bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The novel combinations of CTB, CpG, and aluminum hydroxide significantly enhanced the immunogenicity of clumping factor A 221-550 ofStaphylococcus aureus
Authors: Ma Jinzhu , Wang Beiyan , Yu Liquan , Song Baifen , Yu Yongzhong , Wu Shuangshuang , Dong Yazun , Zhu Zhanbo , Cui Yudong
Published: June 2020

Here, we prepared the novel combined adjuvants, CTB as intra-molecular adjuvant, CpG and aluminum hydroxide (Alum) to strengthen the immunogenicity of clumping factor A221-550 of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The protein-immunoactive results showed CTB-ClfA221-550 elicited the strong immune responses to serum from mice immunized with CTB and ClfA221-550, respectively. The mice immunized with CTB-ClfA221-550 plus CpG and Alum adjuvant exhibited significantly stronger CD4+ T cell responses for IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-17 and displayed the higher proliferation response of splenic lymphocytes than the control groups, in addition, these mice generated the strongest humoral immune response against ClfA221-550 among all groups. Our results also showed CTB-ClfA221-550 plus CpG and Alum adjuvant obviously increased the survival percentage of the mice challenged by S. aureus. These data suggested that the novel combined adjuvants, CTB, CpG, and Alum, significantly enhance the immune responses triggered with ClfA221-550, and could provide a new approach against infection of S. aureus.

Abbreviations

CTB: Cholera Toxin B; CpG: Cytosine preceding Guanosine; ODN: Oligodeoxynucleotides; Alum: Aluminum hydroxide; TRAP: Target of RNAIII-activating Protein; TLR9: Toll-like Receptor 9; TMB: 3, 3ʹ, 5, 5ʹ-tetramethylbenzidine; mAbs: Monoclonal Antibodies; OD: Optical Densities; S. aureus: Staphylococcus aureus; ClfA: Clumping factor A; FnBPA: Fibronection-binding protein A; IsdB: Iron-regulated surface determinant B; SasA: Staphylococcus aureus Surface Protein A; GapC: Glycer-aldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase-C
Lifetime History of Suicide Attempts among Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity State Hospital Inpatients: The Roles of past Harmful Substance Use and Current Social Support
Authors: Mitchell Sean M. , Brown Sarah L. , Scanlon Faith , Swogger Marc T. , Delgado Darci , Ventura Maria I. , Bolaños Angelea D. , Morgan Robert D.
Published: June 2020

This study tested current perceived social support (CPSS) as a moderator of the relation between previous substance use (PSU) and lifetime suicide attempt (SA) history among 200 NGRI inpatients. Results indicated no significant CPSS main effect. PSU was associated with greater odds of multiple prior lifetime SA. Moderation indicated those low in PSU but high in CPSS were least likely to report multiple prior lifetime SA. Conversely, NGRI inpatients with high CPSS and high PSU were most likely to report multiple lifetime SA. Our study suggests CPSS and PSU assessments may inform suicide risk assessments and interventions among NGRI inpatients.
Directed transport of coupled Brownian motors in a two-dimensional traveling-wave potential*
Authors: Wu Wei-Xia , Zheng Zhi-Gang , Song Yan-Li , Han Ying-Rong , Sun Zhi-Cheng , Li Chen-Pu
Published: June 2020

Considering an elastically coupled Brownian motors system in a two-dimensional traveling-wave potential, we investigate the effects of the angular frequency of the traveling wave, wavelength, coupling strength, free length of the spring, and the noise intensity on the current of the system. It is found that the traveling wave is the essential condition of the directed transport. The current is dominated by the traveling wave and varies nonmonotonically with both the angular frequency and the wavelength. At an optimal angular frequency or wavelength, the current can be optimized. The coupling strength and the free length of the spring can locally modulate the current, especially at small angular frequencies. Moreover, the current decreases rapidly with the increase of the noise intensity, indicating the interference effect of noise on the directed transport.
Regional income management information system with Enterprise Architecture Planning Approach (EAP): a case study in BPKPD Klungkung Regency
Authors: Darmita I B G A , Dantes G R , Candiasa I M
Published: June 2020

Financial and Revenue Management Agency (BPKPD) Klungkung is a type of agency that carries out financial support functions to assist the Regent of Klungkung in administering regional autonomy. Although the regional revenue is in considerable amount, BPKPD Klungkung has no guidance in developing a regional revenue management information system in Klungkung. Thus, a good, efficient, effective, and accountable local revenue management procedure becomes essential. One of the options is to employ information systems and information technology (SI/IT) through the implementation of applications in various organizational functions. Enterprise Architecture Planning (EAP) is a method or frame of reference in building an information architecture that focuses on business needs that consist of data architecture, applications, and technology as well as the implementation plan of architecture created to support business activities to achieve the organization objectives. The result of the research using EAP showed that data architecture methodology was first to be defined so as to produce 19 data entities, defining the application architecture and technology. Based on application portfolio, there were 6 key operational applications 2 strategic applications, 2 high potential applications, and 1 supporting application displayed. It was expected that the regional revenue of Klungkung will be optimized through the strategic information system planning using EAP.
Comparison of microcontroller-based and mechanically controlled water rate control systems in solar energy water distillation
Authors: Parikesit E , Sambada F R
Published: June 2020

The current problem of solar energy water distillation is in its low efficiency. The commonly used mechanical control system still has weaknesses such as the instability of the water entering the absorber. This causes less effective evaporation of water so that the resulting distillation efficiency is not optimal. The microcontroller-based input water rate control system allows the rate of input water with a small but continuous flow rate so that the water evaporation process can be more effective. This study aimed at comparing the stability of the flow rate of water in the distillation device using a microcontroller flow regulator compared to the mechanical flow regulator. The stability of the flow was measured by changes in the rate of inflow of water to the initial rate of water flow. The research was carried out by the experimental method. The results of this study indicated that regulating the flow of water in a distillation device with a peristaltic flow control produced a more constant flow than a mechanical regulator. The change in the flow rate of inflow to the smallest initial flow rate with a peristaltic regulator was 0.2% at the variation of the initial flow rate of 1.2 liters/hour. The change in the mechanical regulating flow rate at a variation of the 1.2 liter/hour flow rate was 20%. From the results of this study, it can also be concluded that microcontroller based water rate controller is more stable than mechanical water flow control, especially in small flow.
Comparative study of classification method on diagnosis of plasmodium phase
Authors: Maysanjaya I M D
Published: June 2020

Malaria is a plague in humans induced by the Plasmodium parasitoid transferred through a single bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes. Once reaching human blood passage, this parasitoid bears asexual proliferation which is classified toward three phases (trophozoite, schizont, and gametocyte). To discover the phases, the paramedic will analyse the blood specimen of the subject within the microscope. However, the aforementioned approach has the potential to misdiagnosis. Many CAD-based investigations have been carried out to reduce the diagnosis errors that have formed. This research sought to develop a CAD-based design that can help paramedics in diagnosing the parasitoid Plasmodium, including trying to get a classification algorithm that is able to analyze the Plasmodium phase precisely. Based on the experiment outcome, Naïve Bayes was mostly useful applied as a classifier that attained the accuracy of 97.29%, the sensitivity, and specificity of 97.30% toward the P.vivax case. In the case of P.falciparum, it emerged in the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 98.36%, 98.40%, and 98.40% apiece. Meantime, Perceptron was a useless algorithm applied as a classifier that realized the accuracy up to 81.08%, sensitivity and specificity of 93.80% on each. In the case of P.vivax, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity realized were 80.33%, 92.50%, and 92.50% respectively.
Balinese glyph recognition with gabor filters
Authors: Kesiman M W A , Pradnyana G A , Maysanjaya I M D
Published: June 2020

Recognizing Balinese glyphs from the Balinese script on palm leaf manuscripts is not trivial. In Balinese script, there are more than a hundred glyphs which represent basic syllables and compound syllables, and also some punctuation marks. They naturally share a strong interclass similarity between each other related to the form of their writing curves. The degraded image of textured palm leaf manuscript also offer some challenging parts in recognizing the Balinese glyph. In this paper, we investigated the use of Gabor filter bank as the feature extraction method to recognize the Balinese glyphs. By using Gabor filter, we can detect many texture variations with different orientations and frequencies. In our experiments, the published dataset of AMADI_LontarSet for glyph recognition was used. It showed a very promising result by using a single hidden layer Neural Network as the classifier. Gabor filters with Zoning method achieved a high enough recognition rate. For future works, Gabor filters will be analyzed in combination with the Histogram of Gradient, Neighborhood Pixel Weight and Kirsch Edges features.
Melajah pupuh BALI application “anggita” as a medium of learning in multimedia
Authors: Aditama P W , Aditya I N A F , Radhitya M L , Ningsih K A A
Published: June 2020

With the industrial revolution 4.0, technology is important to be utilized in various fields. Technology is a medium to support education especially at elementary school level. Technology in the cultural sphere is an important thing in the current era, such as the use of software application for preserving Balinese culture. This application teaches how to sing the Balinese poems correctly for beginners. There are three buttons that go into pupuh Ginada, Ginanti, Pucung and are supported by video. As sustainable development, the role of the AngGita application is relevant to be applied in the field of multimedia learning, because it increases the effectiveness of delivering information to students. Since, this application was published on July 6, 2019, it ranked 4.6 within 5 months and has been downloaded more than 100 downloads with the Android version 8.1. Conceptually, this application is in line with governor regulation number 80 of 2018.
Improving self-efficacy in the teaching of prospective mathematics teachers by involving them in the online teacher community
Authors: Mertasari N M S , Candiasa I M
Published: June 2020

Self-efficacy in teaching is very important for prospective teachers. Prospective teachers who have good self-efficacy inteaching can carry out the profession as a teacher well in the future. This study aims to improve the self-efficacy in teaching of prospective mathematics teachers by involving them in the online teacher community. A total of 58 prospective mathematics teachers were included as samples. They were divided into two groups. The experimental group attended micro teaching courses while involved in the online teacher community, on the other hand the control group attended a micro teaching course while assisting the model teacher. Self-efficacy in teaching was measured by a questionnaire at the beginning of the semester as a pre-test and at the end of the semester as a post-test. The results showed that prospective mathematics teacher who took micro teaching courses while involved in the online teacher community experienced a higher increase in self-efficacy compared to those who attended micro teaching courses while assisting the model teacher. These results indicate that the association of prospective mathematics teachers in the online teacher community has a positive effect on increasing their self-efficacy in teaching. In-depth interviews indicate that a combination of synchronous and asynchronous communication plays a role in increasing their self-efficacy. Computer-mediated communication that is context-free and not too bound by social conventions greatly helps increase the self-efficacy of prospective teachers.
A practical method of accurate troubleshooting mechanism in the decision objective teaching type on the integrated landing system
Authors: Ema  , Hendrarini N
Published: June 2020

An aircraft is a transportation system that works in conditions according to the standards. When an aircraft technician is aware of a system failure or damage, he must make the right decision to overcome the problems that occur. A relatively high level of accuracy decision making based is a necessary treat. This condition must be anticipated in aircraft vocational education. An integrated landing system is one of the subsystems on an aircraft that requires quick and precise handling if there are problems. A practical method that accommodates various concepts in troubleshooting is proposed to facilitate aircraft technicians’ competence. This method performs standardization of troubleshooting steps in a particular algorithm so that it is more systematic. The appropriate validation and verification steps follow this troubleshooting mechanism to ensure that the system is up to standard.
Development of TRIZ based competency test material and its influence on improving problem solving skills
Authors: Cahyono E A B , Artanto D , Arbiyanti P , Heliarko G
Published: June 2020

Vocational education provides necessary education and skills, which is directed at the mastery of certain expertise. As the learning outcome of this education, the graduates of Politeknik Mekatronika Sanata Dharma have been able to solve engineering problems in terms of maintenance and repair, operation, and assembly of industrial automation machines. For this reason, problem solving skills are important to learn. This paper presents a research on the effect of developing TRIZ-based competency test material on improving problem solving skills. The subjects of this study were 60 students of Politeknik Mekatronika Sanata Dharma. After several TRIZ-based competency tests, the results revealed that the problem solving skills of students on the basis of a systematic approach have increased, while problem solving on the basis of intuition (trial and error) have decreased.
Revisiting assessment of heat and mass transfer in contact apparatus for steam treatment of air
Authors: Averkin A G , Eremkin A I , Greysukh G I , Averkin Y A
Published: June 2020

Modified methods are proposed for determining the surface area of heat and mass transfer in the contact apparatus in the humidification, cooling, dehumidification of air with water, as well as dehumidification of air with solid drying agent, based on the number of transfer units. The number of transfer units is determined by the method of graphical integration using I-d-diagram of humid air to evaluate both heat and mass transfer process.
Problems of increasing the innovation activity of industrial enterprises in the context of global competition
Authors: Brauweiler H-Ch , Kurchenkov V V , Fetisova O V , Ponomareva L V , Kurchenkova E A
Published: June 2020

The article deals with the increasing innovation activity of Russian enterprises in the context of global competition. It describes the rise in intensity of competition as a result of the decrease in the main market players and the increase in the scale of their economic activity. The authors analyze the tendency of growth of the incubation cycle duration of new developments in industrial enterprises of high-tech industries which makes it commensurate with the life cycle of new technology or a new product. It is proved that innovation activity of the industrial enterprise, on the one hand, can, under certain conditions, bring extra income due to the growth of labor productivity and reduction of internal costs. On the other hand, extra income is brought by obtaining a new market segment through the implementation of the innovation product. The article also describes the influence of innovation activity of industrial enterprises on the structure of investments in fixed assets and the duration of the investment cycle.
Conservation and rational use of natural resources: methods of circular economy assessment
Authors: Gureva Maria Andreevna
Published: June 2020

Issues of resource conservation in terms of inclusion of raw materials and advanced technologies of environmental management are indisputably important in modern production and consumption development. The scientific community focuses on the development of technological methods for cyclic use of raw materials, construction of logistics supply chains, introduction and modernization of circular processes in production. The next logical stage of the study is to analyse various tools for assessment of circular economy development, promoting conservation and sustainable use of various natural resources; the article defines the main differences and results of the analysis. Carried out with the financial support of the Grant of the President of the Russian Federation to support young scientists Candidates of Sciences in the study MK-587.2019.6 “Development of theoretical and methodological foundations of the concept of circular economy as a new trend in the formation of sustainable socio-economic space.”
Using Russian Federation taxes information and analytical system to monitor economic condition of the manufacturing industry
Authors: Ksenofontov A A , Kamaletdinov A Sh , Trifonov I V , Trifonov P V , Cherepovskaya N A
Published: June 2020

This paper describes a study of the financial and economic state and functioning of economic sectors of the constituent subjects of the Russian Federation based on the application of advanced information technologies. This study aims to analyse the performance of the Russian Federation national economy and the economy of 85 Russian Federation constituent subjects with a breakdown by different economic activities based on the Russian Federation Taxes information & analytical system of regional tax revenues designed. Basic calculations were made using the index method of economic activity evaluation developed by the authors. The index construction technique makes it possible to analyse dynamic trends in general and individual index development. Based on the method proposed, the constituent subjects of the Russian Federation have been ranked in accordance with their tax revenue indices for all kinds of economic activities in 2016. The efficiency of tax revenues by individual indicators included in the index has been reviewed. The constituent subjects of the Russian Federation have been ranked by the “Manufacturing Activity” indicator. Index distribution indicators have been calculated for each constituent subject of the Russian Federation.
Research of equipment for pulsed heating supply
Authors: Levtsev A P , Lapin E S , Grishin B M , Ezhov E G , Rodionov Yu V
Published: June 2020

Proposed scheme of individual heating unit (IHU) contains a mixing device based on energy-efficient two-flow membrane pump operating in pulse mode at available head of the heating network. The problem was solved of finding the optimal regimes of membrane pump work, which provided qualitative and economical efficacy of heating devices. Experimental graphs illustrate the pressure changes in the working chambers of the pump equipped with a pulse heating medium flow distributor. It is shown that implementation of the membrane pump in the IHU circuit allows distributing temperature more evenly throughout the heating devices surface due to pulsating mode of the heating media movement.
Effect of mineral and organic fertilizers on potassium leaching in sandy loam soils
Authors: Yakovleva L V , Danilov D A , Nikolaeva E A
Published: June 2020

In a model experiment, a study was carried out on potassium leaching from the soil. Soil samples were taken from a protective strip of long-term experiment (established in 1981). Various fertilizers and their mixtures were introduced. The effect of organic matter on the capacity formation of the cationic soil exchange was considered. Significant differences were noted in the potassium migration during various fertilizers application. A significant role is played by liming of acidic soils. Potassium ions displace calcium ions more easily calcium ions from the soil absorption complex than aluminum. Therefore, when liming, leaching of potassium may be reduced. With the introduction of peat and peat-based fertilizers, the cation exchange capacity of the soil increased significantly. The leaching of potassium did not increase. Introduction of cattle manure without heat treatment significantly increased the migration of potassium in the soil and its leaching to the lower lying horizons. In general, the migration and leaching of substances in arable soil rely upon a number of factors and their combinations: natural and climatic factors, physical and chemical properties of the soil, the intensity of agricultural use of arable land, the type and composition of fertilizers, and the mineralogical composition of the soil. When growing plants on calcareous, fertilized with potash fertilizers soils, the loss of potassium does not exceed its leaching from non-fertilized soils.
Assessment of the environmental responsibility of industrial enterprises in the region
Authors: Zaliznyak E A , Matveeva A A , Kholodenko A V , Kirillov S N
Published: June 2020

The article discusses the problems of accessibility of information about the impact of enterprises on environmental components for stakeholders. Assessing the environmental component of non-financial reports allows to analyse the environmental activities of any company and draw appropriate conclusions about the effectiveness of the policies of enterprises. Russian companies, unlike foreign ones, have lower trends to disclose environmentally significant information, but there is a positive trend in placing such information in the public domain. The study analyzed the trend of non-financial reporting following the international recommendations of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In the period June-November 2019, the number of Russian companies reports presented in the international GRI database increased by 10%, with a global dynamics of 1.7%. According to the National Register of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, 80% of non-financial reporting is the reports of sustainable development field, the most open are the enterprises of the oil and gas industry and the electric power industry. The study covered 107 negative impact facilities of the 1st category, high and significant risk category, located in the Volgograd region. To assess the openness of regional enterprises, we analyzed their official websites and databases of the rating of environmental business performance. Official sites identified for 72% of facilities demonstrate the predominance of environmentally significant declarative information, it is 87% of analyzed sites. A study of companies’ readiness to disclose data on anthropogenic impact for stakeholders used copyright checks and showed the commitment of less than 10% of respondents. Regional companies did not support the initiative on the openness of environmentally significant information, which less than 2% of enterprises publish in the open access, and are not ready to prepare reports on sustainable development following international criteria. Since 2018, the exclusion of quantitative data on the negative impact on specific enterprises as a mandatory component of regional reports on the state of the environment has exacerbated the identified trend.
Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration: Ownership of the Claim, Consequences for Costs Orders, and Regulation
Authors: Ramesh Sahana
Published: May 2020

The increasing use of third-party funding in international arbitration has given rise to a myriad of challenges. Many of these remain unaddressed. Even though some jurisdictions have sought to regulate the sphere of third-party funding in international arbitration, it remains largely unregulated. The result is that a third-party funder is not held accountable. This article examines the issue of ownership of a funded international arbitration claim, and the consequences of that finding on an arbitral tribunal’s ability to impose costs order on a funder. The objective is to ensure that a funder is playing a role in the arbitral process merely to facilitate access to justice, and nothing more. The examination in this article comprises a review of case law, primarily of English courts, in the context of litigation funding, and then determining whether it is possible to transpose the learnings therefrom to the arbitration context. A brief discussion on the applicability of the doctrine of res judicata, in the context of the issues raised in this article, is undertaken. Finally, the article also considers the best way to regulate the specific question of imposing costs on a third-party funder in international arbitration.
Single-cell transcriptomics allows novel insights into aging and circadian processes
Authors: Fonseca Costa Sara S , Robinson-Rechavi Marc , Ripperger Jürgen A
Published: June 2020

Aging and circadian rhythms are two biological processes that affect an organism, although at different time scales. Nevertheless, due to the overlap of their actions, it was speculated that both interfere or interact with each other. However, to address this question, a much deeper insight into these processes is necessary, especially at the cellular level. New methods such as single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-Seq) have the potential to close this gap in our knowledge. In this review, we analyze applications of scRNA-Seq from the aging and circadian rhythm fields and highlight new findings emerging from the analysis of single cells, especially in humans or rodents. Furthermore, we judge the potential of scRNA-Seq to identify common traits of both processes. Overall, this method offers several advantages over more traditional methods analyzing gene expression and will become an important tool to unravel the link between these biological processes.
Network entropy using edge-based information functionals
Authors: Aziz Furqan , Hancock Edwin R , Wilson Richard C
Published: May 2020

In this article, we present a novel approach to analyse the structure of complex networks represented by a quantum graph. A quantum graph is a metric graph with a differential operator (including the edge-based Laplacian) acting on functions defined on the edges of the graph. Every edge of the graph has a length interval assigned to it. The structural information contents are measured using graph entropy which has been proved useful to analyse and compare the structure of complex networks. Our definition of graph entropy is based on local edge functionals. These edge functionals are obtained by a diffusion process defined using the edge-based Laplacian of the graph using the quantum graph representation. We first present the general framework to define graph entropy using heat diffusion process and discuss some of its properties for different types of network models. Second, we propose a novel signature to gauge the structural complexity of the network and apply the proposed method to different datasets.
CHDGKB: a knowledgebase for systematic understanding of genetic variations associated with non-syndromic congenital heart disease
Authors: Yang Lan , Yang Yang , Liu Xingyun , Chen Yongquan , Chen Yalan , Lin Yuxin , Sun Yan , Shen Bairong
Published: May 2020

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common birth defects, with complex genetic and environmental etiologies. The reports of genetic variation associated with CHD have increased dramatically in recent years due to the revolutionary development of molecular technology. However, CHD is a heterogeneous disease, and its genetic origins remain inconclusive in most patients. Here we present a database of genetic variations for non-syndromic CHD (NS-CHD). By manually literature extraction and analyses, 5345 NS-CHD-associated genetic variations were collected, curated and stored in the public online database. The objective of our database is to provide the most comprehensive updates on NS-CHD genetic research and to aid systematic analyses of pathogenesis of NS-CHD in molecular level and the correlation between NS-CHD genotypes and phenotypes.

Database URL: http://www.sysbio.org.cn/CHDGKB/
Clinical Trials for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Global Guidance During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Reinisch Walter , Danese Silvio , Peyrin-Biroulet Laurent , Loftus Edward V
Published: June 2020

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]-causing coronavirus disease [COVID]-19 pandemic poses major challenges for patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] to be recruited and maintained in clinical trials. However, clinical trials offer patients who have failed multiple drugs access to study medications with alternative modes of action and the potential for relief from inflammation-mediated symptoms. Therefore, the continuation of clinical trials in IBD during the COVID-19 pandemic is important both for participants and for the community of IBD patients, due to the dire need for an expanded therapeutic armamentarium. As the safety of patients in clinical trials is the leading principle, we are providing ten specific rules to guide patients and principal investigators safely through the challenging time.
The Primacy of Maternal Innovations to the Evolution of Embryo Implantation
Authors: Stadtmauer Daniel J , Wagner Günter P
Published: June 2020

Synopsis

Embryo implantation is a hallmark of the female reproductive biology of eutherian (placental) mammals and does not exist in a sustainable form in any other vertebrate group. Implantation is the initial process that leads to a sustained fetal-maternal unit engendering a complex functional relationship between the mother and the embryo/fetus. The nature of this relationship is often portrayed as one of conflict between an aggressive embryo and a passive or defensive maternal organism. Recent progress in elucidating the evolutionary origin of eutherian pregnancy leads to a different picture. The emerging scenario suggests that the very initial stages in the evolution of embryo implantation required evolutionary changes to the maternal physiology which modified an ancestral generic mucosal inflammation in response to the presence of the embryo into an active embedding process. This “female-first” evolutionary scenario also explains the role of endometrial receptivity in human pregnancy. On the marsupial side, where in most animals the fetal–maternal interaction is short and does not lead to a long term sustainable placentation, the relationship is mutual. In these mammals, uterine inflammation is followed by parturition in short order. The inflammatory signaling pathways, however, are cooperative, i.e., they are performed by both the fetus and the mother and therefore we call this relationship “cooperative inflammation.” Based on these discoveries we reconceive the narrative of the maternal–fetal relationship.
Apparent total tract digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and blood metabolites in beef steers fed green-chopped cool-season forages
Authors: Schulmeister Tessa M , Ruiz-Moreno Martin , Garcia-Ascolani Mariana E , Ciriaco Francine M , Henry Darren D , Benitez Jefferson , Santos Erick R S , Dubeux Jose C B , Lamb Graham C , DiLorenzo Nicolas
Published: June 2020

An experiment was conducted during the winter of two consecutive years to evaluate the effects of feeding green-chopped cool-season forages on digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and blood parameters in beef steers. Nine ruminally cannulated Angus crossbred steers (year 1: 359 ± 79 kg; year 2: 481 ± 105 kg) received ad libitum green-chopped forages from pastures planted with one of the following mixtures: 1) OAT = Horizon 201 oats (Avena sativa L.)/Prine annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) at 95 and 17 kg/ha, respectively; 2) RYE = FL401 cereal rye (Secale cereale L.)/Prine annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) at 78 and 17 kg/ha, respectively; or 3) TRIT = Trical 342 triticale (X Triticosecale spp.)/Prine annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) at 95 and 17 kg/ha, respectively. Intake was measured using the GrowSafe system and orts were discarded prior to subsequent feeding. After a 14-d adaptation, feed and fecal samples were collected twice daily for 4 d to determine apparent total tract nutrient digestibility using indigestible neutral detergent fiber (NDF) as an internal marker. On day 19, blood and ruminal fluid samples were collected every 3 h during a 24-h period to analyze plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) and glucose, ruminal pH, and concentration of ruminal ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and volatile fatty acids (VFA). Data were analyzed as a generalized randomized block design with repeated measures using the PROC MIX of SAS. No effect of treatment (P > 0.05) was observed for intake of dry matter, organic matter (OM), crude protein, NDF, or acid detergent fiber. Apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients was greater (P < 0.05) for OAT and TRIT when compared with RYE, with OM digestibility being 82.7%, 79.6%, and 69.5%, respectively. An effect of time (P < 0.01) was observed for ruminal pH. Plasma concentration of glucose was greater (P < 0.01) in steers consuming OAT, whereas steers fed RYE had greater (P < 0.05) concentrations of ruminal NH3-N and PUN, and the least concentration of total ruminal VFA (P < 0.05), despite having the greatest (P > 0.05) molar proportion of acetate, branched-chain VFA, and acetate:propionate. Increased nutrient digestibility and favorable ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites of OAT and TRIT are potentially conducive to enhanced growth performance when compared with RYE.
Genome-wide prediction for complex traits under the presence of dominance effects in simulated populations using GBLUP and machine learning methods
Authors: Alves Anderson Antonio Carvalho , da Costa Rebeka Magalhães , Bresolin Tiago , Fernandes Júnior Gerardo Alves , Espigolan Rafael , Ribeiro André Mauric Frossard , Carvalheiro Roberto , de Albuquerque Lucia Galvão
Published: May 2020

The aim of this study was to compare the predictive performance of the Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (GBLUP) and machine learning methods (Random Forest, RF; Support Vector Machine, SVM; Artificial Neural Network, ANN) in simulated populations presenting different levels of dominance effects. Simulated genome comprised 50k SNP and 300 QTL, both biallelic and randomly distributed across 29 autosomes. A total of six traits were simulated considering different values for the narrow and broad-sense heritability. In the purely additive scenario with low heritability (h2 = 0.10), the predictive ability obtained using GBLUP was slightly higher than the other methods whereas ANN provided the highest accuracies for scenarios with moderate heritability (h2 = 0.30). The accuracies of dominance deviations predictions varied from 0.180 to 0.350 in GBLUP extended for dominance effects (GBLUP-D), from 0.06 to 0.185 in RF and they were null using the ANN and SVM methods. Although RF has presented higher accuracies for total genetic effect predictions, the mean-squared error values in such a model were worse than those observed for GBLUP-D in scenarios with large additive and dominance variances. When applied to prescreen important regions, the RF approach detected QTL with high additive and/or dominance effects. Among machine learning methods, only the RF was capable to cover implicitly dominance effects without increasing the number of covariates in the model, resulting in higher accuracies for the total genetic and phenotypic values as the dominance ratio increases. Nevertheless, whether the interest is to infer directly on dominance effects, GBLUP-D could be a more suitable method.
Differences in Treatment of Stevens–Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis at Burn Centers and Nonburn Centers
Authors: Nygaard Rachel M , Endorf Frederick W
Published: June 2020

Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and Stevens–Johnson/TEN overlap syndrome (SJS/TEN) are severe exfoliative skin disorders resulting primarily from allergic drug reactions and sometimes from viral causes. Because of the significant epidermal loss in many of these patients, many of them end up receiving treatment at a burn center for expertise in the care of large wounds. Previous work on the treatment of this disease focused only on the differences in care of the same patients treated at nonburn centers and then transferred to burn centers. We wanted to explore whether patients had any differences in care or outcomes when they received definitive treatment at burn centers and nonburn centers. We queried the National Inpatient Sample database from 2016 for patients with SJS, SJS/TEN, and TEN diagnoses. We considered burn centers as those with greater than 10 burn transfers to their center and fewer than 5 burn transfers out of their center in a year. Multivariable logistic regression assessed factors associated with treatment at a burn center and mortality. Using the National Inpatient Sample, a total of 1164 patients were identified. These were divided into two groups, nonburn centers vs burn centers, and those groups were compared for demographic characteristics as well as variables in their hospital course and outcome. Patients treated at nonburn centers were more likely to have SJS and patients treated at burn centers were more likely to have both SJS/TEN and TEN. Demographics were similar between treatment locations, though African-Americans were more likely to be treated at a burn center. Burn centers had higher rates of patients with extreme severity and mortality risks and a longer length of stay. However, burn centers had similar actual mortality compared to nonburn centers. Patients treated at burn centers had higher charges and were more likely to be transferred to long-term care after their hospital stay. The majority of patients with exfoliative skin disorders are still treated at nonburn centers. Patients with SJS/TEN and TEN were more likely to be treated at a burn center. Patients treated at burn centers appear to have more severe disease but similar mortality to those treated at nonburn centers. Further study is needed to determine whether patients with these disorders do indeed benefit from transfer to a burn center.
Adrenocortical sarcomatoid carcinoma: a case report and review of the literature
Authors: Sabrine Derqaoui , Zakia Bernoussi , Kaoutar Znati
Published: June 2020

Adrenal sarcomatoid carcinoma (ASC) is a very rare aggressive variant of adrenocortical carcinoma showing carcinomatous and sarcomatous differentiation. It is a poorly differentiated carcinoma with poor prognosis. The diagnosis requires careful histological and immunohistochemical investigation. We describe a new case of ASC to raise awareness on this extremely rare entity. A 27-year-old woman presented with a right flank pain. Imaging revealed a tissular mass of the right adrenal gland without metastases. After adrenalectomy, histology revealed sheets of epithelioid cells that stained for synaptophysin and Melan-A; and spindled cells staining for S-100. We have reported the clinical and histopathological features of ACS’s case; as it is an extremely rare cancer with a challenging diagnosis. There is a need for a further understanding of ASC’s biology to improve it poor prognosis.
Convergence, continuity, recurrence and Turing completeness in dynamic epistemic logic1
Authors: Klein Dominik , Rendsvig Rasmus K
Published: June 2020

The paper analyses dynamic epistemic logic from a topological perspective. The main contribution consists of a framework in which dynamic epistemic logic satisfies the requirements for being a topological dynamical system thus interfacing discrete dynamic logics with continuous mappings of dynamical systems. The setting is based on a notion of logical convergence, demonstratively equivalent with convergence in Stone topology. Presented is a flexible, parametrized family of metrics inducing the Stone topology, used as an analytical aid. We show maps induced by action model transformations continuous with respect to the Stone topology and present results on the recurrent behaviour of said maps. Among the recurrence results, we show maps induced by finite action models may have uncountably many recurrent points, even when initiated on a finite input model. Several recurrence results draws on the class of action models being Turing complete, for which the paper provides proof in the postcondition-free case. As upper bounds, it is shown that either 1 atom, 3 agents and preconditions of modal depth 18 or 1 atom, 7 agents and preconditions of modal depth 3 suffice for Turing completeness.
The universal acceleration scale from stellar feedback
Authors: Grudić Michael Y , Boylan-Kolchin Michael , Faucher-Giguère Claude-André , Hopkins Philip F
Published: May 2020

It has been established for decades that rotation curves deviate from the Newtonian gravity expectation given baryons alone below a characteristic acceleration scale $g_{\dagger }\sim 10^{-8}\, \rm {cm\, s^{-2}}$, a scale promoted to a new fundamental constant in MOND. In recent years, theoretical and observational studies have shown that the star formation efficiency (SFE) of dense gas scales with surface density, SFE ∼ Σ/Σcrit with $\Sigma _{\rm crit} \sim \langle \dot{p}/m_{\ast }\rangle /(\pi \, G)\sim 1000\, \rm {M_{\odot }\, pc^{-2}}$ (where $\langle \dot{p}/m_{\ast }\rangle$ is the momentum flux output by stellar feedback per unit stellar mass in a young stellar population). We argue that the SFE, more generally, should scale with the local gravitational acceleration, i.e. that SFE ${\sim}g_{\rm tot}/g_{\rm crit}\equiv (G\, M_{\rm tot}/R^{2}) / \langle \dot{p}/m_{\ast }\rangle$, where Mtot is the total gravitating mass and $g_{\rm crit}=\langle \dot{p}/m_{\ast }\rangle = \pi \, G\, \Sigma _{\rm crit} \approx 10^{-8}\, \rm {cm\, s^{-2}} \approx \mathit{ g}_{\dagger }$. Hence, the observed g† may correspond to the characteristic acceleration scale above which stellar feedback cannot prevent efficient star formation, and baryons will eventually come to dominate. We further show how this may give rise to the observed acceleration scaling $g_{\rm obs}\sim (g_{\rm baryon}\, g_{\dagger })^{1/2}$ (where gbaryon is the acceleration due to baryons alone) and flat rotation curves. The derived characteristic acceleration g† can be expressed in terms of fundamental constants (gravitational constant, proton mass, and Thomson cross-section): $g_{\dagger }\sim 0.1\, G\, m_{\mathrm{ p}}/\sigma _{\rm T}$.
Effectiveness of Implementation Strategies to Improve Adherence of Physical Therapist Treatment Choices to Clinical Practice Guidelines for Musculoskeletal Conditions: Systematic Review
Authors: Zadro Joshua R , O’Keeffe Mary , Allison Jodie L , Lembke Kirsty A , Forbes Joanna L , Maher Christopher G
Published: May 2020

Objective

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation strategies aimed at improving the adherence of physical therapists’ treatment choices to clinical practice guidelines for a range of musculoskeletal conditions.

Methods

For this review, searches were performed in several databases combining terms synonymous with “practice patterns” and “physical therapy” until August 2019. The review included randomized controlled trials that investigated any intervention to improve the adherence of physical therapists’ treatment choices to clinical practice guidelines or research evidence. Treatment choices assessed by surveys, audits of clinical notes, and treatment recording forms were the primary measures of adherence. Self-reported guideline adherence was the secondary measure. Three reviewers independently assessed risk of bias. Because of heterogeneity across studies, only a narrative synthesis of the results was performed.

Results

Nine studies were included. Four demonstrated a positive effect on at least 1 measure of treatment choices for low back pain and acute whiplash. One involved a comparison with no intervention, and 3 involved a comparison with another active intervention. The interventions that demonstrated a positive effect included dissemination of clinical practice guidelines, with additional elements including interactive educational meetings (3 studies), tailored interventions and monitoring of the performance of health care delivery (1 study), peer assessment (1 study), and local opinion leaders plus educational outreach visits (1 study).

Conclusions

Although this review revealed limited trials evaluating interventions to increase physical therapists’ use of evidence-based treatments for musculoskeletal conditions compared with no intervention, it highlighted some interventions that may be effective.

Impact

Dissemination of clinical practice guidelines, interactive educational meetings, tailored interventions and monitoring the performance of health care delivery, peer assessment, and use of local opinion leaders plus educational outreach visits should be implemented to improve physical therapists’ adherence to clinical practice guidelines for a range of musculoskeletal conditions.
Metabolome analysis using cerebrospinal fluid from narcolepsy type 1 patients
Authors: Shimada Mihoko , Miyagawa Taku , Kodama Tohru , Toyoda Hiromi , Tokunaga Katsushi , Honda Makoto
Published: May 2020

Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a hypersomnia characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy. Inappropriate regulation of fatty acid metabolism has been suggested to be involved in the pathophysiology of NT1, but the detailed mechanisms remain uncertain. Here we performed a metabolomic analysis of cerebrospinal fluid samples from 14 NT1 and 17 control subjects using a novel capillary electrophoresis coupled with Fourier transform mass spectrometry. A total of 268 metabolites were identified and the amount of histidine was the most significantly increased in NT1 patients (p = 4.0 × 10–4). Validation analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) including independent replication samples also identified the association of histidine (p = 2.02 × 10–3). Further, levels of histamine, which is synthesized from histidine, were also examined using HPLC and were found to be significantly decreased in NT1 patients (p = 6.12 × 10–4). Pathway analysis with nominally significant metabolites identified several pathways related to the metabolism of glycogenic amino acids, suggesting that glycogenesis is enhanced in NT1 as a compensatory mechanism for fatty acid metabolism. We performed further exploratory analysis, searching for metabolites associated with sleep variables from polysomnography and the multiple sleep latency test. As a result, 5′-deoxy-5′-methylthioadenosine showed a significant association with apnea–hypopnea index (p = 2.66 ×10–6). Moreover, gamma aminobutyric acid displayed a negative correlation with rapid eye movement sleep latency (REML), and thus might represent an intriguing target for future studies to elucidate how the controlling circuit of REM sleep is associated with abnormally short REML in NT1.