alone, whereas administrators exercise delegated authority and political will to work with Congress. The knowledge of how presidents use unilateral orders may help to dampen the fear that presidents are able to use their unilateral powers unchecked because of a congressional retreat. The circumstances under which presidents act against Congress are selective. What remains is an understanding and awareness that the majority of unilateral orders are used to facilitate the needs of government. Concerns over an aggressive or overbearing president who pushes around an unsuspecting Congress may be overblown as presidents balance their political goals with their institutional responsibilities and duty to act.
Wordsworth’s Double Take
Authors: Galperin William H.
Published: January 2018

It is a characteristic, and a representative, feature of Wordsworth’s poetry as a period-bound discourse that the material opportunities it misses—or that often evanesce in his writing—are recoverable and acutely palpable as a result of being missed or misrepresented in a history of missed opportunities. In such a history the claim to historicity, which is typically subsumed in a movement from seeing to imagining, or from the particular to the universal, is reversed in a double take, where historical distance, however brief, allows for a second look. In this second look, “things of every day” emerge in ways that are striking and depersonalized in contrast to both conventional poetic practice and, as it turns out, the daily writing of Dorothy Wordsworth (the poet’s sister), which lacks historical perspective and where the everyday is seemingly everywhere and nowhere.
Don Juan and the Romantic Fragment
Authors: Galperin William H.
Published: January 2018

Along with the repetition of days that it mimes as an endless conversation, Don Juan is additionally representative in the way a missed opportunity (the Byron marriage) is recognized and honored by the poem’s form. The ever-unfolding poem amounts to a history that takes the form not of retrospection but of what might have been. Don Juan registers the gain, the “willingness for the everyday,” that marriage produces in practice, and in this case poetic practice, and “in the repetition of days” (Cavell) to which his poem conforms. As a relational do-over, whose ending, accordingly, was a parting unto death, the poem connects to fragment poems—a quintessentially romantic genre—by Coleridge and Shelley and to the tendency in Keats’s Odes to foreground a present that goes undocumented or is closed off by form.
Figuring Korean Futures
Authors: Zur Dafna
Published: January 2018

This book is the story of the emergence and development of writing for children in modern Korea. In the 1920s, a narrator-adult voice began to speak for the first time directly to a child-reader whose mind was deemed knowable and moldable. Writers and educators saw the qualities of this unique child audience manifest in a new concept called the child-heart, or tongsim. This book examines children’s literature at the moment the child emerged as a powerful metaphor of Korea’s future, through the colonization of Korea, and up until the ideological entrenchment that intensified in the post-liberation period. By reading children’s periodicals against the political, educational, and psychological discourses of their time, this book argues that the child-heart concept was particularly productive for the project of modernity and nation-building, as well as for the colonial and postcolonial projects of socialization and nationalization, because it posited the child in a symbiotic relationship with the natural world that allowed for explorations of the meaning of culture and nature at a time when culture and nature were deeply contested. This book reveals a trajectory of Korean children’s prose and poetry that begins with depictions of the child as an organic part of nature and ends with the child as the agent of the control of nature. Ultimately, the book reveals the complex ways the figure of the child became a driving force of nostalgia that stood in for future aspirations for the individual, family, class, and nation.
The Future of Long-Term Institutional Investment
Authors: Monk Ashby , Sharma Rajiv , Sinclair Duncan L.
Published: January 2018

The concluding chapter emphasizes the need for institutional investors to rely on their own network economies as well as the agglomeration economies that they have access to through financial intermediaries. Social capital managers can be instrumental in helping institutional investors take advantage of these networks. Responding to the current trend toward peer collaboration and dis-intermediation, the chapter emphasizes the need for existing intermediaries to change their business models to keep pace. The number of new intermediaries that can help facilitate the flow of capital more efficiently into long-term assets are predicted to increase. The chapter highlights the importance of the government's role and the value of teaming up with true long-term partners for the sake of long-term assets like infrastructure,. This is the essence of the collaborative model, which helps investors achieve their own commercial objectives as well as broader economic objectives for society.
Distribution of spectral modulation transfer functions in a young, normal-hearing population
Authors: Hoover Eric C. , Eddins Ann C. , Eddins David A.
Published: January 2018

Spectral modulation transfer functions (SMTFs) were measured in 49 young (18–35 years of age) normal-hearing listeners. Noise carriers spanned six octaves from 200 to 12 800 Hz. Sinusoidal (on a log-amplitude scale) spectral modulation with random starting phase was superimposed on the carrier at spectral modulation frequencies of 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 cycles/octave. Modulation detection thresholds (in dB) yielded SMTFs that were bandpass in nature, consistent with previous investigations reporting data for only a few subjects. Thresholds were notably consistent across subjects despite minimal practice. Population statistics are reported that may serve as reference data for future studies.
Mycoplasma genitalium Nonadherent Phase Variants Arise by Multiple Mechanisms and Escape Antibody-Dependent Growth Inhibition
Authors: Burgos Raul , Wood Gwendolyn E. , Iverson-Cabral Stefanie L. , Totten Patricia A.
Published: January 2018

Antigenic variation of the immunodominant MgpB and MgpC proteins has been suggested to be a mechanism of immune evasion of the human pathogen
Mycoplasma genitalium
, a cause of several reproductive tract disease syndromes. Phase variation resulting in the loss of adherence has also been documented, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this process and its role in pathogenesis are still poorly understood. In this study, we isolated and characterized 40 spontaneous, nonadherent phase variants from
in vitro
-passaged
M. genitalium
cultures. In all cases, nonadherence was associated with the loss of MgpBC protein expression, attributable to sequence changes in the
mgpBC
expression site. Phase variants were grouped into seven classes on the basis of the nature of the mutation. Consistent with the established role of RecA in phase variation, 31 (79.5%) variants arose via recombination with MgPa repeat regions that contain
mgpBC
variable sequences. The remaining mutants arose via nonsense or frameshift mutations. As expected, revertants were obtained for phase variants that were predicted to be reversible but not for those that arose via an irreversible mechanism. Furthermore, phase variants were enriched in
M. genitalium
cultures exposed to antibodies reacting to the extracellular, conserved C terminus of MgpB but not in cultures exposed to antibodies reacting to an intracellular domain of MgpB or the cytoplasmic HU protein. Genetic characterization of the antibody-selected phase variants confirmed that they arose via reversible and irreversible recombination and point mutations within
mgpBC
. These phase variants resisted antibody-mediated growth inhibition, suggesting that phase variation promotes immune evasion.
The Ancient Link between G-Protein-Coupled Receptors and C-Terminal Phospholipid Kinase Domains
Authors: van den Hoogen D. Johan , Meijer Harold J. G. , Seidl Michael F. , Govers Francine
Published: January 2018

Sensing external signals and transducing these into intracellular responses requires a molecular signaling system that is crucial for every living organism. Two important eukaryotic signal transduction pathways that are often interlinked are G-protein signaling and phospholipid signaling. Heterotrimeric G-protein subunits activated by G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are typical stimulators of phospholipid signaling enzymes such as phosphatidylinositol phosphate kinases (PIPKs) or phospholipase C (PLC). However, a direct connection between the two pathways likely exists in oomycetes and slime molds, as they possess a unique class of GPCRs that have a PIPK as an accessory domain. In principle, these so-called GPCR-PIPKs have the capacity of perceiving an external signal (via the GPCR domain) that, via PIPK, directly activates downstream phospholipid signaling. Here we reveal the sporadic occurrence of GPCR-PIPKs in all eukaryotic supergroups, except for plants. Notably, all species having GPCR-PIPKs are unicellular microorganisms that favor aquatic environments. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that GPCR-PIPKs are likely ancestral to eukaryotes and significantly expanded in the last common ancestor of oomycetes. In addition to GPCR-PIPKs, we identified five hitherto-unknown classes of GPCRs with accessory domains, four of which are universal players in signal transduction. Similarly to GPCR-PIPKs, this enables a direct coupling between extracellular sensing and downstream signaling. Overall, our findings point to an ancestral signaling system in eukaryotes where GPCR-mediated sensing is directly linked to downstream responses.

IMPORTANCE
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are central sensors that activate eukaryotic signaling and are the primary targets of human drugs. In this report, we provide evidence for the widespread though limited presence of a novel class of GPCRs in a variety of unicellular eukaryotes. These include free-living organisms and organisms that are pathogenic for plants, animals, and humans. The novel GPCRs have a C-terminal phospholipid kinase domain, pointing to a direct link between sensing external signals via GPCRs and downstream intracellular phospholipid signaling. Genes encoding these receptors were likely present in the last common eukaryotic ancestor and were lost during the evolution of higher eukaryotes. We further describe five other types of GPCRs with a catalytic accessory domain, the so-called GPCR-bigrams, four of which may potentially have a role in signaling. These findings shed new light onto signal transduction in microorganisms and provide evidence for alternative eukaryotic signaling pathways.
A Phosphorylation Switch on Lon Protease Regulates Bacterial Type III Secretion System in Host
Authors: Zhou Xiaofeng , Teper Doron , Andrade Maxuel O. , Zhang Tong , Chen Sixue , Song Wen-Yuan , Wang Nian
Published: January 2018

Most pathogenic bacteria deliver virulence factors into host cytosol through type III secretion systems (T3SS) to perturb host immune responses. The expression of T3SS is often repressed in rich medium but is specifically induced in the host environment. The molecular mechanisms underlying host-specific induction of T3SS expression is not completely understood. Here we demonstrate inXanthomonas citrithat host-induced phosphorylation of the ATP-dependent protease Lon stabilizes HrpG, the master regulator of T3SS, conferring bacterial virulence. Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphoproteome analysis revealed that phosphorylation of Lon at serine 654 occurs in the citrus host. In rich medium, Lon represses T3SS by degradation of HrpG via recognition of its N terminus. Genetic and biochemical data indicate that phosphorylation at serine 654 deactivates Lon proteolytic activity and attenuates HrpG proteolysis. Substitution of alanine for Lon serine 654 resulted in repression of T3SS gene expression in the citrus host through robust degradation of HrpG and reduced bacterial virulence. Our work reveals a novel mechanism for distinct regulation of bacterial T3SS in different environments. Additionally, our data provide new insight into the role of protein posttranslational modification in the regulation of bacterial virulence.

IMPORTANCEType III secretion systems (T3SS) are an essential virulence trait of many bacterial pathogens because of their indispensable role in the delivery of virulence factors. However, expression of T3SS in the noninfection stage is energy consuming. Here, we established a model to explain the differential regulation of T3SS in host and nonhost environments. WhenXanthomonascells are grown in rich medium, the T3SS regulator HrpG is targeted by Lon protease for proteolysis. The degradation of HrpG leads to downregulated expression of HrpX and thehrp/hrcgenes. WhenXanthomonascells infect the host, specific plant stimuli can be perceived and induce Lon phosphorylation at serine 654. Phosphorylation on Lon attenuates its proteolytic activity and protects HrpG from degradation. Consequently, enhanced stability of HrpG activates HrpX and turns on bacterial T3SS in the host. Our work provides a novel molecular mechanism underlying host-dependent activation of bacterial T3SS.
Staphylococcus aureus
Responds to the Central Metabolite Pyruvate To Regulate Virulence
Authors: Harper Lamia , Balasubramanian Divya , Ohneck Elizabeth A. , Sause William E. , Chapman Jessica , Mejia-Sosa Bryan , Lhakhang Tenzin , Heguy Adriana , Tsirigos Aristotelis , Ueberheide Beatrix , Boyd Jeffrey M. , Lun Desmond S. , Torres Victor J.
Published: January 2018

Staphylococcus aureus
is a versatile bacterial pathogen that can cause significant disease burden and mortality. Like other pathogens,
S. aureus
must adapt to its environment to produce virulence factors to survive the immune responses evoked by infection. Despite the importance of environmental signals for
S. aureus
pathogenicity, only a limited number of these signals have been investigated in detail for their ability to modulate virulence. Here we show that pyruvate, a central metabolite, causes alterations in the overall metabolic flux of
S. aureus
and enhances its pathogenicity. We demonstrate that pyruvate induces the production of virulence factors such as the pore-forming leucocidins and that this induction results in increased virulence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant
S. aureus
(CA-MRSA) clone USA300. Specifically, we show that an efficient “pyruvate response” requires the activation of
S. aureus
master regulators AgrAC and SaeRS as well as the ArlRS two-component system. Altogether, our report further establishes a strong relationship between metabolism and virulence and identifies pyruvate as a novel regulatory signal for the coordination of the
S. aureus
virulon through intricate regulatory networks.

IMPORTANCE
Delineation of the influence of host-derived small molecules on the makeup of human pathogens is a growing field in understanding host-pathogen interactions.
S. aureus
is a prominent pathogen that colonizes up to one-third of the human population and can cause serious infections that result in mortality in ~15% of cases. Here, we show that pyruvate, a key nutrient and central metabolite, causes global changes to the metabolic flux of
S. aureus
and activates regulatory networks that allow significant increases in the production of leucocidins. These and other virulence factors are critical for
S. aureus
to infect diverse host niches, initiate infections, and effectively subvert host immune responses. Understanding how environmental signals, particularly ones that are essential to and prominent in the human host, affect virulence will allow us to better understand pathogenicity and consider more-targeted approaches to tackling the current
S. aureus
epidemic.
A cross-sectional analysis of the relationship between diabetes and health access barriers in an urban First Nations population in Canada
Authors: Beckett Michael , Firestone Michelle A , McKnight Constance D , Smylie Janet , Rotondi Michael A
Published: January 2018

Objective

This study explores the relationship between health access barriers and diabetes in an urban First Nations population in Canada.

Design

Data from a self-identified urban First Nations population were collected using respondent-driven sampling (RDS). As no clear approach for regression modelling of RDS data is available, two logistic regression modelling approaches, including survey-based logistic and generalised linear mixed models, were used to explore the relationship between diabetes and health barriers of interest, including access to healthcare, food, housing and socioeconomic factors.

Setting

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Participants

This cross-sectional study used data collected from the Our Health Counts study, in partnership with the De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre, which recruited 554 First Nations adults living in Hamilton using RDS.

Results

After adjusting for covariates, multivariable regression techniques showed a statistically significant relationship between a self-reported diagnosis of diabetes and a lack of culturally appropriate care among urban First Nations peoples (OR: 12.70, 95% CI 2.52 to 57.91). There was also a trend towards a relationship between diabetes and not having a doctor available in the area, feeling that healthcare provided was inadequate and a lack of available healthcare services in the area.

Conclusions

Urban First Nations peoples who felt the health service they received was not culturally appropriate were more likely to have diabetes, compared with those who did not feel the service they received was culturally inappropriate. Establishing more healthcare services that integrate First Nations cultures and traditions could improve access to care and the course of treatment for urban First Nations peoples living with diabetes.
Developing a dementia-specific preference-­based quality of life measure (AD-5D) in Australia: a valuation study protocol
Authors: Comans Tracy A , Nguyen Kim-Huong , Mulhern Brendan , Corlis Megan , Li Li , Welch Alyssa , Kurrle Susan E , Rowen Donna , Moyle Wendy , Kularatna Sanjeewa , Ratcliffe Julie
Published: January 2018

Introduction

Generic instruments for assessing health-related quality of life may lack the sensitivity to detect changes in health specific to certain conditions, such as dementia. The Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease (QOL-AD) is a widely used and well-validated condition-specific instrument for assessing health-related quality of life for people living with dementia, but it does not enable the calculation of quality-adjusted life years, the basis of cost utility analysis. This study will generate a preference-based scoring algorithm for a health state classification system -the Alzheimer’s Disease Five Dimensions (AD-5D) derived from the QOL-AD.

Methods and analysis

Discrete choice experiments with duration (DCETTO) and best–worst scaling health state valuation tasks will be administered to a representative sample of 2000 members of the Australian general population via an online survey and to 250 dementia dyads (250 people with dementia and their carers) via face-to-face interview. A multinomial (conditional) logistic framework will be used to analyse responses and produce the utility algorithm for the AD-5D.

Ethics and dissemination

The algorithms developed will enable prospective and retrospective economic evaluation of any treatment or intervention targeting people with dementia where the QOL-AD has been administered and will be available online. Results will be disseminated through journals that publish health economics articles and through professional conferences. This study has ethical approval.
Screening for chronic kidney disease in a community-based diabetes cohort in rural Guatemala: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Flood David , Garcia Pablo , Douglas Kate , Hawkins Jessica , Rohloff Peter
Published: January 2018

Objective

Screening is a key strategy to address the rising burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in low-income and middle-income countries. However, there are few reports regarding the implementation of screening programmes in resource-limited settings. The objectives of this study are to (1) to share programmatic experiences implementing CKD screening in a rural, resource-limited setting and (2) to assess the burden of renal disease in a community-based diabetes programme in rural Guatemala.

Design

Cross-sectional assessment of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and urine albumin.

Setting

Central Highlands of Guatemala.

Participants

We enrolled 144 adults with type 2 diabetes in a community-based CKD screening activity carried out by the sponsoring institution.

Outcome measures

Prevalence of renal disease and risk of CKD progression using Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes definitions and classifications.

Results

We found that 57% of the sample met GFR and/or albuminuria criteria suggestive of CKD. Over half of the sample had moderate or greater increased risk for CKD progression, including nearly 20% who were classified as high or very high risk. Hypertension was common in the sample (42%), and glycaemic control was suboptimal (mean haemoglobin A1c 9.4%±2.5% at programme enrolment and 8.6%±2.3% at time of CKD screening).

Conclusions

The high burden of renal disease in our patient sample suggests an imperative to better understand the burden and risk factors of CKD in Guatemala. The implementation details we share reveal the tension between evidence-based CKD screening versus screening that can feasibly be delivered in resource-limited global settings.
Does behavioural thermoregulation underlie seasonal movements in Lake Erie walleye?
Authors: Raby Graham D. , Vandergoot Christopher S. , Hayden Todd A. , Faust Matthew D. , Kraus Richard T. , Dettmers John M. , Cooke Steven J. , Zhao Yingming , Fisk Aaron T. , Krueger Charles C.
Published: January 2018

Thermoregulation is presumed to be a widespread determinant of behaviour in fishes, but has not often been investigated as a mechanism shaping long-distance migrations. We used acoustic telemetry and animal-borne thermal loggers to test the hypothesis that seasonal migration in adult walleye (Sander vitreus) in Lake Erie is size- and (or) sex-specific and related to behavioural thermoregulation. Female walleye migrated out of the warm, shallow western basin earlier than did males and were 1.8 times more likely to be detected on acoustic receivers in the deeper and cooler eastern basin. The few fish that remained in the western basin were restricted to a smaller range of higher temperatures (≥20 °C) than those that migrated to the central and eastern basins (∼16–21 °C). However, temperature records from walleye in the central basin were nearly indistinguishable from those in the eastern basin, suggesting thermal preferences alone could not explain migration to the eastern basin. As such, our effort to understand the mechanisms that cause migratory behaviours has generated mixed evidence on the role of temperature and that factors like foraging opportunities may have synergistic roles in the migration.
An approach to the instanton effect in B system
Authors: Kitazawa Noriaki , Sakai Yuki
Published: January 2018

We discuss the constraint on the size of QCD instanton effects in low-energy effective theory. Among various instanton effects in meson mass spectrum and dynamics, we concentrate on the instanton-induced masses of light quarks. The famous instanton-induced six-quark interaction, so-called ’t Hooft vertex, could give nonperturbative quantum corrections to light quark masses. Many works have already been achieved to constrain the mass corrections in light meson system, or the system of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and now we know for a fact that the instanton-induced mass of up-quark is too small to realize the solution of the strong CP problem by vanishing current mass of up-quark. In this work, we give a constraint on the instanton-induced mass correction to light quarks from the mass spectrum of heavy mesons, [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and their antiparticles. To accomplish this, the complete second-order chiral symmetry breaking terms are identified in heavy meson effective theory. We find that the strength of the constraint from heavy meson masses is at the same level of that from light mesons, and it would be made even stronger by more precise data from future [Formula: see text] factories and lattice calculations.
A Nonlinear Integer Programming Approach for the Minimization of Boolean Expressions
Authors: Papakonstantinou K. G. , Papakonstantinou G.
Published: January 2018

A novel approach is suggested in this paper for the minimization of Boolean expressions. This is particularly useful in logic synthesis, since it leads to simpler logic circuit implementations. Although the proposed method is general, emphasis is given on Exclusive-or Sum Of Products (ESOPs) functions. A transformation is derived to convert the problem from the Boolean algebra area to the classical algebraic area. The resulting problem becomes a nonlinear, integer program and an original branch-and-bound procedure with several relaxations is developed for its solution. The suggested methodology is especially suitable for the minimization of incompletely specified functions, which is a difficult problem in the Boolean area. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the applicability and performance of the approach and possible future directions are described. The resulting nonlinear problems can sometimes be very demanding but their challenging solutions could solve open ESOP problems.
The Information Content of Loan Growth in Banks
Authors: Zemel Michelle
Published: January 2018

I empirically evaluate the information content of a change in the size of a bank’s loan portfolio. I find a positive (negative) stock market reaction to loan portfolio growth in high (low) earnings banks. I also find that the information content of loan growth depends on features of the bank, the loan, and the macroeconomic state. In particular, loan growth, in conjunction with earnings, conveys meaningful information about bank value for small banks only, for commercial loans, and during normal times. Further, I posit that if the market reaction conveys meaningful information about a bank’s value, then loan portfolio growth should predict future performance measures of the bank. In fact, I find that loan portfolio growth, when interacted with earnings, predicts future non-performing loans.
Self-Reactive B Cells in the Germinal Center Reaction
Authors: Brink Robert , Phan Tri Giang
Published: January 2018

Maintenance of immunological self-tolerance requires lymphocytes carrying self-reactive antigen receptors to be selectively prevented from mounting destructive or inflammatory effector responses. Classically, self-tolerance is viewed in terms of the removal, editing, or silencing of B and T cells that have formed self-reactive antigen receptors during their early development. However, B cells activated by foreign antigen can enter germinal centers (GCs), where they further modify their antigen receptor by somatic hypermutation (SHM) of their immunoglobulin genes. The inevitable emergence of activated, self-reactive GC B cells presents a unique challenge to the maintenance of self-tolerance that must be rapidly countered to avoid autoantibody production. Here we discuss current knowledge of the mechanisms that enforce B cell self-tolerance, with particular focus on the control of self-reactive GC B cells. We also consider how self-reactive GC B cells can escape self-tolerance to initiate autoantibody production or instead be redeemed via SHM and used in productive antibody responses.
Cross-Cultural Interaction: What We Know and What We Need to Know
Authors: Adler Nancy J. , Aycan Zeynep
Published: January 2018

Pervasive forms of worldwide communication now connect us instantly and constantly, and yet we all too often fail to understand each other. Rather than benefiting from our globally interconnected reality, the world continues to fall back on divisiveness, a widening schism exacerbated by some of the most pronounced divisions in history along lines of wealth, culture, religion, ideology, class, gender, and race. Cross-cultural dynamics are rife within multinational organizations and among people who regularly work with people from other cultures. This article reviews what we know from our scholarship on cross-cultural interaction among expatriates, negotiators, and teams that work in international contexts. Perhaps more important, this article outlines what we need to learn—and to unlearn—to be able to see diversity as an asset in helping individuals, organizations, and society to succeed rather than continuing to understand it primarily as a source of problems.
More Than Words? Computer-Aided Text Analysis in Organizational Behavior and Psychology Research
Authors: Short Jeremy C. , McKenny Aaron F. , Reid Shane W.
Published: January 2018

Computer-aided text analysis (CATA) offers great promise for scholars who aspire to capture the beliefs, cognitions, and emotions of individuals as reflected in their narratives and written texts. We review advancements in the use of CATA in organizational studies and highlight the increased momentum towards incorporating rigor when using CATA. We review key CATA software and note the variance in possibilities of approaches when extracting meaning from languages. We then outline the potential for this technique to build knowledge surrounding organizational psychology and organizational behavior. Specifically, we highlight specific research streams that might benefit from the use of CATA and highlight cross-cultural perspectives that might further advance the use of this technique.