bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Study of the Structural Organization of Water and Aqueous Solutions by Means of Optical Microscopy
Authors: Yakhno Tatiana , Yakhno Vladimir
Published: January 2019

The structural organization of water and aqueous solutions under an optical microscope in a layer with a thickness of 8 μm was investigated. It is shown that under room conditions water (including “ultrapure” water) and aqueous solutions are microdispersed systems. The revealed effect does not depend on the properties of the substrate (texture, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity) and is an inherent property of the liquid. The disperse phase is based on contrasting micron-sized formations located in the center of low-contrast homogeneous spheres observed in a layer with a thickness of the order of the diameter of the observed structures. They form loose millimeter-sized associates in the liquid phase. When the water is boiled, the associates become disordered, but the dispersed phase is preserved. An increase in the ionic strength of the solution is accompanied by coacervation of the dispersed phase. When the liquid part of the water evaporates, the microdispersed phase remains on the substrate. The central particles begin to grow and take on the form of crystals. On the basis of the literature data and their own research, the authors believe that the structures are sodium chloride microcrystals surrounded by a thick layer of hydrated water. Possible ways of salt penetration into the aquatic environment are discussed.
Direct Phasing of Protein Crystals with Non-Crystallographic Symmetry
Authors: He Hongxing , Jiang Mengchao , Su Wu-Pei
Published: January 2019

An iterative projection algorithm proposed previously for direct phasing of high-solvent-content protein crystals is extended to include non-crystallographic symmetry (NCS) averaging. For proper NCS, when the NCS axis is positioned, the molecular envelope can be automatically rebuilt. For improper NCS, when the NCS axis and the translation vector are known, the molecular envelope can also be automatically reconstructed. Some structures with a solvent content of around 50% could be directly solved using this ab initio phasing method. Trial calculations are described to illustrate the methodology. Real diffraction data are used and the calculated phases are good for automatic model building. The refinement of approximate NCS parameters is discussed.
Sentinel Lymph Node Evaluation: What the Radiologist Needs to Know
Authors: Whitman Gary J. , AlHalawani Raya H. , Karbasian Niloofar , Krishnamurthy Rajesh
Published: January 2019

Axillary lymph node status is the single most important prognostic indicator in patients with breast cancer. Axillary lymph node dissection, the traditional method of staging breast cancer, is associated with significant morbidity. Sentinel lymph node biopsy has become standard in patients being treated for breast cancer with clinically negative lymph nodes. There is considerable variation in the medical literature regarding technical approaches to sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with breast cancer. The purpose of this article is to describe our preferred approaches to sentinel lymph node biopsy with a review of the literature.
Information Flow in Times of Crisis: The Case of the European Banking and Sovereign Sectors
Authors: Dungey Mardi , Hurn Stan , Shi Shuping , Volkov Vladimir
Published: January 2019

Crises in the banking and sovereign debt sectors give rise to heightened financial fragility. Of particular concern is the development of self-fulfilling feedback loops where crisis conditions in one sector are transmitted to the other sector and back again. We use time-varying tests of Granger causality to demonstrate how empirical evidence of connectivity between the banking and sovereign sectors can be detected, and provide an application to the Greek, Irish, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish (GIIPS) countries and Germany over the period 2007 to 2016. While the results provide evidence of domestic feedback loops, the most important finding is that financial fragility is an international problem and cannot be dealt with purely on a country-by-country basis.
Asymptotic Theory for Cointegration Analysis When the Cointegration Rank Is Deficient
Authors: Bernstein David H. , Nielsen Bent
Published: January 2019

We consider cointegration tests in the situation where the cointegration rank is deficient. This situation is of interest in finite sample analysis and in relation to recent work on identification robust cointegration inference. We derive asymptotic theory for tests for cointegration rank and for hypotheses on the cointegrating vectors. The limiting distributions are tabulated. An application to US treasury yields series is given.
Rapid Prototyping of a Hybrid PV–Wind Generation System Implemented in a Real-Time Digital Simulation Platform and Arduino
Authors: Pagola Víctor , Peña Rafael , Segundo Juan , Ospino Adalberto
Published: January 2019

The growing penetration of generation systems based on renewable energy in electric power systems is undeniable. These generation systems have many benefits, but also many challenges from the technical point of view. One of the biggest problems in the case of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy is the intermittency of the raw material, thus hybrid generation systems that contain both sources are being used to complement electric power generation. To analyze the problems of this type of hybrid generation systems, it is necessary to develop models and test systems that allows to study their dynamic behavior. Reported in this paper is the implementation of a full hybrid PV–wind generation system model in a real-time digital simulation platform, and the development of the electronic converter controls. These controllers were implemented in digital devices (Arduino Due) and connected to the simulation platform to test their performance in real-time. In addition, the procedure followed for the development and implementation of the controllers is presented. The proposed test system can be used in renewable energy integration studies and the development of new control strategies.
Exploring the Sensitivity of Subtropical Stand Aboveground Productivity to Local and Regional Climate Signals in South China
Authors: Zhou Hua , Luo Yang , Zhou Guang , Yu Jian , Shah Sher , Meng Shengwang , Liu Qijing
Published: January 2019

Subtropical forest productivity is significantly affected by both natural disturbances (local and regional climate changes) and anthropogenic activities (harvesting and planting). Monthly measures of forest aboveground productivity from natural forests (primary and secondary forests) and plantations (mixed and single-species forests) were developed to explore the sensitivity of subtropical mountain productivity to the fluctuating characteristics of climate change in South China, spanning the 35-year period from 1981 to 2015. Statistical analysis showed that climate regulation differed across different forest types. The monthly average maximum temperature, precipitation, and streamflow were positively correlated with primary and mixed-forest aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and its components: Wood productivity (WP) and canopy productivity (CP). However, the monthly average maximum temperature, precipitation, and streamflow were negatively correlated with secondary and single-species forest ANPP and its components. The number of dry days and minimum temperature were positively associated with secondary and single-species forest productivity, but inversely associated with primary and mixed forest productivity. The multivariate ENSO (EI Niño-Southern Oscillation) index (MEI), computed based on sea level pressure, surface temperature, surface air temperature, and cloudiness over the tropical Pacific Ocean, was significantly correlated with local monthly maximum and minimum temperatures (Tmax and Tmin), precipitation (PRE), streamflow (FLO), and the number of dry days (DD), as well as the monthly means of primary and mixed forest aboveground productivity. In particular, the mean maximum temperature increased by 2.5, 0.9, 6.5, and 0.9 °C, and the total forest aboveground productivity decreased by an average of 5.7%, 3.0%, 2.4%, and 7.8% in response to the increased extreme high temperatures and drought events during the 1986/1988, 1997/1998, 2006/2007, and 2009/2010 EI Niño periods, respectively. Subsequently, the total aboveground productivity values increased by an average of 1.1%, 3.0%, 0.3%, and 8.6% because of lagged effects after the wet La Niña periods. The main conclusions of this study demonstrated that the influence of local and regional climatic fluctuations on subtropical forest productivity significantly differed across different forests, and community position and plant diversity differences among different forest types may prevent the uniform response of subtropical mountain aboveground productivity to regional climate anomalies. Therefore, these findings may be useful for forecasting climate-induced variation in forest aboveground productivity as well as for selecting tree species for planting in reforestation practices.
Improved Raoultella planticola Strains for the Production of 2,3-Butanediol from Glycerol
Authors: Bustamante Daniel , Segarra Silvia , Montesinos Alejandro , Tortajada Marta , Ramón Daniel , Rojas Antonia
Published: January 2019

Raw glycerol is an industrial byproduct from biodiesel production and is one of the most promising substrates for 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD) production; however, 2,3-BD is not yet produced by fermentation from glycerol on a commercial scale due to poor process economics. Class 1 microorganism collections were screened and Raoultella planticola strain CECT 843 proved to be the best 2,3-BD producer, achieving (23.3 ± 1.4) g 2,3-BD per L and a yield of 36% (g 2,3-BD per g glycerol). To further increase product concentration and yield, R. planticola CEC T843 was subjected to random mutagenesis using ultra-violet (UV) light and ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS). Two mutant strains were found to produce at least 30% more 2,3-BD than the wild type: R. planticola IA1 [(30.8 ± 3.9) g 2,3-BD per L and 49% yield] and R. planticola IIIA3 [(30.5 ± 0.4) g 2,3-BD per L and 49% yield].
Separation and Enrichment of Antioxidant Peptides from Whey Protein Isolate Hydrolysate by Aqueous Two-Phase Extraction and Aqueous Two-Phase Flotation
Authors: Jiang Bin , Na Jiaxin , Wang Lele , Li Dongmei , Liu Chunhong , Feng Zhibiao
Published: January 2019

At present, peptides are separated by molecular exclusion chromatography and liquid chromatography. A separation method is needed in any case, which can be scaled up for industrial scale. In this study, aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) and aqueous two-phase flotation (ATPF) were applied to separate and enrich antioxidant peptides from trypsin hydrolysates of whey protein isolates (WPI). The best experimental conditions were investigated, and the results were evaluated using the 2,2′-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) free radical scavenging activity of the peptides-per-unit concentration and the recovery rate (Y) of peptides in the top phase of both ATPE and ATPF. Under optimal conditions, the Y and ABTS free radical scavenging activity per unit concentration in top phase of ATPE could reach 38.75% and 12.94%, respectively, and in ATPF could reach 11.71% and 29.18%, respectively. The purified peptides were characterized by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). PeptideCutter and PeptideMass were applied to analyze and calculate the peptide sequencing. KILDKVGINYWLAHK, VGINYWLAHKALCSEK, and TPEVDDEALEKFDKALK sequences having antioxidant activity were detected in the top phase of ATPE, and VGINYWLAHKALCSEK, KILLDKVGINYWLAHK, ILLDKVGINYWLAHK, IIAEKTKIPAVFK, KIIAEKTKIPAVFK, and VYVEELKPTPEGDLEILLQK sequences having antioxidant activity were detected in the top phase of ATPF. In conclusion, antioxidant peptides were successfully separated from the WPI hydrolysate by ATPE and ATPF; compared with ATPE, ATPF has superior specificity in separating antioxidant peptides.
A High-Quality De novo Genome Assembly from a Single Mosquito Using PacBio Sequencing
Authors: Kingan Sarah B. , Heaton Haynes , Cudini Juliana , Lambert Christine C. , Baybayan Primo , Galvin Brendan D. , Durbin Richard , Korlach Jonas , Lawniczak Mara K. N.
Published: January 2019

A high-quality reference genome is a fundamental resource for functional genetics, comparative genomics, and population genomics, and is increasingly important for conservation biology. PacBio Single Molecule, Real-Time (SMRT) sequencing generates long reads with uniform coverage and high consensus accuracy, making it a powerful technology for de novo genome assembly. Improvements in throughput and concomitant reductions in cost have made PacBio an attractive core technology for many large genome initiatives, however, relatively high DNA input requirements (~5 µg for standard library protocol) have placed PacBio out of reach for many projects on small organisms that have lower DNA content, or on projects with limited input DNA for other reasons. Here we present a high-quality de novo genome assembly from a single Anopheles coluzzii mosquito. A modified SMRTbell library construction protocol without DNA shearing and size selection was used to generate a SMRTbell library from just 100 ng of starting genomic DNA. The sample was run on the Sequel System with chemistry 3.0 and software v6.0, generating, on average, 25 Gb of sequence per SMRT Cell with 20 h movies, followed by diploid de novo genome assembly with FALCON-Unzip. The resulting curated assembly had high contiguity (contig N50 3.5 Mb) and completeness (more than 98% of conserved genes were present and full-length). In addition, this single-insect assembly now places 667 (>90%) of formerly unplaced genes into their appropriate chromosomal contexts in the AgamP4 PEST reference. We were also able to resolve maternal and paternal haplotypes for over 1/3 of the genome. By sequencing and assembling material from a single diploid individual, only two haplotypes were present, simplifying the assembly process compared to samples from multiple pooled individuals. The method presented here can be applied to samples with starting DNA amounts as low as 100 ng per 1 Gb genome size. This new low-input approach puts PacBio-based assemblies in reach for small highly heterozygous organisms that comprise much of the diversity of life.
Genomic and Transcriptomic Changes That Mediate Increased Platinum Resistance in Cupriavidus metallidurans
Authors: Ali Md Muntasir , Provoost Ann , Maertens Laurens , Leys Natalie , Monsieurs Pieter , Charlier Daniel , Van Houdt Rob
Published: January 2019

The extensive anthropogenic use of platinum, a rare element found in low natural abundance in the Earth’s continental crust and one of the critical raw materials in the EU innovation partnership framework, has resulted in increased concentrations in surface environments. To minimize its spread and increase its recovery from the environment, biological recovery via different microbial systems is explored. In contrast, studies focusing on the effects of prolonged exposure to Pt are limited. In this study, we used the metal-resistant Cupriavidus metallidurans NA4 strain to explore the adaptation of environmental bacteria to platinum exposure. We used a combined Nanopore–Illumina sequencing approach to fully resolve all six replicons of the C. metallidurans NA4 genome, and compared them with the C. metallidurans CH34 genome, revealing an important role in metal resistance for its chromid rather than its megaplasmids. In addition, we identified the genomic and transcriptomic changes in a laboratory-evolved strain, displaying resistance to 160 µM Pt4+. The latter carried 20 mutations, including a large 69.9 kb deletion in its plasmid pNA4_D (89.6 kb in size), and 226 differentially-expressed genes compared to its parental strain. Many membrane-related processes were affected, including up-regulation of cytochrome c and a lytic transglycosylase, down-regulation of flagellar and pili-related genes, and loss of the pNA4_D conjugative machinery, pointing towards a significant role in the adaptation to platinum.
EPA and DHA Inhibit Myogenesis and Downregulate the Expression of Muscle-related Genes in C2C12 Myoblasts
Authors: Zhang Jing , Xu Xin , Liu Yan , Zhang Lin , Odle Jack , Lin Xi , Zhu Huiling , Wang Xiuying , Liu Yulan
Published: January 2019

This study was conducted to elucidate the biological effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on cell proliferation, differentiation and gene expression in C2C12 myoblasts. C2C12 were treated with various concentrations of EPA or DHA under proliferation and differentiation conditions. Cell viability was analyzed using cell counting kit-8 assays (CCK-8). The Edu assays were performed to analyze cell proliferation. To analyze cell differentiation, the expressions of myogenic marker genes were determined at the transcriptional and translational levels by qRT-PCR, immunoblotting and immunofluorescence. Global gene expression patterns were characterized using RNA-sequencing. Phosphorylation levels of ERK and Akt were examined by immunoblotting. Cell viability and proliferation was significantly inhibited after incubation with EPA (50 and 100 μM) or DHA (100 μM). Both EPA and DHA suppressed C2C12 myoblasts differentiation. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that some muscle-related genes were significantly downregulated following EPA or DHA (50 μM) treatment, including insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF-2), troponin T3 (Tnnt3), myoglobin (Mb), myosin light chain phosphorylatable fast skeletal muscle (Mylpf) and myosin heavy polypeptide 3 (Myh3). IGF-2 was crucial for the growth and differentiation of skeletal muscle and could activate the PI3K/Akt and the MAPK/ERK cascade. We found that EPA and DHA (50 μM) decreased the phosphorylation levels of ERK1/2 and Akt in C2C12 myoblasts. Thus, this study suggested that EPA and DHA exerted an inhibitory effect on myoblast proliferation and differentiation and downregulated muscle-related genes expression.
A Random Walk Based Cluster Ensemble Approach for Data Integration and Cancer Subtyping
Authors: Yang Chao , Wang Yu-Tian , Zheng Chun-Hou
Published: January 2019

Availability of diverse types of high-throughput data increases the opportunities for researchers to develop computational methods to provide a more comprehensive view for the mechanism and therapy of cancer. One fundamental goal for oncology is to divide patients into subtypes with clinical and biological significance. Cluster ensemble fits this task exactly. It can improve the performance and robustness of clustering results by combining multiple basic clustering results. However, many existing cluster ensemble methods use a co-association matrix to summarize the co-occurrence statistics of the instance-cluster, where the relationship in the integration is only encapsulated at a rough level. Moreover, the relationship among clusters is completely ignored. Finding these missing associations could greatly expand the ability of cluster ensemble methods for cancer subtyping. In this paper, we propose the RWCE (Random Walk based Cluster Ensemble) to consider similarity among clusters. We first obtained a refined similarity between clusters by using random walk and a scaled exponential similarity kernel. Then, after being modeled as a bipartite graph, a more informative instance-cluster association matrix filled with the aforementioned cluster similarity was fed into a spectral clustering algorithm to get the final clustering result. We applied our method on six cancer types from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and breast cancer from the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC). Experimental results show that our method is competitive against existing methods. Further case study demonstrates that our method has the potential to find subtypes with clinical and biological significance.
Writing Histone Monoubiquitination in Human Malignancy—The Role of RING Finger E3 Ubiquitin Ligases
Authors: Marsh Deborah J. , Dickson Kristie-Ann
Published: January 2019

There is growing evidence highlighting the importance of monoubiquitination as part of the histone code. Monoubiquitination, the covalent attachment of a single ubiquitin molecule at specific lysines of histone tails, has been associated with transcriptional elongation and the DNA damage response. Sites function as scaffolds or docking platforms for proteins involved in transcription or DNA repair; however, not all sites are equal, with some sites resulting in actively transcribed chromatin and others associated with gene silencing. All events are written by E3 ubiquitin ligases, predominantly of the RING (really interesting new gene) finger type. One of the most well-studied events is monoubiquitination of histone H2B at lysine 120 (H2Bub1), written predominantly by the RING finger complex RNF20-RNF40 and generally associated with active transcription. Monoubiquitination of histone H2A at lysine 119 (H2AK119ub1) is also well-studied, its E3 ubiquitin ligase constituting part of the Polycomb Repressor Complex 1 (PRC1), RING1B-BMI1, associated with transcriptional silencing. Both modifications are activated as part of the DNA damage response. Histone monoubiquitination is a key epigenomic event shaping the chromatin landscape of malignancy and influencing how cells respond to DNA damage. This review discusses a number of these sites and the E3 RING finger ubiquitin ligases that write them.
Biogeochemical Characterization of Metal Behavior from Novel Mussel Shell Bioreactor Sludge Residues
Authors: Butler Sara C. , Pope James , Chaganti Subba Rao , Heath Daniel D. , Weisener Christopher G.
Published: January 2019

Acid mine drainage (AMD) remediation commonly produces byproducts which must be stored or utilized to reduce the risk of further contamination. A mussel shell bioreactor has been implemented at a coal mine in New Zealand, which is an effective remediation option, although an accumulated sludge layer decreased efficiency which was then removed and requires storage. To understand associated risks related to storage or use of the AMD sludge material, a laboratory mesocosm study investigated the physio-chemical and biological influence in two conditions: anoxic storage (burial deep within a waste rock dump) or exposure to oxic environments (use of sludge on the surface of the mine). Solid phase characterization by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and selective extraction was completed to compare two environmental conditions (oxic and anoxic) under biologically active and abiotic systems (achieved by gamma irradiation). Changes in microbial community structure were monitored using 16s rDNA amplification and next-generation sequencing. The results indicate that microbes in an oxic environment increase the formation of oxyhydroxides and acidic conditions increase metal mobility. In an oxic and circumneutral environment, the AMD sludge may be repurposed to act as an oxygen barrier for mine tailings or soil amendment. Anoxic conditions would likely promote the biomineralization of sulfide minerals in the AMD sludge by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), which were abundant in the system. The anoxic conditions reduced the risk of trace metals (Zn) associated with oxides, but increased Fe associated with organic material. In summary, fewer risks are associated with anoxic burial but repurposing in an oxic condition may be appropriate under favorable conditions.
African by Exposure: Caregivers, Madness, and the Contagious Other in García Márquez’s Of Love and Other Demons and Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea
Authors: Harvey Meredith L.
Published: January 2019

The following article discusses Gabriel García Márquez’s Of Love and Other Demons and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea. Specifically, this article will discuss the parallel ways that two novels critique the nature of postcolonial development in the Caribbean, particularly in regard to race and hybridity. Within the novels, the child protagonists and their African/black creole nursemaids follow surprisingly similar plots, though the settings, contexts, and styles of the two texts differ greatly. In these two novels while the white protagonists both die because of their hybrid navigation of their environment, their nurse/mothers survive, largely because of their maintenance of African practices. In many ways, the nurse mothers’ survival and attempts to heal their charges present potential antidotes for the “disease” produced by slavery. The purpose of this paper is to explore those parallel developments in plot, and to look at the ways the two texts disrupt and reinforce colonial hegemonic norms through their depictions of both the nurses and their charges.
Extractive Poetics: Marine Energies in Scottish Literature
Authors: Campbell Alexandra
Published: January 2019

Following the recent call to ‘put the ocean’s agitation and historicity back onto our mental maps and into the study of literature’ (Yaeger 2010), this article addresses the histories and cultures of marine energy extraction in modern Scottish literature. The burgeoning discipline of the Energy Humanities has recently turned its attentions towards Scottish literature as a valuable area of study when contemplating the relationships between energy and cultural production. Most recently, scholars have focused their analysis on the histories of North Sea oil and gas production and have worked to juxtapose the long histories of land clearance in the Highlands and islands alongside contemporary narratives of exile and exploitation experienced by Scotland’s coastal oil communities. The forms of spatial injustice incurred through the recent histories of what Derek Gladwin terms ‘Oil Clearance’ (Gladwin 2017) or Graeme Macdonald identifies as ‘petro-marginalisation’ (Macdonald 2015), is often solely registered through terrestrial environments. This article urges the adoption of an oceanic perspective, one which registers how the extractive politics of modern petroculture in Scotland not only presents major challenges for terrestrial environments and communities, but holds specific ramifications for the ways in which we currently imagine and interact with oceanic space. Indeed, as Macdonald has noted, the North Sea is in many ways ‘wholly regarded as a productive environment of marine capitalism synonymous with oil’ (2015). What does it mean to read the ocean through oil? By adopting an oceanic perspective, this article considers the ways in which the exploitative dynamics of offshore petroculture in the 1970s coincides with an incredibly damaging and problematic cultural construction of the ocean. But as Scotland moves towards a new era of low-carbon energy production, how might this construction of the ocean change? The closing half of this article considers the ways in which the extractivist histories and spatial injustices of petroculture are resisted through contemporary poetic engagements with new marine-based energy technologies, namely, wave and tidal power. In examining a range of work from artists and poets such as Alec Finlay, Laura Watts, Lila Matsumoto and Hannah Imlach, this article further argues that the recent turn towards marine renewables not only signals a new future for a low-carbon Scotland, but that the advent of renewable technologies provides contemporary poets with new materials through which to imagine alternative models of community, power, and relation in an era of environmental change.
Parental Knowledge about Meningococcal Disease and Vaccination Uptake among 0–5 years Old Polish Children
Authors: Drozd-Dąbrowska Marzena , Topczewska Katarzyna , Korzeń Marcin , Sałacka Anna , Ganczak Maria
Published: January 2019

In Poland, in addition to mandatory, free of charge vaccines, listed in the national immunization schedule, numerous self-paid vaccinations are recommended, including meningococcal vaccination (MV). To assess MV uptake among ≤5-year-old children and to evaluate parental knowledge and attitudes regarding invasive meningococcal disease (IMD). A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018 among 350 parents (mean age: 32.3 years), attending three randomly selected primary care clinics in Szczecin region, Poland. Anonymous questionnaires were administered to the parents by researchers, present at the time the survey was conducted, to self-complete on a voluntary basis. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact for categorical and Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables. Variables significantly (p < 0.05) associated with ‘good knowledge’ in the bivariate analysis were used to build a logistic regression model. It was found that the response rate was 93.4%, and MV uptake among children was 29.5%. The main knowledge sources were medical staff and media; 72.5% had ever received information about IMD. Only 18.8% of parents self-assessed their knowledge regarding IMD as good; 61.8% scored >50% in the knowledge test 58.9% knew the mode of transmission, 58.7% recognized the severity of meningitis, and 79.7% knew that bacterial meningitis is a vaccine-preventive disease. Knowledge regarding IMD was higher among parents with higher educational level (OR = 3.37; p = 0.01), from urban facilities (OR = 2.20; p = 0.02), who received previous information about IMD (OR = 2.85; p = 0.01) and self-assessed their knowledge as good (OR = 2.59; p = 0.04). Low MV coverage among children up to five years old and knowledge gaps about IMD call for awareness campaigns which may increase the coverage. Although educational interventions should cover all parents, those from provincial facilities, representing lower education level need special attention.
Study on the Remediation of Cd Pollution by the Biomineralization of Urease-Producing Bacteria
Authors: Zhao Xingqing , Wang Min , Wang Hui , Tang Ding , Huang Jian , Sun Yu
Published: January 2019

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic metal that can affect human health and environmental safety. The purpose of this study was to research the removal of Cd from an environmental perspective. In this article, four highly urease-active strains (CZW-2, CZW-5, CZW-9 and CZW-12) were isolated from an abandoned mine and their phylogenetic trees were analyzed. The maximum enzyme activities, the mineralized precipitate and the removal rates of these strains were compared. The results showed that CZW-2 had the highest urease activity at 51.6 U/mL, and the removal rates of CZW-2, CZW-5, CZW-9 and CZW-12 after 120 h were 80.10%, 72.64%, 76.70% and 73.40%, with an initial concentration of Cd of 2 mM in the Cd precipitation experiments. XRD (X-ray diffractometer), EDS (Energy dispersive spectrometer) and FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis indicated that the mineralized precipitate was CdCO3. SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) analysis revealed that the diameter of the oval-shaped mineralized product ranked from 0.5 to 2 μm. These strains were used to remedy Cd-contaminated soil, and five different fractions of Cd were measured. Compared with the control, the results of spraying pre-cultured strains containing 2% urea to remove Cd from contaminated soils showed that the exchangeable fraction of Cd decreased by 53.30%, 27.78%, 42.54% and 53.80%, respectively, whereas the carbonate-bound fraction increased by 55.42%, 20.27%, 39.67% and 34.36%, respectively, after one month. These data show that these strains can effectively reduce the bioavailability and mobility of Cd in contaminated soils. The results indicate that biomineralization based on the decomposition of substrate urea can be applied to remedy heavy contaminated soil and water.
Breast Cancer and Exposure to Organochlorines in the CECILE Study: Associations with Plasma Levels Measured at the Time of Diagnosis and Estimated during Adolescence
Authors: Bachelet Delphine , Verner Marc-André , Neri Monica , Cordina Duverger Émilie , Charlier Corinne , Arveux Patrick , Haddad Sami , Guénel Pascal
Published: January 2019

Exposure to environmental chemicals with hormonal effects, such as organochlorine compounds (OCs), during developmental periods of breast cells may have an impact on the incidence of breast cancer later in life. However, the assessment of exposure to these chemicals that occurred in early life at the time of breast cancer development in adult women is a difficult challenge in epidemiological studies. Plasma levels of the OCs p,p’-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (DDE) and polychlorinated biphenyl congener 153 (PCB153) were measured in 695 cases and 1055 controls of a population-based case-control study conducted in France (CECILE study). Based on these values, we used a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to estimate PCB153 levels at age 11–20 years when the women were adolescents. Overall, there was no clear association between breast cancer risk and measured levels of DDE and PCB153 at the time of diagnosis, but there was a trend of decreasing odds ratios of breast cancer with increasing DDE and PCB153 levels in women aged 50 years and over. The PBPK model revealed that PCB153 concentrations estimated during adolescence were highest in the youngest women born after 1960 who reached adolescence at a time when environmental contamination was maximum, and very low in the oldest women who attained adolescence before the contamination peak. Negative associations between breast cancer and PCB153 estimates during adolescence were also found. The negative associations between DDE and PCB153 levels measured at the time of diagnosis or estimated during adolescence in our study were unexplained. Further investigations are needed to clarify whether this finding is real or related to study artifacts. However, this study suggests that using PBPK models in epidemiological studies to back-estimate OC exposures during early life stages may be useful to address critical questions on cancer development.
An Empirical Investigation of the Performance of Japanese Mutual Funds: Skill or Luck?
Authors: Pilbeam Keith , Preston Hamish
Published: January 2019

This paper assesses the performance of 355 actively managed Japanese Equity Mutual Funds between April 2011 and April 2016. The equal weight portfolio and Jensen’s alpha measures of active management provide strong evidence that Japanese Mutual Funds fail to outperform the benchmark four-factor capital asset pricing model. When it comes to market timing, the Treynor and Mazuy measure shows that 33 funds have significant positive market timing ability which is largely offset by 31 funds with significant negative timing ability. To ensure the statistical inference is robust to the non-normality found in 33 funds we employ Fama and French’s cross-sectional bootstrap. The results show that a large proportion of funds fail to outperform a hypothetical world with no skill. On the persistence of skill we find that there is stronger persistence for poor performing funds than for strong performing funds.
Threat of Pollution Hotspots Reworking in River Systems: Case Study of the Ploučnice River (Czech Republic)
Authors: Elznicová Jitka , Matys Grygar Tomáš , Popelka Jan , Sikora Martin , Novák Petr , Hošek Michal
Published: January 2019

As fluvial pollution may endanger the quality of water and solids transported by rivers, mapping and evaluation of historically polluted fluvial sediments is an urgent topic. The Ploučnice River and its floodplain were polluted by local uranium mining from 1971–1989. We have studied this river since 2013 using a combination of diverse methods, including geoinformatics, to identify pollution hotspots in floodplains and to evaluate the potential for future reworking. Archival information on pollution history and past flooding was collected to understand floodplain dynamics and pollution heterogeneity. Subsequently, a digital terrain model based on laser scanning data and data analysis were used to identify the sites with river channel shifts. Finally, non-invasive geochemical mapping was employed, using portable X-ray fluorescence and gamma spectrometers. The resulting datasets were processed with geostatistical tools. One of the main outputs of the study was a detailed map of pollution distribution in the floodplain. The results showed a relationship between polluted sediment deposition, past channel shifts and floodplain development. We found that increased concentration of pollution occurred mainly in the cut-off meanders and lateral channel deposits from the mining period, the latter in danger of reworking (reconnecting to the river) in the coming decades.
Automated Matching of Multi-Scale Building Data Based on Relaxation Labelling and Pattern Combinations
Authors: Zhang Yunfei , Huang Jincai , Deng Min , Chen Chi , Zhou Fangbin , Xie Shuchun , Fang Xiaoliang
Published: January 2019

With the increasingly urgent demand for map conflation and timely data updating, data matching has become a crucial issue in big data and the GIS community. However, non-rigid deviation, shape homogenization, and uncertain scale differences occur in crowdsourced and official building data, causing challenges in conflating heterogeneous building datasets from different sources and scales. This paper thus proposes an automated building data matching method based on relaxation labelling and pattern combinations. The proposed method first detects all possible matching objects and pattern combinations to create a matching table, and calculates four geo-similarities for each candidate-matching pair to initialize a probabilistic matching matrix. After that, the contextual information of neighboring candidate-matching pairs is explored to heuristically amend the geo-similarity-based matching matrix for achieving a contextual matching consistency. Three case studies are conducted to illustrate that the proposed method obtains high matching accuracies and correctly identifies various 1:1, 1:M, and M:N matching. This indicates the pattern-level relaxation labelling matching method can efficiently overcome the problems of shape homogeneity and non-rigid deviation, and meanwhile has weak sensitivity to uncertain scale differences, providing a functional solution for conflating crowdsourced and official building data.
RETRACTED: Identifying Asphalt Pavement Distress Using UAV LiDAR Point Cloud Data and Random Forest Classification
Authors: Li Zhiqiang , Cheng Chengqi , Kwan Mei-Po , Tong Xiaochong , Tian Shaohong
Published: January 2019

Asphalt pavement ages and incurs various distresses due to natural and human factors. Thus, it is crucial to rapidly and accurately extract different types of pavement distress to effectively monitor road health status. In this study, we explored the feasibility of pavement distress identification using low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle light detection and ranging (UAV LiDAR) and random forest classification (RFC) for a section of an asphalt road that is located in the suburb of Shihezi City in Xinjiang Province of China. After a spectral and spatial feature analysis of pavement distress, a total of 48 multidimensional and multiscale features were extracted based on the strength of the point cloud elevations and reflection intensities. Subsequently, we extracted the pavement distresses from the multifeature dataset by utilizing the RFC method. The overall accuracy of the distress identification was 92.3%, and the kappa coefficient was 0.902. When compared with the maximum likelihood classification (MLC) and support vector machine (SVM), the RFC had a higher accuracy, which confirms its robustness and applicability to multisample and high-dimensional data classification. Furthermore, the method achieved an overall accuracy of 95.86% with a validation dataset. This result indicates the validity and stability of our method, which highway maintenance agencies can use to evaluate road health conditions and implement maintenance.
Deep Neural Networks and Kernel Density Estimation for Detecting Human Activity Patterns from Geo-Tagged Images: A Case Study of Birdwatching on Flickr
Authors: Koylu Caglar , Zhao Chang , Shao Wei
Published: January 2019

Thanks to recent advances in high-performance computing and deep learning, computer vision algorithms coupled with spatial analysis methods provide a unique opportunity for extracting human activity patterns from geo-tagged social media images. However, there are only a handful of studies that evaluate the utility of computer vision algorithms for studying large-scale human activity patterns. In this article, we introduce an analytical framework that integrates a computer vision algorithm based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) with kernel density estimation to identify objects, and infer human activity patterns from geo-tagged photographs. To demonstrate our framework, we identify bird images to infer birdwatching activity from approximately 20 million publicly shared images on Flickr, across a three-year period from December 2013 to December 2016. In order to assess the accuracy of object detection, we compared results from the computer vision algorithm to concept-based image retrieval, which is based on keyword search on image metadata such as textual description, tags, and titles of images. We then compared patterns in birding activity generated using Flickr bird photographs with patterns identified using eBird data—an online citizen science bird observation application. The results of our eBird comparison highlight the potential differences and biases in casual and serious birdwatching, and similarities and differences among behaviors of social media and citizen science users. Our analysis results provide valuable insights into assessing the credibility and utility of geo-tagged photographs in studying human activity patterns through object detection and spatial analysis.
The Biophysical Interaction of the Danger-Associated Molecular Pattern (DAMP) Calreticulin with the Pattern-Associated Molecular Pattern (PAMP) Lipopolysaccharide
Authors: Pandya Unnati M. , Egbuta Chinaza , Abdullah Norman Trefa M. , Chiang Chih-Yuan (Edward) , Wiersma Valerie R. , Panchal Rekha G. , Bremer Edwin , Eggleton Paul , Gold Leslie I
Published: January 2019

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone protein, calreticulin (CRT), is essential for proper glycoprotein folding and maintaining cellular calcium homeostasis. During ER stress, CRT is overexpressed as part of the unfolded protein response (UPR). In addition, CRT can be released as a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecule that may interact with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) during the innate immune response. One such PAMP is lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of the gram-negative bacterial cell wall. In this report, we show that recombinant and native human placental CRT strongly interacts with LPS in solution, solid phase, and the surface of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, LPS induces oilgomerization of CRT with a disappearance of the monomeric form. The application of recombinant CRT (rCRT) to size exclusion and anion exchange chromatography shows an atypical heterogeneous elution profile, indicating that LPS affects the conformation and ionic charge of CRT. Interestingly, LPS bound to CRT is detected in sera of bronchiectasis patients with chronic bacterial infections. By ELISA, rCRT dose-dependently bound to solid phase LPS via the N- and C-domain globular head region of CRT and the C-domain alone. The specific interaction of CRT with LPS may be important in PAMP innate immunity.
Risk Factors and Outcomes of Recurrent Candidemia in Children: Relapse or Re-Infection?
Authors: Lai Mei-Yin , Hsu Jen-Fu , Chu Shih-Ming , Wu I-Hsyuan , Huang Hsuan-Rong , Chiang Ming-Chou , Fu Ren-Huei , Tsai Ming-Horng
Published: January 2019

In this paper, our aim was to investigate the incidence, clinical characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of recurrent candidemia in children. We retrospectively reviewed all children with candidemia from a medical center in Taiwan between 2004 and 2015. Two episodes of candidemia ≥30 days apart with clinical and microbiological resolution in the interim were defined as “late recurrence”, and those that had 8–29 days apart from previous episodes were defined as “early recurrence”. 45 patients (17.2%) had 57 episodes of recurrent candidemia, and 24 had 28 episodes of late recurrent candidemia. The median time between recurrences was 1.8 months (range: <1 month to 13 months). Of those, 29 had relapsed candidemia and 28 were re-infected by different Candida species (n = 24) or by different strains (n = 4). Recurrent candidemia patients were more likely to require echinocandins treatment, had a longer duration of candidemia, and higher rate of treatment failure (p = 0.001, 0.014, and 0.012, respectively). Underlying gastrointestinal diseases (Odds ratio (OR) 3.84; 95% Confidence interval (CI) 1.81–8.12) and neurological sequelae (OR 2.32; 95% CI 1.15–4.69) were independently associated with the development of recurrent candidemia. 17.2% of pediatric patients with candidemia developed recurrent candidemia, and approximately half were re-infected. Underlying gastrointestinal diseases and neurological sequelae were the independent risk factors for recurrent candidemia.
MiR-146a-5p Expression in Peripheral CD14+ Monocytes from Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis Induces Osteoclast Activation, Bone Resorption, and Correlates with Clinical Response
Authors: Lin Shang-Hung , Ho Ji-Chen , Li Sung-Chou , Chen Jia-Feng , Hsiao Chang-Chun , Lee Chih-Hung
Published: January 2019

In psoriatic arthritis (PsA), progressive bone destruction is mediated by monocyte-derived osteoclasts. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate many pathophysiological processes; however, their function in PsA patient monocytes has not been examined. This study aims to address whether specific miRNAs in CD14+ monocytes and monocyte-derived osteoclasts cause active osteoclastogenesis in PsA patients. Candidate miRNAs related to monocyte activation (miR-146a-5p, miR-146b-5p and miR-155-5p) were measured in circulatory CD14+ monocytes collected from 34 PsA patients, 17 psoriasis without arthritis (PsO) patients, and 34 normal controls (NCs). CD14+ monocytes were cultured with media containing TNF-α and RANKL to differentiate into osteoclasts. Osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption were measured by TRAP immunostaining and dentin slice resorption, respectively. The results showed that the miR-146a-5p expression was higher in PsA patient-derived CD14+ monocytes compared to PsO and NCs. Activation and bone resorption were selectively enhanced in osteoclasts from PsA patients, but both were abrogated by RNA interference against miR-146a-5p. More importantly, after clinical improvement using biologics, the increased miR-146a-5p expression in CD14+ monocytes from PsA patients was selectively abolished, and associated with blood CRP level. Our findings indicate that miR-146a-5p expression in CD14+ monocytes derived from PsA patients correlates with clinical efficacy, and induction of osteoclast activation and bone resorption.
The Future State of Newborn Stem Cell Banking
Authors: Brown Katherine S. , Rao Mahendra S. , Brown Heather L.
Published: January 2019

Newborn stem cell banking began with the establishment of cord blood banks more than 25 years ago. Over the course of nearly three decades, there has been considerable evolution in the clinical application of stem cells isolated from newborn tissues. The industry now finds itself at an inflection point as personalized medicine and regenerative medicine continue to advance. In this review, we summarize our perspective on newborn stem cell banking in the context of the future potential that stem cells from perinatal tissues are likely to play in nascent applications. Specifically, we describe the relevance of newborn stem cell banking and how the cells stored can be utilized as starting material for the next generation of advanced cellular therapies and personalized medicine.