bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proof of Concept: Pressure Sensor for Tracking of Infant-Mother Kangaroo Care Durations
Authors: Weber Michael , Clarke-Sather Abigail
Published: July 2019

Over the past two decades, there has been more of an emphasis by practitioners for mothers to perform skin-to-skin holding, known as Kangaroo Care (KC) due to the many benefits, such as decreased illness early in life, increased breastmilk production, and decreased chance of long term obesity for mother and child. Kangaroo Care is difficult in the NICU due to the health of the child and mother and numerous leads, IVs or breathing tubes attached to the child. With these problems, it is hard for mothers to follow best practices for performing KC, namely holding for a minimum of one hour and first hold within 24 hours of birth. Not following best practices lessens the benefits of KC for mother and child. Tracking of the duration of KC is often not measured by anyone including hospital staff so whether best practices are followed is difficult to know. Also, mothers may not have clothing that facilitates KC and there are few wearables specifically designed for mothers wanting to perform KC in the NICU. This project focuses on one part of designing a wearable that facilitates mothers performing KC while their child is in the NICU. To understand the effectiveness of said wearable, measuring how long the mothers are performing KC is needed. To accomplish this, a pressure sensor, incorporating Carbon Nanotube Fabric (CNT), was constructed to measure changes in pressure to track the number and duration of KC holds. As for the sensor, when a pressure is first applied or removed, the resistance changes rapidly but remains relatively constant with constant pressure. The average time difference between manually recording time and the sensor measurement was 4.06 seconds for a single event, such as applying a pressure to the sensor, and 6.66 seconds for a double event, such as the duration between when the pressure was applied to when it was removed. These results show that the sensor is accurate enough to measure the duration of KC for any period of time it is performed.
Normalized time-domain parameters for electroglottographic waveforms
Authors: Ternström Sten
Published: July 2019

The electroglottographic waveform is of interest for characterizing phonation non-invasively. Existing parameterizations tend to give disparate results because they rely on somewhat arbitrary thresholds and/or contacting events. It is shown that neither are needed for formulating a normalized contact quotient and a normalized peak derivative. A heuristic combination of the two resolves also the ambiguity of a moderate contact quotient, with regard to vocal fold contacting being firm versus weak or absent. As preliminaries, schemes for electroglottography signal preconditioning and time-domain period detection are described that improve somewhat on similar methods. The algorithms are simple and compute quickly.
In Vivo
Pharmacodynamic Target Determination for Delafloxacin against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the Neutropenic Murine Pneumonia Model
Authors: Zhao Miao , Lepak Alexander J. , Marchillo Karen , Andes David R.
Published: July 2019

Delafloxacin is a broad-spectrum anionic fluoroquinolone that has completed a phase 3 study for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. We investigated the pharmacodynamic target for delafloxacin against 12
Klebsiella pneumoniae
and 5
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
strains in the neutropenic murine lung infection model. The median 24-h free-drug area under the curve (
f
AUC)/MIC values associated with net stasis and 1-log kill were 28.6 and 64.1 for
K. pneumoniae
, respectively.
Disseminated blastomycosis presenting as a retro-orbital mass
Authors: Murawski Shannon , Farrell Michael , Cordeiro-Rudnisky Fernanda , Blinkhorn Richard
Published: July 2019

A 43-year-old man with history of non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma presented with unilateral eye swelling, pain and vision deficits which had been progressive over 2 months. Symptoms followed a presumed bacterial pneumonia 4 months prior. Imaging demonstrated retro-orbital soft tissue swelling with bony erosion concerning for a mass; surgical decompression was performed with histology confirming disseminatedBlastomyces dermatitidis. Symptoms responded rapidly to antifungal therapy with amphotericin followed by itraconazole. Orbital dissemination of blastomycosis is extremely rare; accurate diagnosis requires tissue biopsy to facilitate timely targeted therapy and minimise morbidity.
Management of subgingivally fractured maxillary anterior tooth: a multidisciplinary approach
Authors: Thakur Anamika , Arora Karandeep S , Kaur Kirandeep , Dahiya Surya
Published: July 2019

The major challenge in traumatic injuries is the management of subgingival fracture of anterior teeth. Forced orthodontic extrusion is a suitable approach for these teeth as it provides both a sound tissue margin for final restoration and creates a periodontal environment (biological width) which is easy for the patient to maintain. Restoration after orthodontic eruption may present a more conservative treatment choice in young patients compared with the prosthetic restoration after extraction. This paper reports a case of the fractured maxillary anterior tooth at the subgingival level that was managed by forced orthodontic extrusion after endodontic therapy followed by aesthetic rehabilitation, a much-forgotten technique not utilised routinely yet conservative and cost-effective.
Implication of alpha-Klotho as the predictive factor of stress
Authors: Nakanishi Kaori , Nishida Makoto , Taneike Manabu , Yamamoto Ryohei , Adachi Hiroyoshi , Moriyama Toshiki , Yamauchi-Takihara Keiko
Published: July 2019

Stress is known as a risk factor for both mental and physical health problems. While stress is known as one of the major health problems in modern society, a biomarker of stress has not yet been well established. In the present study, we focused on the serum levels of α-Klotho (αKl) as a possible objective biomarker of stress. Subjects included apparently healthy individuals who underwent a health examination in the Osaka University Health and Counseling Center. Physical and biochemical parameters were obtained from all subjects. Information regarding the lifestyle of each individual was obtained via questionnaires. Among male subjects, serum levels of soluble αKl (sαKl) were significantly elevated in subjects who had poor stress management and unsatisfactory sleep, suggesting that stress management and sleeping conditions influenced the serum levels of sαKl. The total Kessler Screening Scale for Psychological Distress (K6) score was significantly increased in subjects who reported experiencing considerable stress, had poor stress management and unsatisfactory sleep. Since serum levels of sαKl showed the same tendency as the K6 score in terms of the relationship between stress management and sleeping conditions in male subjects, increased sαKl levels could be associated with considerable psychological stress in healthy men.
Effect of NaF additive on the micro/nano-structure and properties of the microarc oxidation coating on Ti6Al4V alloy
Authors: Zhai Dajun , Du Dongfang , Dou Hongqiang
Published: July 2019

Micro/nano-structured coatings with antibacterial function were prepared by microarc oxidation (MAO) treatment on Ti6Al4V alloy in a silicate/phosphate electrolyte with a NaF additive. The microstructure, phase composition, and corrosion resistance of the coatings modified by adding NaF (0.15–0.5 M) were examined using scanning/transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and potentiodynamic polarization. The results showed that the incorporation of F ion reduced the threshold voltage for electrons avalanche on the surface film of the Ti alloy, and increased the intensity and lifetime of discharge. MAO coatings with 100–500 nm nano-pores and 1–20 [Formula: see text]m micro-pores were formed by the modification of the NaF additive. The F ions promoted microarc discharge as well as phase transformation from the metastable anatase to the stable rutile phase. The F ions also promoted the generation of penetration cracks and bubbles in the coating. The surface roughness, phase content, and thickness of the coating were enhanced by the NaF additive. However, the corrosion resistance of the coating first increased and then decreased with the increasing F ion concentration, reaching a maximum when the NaF content was 0.25 M.
Nodal solutions of a nonlocal Choquard equation in a bounded domain
Authors: Gui Changfeng , Guo Hui
Published: July 2019

In this paper, we are interested in the least energy nodal solutions to the following nonlocal Choquard equation with a local term: [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] is a bounded domain. This problem may be seen as a nonlocal perturbation of the classical Lane–Emden equation [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text]. The problem has a variational functional with a nonlocal term [Formula: see text]. The appearance of the nonlocal term makes the variational functional very different from the local case [Formula: see text] for which the problem has ground state solutions and least energy nodal solutions if [Formula: see text]. The problem may also be viewed as a nonlocal Choquard equation with a local perturbation term when [Formula: see text]. For [Formula: see text], we show that although ground state solutions always exist, the existence of least energy nodal solution depends on [Formula: see text]: for [Formula: see text], there does not exist a least energy nodal solution while for [Formula: see text], such a solution exists. Note that [Formula: see text] is a critical value. In the case of a linear local perturbation, i.e. [Formula: see text], if [Formula: see text], the problem has a positive ground state and a least energy nodal solution. However, if [Formula: see text], the problem has a ground state which changes sign. Hence, it is also a least energy nodal solution.
Spherically symmetric traversable wormholes in f(R2,T) gravity
Authors: Zubair M. , Muneer Quratulien , Waheed Saira
Published: July 2019

In this paper, we explore the possibility of wormhole solutions existence exhibiting spherical symmetry in an interesting modified gravity based on Ricci scalar term and trace of energy–momentum tensor. For this reason, we assume the matter distribution as anisotropic fluid and a specific viable form of the generic function given by [Formula: see text] involving [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], two arbitrary constant parameters. For having a simplified form of the resulting field equations, we assume three different forms of EoS of the assumed matter contents. In each case, we find the numerical wormhole solutions and analyze their properties for the wormhole existence graphically. The graphical behavior of the energy condition bounds is also investigated in each case. It is found that a realistic wormhole solutions satisfying all the properties can be obtained in each case.
Characterization of small polygroups by their fundamental groups
Authors: Heidari D. , Davvaz B.
Published: July 2019

In this paper, we consider polygroup [Formula: see text] and prove necessary and sufficient conditions such that [Formula: see text] is non-commutative. Then by using the Maple programming, we obtain all polygroups of order less than five up to isomorphism. In fact, we determine all 115 non-isomorphic polygroups of order less than five and characterize them by their fundamental groups, i.e., polygroups with same fundamental group, say [Formula: see text], classifies in the class [Formula: see text]. Finally, we obtain that the fundamental groups of 94 polygroups are the trivial group. The numbers of polygroups in classes [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are 16 and 3, respectively, and the classes [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are singleton.
Image Captioning by Asking Questions
Authors: Yang Xiaoshan , Xu Changsheng
Published: July 2019

Image captioning and visual question answering are typical tasks that connect computer vision and natural language processing. Both of them need to effectively represent the visual content using computer vision methods and smoothly process the text sentence using natural language processing skills. The key problem of these two tasks is to infer the target result based on the interactive understanding of the word sequence and the image. Though they practically use similar algorithms, they are studied independently in the past few years. In this article, we attempt to exploit the mutual correlation between these two tasks. We propose the first VQA-improved image-captioning method that transfers the knowledge learned from the VQA corpora to the image-captioning task. A VQA model is first pretrained on image--question--answer instances. Then, the pretrained VQA model is used to extract VQA-grounded semantic representations according to selected free-form open-ended visual question--answer pairs. The VQA-grounded features are complementary to the visual features, because they interpret images from a different perspective. We incorporate the VQA model into the image-captioning model by adaptively fusing the VQA-grounded feature and the attended visual feature. We show that such simple VQA-improved image-captioning (VQA-IIC) models perform better than conventional image-captioning methods on large-scale public datasets.
Multi-source Multi-level Attention Networks for Visual Question Answering
Authors: Yu Dongfei , Fu Jianlong , Tian Xinmei , Mei Tao
Published: July 2019

In recent years, Visual Question Answering (VQA) has attracted increasing attention due to its requirement on cross-modal understanding and reasoning of vision and language. VQA is proposed to automatically answer natural language questions with reference to a given image. VQA is challenging, because the reasoning process on a visual domain needs a full understanding of the spatial relationship, semantic concepts, as well as the common sense for a real image. However, most existing approaches jointly embed the abstract low-level visual features and high-level question features to infer answers. These works have limited reasoning ability due to the lack of modeling of the rich spatial context of regions, high-level semantics of images, and knowledge across multiple sources. To solve the challenges, we propose multi-source multi-level attention networks for visual question answering that can benefit both spatial inferences by visual attention on context-aware region representation and reasoning by semantic attention on concepts as well as external knowledge. Indeed, we learn to reason on image representation by question-guided attention at different levels across multiple sources, including region and concept level representation from image source as well as sentence level representation from the external knowledge base. First, we encode region-based middle-level outputs from Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) into spatially embedded representation by a multi-directional two-dimensional recurrent neural network and, further, locate the answer-related regions by Multiple Layer Perceptron as visual attention. Second, we generate semantic concepts from high-level semantics in CNNs and select those question-related concepts as concept attention. Third, we query semantic knowledge from the general knowledge base by concepts and selected question-related knowledge as knowledge attention. Finally, we jointly optimize visual attention, concept attention, knowledge attention, and question embedding by a softmax classifier to infer the final answer. Extensive experiments show the proposed approach achieved significant improvement on two very challenging VQA datasets.
DADS
Authors: Wedaj Samuel , Paul Kolin , Ribeiro Vinay J.
Published: July 2019

We present a novel scheme called Decentralized Attestation for Device Swarms (DADS), which is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to accomplish decentralized attestation in device swarms. Device swarms are smart, mobile, and interconnected devices that operate in large numbers and are likely to be part of emerging applications in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoTs). Swarm devices process and exchange safety, privacy, and mission-critical information. Thus, it is important to have a good code verification technique that scales to device swarms and establishes trust among collaborating devices. DADS has several advantages over current state-of-the-art swarm attestation techniques: It is decentralized, has no single point of failure, and can handle changing topologies after nodes are compromised. DADS assures system resilience to node compromise/failure while guaranteeing only devices that execute genuine code remain part of the group. We conduct performance measurements of communication, computation, memory, and energy using the TrustLite embedded systems architecture in OMNeT++ simulation environment. We show that the proposed approach can significantly reduce communication cost and is very efficient in terms of computation, memory, and energy requirements. We also analyze security and show that DADS is very effective and robust against various attacks.
SimCA*
Authors: Shevtsov Stepan , Weyns Danny , Maggio Martina
Published: July 2019

Self-adaptation provides a principled way to deal with software systems’ uncertainty during operation. Examples of such uncertainties are disturbances in the environment, variations in sensor readings, and changes in user requirements. As more systems with strict goals require self-adaptation, the need for formal guarantees in self-adaptive systems is becoming a high-priority concern. Designing self-adaptive software using principles from control theory has been identified as one of the approaches to provide guarantees. In general, self-adaptation covers a wide range of approaches to maintain system requirements under uncertainty, ranging from dynamic adaptation of system parameters to runtime architectural reconfiguration. Existing control-theoretic approaches have mainly focused on handling requirements in the form of setpoint values or as quantities to be optimized. Furthermore, existing research primarily focuses on handling uncertainty in the execution environment. This article presents SimCA*, which provides two contributions to the state-of-the-art in control-theoretic adaptation: (i) it supports requirements that keep a value above and below a required threshold, in addition to setpoint and optimization requirements; and (ii) it deals with uncertainty in system parameters, component interactions, system requirements, in addition to uncertainty in the environment. SimCA* provides guarantees for the three types of requirements of the system that is subject to different types of uncertainties. We evaluate SimCA* for two systems with strict requirements from different domains: an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle system used for oceanic surveillance and an Internet of Things application for monitoring a geographical area. The test results confirm that SimCA* can satisfy the three types of requirements in the presence of different types of uncertainty.
Evaluating and Tuning
n
-fold Integer Programming
Authors: Altmanová Kateřina , Knop Dušan , Koutecký Martin
Published: July 2019

In recent years, algorithmic breakthroughs in stringology, computational social choice, scheduling, and so on, were achieved by applying the theory of so-called
n
-fold integer programming. An
n
-fold integer program (IP) has a highly uniform block structured constraint matrix. Hemmecke, Onn, and Romanchuk [Math. Program., 2013] showed an algorithm with runtime Δ

O
(
rst
+
r

2
s

)

n
3
, where Δ is the largest coefficient,
r
,
s
, and
t
are dimensions of blocks of the constraint matrix and
n
is the total dimension of the IP; thus, an algorithm efficient if the blocks are of small size and with small coefficients. The algorithm works by iteratively improving a feasible solution with augmenting steps, and
n
-fold IPs have the special property that augmenting steps are guaranteed to exist in a not-too-large neighborhood. However, this algorithm has never been implemented and evaluated.

We have implemented the algorithm and learned the following along the way. The original algorithm is practically unusable, but we discover a series of improvements that make its evaluation possible. Crucially, we observe that a certain constant in the algorithm can be treated as a tuning parameter, which yields an efficient heuristic (essentially searching in a smaller-than-guaranteed neighborhood). Furthermore, the algorithm uses an overly expensive strategy to find a “best” step, while finding only an “approximately best” step is much cheaper, yet sufficient for quick convergence. Using this insight, we improve the asymptotic dependence on
n
from
n
3
to
n
2
log
n
.

Finally, we tested the behavior of the algorithm with various values of the tuning parameter and different strategies of finding improving steps. First, we show that decreasing the tuning parameter initially leads to an increased number of iterations needed for convergence and eventually to getting stuck in local optima, as expected. However, surprisingly small values of the parameter already exhibit good behavior while significantly lowering the time the algorithm spends per single iteration. Second, our new strategy for finding “approximately best” steps wildly outperforms the original construction.
Game of Streaming Players
Authors: Bentaleb Abdelhak , Begen Ali C. , Harous Saad , Zimmermann Roger
Published: July 2019

The dramatic growth of HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) traffic represents a practical challenge for service providers in satisfying the demand from their customers. Achieving this in a network where multiple players share the network capacity has so far proved hard because of the bandwidth competition among the HAS players. This competition is exacerbated by the
bandwidth overestimation
that is introduced due to the
isolated
and
selfish
behavior of the HAS players. Each player strives individually to select the maximum bitrate without considering the co-existing players or network resource dynamics. As a result, the HAS players suffer from video quality instability, quality unfairness, and network underutilization or oversubscription, and the players observe a poor quality of experience (QoE). To address this issue, we propose a fully distributed game theory and consensus-based collaborative adaptive bitrate solution for shared network environments, termed Game Theory and consensus-based Approach for Cooperative HAS delivery systems (GTAC). Our solution consists of two-stage games that run in parallel during a streaming session. We extensively evaluate GTAC on a broad set of trace-driven and real-world experiments. Results show that GTAC enhances the viewer QoE by up to 22%, presentation quality stability by up to 24%, fairness by at least 31%, and network utilization by 28% compared to the well-known schemes.
Knowledge Management for Self-Organised Resource Allocation
Authors: Kurka David Burth , Pitt Jeremy , Ober Josiah
Published: July 2019

Many instances of socio-technical systems in the digital society and digital economy require some form of self-governance. Examples include community energy systems, peer production systems, participatory sensing applications, and shared management of communal living areas or workspace. Such systems have several features in common, of which three are that they are
rule-oriented
,
self-organising,
and
value-sensitive
, and in operation, this combination of features entails self-modification of the rules in order to satisfice a changeable set of values. This presents a fundamental dilemma for systems design. On the one hand, the system must be sufficiently unrestricted (resilient, flexible) to enable a diverse group but with a shared set of congruent values to achieve their joint purposes in collective action situations. On the other hand, it must be sufficiently restricted (stable, robust) to prevent a subset of the group from exploiting self-determination ‘against itself’ and usurp control of the system for the benefit of its own narrow interests. To address this problem, we consider a study of classical Athenian democracy which investigates how the governance model of the city-state flourished. The work suggests that exceptional
knowledge management
, i.e., making information available for socially productive purposes, played a crucial role in sustaining its democracy for nearly 200 years, by creating processes for aggregation, alignment, and codification of knowledge. We therefore examine the proposition that some properties can be generalised to resolve the rule-restriction dilemma by establishing a set of
design principles
intended to make knowledge management processes open, inclusive, transparent, and effective in self-governed social technical systems. We operationalise three of these principles in the context of a collective action situation, namely self-organised common-pool resource allocation, and present the results of a series of experiments showing how knowledge management processes can be used to obtain robust solutions for the perception of fairness, allocation decision, and punishment mechanisms. By applying this operationalisation of the design principles for knowledge management processes as a complement to institutional approaches to governance, we demonstrate empirically how it can satisfice shared values, distribute power fairly, and apply “common sense” in dealing with rule violations. We conclude by arguing that this approach to the design of socio-technical systems can provide a balance between restricted and unrestricted self-modification of conventional rules, and can thus provide the foundations for sustainable and democratic self-governance in socio-technical systems.
Designing Robot Teams for Distributed Construction, Repair, and Maintenance
Authors: Wareham Todd
Published: July 2019

Designing teams of autonomous robots that can create target structures or repair damage to those structures on either a one-off or ongoing basis is an important problem in distributed robotics. However, it is not known if a team design algorithm for any of these tasks can both have low runtime and produce teams that will always perform their specified tasks quickly and correctly. In this article, we give the first computational and parameterized complexity analyses of several robot team design problems associated with creating, repairing, and maintaining target structures in given environments. Our goals are to establish whether efficient design algorithms exist that operate reliably on all possible inputs and, if not, under which restrictions such algorithms are and are not possible. We prove that all of our design problems are not efficiently solvable in general for heterogeneous robot teams and remain so under a number of plausible restrictions on robot controllers, environments, and target structures. We also give the first restrictions relative to which some of these problems may be efficiently solvable and discuss how theoretical results like those derived here can be combined with physical experiments to derive the best possible algorithms for real-world robot team design.
Sequential Equilibrium in Computational Games
Authors: Halpern Joseph Y. , Pass Rafael
Published: July 2019

We examine sequential equilibrium in the context ofcomputational games(Halpern and Pass 2015), where agents are charged for computation. In such games, an agent can rationally choose to forget, so issues of imperfect recall arise. In this setting, we consider two notions of sequential equilibrium. One is anex antenotion, where a player chooses his strategy before the game starts and is committed to it, but chooses it in such a way that it remains optimal even off the equilibrium path. The second is aninterimnotion, where a player can reconsider at each information set whether he is doing the “right” thing, and if not, can change his strategy. The two notions agree in games of perfect recall, but not in games of imperfect recall. Although the interim notion seems more appealing, in a companion article (Halpern and Pass 2016), we argue that there are some deep conceptual problems with it in standard games of imperfect recall. We show that the conceptual problems largely disappear in the computational setting. Moreover, in this setting, under natural assumptions, the two notions coincide.
CD8+T-cells negatively regulate inflammation post-myocardial infarction
Authors: Ilatovskaya Daria V. , Pitts Cooper , Clayton Joshua , Domondon Mark , Troncoso Miguel , Pippin Sarah , DeLeon-Pennell Kristine Y.
Published: July 2019

The adaptive immune response is key for cardiac wound healing post-myocardial infarction (MI) despite low T-cell numbers. We hypothesized that CD8+T-cells regulate the inflammatory response, leading to decreased survival and cardiac function post-MI. We performed permanent occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery on C57BL/6J and CD8atm1makmice (deficient in functional CD8+T-cells). CD8atm1makmice had increased survival at 7 days post-MI compared with that of the wild-type (WT) and improved cardiac physiology at day 7 post-MI. Despite having less mortality, 100% of the CD8atm1makgroup died because of cardiac rupture compared with only 33% of the WT. Picrosirius red staining and collagen immunoblotting indicated an acceleration of fibrosis in the infarct area as well as remote area in the CD8atm1makmice; however, this increase was due to elevated soluble collagen implicating poor scar formation. Plasma and tissue inflammation were exacerbated as indicated by higher levels of Cxcl1, Ccl11, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, and MMP-9. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry indicated that the CD8atm1makgroup had augmented numbers of neutrophils and macrophages at post-MI day 3 and increased mast cell markers at post-MI day 7. Cleavage of tyrosine-protein kinase MER was increased in the CD8atm1makmice, resulting in delayed removal of necrotic tissue. In conclusion, despite having improved cardiac physiology and overall survival, CD8atm1makmice had increased innate inflammation and poor scar formation, leading to higher incidence of cardiac rupture. Our data suggest that the role of CD8+T-cells in post-MI recovery may be both beneficial and detrimental to cardiac remodeling and is mediated via a cell-specific mechanism.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY We identified new mechanisms implicating CD8+T-cells as regulators of the post-myocardial infarction (MI) wound healing process. Mice without functional CD8+T-cells had improved cardiac physiology and less mortality 7 days post MI compared with wild-type animals. Despite having better overall survival, animals lacking functional CD8+T-cells had delayed removal of necrotic tissue, leading to poor scar formation and increased cardiac rupture, suggesting that CD8+T-cells play a dual role in the cardiac remodeling process.
Premature ventricular contractions activate vagal afferents and alter autonomic tone: implications for premature ventricular contraction-induced cardiomyopathy
Authors: Salavatian Siamak , Yamaguchi Naoko , Hoang Jonathan , Lin Nicole , Patel Saloni , Ardell Jeffrey L. , Armour J. Andrew , Vaseghi Marmar
Published: July 2019

Mechanisms behind development of premature ventricular contraction (PVC)-induced cardiomyopathy remain unclear. PVCs may adversely modulate the autonomic nervous system to promote development of heart failure. Afferent neurons in the inferior vagal (nodose) ganglia transduce cardiac activity and modulate parasympathetic output. Effects of PVCs on cardiac parasympathetic efferent and vagal afferent neurotransmission are unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of PVCs on vagal afferent neurotransmission and compare these effects with a known powerful autonomic modulator, myocardial ischemia. In 16 pigs, effects of variably coupled PVCs on heart rate variability (HRV) and vagal afferent neurotransmission were evaluated. Direct nodose neuronal recordings were obtained in vivo, and cardiac-related afferent neurons were identified based on their response to cardiovascular interventions, including ventricular chemical and mechanical stimuli, left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery occlusion, and variably coupled PVCs. On HRV analysis before versus after PVCs, parasympathetic tone decreased (normalized high frequency: 83.6 ± 2.8 to 72.5 ± 5.3; P < 0.05). PVCs had a powerful impact on activity of cardiac-related afferent neurons, altering activity of 51% of neurons versus 31% for LAD occlusion ( P < 0.05 vs. LAD occlusion and all other cardiac interventions). Both chemosensitive and mechanosensitive neurons were activated by PVCs, and their activity remained elevated even after cessation of PVCs. Cardiac afferent neural responses to PVCs were greater than any other intervention, including ischemia of similar duration. These data suggest that even brief periods of PVCs powerfully modulate vagal afferent neurotransmission, reflexly decreasing parasympathetic efferent tone.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are common in many patients and, at an increased burden, are known to cause heart failure. This study determined that PVCs powerfully modulate cardiac vagal afferent neurotransmission (exerting even greater effects than ventricular ischemia) and reduce parasympathetic efferent outflow to the heart. PVCs activated both mechano- and chemosensory neurons in the nodose ganglia. These peripheral neurons demonstrated adaptation in response to PVCs. This study provides additional data on the potential role of the autonomic nervous system in PVC-induced cardiomyopathy.
Early versus Delayed Fortification of Human Milk in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review
Authors: Alyahya Wesam , Simpson Judith , Garcia Ada L. , Mactier Helen , Edwards Christine A.
Published: July 2019

Expressed breast milk (EBM) is commonly supplemented with commercially prepared human milk fortifier to meet the additional nutritional needs of preterm infants. The optimal milk intake at which to introduce fortification is unknown. The objective of this systematic review was to compare the effect of early fortification (EF) versus that of delayed introduction of human milk fortifier (DF) on short-term outcomes including growth, feeding intolerance, length of hospital stay, and maturity at discharge in very-low-birth-weight infants. The search was carried out until March 2019 using 5 electronic databases (PubMed, Ovid Medline, Web of Science, Ovid Embase, and the Cochrane Library). The search was supplemented with a search of the clinical trial registry and reference lists. Eligible studies involved randomized controlled trials that had been designed to compare EF against DF using multi-nutrient fortifier for infants of a birth weight of <1,500 g who were fed exclusively or predominantly EBM. Four authors independently screened the studies for eligibility. A total of 1,972 articles were screened; 2 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included with a total number of participants of 171. The definition of EF and DF was not consistent between the 2 studies. There was no significant impact of EF versus DF on all outcomes. In conclusion, current data are limited and do not provide evidence on the optimal time to start fortification. The definition of EF and DF needs to be agreed upon and further larger randomized controlled trials are required.
Existence of Cervical Discopathy in Non-Cyclic Mastodynia
Authors: Alimoğulları Mustafa , Buluş Hakan
Published: July 2019

Background: Mastodynia is a subjective symptom that impairs the quality of life. It may be directly related with breast disorders. Moreover, a substantial rate is caused of reflective pain. Objectives: Non-cyclic mastodynia is multifactorial, and treatment should be planned according to the underlying cause. In this study, we aim to evaluate the existence of cervical discopathy via cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the etiology of non-cyclic mastodynia. Methods: The study included 60 patients with normal physical examination results and imaging findings. Management was determined individually in patients. Patients with pathological MRI findings were evaluated by physical therapy, rehabilitation, and neurosurgery specialists, and appropriate treatment was planned. Patients were evaluated with the visual analogue scale (VAS) scoring system at initial presentation and after 1 and 3 months of treatment. Results: The majority of patients had positive findings on MRI (53 [88.4%] vs. 7 [11.6%]). The mean VAS scores at the time of presentation, after 1, and after 3 months of treatment were 7.41, 6.39, and 3.35, respectively. The decrease in the scores was statistically significant (p ≤ 0,01). Conclusions: We suggest that cervical discopathy should be kept in mind in cases of idiopathic non-cyclic mastodynia. Furthermore, cervical discopathy-related mastodynia seems to have a good response to appropriate treatment.
A potência crítica da circulação midiática das imagens
Authors: Soares Rosana De Lima , Limberto Andrea
Published: July 2019

RuMoRes, revista científica online dedicada aos estudos de comunicação, linguagem e mídias traz, em sua vigésima quinta edição, o Dossiê “Políticas da crítica: formação e circulação em práticas midiáticas”, com oito artigos que enfatizam a premência de um debate crítico sobre a mídia que seja estratégico, como proposto por Ismail Xavier; atualizado, como propõe Cláudio Rodrigues Coração; plural, como propõe Rose de Melo Rocha; interativo e público, como propõem, respectivamente, Felipe de Castro Muanis e Eduardo Paschoal; autêntico, como propõem Andrea Limberto e Fernanda Elouise Budag; profano, como propõe Vander Casaqui; e reincidente, como proposto por Cíntia Liesenberg no último artigo, voltado diretamente à questão da crítica midiática. A potência presente da crítica funda o Dossiê, organizado por Gislene da Silva (UFSC) e Rosana de Lima Soares (USP) e apresentado, nesta edição, no texto “Políticas da crítica: formação e circulação em práticas midiáticas”.
Políticas da crítica
Authors: Silva Gislene Da , Soares Rosana De Lima
Published: July 2019

Com o Dossiê “Políticas da crítica: formação e circulação em práticas midiáticas”, RuMoRes abre espaço para exercícios críticos sobre práticas midiáticas na complexidade de suas inserções no campo do audiovisual (televisão, rádio, cinema, documentário), no jornalismo e nas artes (literatura, artes visuais, música). Tais exercícios se inserem na necessidade de atualização de teorias críticas tradicionais, considerando questões de julgamento, de opinião e de busca por critérios para avaliar tais práticas à luz de suas vinculações econômicas, políticas, sociais, entre outras. A diversidade dos artigos apresentados contempla diferentes perspectivas teóricas sobre crítica e observação crítica de diversos objetos empíricos em circulação nas mídias, com apoio de arranjos metodológicos variados.
Comunicação e administração
Authors: Oliveira Ivone De Lourdes , Vouguinha Marcela
Published: July 2019

Este artigo objetiva compreender a interface entre comunicação organizacional e administração, a partir da análise de artigos apresentados nos encontros da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração entre os anos de 2008 e 2017. Observa-se em que medida os conceitos e autores de comunicação organizacional são usados como referência e discute-se a importância dessa interface, visto que as organizações se constituem como espaço de interação. Historicamente, a comunicação organizacional foi marcada por esse atravessamento, ainda que tal interface tenha sido problemática e redutora.
Plasma Placental Growth Factor Concentrations Are Elevated Well in Advance of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Onset: Prospective Data From the WHS
Authors: Duran Edward K. , Cook Nancy R. , Bobadilla Maria , Kim Eunjung , Manson JoAnn E. , Buring Julie E. , Ridker Paul M , Pradhan Aruna D.
Published: July 2019

Background

Pathologic angiogenesis is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) microvascular complications and may modulate adipogenesis and precede the onset of clinical diabetes mellitus; however, longitudinal data are unavailable. Placental growth factor is a potent proangiogenic factor that stimulates the formation of mature and durable vessels but is understudied in human diseases.

Methods and Results

We conducted a prospective case‐cohort study of baseline placental growth factor and incident T2DM within the WHS (Women's Health Study). A random sample of incident T2DM cases (n=491) occurring over a 15‐year follow‐up period was selected and compared with a reference subcohort (n=561). Case subjects were matched to the reference risk set on 5‐year age groups and race. All subjects in this analysis were required to have a hemoglobin A
1c
<6.5% at
WHS
enrollment. Median baseline levels of placental growth factor were higher in case subjects compare to the reference subcohort (18.0 pg/mL versus 17.2 pg/mL) but were only weakly correlated with glycemic measures and not associated with obesity. The risk of diabetes mellitus increased across placental growth factor quartile in the base model (hazard ratios, 1.00, 1.14, 1.46, and 2.14;
P
‐trend<0.001) and in multivariable‐adjusted models accounting for clinical T2DM risk factors (hazard ratios, 1.00, 1.17, 1.45, and 2.61;
P
‐trend<0.001). These findings were not substantially altered by further adjustment for high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, hemoglobin A
1c
, or fasting insulin and remained robust in sensitivity analyses excluding those diagnosed within 2 years of enrollment and those with baseline hemoglobin A
1c
≥6.0%.

Conclusions

Elevated placental growth factor levels are associated with future T2DM independent of traditional risk factors, measures of glycemia, insulin resistance, and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein. These prospective data suggest that pathologic angiogenesis may occur well before the clinical onset of T2DM and thus may have relevance to vascular complications of this disease.

Clinical Trial Registration

URL
:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier:
NCT
00000479.
Spatiotemporal Gene Coexpression and Regulation in Mouse Cardiomyocytes of Early Cardiac Morphogenesis
Authors: Liu Yang , Lu Pengfei , Wang Yidong , Morrow Bernice E. , Zhou Bin , Zheng Deyou
Published: July 2019

Background

Heart tube looping to form a 4‐chambered heart is a critical stage of embryonic heart development, but the gene drivers and their regulatory targets have not been extensively characterized at the cell‐type level.

Methods and Results

To study the interaction of signaling pathways, transcription factors (
TF
s), and genetic networks in the process, we constructed gene co‐expression networks and identified gene modules highly activated in individual cardiomyocytes at multiple anatomical regions and developmental stages using previously published single‐cell
RNA
‐seq data. Function analyses of the modules uncovered major pathways important for spatiotemporal cardiomyocyte differentiation. Interestingly, about half of the pathways were highly active in cardiomyocytes at the outflow tract (
OFT
) and atrioventricular canal, including well‐known pathways for cardiac development and many newly identified ones. We predicted that these
OFT
‐atrioventricular canal pathways were regulated by a large number of
TF
s actively expressed at the
OFT
–atrioventricular canal cardiomyocytes, with the prediction supported by motif enrichment analysis, including 10
TF
s that have not been previously associated with cardiac development (eg,
Etv5
,
Rbpms
, and
Baz2b
). Furthermore, we found that
TF
targets in the
OFT
–atrioventricular canal modules were most significantly enriched with genes associated with mouse heart developmental abnormalities and human congenital heart defects, in comparison with
TF
targets in other modules, consistent with the critical developmental roles of
OFT
.

Conclusions

By analyzing gene co‐expression at single cardiomyocytes, our systematic study has uncovered many known and additional new important
TF
s and their regulated molecular signaling pathways that are spatiotemporally active during heart looping.
Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) of large amphibian genomes: a comparative study of two non-model species endemic to Italy
Authors: Rovelli Valentina , Ruiz-González Aritz , Vignoli Leonardo , Macale Daniele , Buono Vincenzo , Davoli Francesca , Vieites David R. , Pezaro Nadav , Randi Ettore
Published: July 2019

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and related technologies have revolutionized the field of conservation and population genetics, providing novel tools and the capacity to discover thousands of new Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) for the analysis of population parameters. However, gathering NGS data for organisms with very large genomes, such as amphibians, remains challenging because it is still unclear how the current methods perform. Here, we use the Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) approach to generate SNP data for the genotyping of two amphibian species that are of conservation concern, the Sardinian brook salamander (Euproctus platycephalus) and the Italian stream frog (Rana italica). Both E. platycephalus and R. italica have very large genomes (5.53 Gb and >20 Gb, respectively) so genomic data are not available for either of them. We used 95 individual samples and one Illumina lane for each species, with an additional lane for E. platycephalus. After filtering, we obtained 961 and 854 high-coverage SNPs for E. platycephalus and R. italica, respectively. Our results suggest that GBS can serve as a reliable and cost-effective method for genotyping large amphibian genomes, including non-model species.
Temporal stability of genetic diversity revealed by microsatellite markers in restocked populations of Caspian roach, Rutilus caspicus (Yakovlev, 1870)
Authors: Kashiri Hadiseh , Shabani Ali , Gorgin Saeed , Rezaei Mohamad , Jabale Ahmadreza
Published: July 2019

Rutilus caspicus is considered one of the most important bony fish with high economic value in the Caspian Sea. Since the population size of Caspian roach has decreased during recent decades, restocking of the populations is done through releasing hatchery-produced larvae into the wild. In the present study, the genetic diversity of wild and hatchery populations of R. caspicus was investigated using ten microsatellite loci. Also, microsatellite analysis was performed to compare the population structure of Caspian roach over a time frame of about 11 years. Although the allelic and gene diversity of hatchery populations tended to be lower than those of the wild populations, no significant differences in genetic diversity parameters were observed among the wild and hatchery populations. Similar variation levels were noticed among temporal samples of the same population, suggesting temporal stability in the genetic diversity of the wild populations. In most cases, significant departure from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was observed after sequential Bonferroni correction. Results from analysis showed that a captive hatchery population was the most differentiated group. Also, the UPGMA dendrogram showed that the captive population was the most distant group. The stability of genetic composition between the two periods was noticed by the low and non-significant and estimates. The results from this study are anticipated to provide important information for setting up more efficient strategies for the conservation and restocking of R. caspicus.