bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Empirical variability of Italian multiword expressions as a useful
feature for their categorisation
Authors: Squillante Luigi
Published: April 2020

In contemporary linguistics the definition of those entities
which are referred to as multiword expressions (MWEs) remains controversial.
It is intuitively clear that some words, when appearing together, have some
“special bond” in terms of meaning (e.g. black hole, mountain chain), or
lexical choice (e.g. strong tea, to fill a form), contrary to free
combinations. Nevertheless, the great variety of features and anomalous
behaviours that these expressions exhibit makes it difficult to organise
them into categories and gives rise to a great amount of different and
sometimes overlapping terminology.

So far, most approaches in corpus linguistics have focused on
trying to automatically extract MWEs from corpora by using statistical
association measures, while theoretical aspects related to their definition,
typology and behaviours arising from quantitative corpus-based studies have
not been widely explored, especially for languages with a rich morphology
and relatively free word order, such as Italian.

This contribution attests that a systematic analysis of the
empirical behaviour of Italian MWEs in large corpora, with respect to
several parameters, such as syntactic and lexical variations, is useful for
outlining a categorisation of the expressions in homogeneous sets which
approximately correspond to what is intuitively known as multiword units
(“polirematiche” in the Italian lexicographic tradition) and lexical
collocations. The importance of this kind of approach is that the resulting
categorisation of MWEs is grounded on empirical data rather than relying on
intuitive and not-always-coherent linguistic definitions.

The variational features taken into account are (1) the
possibility for the expressions to be syntactically transformed, and (2) the
possibility for one of the component to be replaced with a synonym. These
features can be automatically and quantitatively investigated using
ad hoc designed tools, whose methodology is fully
explained, if an annotated corpus and a list of expressions are provided. It
is possible to show that the kind of attested variations and the magnitude
of variation appear highly correlated to the grammatical structure of a
given phrase, indicating that the bond between the components for a
multiword unit or a lexical collocation can be formed by activating
different kinds of restrictions, depending on the considered grammatical
pattern.
How context determines meaning
Authors: Hanks Patrick
Published: April 2020

It is an extraordinary fact that, although most speakers and
writers of the English language (or, we may presume, any other language)
believe that they are capable of expressing any meaning that they want to
with considerable precision, the behaviour of the words they use is highly
variable, with much variation in phraseology as well as subtle semantic
distinctions. Even more extraordinary is the fact that only some of the
logically predictable variants of any given phrase are accepted by native
speakers as idiomatic.

This chapter shows how meanings are associated with
phraseological norms rather than with words in isolation. It also
illustrates the phenomenon of alternation among phraseological norms and
shows how phraseological norms are not merely conformed to, but also
exploited creatively in ordinary language use. Underlying this paper is the
proposition that words in isolation do not have a determinable meaning per
se. Instead they have meaning potential, different facets of
which are activated in different contexts.

By detailed corpus pattern analysis of the verb
blow, which typically expresses the causation of
movement, we explore the relationship between core meaning and a rich set of
patterns of idiomatic phraseology – phrasal verbs, idioms, and proverbs.
Detecting semantic difference
Authors: Taslimipoor Shiva , Corpas Pastor Gloria , Rohanian Omid
Published: April 2020

Semantic discrimination among concepts is a daily exercise for
humans when using natural languages. For example, given the words,
airplane and car, the word
flying can easily be thought and used as an attribute
to differentiate them. In this study, we propose a novel automatic approach
to detect whether an attribute word represents the difference between two
given words. We exploit a combination of knowledge-based and co-occurrence
features (collocations) to capture the semantic difference between two words
in relation to an attribute. The features are scores that are defined for
each pair of words and an attribute, based on association measures, n-gram
counts, word similarity, and Concept-Net relations. Based on these features
we designed a system that run several experiments on a SemEval-2018 dataset.
The experimental results indicate that the proposed model performs better,
or at least comparable with, other systems evaluated on the same data for
this task.
How do Spanish heritage speakers in the US assign gender to English nouns in Spanish-English
code-switching?
Authors: Denbaum Nofiya , de Prada Pérez Ana
Published: April 2020

Previous studies have observed different gender assignment strategies for English nouns in Spanish-English
code-switching (CS). However, these studies have not investigated the role of noun gender canonicity of the Spanish equivalent,
they have only examined participants in bilingual speaker mode, and most studies have not explored the role of bilingual language
experience. The current study compares gender assignment by heritage speakers of Spanish in a monolingual speaker mode and a
bilingual speaker mode, considering the role of noun gender canonicity and CS experience. Results revealed a language mode effect,
where participants used significantly more masculine determiners with the same feminine nouns in the CS session than those in the
Spanish monolingual session where they used a feminine determiner. Further evidence of a language mode effect was found in the
effect of noun canonicity and bilingual language experience. Noun canonicity was only significant in the Spanish monolingual
session, where participants used significantly more masculine determiners with non-canonical nouns. Bilingual language experience
was only significant in the CS session, where regular codeswitchers used more masculine default determiners than infrequent
codeswitchers and non-codeswitchers, while in Spanish-only, all these groups behaved similarly.
What transfers (or doesn’t) in the second language acquisition of English articles by learners from article-less native languages?
Authors: Ionin Tania , Choi Sea Hee , Liu Qiufen
Published: April 2020

This paper examines whether adult learners of English whose native languages (Korean and Mandarin Chinese) lack articles are influenced by transfer from demonstratives and numerals in their acquisition of English articles. To this end, the results of two studies are reported. The first study examines native Korean and Mandarin speakers’ preferences for bare vs. non-bare (demonstrative or numeral) forms in different types of definite and indefinite environments. The results of this study give rise to specific predictions for L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners’ sensitivity to article omission errors in different types of definite and indefinite contexts in English. These predictions are tested in the second study, which uses both an offline task (grammaticality judgments) and an online task (self-paced reading) to investigate learners’ sensitivity to errors of article omission. L1-Korean and L1-Mandarin L2-English learners are found to behave very similarly when tested in English, despite different preferences exhibited by native speakers of Korean and Mandarin.  It is concluded that learners of these article-less first languages do not transfer the semantics of demonstratives and numerals onto articles in their second language.
Recruitments in French
Authors: Golato Peter
Published: April 2020

This chapter analyzes first-person singular declarative
statements and their accompanying actions in French cooking shows. These
‘what I’m doing’ action combinations (Frick 2017) include lexical verbs having to do with object
seizing/manipulation and ambulatory movement in either the futur
proche (the French periphrastic future) or the simple present
tense. The discussion shows that these turns mobilize others. Specifically,
they result in the recruitment (Kendrick
and Drew 2016) of coparticipants to assist the speaker in some
way. The discussion focuses on the interplay between grammatical form,
embodiment, setting, and interactional achievement. It shows that ‘what I’m
doing’ action combinations not only mobilize the hosts of the show, but may
also mobilize non-addressable third parties such as camera operators.
When emergencies are not urgent
Authors: Bolaños-Carpio Alexa
Published: April 2020

This study examines the activity of requesting help in
emergency calls, using 911 Costa Rica as a case study. Focusing on the
notions of contingency-entitlement, benefactors and beneficiaries, and the
urgency of the incident, the findings show that the design of the request
for non-life-threatening incidents can encode the caller’s low entitlement
to the request via the phrase para ver si ‘to see if.’ When
using this phrase in conjunction with other linguistic forms (such as modal
periphrasis), the caller’s entitlement to the request is further downgraded.
Regardless of the type of incident and the linguistic forms used in the
request for help, call-takers’ next relevant action is asking the location
of the incident or verifying the caller’s information.
Extracellular vesicles provide a capsid‐free vector for oncolytic adenoviral DNA delivery
Authors: Saari Heikki , Turunen Tiia , Lõhmus Andres , Turunen Mikko , Jalasvuori Matti , Butcher Sarah J. , Ylä‐Herttuala Seppo , Viitala Tapani , Cerullo Vincenzo , Siljander Pia R. M. , Yliperttula Marjo
Published: April 2020

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been showcased as auspicious candidates for delivering therapeutic cargo, including oncolytic viruses for cancer treatment. Delivery of oncolytic viruses in EVs could provide considerable advantages, hiding the viruses from the immune system and providing alternative entry pathways into cancer cells. Here we describe the formation and viral cargo of EVs secreted by cancer cells infected with an oncolytic adenovirus (IEVs, infected cell‐derived EVs) as a function of time after infection. IEVs were secreted already before the lytic release of virions and their structure resembled normally secreted EVs, suggesting that they were not just apoptotic fragments of infected cells. IEVs were able to carry the viral genome and induce infection in other cancer cells. As such, the role of EVs in the life cycle of adenoviruses may be an important part of a successful infection and may also be harnessed for cancer‐ and gene therapy.
BK channels promote neuromuscular transmission
Authors: Short Ben
Published: April 2020

Mice lacking BK channels are weak because of reduced vesicle release at neuromuscular junctions.
Pushing Purcell enhancement beyond its limits
Authors: Barrett Thomas D , Doherty Thomas H , Kuhn Axel
Published: April 2020

Purcell-enhanced photon emission into a cavity is at the heart of many schemes for interfacing quantum states of light and matter. We show that the intra-cavity coupling of orthogonal polarisation modes in a birefringent cavity allows for the emitter and photon to be decoupled prior to emission from the cavity mode, enabling photon extraction efficiencies that exceed the, previously considered fundamental, limits of Purcell enhancement. Tailored cavity birefringence is seen to mitigate the tradeoff between stronger emitter-cavity coupling and efficient photon extraction, providing significant advantages over single-mode cavities. We then generalise this approach to show that engineered coupling between states of the emitter can equivalently ‘hide’ the emitter from the photon, ultimately allowing the extraction efficiency to approach its fundamental upper limit. The principles proposed in this work can be applied in multiple ways to any emitter-cavity system, paving the way to surpassing the traditional limitations with technologies that exist today.
Dependence of mechanical properties on the site occupancy of ternary alloying elements in γ′-Ni3Al: Ab initio description for shear and tensile deformation*
Authors: Wen Minru , Xie Xing , Dong Huafeng , Wu Fugen , Wang Chong-Yu
Published: April 2020

The site occupancy behavior of ternary alloying elements in γ′-Ni3Al (a key strengthening phase of commercial Ni-based single-crystal superalloys) can change with temperature and alloy composition owing to the effect of entropy. Using a total-energy method based on density functional theory, the dependence of tensile and shear behaviors on the site preference of alloying elements in γ′-Ni3Al were investigated in detail. Our results demonstrate that Fe, Ru, and Ir can significantly improve the ideal tensile and shear strength of the γ′ phase when occupying the Al site, with Ru resulting in the strongest enhancement. In contrast, elements with fully filled d orbitals (i.e., Cu, Zn, Ag, and Cd) are expected to reduce the ideal tensile and shear strength. The calculated stress–strain relationships of Ni3Al alloys indicate that none of the alloying elements can simultaneously increase the ideal strength of the γ′ phase for both Ni1-site and Ni2-site substitutions. In addition, the charge redistribution and the bond length of the alloying elements and host atoms during the tensile and shear processes are analyzed to unveil the underlying electronic mechanisms.
Tunable electronic structures of germanane/antimonene van der Waals heterostructures using an external electric field and normal strain*
Authors: Tan Xing-Yi , Liu Li-Li , Ren Da-Hua
Published: April 2020

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures have attracted significant attention because of their widespread applications in nanoscale devices. In the present work, we investigate the electronic structures of germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure in response to normal strain and an external electric field by using the first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). The results demonstrate that the germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure behaves as a metal in a [−1, −0.6] V/Å range, while it is a direct semiconductor in a [−0.5, 0.2] V/Å range, and it is an indirect semiconductor in a [0.3, 1.0] V/Å range. Interestingly, the band alignment of germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure appears as type-II feature both in a [−0.5, 0.1] range and in a [0.3, 1] V/Å range, while it shows the type-I character at 0.2 V/Å. In addition, we find that the germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure is an indirect semiconductor both in an in-plane biaxial strain range of [−5%, −3%] and in an in-plane biaxial strain range of [3%, 5%], while it exhibits a direct semiconductor character in an in-plane biaxial strain range of [−2%, 2%]. Furthermore, the band alignment of the germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure changes from type-II to type-I at an in-plane biaxial strain of –3%. The adjustable electronic structure of this germanane/antimonene vdW heterostructure will pave the way for developing the nanoscale devices.
Electrical modeling of dielectric barrier discharge considering surface charge on the plasma modified material*
Authors: Guan Hong-Lu , Chen Xiang-Rong , Jiang Tie , Du Hao , Paramane Ashish , Zhou Hao
Published: April 2020

We present the variations of electrical parameters of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) when the DBD generator is used for the material modification, whereas the relevant physical mechanism is also elaborated. An equivalent circuit model is applied for a DBD generator working in a filament discharging mode, considering the addition of epoxy resin (EP) as the plasma modified material. The electrical parameters are calculated through the circuit model. The surface conductivity, surface potential decay, trap distributions and surface charge distributions on the EP surface before and after plasma treatments were measured and calculated. It is found that the coverage area of micro-discharge channels on the EP surface is increased with the discharging time under the same applied AC voltage. The results indicate that the plasma modified material could influence the ignition of new filaments in return during the modification process. Moreover, the surface conductivity and density of shallow traps with low trap energy of the EP samples increase after the plasma treatment. The surface charge distributions indicate that the improved surface properties accelerate the movement and redistribution of charge carriers on the EP surface. The variable electrical parameters of discharge are attributed to the redistribution of deposited surface charge on the plasma modified EP sample surface.
Higher-order interactions mitigate direct negative effects on population dynamics of herbaceous plants during succession
Authors: Xiao Junli , Li Yuanzhi , Chu Chengjin , Wang Youshi , Meiners Scott J , Stouffer Daniel B
Published: April 2020

Plant succession is regulated by a combination of abiotic and biotic factors. However, previous studies of biotic drivers have focused overwhelmingly on direct pairwise species interactions, ignoring the likely prevalent higher-order interactions (HOIs) in natural systems. Climate also plays a significant role in determining successional dynamics with both direct effects and indirect effects via altered biotic interactions. Here we explored the relative effects of direct species interactions, HOIs, climate, and their interactions on population dynamics of herbaceous plants during 50 years of post-agricultural secondary succession and tested whether the inclusion of HOIs and climate data improved forecasts of population dynamics. Direct intraspecific interactions were competitive and prevalent across the 90 herbaceous plants examined, while direct interspecific interactions only affected populations of 29% species. HOIs, mainly arose from intraspecific HOIs of conspecifics, were mostly positive and thus largely mitigated the competitive effects of direct intraspecific interactions. Species with lower peak cover experienced stronger intraspecific competition and positive intraspecific HOIs of conspecifics. Direct interspecific interactions had neutral or facilitative effects on species with lower peak cover, and tended to have competitive effects on species with higher peak cover. Climate simultaneously influenced population dynamics both directly and indirectly via altered species interactions. Forecast performance was significantly improved with the inclusion of HOIs or climate for about half and one-third of species, respectively. Our study emphasizes the importance of HOIs, which largely mitigated direct competitive effects on population dynamics of herbaceous plants during succession. Teasing apart HOIs from direct species interactions substantially refined our understanding of successional dynamics of herbaceous plants and improved the accuracy of forecasting population dynamics during succession in a changing world.
Fabrication and characteristics of Zn1–xSnxO nanorod/ITO composite photocatalytic films
Authors: Dung T. Nguyen , Dang Tran Chien , Trinh Duc Thien , Duong Anh Tuan , Pham Duc Thang , Nguyen Nang Dinh , Nguyen Dinh Lam
Published: April 2020

Zn1−xSnxO NRs/ITO composite photocatalytic films were fabricated by the hydrothermal method. A concentration of Sn dopant in Zn1−xSnxO nanorods (NRs) was varied from 0% to 7%. The structural and surface morphology characteristics of Zn1−xSnxO NRs/ITO composite photocatalytic films were investigated by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. In addition, photocatalytic properties of synthesized materials were evaluated by degradation rates of Rhodamine-B aqueous solutions under UV light irradiation. The SEM results indicated that, with an increasing concentration of Sn dopant in Zn1−xSnxO NRs/ITO, the effective surface areas were declined by an exponential decay function and the reduction was negligible as the Sn doping concentration was higher than 3%. With the similarity in effective surface area, the contribution of Sn in the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of Zn0.93Sn0.07O NRs/ITO is clearly observed with 41% improvement in comparison to ZnO NRs/ITO.
Optical studies of crystalline ZnO–SiO2 developed from pyrolysis of coconut husk
Authors: Anuar Muhammad Fahmi , Fen Yap Wing , Zaid Mohd Hafiz Mohd , Omar Nur Alia Sheh
Published: April 2020

In this paper, the ZnO–SiO2 was synthesized using ZnO nanopowders and SiO2 developed from coconut husk ash by using conventional solid state method. The ZnO–SiO2 crystal system was heat-treated and the properties was studied. The XRD results showed high intensity peaks due to its high crystallinity when sintered at high temperature. The morphological differences can also be observed through FESEM images as the heat-treated crystal system showed well-distinct boundaries. Meanwhile, the absorbance intensity decreased and shifted to the lower wavelength after heat-treated. The optical band gap value of the ZnO–SiO2 was 3.22 eV before treated and increased to 4.05 eV after heat treated. The presented results showed good properties of zinc silicate and it has a great potential as phosphors in optical application.
Biosorbents prepared from pomelo peel by hydrothermal technique and its adsorption properties for congo red
Authors: Zheng Heng , Sun Qinye , Li Yanhui , Du Qiuju
Published: April 2020

A new kind of biosorbent was prepared from pomelo peel by using potassium hydroxide as activating agent and hydrothermal treatment method. The characteristics of materials were analyzed by SEM, BET and FTIR. Increasing the adsorbent dosage (from 2.5 to 17.5 g l−1) and contents of congo red in solution (from 20 to 50 mg l−1) cause the increment of removal rate of congo red. On the other side, the removal rate is decrement with rising of temperature and pH. The maximum adsorption quantity of biosorbent was 144.93 mg g−1 at 303 K, which calculated by Langmuir model. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model, pseudo-second-order kinetic model and intra-particle diffusion model were used to explain adsorption process. The value of Gibbs free energy (∆G) is −7.63 (kJ/mol) at 303 K and the enthalpy change (∆H) is −31.43 (kJ/mol), meaning that adsorption behavior for congo red is spontaneous.
Phase-based Eulerian motion magnification reveals eardrum mobility from pneumatic otoscopy without sealing the ear canal
Authors: Won Jungeun , Huang Pin-Chieh , Boppart Stephen A
Published: April 2020

Pneumatic otoscopy is the recommended diagnostic method for middle ear infections. Physicians use a pneumatic otoscope to assess the position of the eardrum (bulging or retraction) as well as the eardrum mobility while an insufflation bulb is squeezed to generate air pressure changes in a sealed ear canal. While pneumatic otoscopy provides increased sensitivity and specificity by detecting decreased eardrum mobility, there exist many challenges to correctly perform and interpret results. For example, the ear canal must be sealed using a specialized ear speculum to deliver sufficiently large pressure changes that can induce visible movements of an eardrum. To overcome this challenge, video motion magnification is proposed to amplify pneumatic-induced motions of the eardrum without sealing of the ear canal. Pneumatic otoscopy is performed on adult subjects using a smartphone camera with an otoscope attachment at 60 frames per second, with pressure inputs at 5 Hz. Phase-based Eulerian motion magnification is applied to magnify spatiotemporal dependent motions in the video. As a result, the motion magnification of unsealed pneumatic otoscopy reveals comparable eardrum motions as in standard pneumatic otoscopy with a sealed ear canal. Furthermore, the estimated motions (in pixels) are quantified to examine the spatial and the temporal variations of the eardrum motions. The motion magnification may avoid the need for sealing the ear canal as well as decrease patient discomfort in pneumatic otoscopy, improving the capability and the usability as a point-of-care diagnostic tool in primary care and otology.
Low-dimensional materials as saturable absorbers for pulsed waveguide lasers
Authors: Li Ziqi , Pang Chi , Li Rang , Chen Feng
Published: April 2020

Low-dimensional (LD) materials, such as 2D materials, carbon nanotubes, and nanoparticles, have attracted increasing attention for light modulation in photonics and optoelectronics. The high nonlinearity, broad bandwidth, and fast response enabled by LD materials are critical to realize desired functionalities in highly integrated photonic systems. Driven by the growing demand for compact laser sources, LD materials have recently demonstrated their great capacity as saturable absorbers in pulsed (Q-switched or mode-locked) laser generation in waveguide platforms. We review the recent advances of pulsed waveguide lasers based on LD materials. A perspective is also presented in this rapidly growing research field.
PedMiner: a tool for linkage analysis-based identification of disease-associated variants using family based whole-exome sequencing data
Authors: Zhou Jianteng , Gao Jianing , Zhang Huan , Zhao Daren , Li Ao , Iqbal Furhan , Shi Qinghua , Zhang Yuanwei
Published: April 2020

With the advances of next-generation sequencing technology, the field of disease research has been revolutionized. However, pinpointing the disease-causing variants from millions of revealed variants is still a tough task. Here, we have reviewed the existing linkage analysis tools and presented PedMiner, a web-based application designed to narrow down candidate variants from family based whole-exome sequencing (WES) data through linkage analysis. PedMiner integrates linkage analysis, variant annotation and prioritization in one automated pipeline. It provides graphical visualization of the linked regions along with comprehensive annotation of variants and genes within these linked regions. This efficient and comprehensive application will be helpful for the scientific community working on Mendelian inherited disorders using family based WES data.
Habitat generalists drive nestedness in a tropical mountaintop insect metacommunity
Authors: Neves Frederico de Siqueira , da Silva Pedro Giovâni , Solar Ricardo , Nunes Cássio Alencar , Beirão Marina do Vale , Brant Humberto , Castro Flávio Siqueira de , Dáttilo Wesley , Guevara Roger , Fernandes G Wilson
Published: April 2020

Nestedness is widely observed in natural metacommunities, but its underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. The distribution of habitats in the landscape and differences in dispersal rates of distinct insect taxa can determine the nestedness of the metacommunity. Here, we evaluated how species habitat specialization contributes to metacommunity nestedness in insect groups with different dispersal capacities in a mountaintop landscape in south-eastern Brazil. We sampled ants, butterflies and dung beetles in two main habitats, naturally fragmented forest islands and a grassland matrix (campo rupestre), during both dry and rainy seasons. We classified species according to their degree of habitat specialization (generalists or specialists) based on the relative frequencies and abundances between these two contrasting habitats. Forty of 211 species were classified as habitat specialists, seven as habitat generalists. It was not possible to classify the remaining species. The metacommunity was nested in structure, with habitat generalist species contributing more to nestedness than habitat specialists. Nonetheless, habitat distribution in the landscape did not affect the nestedness of the metacommunity. Our findings reveal that species sorting (for habitat specialists) and mass effects (for habitat generalists) are concurrent processes in the mountaintop forest–grassland mosaic. Our study helps to advance our understanding of the differences in the distribution of generalist and specialist species in a tropical mountaintop landscape and improves our ability to predict and manage the increasingly adverse effects of changes in land use and climate on metacommunities and ecosystem functions.
Noninvasive Fetal Genotyping by Droplet Digital PCR to Identify Maternally Inherited Monogenic Diabetes Variants
Authors: Caswell Richard C , Snowsill Tristan , Houghton Jayne A L , Chakera Ali J , Shepherd Maggie H , Laver Thomas W , Knight Bridget A , Wright David , Hattersley Andrew T , Ellard Sian
Published: April 2020

Background

Babies of women with heterozygous pathogenic glucokinase (GCK) variants causing mild fasting hyperglycemia are at risk of macrosomia if they do not inherit the variant. Conversely, babies who inherit a pathogenic hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4A) diabetes variant are at increased risk of high birth weight. Noninvasive fetal genotyping for maternal pathogenic variants would inform pregnancy management.

Methods

Droplet digital PCR was used to quantify reference and variant alleles in cell-free DNA extracted from blood from 38 pregnant women heterozygous for a GCK or HNF4A variant and to determine fetal fraction by measurement of informative maternal and paternal variants. Droplet numbers positive for the reference/alternate allele together with the fetal fraction were used in a Bayesian analysis to derive probability for the fetal genotype. The babies’ genotypes were ascertained postnatally by Sanger sequencing.

Results

Droplet digital PCR assays for GCK or HNF4A variants were validated for testing in all 38 pregnancies. Fetal fraction of ≥2% was demonstrated in at least 1 cell-free DNA sample from 33 pregnancies. A threshold of ≥0.95 for calling homozygous reference genotypes and ≤0.05 for heterozygous fetal genotypes allowed correct genotype calls for all 33 pregnancies with no false-positive results. In 30 of 33 pregnancies, a result was obtained from a single blood sample.

Conclusions

This assay can be used to identify pregnancies at risk of macrosomia due to maternal monogenic diabetes variants.
Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery: a rare cause of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in an adult—a case report
Authors: Regeer Madelien V , Bondarenko Olga , Zeppenfeld Katja , Egorova Anastasia D
Published: April 2020

Background

Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital disorder resulting in ischaemia and myocardial infarction which can act as a potential substrate for life-threatening arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Case summary

A 19-year-old man was admitted to the hospital after successful resuscitation from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) due to ventricular fibrillation occurring during jogging. In the diagnostic work-up of the OHCA, computed tomography identified an ALCAPA. The patient was referred to our tertiary hospital for surgical correction. Direct reimplantation of the left coronary artery in the aorta was performed. During follow-up, 24-h electrocardiogram revealed short episodes of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT). The magnetic resonance imaging at initial admission showed focal wall thinning and transmural late gadolinium enhancement consistent with a previous anterolateral myocardial infarction. Therefore, the aetiology of the OHCA could be due to a scar-related mechanism and not necessarily due to a reversible cause and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) was considered indicated. Given the young age and the lower complication rates, a subcutaneous device was preferred over a transvenous ICD. However, as a subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD) lacks the possibility of anti-tachycardia pacing, programmed electrical stimulation (PES) was performed to test for inducibility of monomorphic, re-entrant VT. After a negative PES, an S-ICD was implanted.

Discussion

ALCAPA is a potential cause of OHCA in young patients. Some of these patients keep an irreversible substrate for ventricular arrhythmias despite full surgical revascularization and might be candidates for (subcutaneous) ICD implantation.
Mandibular movements in children with deciduous and mixed dentition and in young adults with permanent dentition—the association between movements and occlusal traits
Authors: Sepp Hettel , Vinkka-Puhakka Heli , Peltomäki Timo
Published: April 2020

Background

Cross-sectional studies of mandibular movements provide data on developmental trends of dentition and support planning of public health services.

Objective

The aim of this study was to measure mandibular movement capacities in children with deciduous and mixed dentition and in young adults with permanent dentition. The influence of age and gender on mandibular movements and the association between mandibular movements and occlusal traits were analysed.

Method

The sample consisted of 1172 Estonians: group 1: children with deciduous dentition; group 2: children with mixed dentition; and group 3: young adults with permanent dentition. Maximum opening, mandibular laterotrusion, and protrusion were registered.

Results

Age was correlated with mandibular movements. Young adults had statistically significantly larger mandibular movements as compared to children with deciduous and mixed dentition, and children with mixed dentition had larger mandibular movements as compared to children with deciduous dentition. Young adult males had larger mandibular movements than females of the same age. Associations were found between mandibular movement capacities and some occlusal traits. Mandibular movement capacities were smaller in children with crossbite and open bite as compared with children without corresponding occlusal traits. Mandibular movement capacities were larger in children with deep bite and increased overjet as compared with those without corresponding occlusal traits.

Conclusion

Mandibular movement capacities are age and gender dependent. Maximum mouth opening, mandibular laterotrusion, and protrusion are related, and mandibular movement and some occlusal traits are associated.
The Lipomyces starkeyi gene Ls120451 encodes a cellobiose transporter that enables cellobiose fermentation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: de Ruijter Jorg C , Igarashi Kiyohiko , Penttilä Merja
Published: April 2020

Processed lignocellulosic biomass is a source of mixed sugars that can be used for microbial fermentation into fuels or higher value products, like chemicals. Previously, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was engineered to utilize its cellodextrins through the heterologous expression of sugar transporters together with an intracellular expressed β-glucosidase. In this study, we screened a selection of eight (putative) cellodextrin transporters from different yeast and fungal hosts in order to extend the catalogue of available cellobiose transporters for cellobiose fermentation in S. cerevisiae. We confirmed that several in silico predicted cellodextrin transporters from Aspergillus niger were capable of transporting cellobiose with low affinity. In addition, we found a novel cellobiose transporter from the yeast Lipomyces starkeyi, encoded by the gene Ls120451. This transporter allowed efficient growth on cellobiose, while it also grew on glucose and lactose, but not cellotriose nor cellotetraose. We characterized the transporter more in-depth together with the transporter CdtG from Penicillium oxalicum. CdtG showed to be slightly more efficient in cellobiose consumption than Ls120451 at concentrations below 1.0 g/L. Ls120451 was more efficient in cellobiose consumption at higher concentrations and strains expressing this transporter grew slightly slower, but produced up to 30% more ethanol than CdtG.
Application of Selected Muscle Strength and Body Mass Cut Points for the Diagnosis of Sarcopenia in Men and Women With or at Risk for HIV Infection
Authors: Erlandson Kristine M , Travison Thomas G , Zhu Hao , Magaziner Jay , Correa-de-Araujo Rosaly , Cawthon Peggy M , Bhasin Shalender , Manini Todd , Fielding Roger A , Palella Frank J , Kingsley Lawrence , Lake Jordan E , Sharma Anjali , Tien Phyllis C , Weber Kathleen M , Yin Michael T , Brown Todd T
Published: April 2020

Background

Persons with HIV may experience greater mobility limitations than uninfected populations. Accurate tools are needed to identify persons at greatest risk of decline. We evaluated the performance of novel muscle weakness metrics (grip, grip/body mass index [BMI], grip/weight, grip/total body fat, grip/arm lean mass) and association with slowness and falls in older persons with or at risk for HIV infection as part of the work of the Sarcopenia Definitions and Outcomes Consortium (SDOC).

Methods

We assessed the prevalence of sarcopenia among 398 men (200 HIV+, 198 HIV−) from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and 247 women (162 HIV+, 85 HIV−) from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study using previously validated muscle weakness metrics discriminative of slowness. Sensitivity and specificity were used to compare new muscle weakness and slowness criteria to previously proposed sarcopenia definitions.

Results

The prevalence of muscle weakness ranged from 16% to 66% among men and 0% to 47% among women. Grip/BMI was associated with slowness among men with HIV only. Grip/BMI had low sensitivity (25%–30%) with moderate to high specificity (68%–89%) for discriminating of slowness; all proposed metrics had poor performance in the discrimination of slowness (area under the curve [AUC] < 0.62) or fall status (AUC < 0.56). The combination of muscle weakness and slowness was not significantly associated with falls (p ≥ .36), with a low sensitivity in identifying those sustaining one or more falls (sensitivity ≤ 16%).

Discussion

Clinical utility of new sarcopenia metrics for identification of slowness or falls in men and women with or at risk for HIV is limited, given their low sensitivity.
Probiotic Supplementation Improves Cognitive Function and Mood with Changes in Gut Microbiota in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Trial
Authors: Kim Chong-Su , Cha Jiah , Sim Minju , Jung Sungwoong , Chun Woo Young , Baik Hyun Wook , Shin Dong-Mi
Published: April 2020

Probiotics have been proposed to ameliorate cognitive impairment and depressive disorder via the gut–brain axis in patients and experimental animal models. However, the beneficial role of probiotics in brain functions of healthy older adults remains unclear. Therefore, a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled multicenter trial was conducted to determine the effects of probiotics on cognition and mood in community-dwelling older adults. Sixty-three healthy elders (≥65 years) consumed either placebo or probiotics containing Bifidobacterium bifidum BGN4 and Bifidobacterium longum BORI for 12 weeks. The gut microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatics. Brain functions were measured using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s disease, Satisfaction with life scale, stress questionnaire, Geriatric depression scale, and Positive affect and negative affect schedule. Blood brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Relative abundance of inflammation-causing gut bacteria was significantly reduced at Week 12 in the probiotics group (p < .05). The probiotics group showed greater improvement in mental flexibility test and stress score than the placebo group (p < .05). Contrary to placebo, probiotics significantly increased serum BDNF level (p < .05). Notably, the gut microbes significantly shifted by probiotics (Eubacterium and Clostridiales) showed significant negative correlation with serum BDNF level only in the probiotics group (RS = −0.37, RS = −0.39, p < .05). In conclusion, probiotics promote mental flexibility and alleviate stress in healthy older adults, along with causing changes in gut microbiota. These results provide evidence supporting health-promoting properties of probiotics as a part of healthy diet in the older adults.
A Geroscience Perspective on COVID-19 Mortality
Authors: Promislow Daniel E L
Published: April 2020

A novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in December 2019, leading within a few months to a global pandemic. COVID-19, the disease caused by this highly contagious virus, can have serious health consequences, though risks of complications are highly age-dependent. Rates of hospitalization and death are less than 0.1% in children, but increase to 10% or more in older people. Moreover, at all ages, men are more likely than women to suffer serious consequences from COVID-19. These patterns are familiar to the geroscience community. The effects of age and sex on mortality rates from COVID-19 mirror the effects of aging on almost all major causes of mortality. These similarities are explored here, and underscore the need to consider the role of basic biological mechanisms of aging on potential treatment and outcomes of COVID-19.
Novel endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases from Tannerella species hydrolyze multibranched complex-type N-glycans with different specificities
Authors: Takashima Shou , Kurogochi Masaki , Osumi Kenji , Sugawara Shu-ichi , Mizuno Mamoru , Takada Yoshio , Amano Junko , Matsuda Akio
Published: April 2020

Endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases are enzymes that hydrolyze the N,N′-diacetylchitobiose unit of N-glycans. Many endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases also exhibit transglycosylation activity, which corresponds to the reverse of the hydrolysis reaction. Because of these activities, some of these enzymes have recently been used as powerful tools for glycan remodeling of glycoproteins. Although many endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases have been identified and characterized to date, there are few enzymes that exhibit hydrolysis activity toward multibranched (tetra-antennary or more) complex-type N-glycans on glycoproteins. Therefore, we searched for novel endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidases that exhibit hydrolysis activity toward multibranched complex-type N-glycans in this study. From database searches, we selected three candidate enzymes from Tannerella species—Endo-Tsp1006, Endo-Tsp1263 and Endo-Tsp1457—and prepared them as recombinant proteins. We analyzed the hydrolysis activity of these enzymes toward N-glycans on glycoproteins and found that Endo-Tsp1006 and Endo-Tsp1263 exhibited hydrolysis activity toward complex-type N-glycans, including multibranched N-glycans, preferentially, whereas Endo-Tsp1457 exhibited hydrolysis activity toward high-mannose-type N-glycans exclusively. We further analyzed substrate specificities of Endo-Tsp1006 and Endo-Tsp1263 using 18 defined glycopeptides as substrates, each having a different N-glycan structure. We found that Endo-Tsp1006 preferred N-glycans with galactose or α2,6-linked sialic acid residues in their nonreducing ends as substrates, whereas Endo-Tsp1263 preferred N-glycans with N-acetylglucosamine residues in their nonreducing ends as substrates.
Is liposomal bupivacaine superior to standard bupivacaine for pain control following minimally invasive thoracic surgery?
Authors: Yang Zhang , Zhao Liang , Li Shuangjiang , Liu Junhua
Published: April 2020

A best evidence topic in thoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether regional liposomal bupivacaine was superior to standard bupivacaine for pain control following minimally invasive thoracic surgery. Altogether 70 papers were found using the reported search, of which 5 papers represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. Two of the five available studies showed a significant reduction of early narcotic consumption with the regional analgesia using liposomal bupivacaine, one showed a significantly reduced usage of opioid medication during postoperative hour 24–36 among the patients receiving liposomal bupivacaine, and 2 showed no difference in cumulative opioid consumption between the 2 regional analgesia groups. In addition, there was no associated difference in the pain severity scores or the length of hospitalization.
A convergent FV–FE scheme for the stationary compressible Navier–Stokes equations
Authors: Perrin Charlotte , Saleh Khaled
Published: April 2020

In this paper we prove a convergence result for a discretization of the three-dimensional stationary compressible Navier–Stokes equations assuming an ideal gas pressure law $p(\rho )=a \rho ^{\gamma }$ with $\gamma> \frac{3}{2}$. It is the first convergence result for a numerical method with adiabatic exponents $\gamma $ less than $3$ when the space dimension is 3. The considered numerical scheme combines finite volume techniques for the convection with the Crouzeix–Raviart finite element for the diffusion. A linearized version of the scheme is implemented in the industrial software CALIF3S developed by the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire.
Localized inverse factorization
Authors: Rubensson Emanuel H , Artemov Anton G , Kruchinina Anastasia , Rudberg Elias
Published: April 2020

We propose a localized divide and conquer algorithm for inverse factorization $S^{-1} = ZZ^*$ of Hermitian positive definite matrices $S$ with localized structure, e.g. exponential decay with respect to some given distance function on the index set of $S$. The algorithm is a reformulation of recursive inverse factorization (Rubensson et al. (2008) Recursive inverse factorization. J. Chem. Phys., 128, 104105) but makes use of localized operations only. At each level of the recursion, the problem is cut into two subproblems and their solutions are combined using iterative refinement (Niklasson (2004) Iterative refinement method for the approximate factorization of a matrix inverse. Phys. Rev. B, 70, 193102) to give a solution to the original problem. The two subproblems can be solved in parallel without any communication and, using the localized formulation, the cost of combining their results is negligible compared to the overall cost for sufficiently large systems and appropriate partitions of the problem. We also present an alternative derivation of iterative refinement based on a sign matrix formulation, analyze the stability and propose a parameterless stopping criterion. We present bounds for the initial factorization error and the number of iterations in terms of the condition number of $S$ when the starting guess is given by the solution of the two subproblems in the binary recursion. These bounds are used in theoretical results for the decay properties of the involved matrices. We demonstrate the localization properties of our algorithm for matrices corresponding to nearest neighbor overlap on one-, two- and three-dimensional lattices, as well as basis set overlap matrices generated using the Hartree–Fock and Kohn–Sham density functional theory electronic structure program Ergo (Rudberg et al. (2018) Ergo: an open-source program for linear-scaling electronic structure. SoftwareX, 7, 107). We evaluate the parallel performance of our implementation based on the chunks and tasks programming model, showing that the proposed localization of the algorithm results in a dramatic reduction of communication costs.
Dirichlet Problem for Maximal Graphs of Higher Codimension
Authors: Li Yang
Published: April 2020

We consider the Dirichlet boundary value problem for graphical maximal submanifolds inside Lorentzian-type ambient spaces and obtain general existence and uniqueness results that apply to any codimension.