bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Real Property Law in the Unification Treaty – Merging Two Opposite Legal Systems
Authors: Schmidt-Räntsch Joanna
Published: June 2016

This essay outlines how the German Unification Treaty comprehends real property merely as a problem of transition provisions and of restitution. The Treaty therefore does provide for a small set of transition provisions similar to those provided for in 1900 for the introduction of the German Civil Code and for a restitution Act. More by instinct than by reflection or knowledge the Treaty also comprises a clause reserving later legislation on reorganizing property law. Soon after Unification having come into force this clause proved to be essential. Literally day by day, the gap between the written German Democratic Republic (GDR)-law and the real practice became more and more apparent. The difference between rights in rem and contractual rights had vanished in the GDR-law to an extent that, in the end, in hundreds of thousands of cases people did not provide at all for the necessary legal fundament for building small houses, big housing blocs, factories or public highways. Nearly every day people wrote letters to the Federal Ministry of Justice describing cases that could not or at least not satisfactorily be resolved with the instruments of the existing law. Therefore, the German parliament had to close these gaps and reorganize the rights and obligations of the people and enterprises using other persons' real property.

It accomplished this by enacting in a quick sequence a series of statutes reorganizing property law. Then it was up to the public notaries and the courts, especially the civil senate of the German Federal Court of Justice and the 7th and 3rd revision senate of the Federal Administrative Court to make these laws in practicable. Although the more difficult cases on reorganizing real property relations come up for decision recently, the vast majority of cases have been finalized. This has also been a challenge for law libraries. First, they had to withstand the general trend to throw away their old stocks, which at a second glance could be very useful, both for creating the necessary reorganizing provisions and for assisting the decisions of the courts on these new rules. Then they had to decide how to provide to their Courts, lawyers or professors the necessary periodicals, commentaries and monographs. Now these transient stocks continue to be necessary for the decisions of the courts in the actual cases – and the preparatory work on writing the legal history.
Owenettids and procolophonids from the lower Keuper shed new light on the diversity of parareptiles in the German Middle Triassic
Authors: Martinelli Agustín G. , Soares Marina Bento , Schoch Rainer R.
Published: June 2016

We report three isolated humeri of small-sized parareptiles, which represent two different taxa, from the lower Keuper (Erfurt Formation) of Germany. They constitute the first definitive evidence of parareptiles in the lower Keuper. The specimens represent the first records of an owenettid procolophonian (aff. Barasaurus) from Europe and of a putative gracile-built procolophonid. This indicates the coexistence in the Middle Triassic of Germany of two procolophonian lineages that first appeared in the fossil record in the late Permian and survived the Permian–Triassic extinction. Although based on isolated limb bones, they highlight the taxonomic diversity of the still poorly known tetrapod assemblage of the lower Keuper in southwestern Germany.
Invasion byBactrocera dorsalisand niche partitioning among tephritid species in Comoros
Authors: Mze Hassani I. , Raveloson-Ravaomanarivo L.H. , Delatte H. , Chiroleu F. , Allibert A. , Nouhou S. , Quilici S. , Duyck P.F.
Published: June 2016

Ten economically important species belonging to the Tephritidae have been recorded in Union of the Comoros (an island nation off the coast of East Africa). Little is known about the distribution of these species and how they are affected by climatic factors in the Comoros archipelago. The main objectives of this study were to characterize: (i) the population dynamics of tephritid fruit flies in relation to season and host fruit availability and (ii) the geographic distribution of tephritids in relation to temperature and rainfall. The study was conducted during 2 years at 11 sites on three islands (Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli) in the archipelago. The site elevations ranged from 55 to 885 m a.s.l. At each site, flies were collected weekly in eight traps (four different lures, each replicated twice). Fruit phenology was also recorded weekly. The dominant tephritid species detected was the invasiveBactrocera dorsalisHendel followed byCeratitis capitataWiedemann. Tephritid species were generally more abundant during the hot and rainy seasons than during the cold and dry seasons.Bactrocera dorsalisnumbers were higher on Grande Comore than on the two other islands. On Anjouan and Mohéli,B. dorsalisnumbers were very low in 2014 but sharply increased in 2015, suggesting a recent invasion of these islands. Abundances were significantly related to the fruiting of mango, strawberry guava, and guava forB. dorsalisand to the fruiting of mango, guava, and mandarin forC. capitata. Bactrocera dorsaliswas more abundant in hot and humid low-altitude areas, whileC. capitatawas more abundant in dry medium-altitude areas, suggesting the occurrence of climatic niche partitioning between the two species.
Contrastive foot structure in Franconian tone-accent dialects
Authors: Köhnlein Björn
Published: June 2016

Franconian has a contrast between two tone accents, commonly referred to as Accent 1 and Accent 2. Traditional autosegmental analyses of the phenomenon suggest that this opposition derives from the presence of lexical tone. In contrast to this ‘tonal approach’, I argue that the Franconian accent contrast is based on contrastive foot structure – there is no tone in the lexicon. This ‘metrical approach’ not only accounts for the tonal differences between the accents, but also captures a variety of facts that are hard to incorporate into a synchronic tonal analysis, involving morphological alternations between Accent 1 and Accent 2, as well as the effects of vowel duration, vowel quality and consonant quality on accent-class membership. The metrical analysis of these patterns is in line with similar approaches to tone-accent contrasts in North Germanic and Scottish Gaelic.
Being Good by Doing Good: Goodness and the Evaluation of Persons
Authors: SCHMIDT ANDREAS T.
Published: June 2016

Does doing good in itself make one a better person? This idea is intuitive yet its precise formulation underexplored. This article first shows that it is not the case that a person is good to the extent that her existence brings about good or to the extent that her actions do good. A proportional principle that evaluates a person according to the expected goodness of her actual course of action relative to the expected goodness of other available courses is shown to be the most plausible candidate. However, such a principle can only be apro tantoprinciple of what makes persons good. To account for other relevant intuitions – such as that a person's motives matter for how good she is – we need further principles. This article ends with a few practical implications about how to be a better person according to the principle defended here.
Modeling language change across the lifespan: Individual trajectories in community change
Authors: Baxter Gareth , Croft William
Published: June 2016

We use a mathematical model to examine three phenomena involving language change across the lifespan: the apparent time construct, the adolescent peak, and two different patterns of individual change. The apparent time construct is attributed to a decline in flexibility toward language change over one's lifetime; this explanation is borne out in our model. The adolescent peak has been explained by social networks: children interact more with caregivers a generation older until later childhood and adolescence. We find that the peak also occurs with many other network structures, so the peak is not specifically due to caregiver interaction. The two patterns of individual change are one in which most individuals change gradually, following the mean of community change, and another in which most individuals have more categorical behavior and change rapidly if they change at all. Our model suggests that they represent different balances between the differential weighting of competing variants and degree of accommodation to other speakers.
Preface
Authors: RAPP REINHARD , SHAROFF SERGE , ZWEIGENBAUM PIERRE
Published: June 2016

After several decades of work on rule-based machine translation (MT) where linguists try to manually encode their knowledge about language, the time around 1990 brought a paradigm change towards automatic systems which try to learn how to translate by looking at large collections of high-quality sample translations as produced by professional translators. The first such attempts were called example- or analogy-based translation, and somewhat later the so-called statistical approach to MT was introduced. Both can be subsumed under the label data-driven approaches to MT. It took about 10 years until these self-learning systems became serious competitors of the traditional rule-based systems, and by now some of the most successful MT systems, such as Google Translate and Moses, are based on the statistical approach.
Extracting parallel phrases from comparable data for machine translation
Authors: HEWAVITHARANA SANJIKA , VOGEL STEPHAN
Published: June 2016

Mining parallel data from comparable corpora is a promising approach for overcoming the data sparseness in statistical machine translation and other natural language processing applications. In this paper, we address the task of detecting parallel phrase pairs embedded in comparable sentence pairs. We present a novel phrase alignment approach that is designed to only align parallel sections bypassing non-parallel sections of the sentence. We compare the proposed approach with two other alignment methods: (1) the standard phrase extraction algorithm, which relies on the Viterbi path of the word alignment, (2) a binary classifier to detect parallel phrase pairs when presented with a large collection of phrase pair candidates. We evaluate the accuracy of these approaches using a manually aligned data set, and show that the proposed approach outperforms the other two approaches. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the extracted phrase pairs by using them in Arabic–English and Urdu–English translation systems, which resulted in improvements upto 1.2 Bleu over the baseline. The main contributions of this paper are two-fold: (1) novel phrase alignment algorithms to extract parallel phrase pairs from comparable sentences, (2) evaluating the utility of the extracted phrases by using them directly in the MT decoder.
Exploiting unbalanced specialized comparable corpora for bilingual lexicon extraction
Authors: MORIN EMMANUEL , HAZEM AMIR
Published: June 2016

The main work in bilingual lexicon extraction from comparable corpora is based on the implicit hypothesis that corpora are balanced in terms of size. However, the historical context-based projection method is relatively insensitive to the size of each part of the comparable corpus. Within this context, we have carried out a study on the influence of unbalanced specialized comparable corpora and on the quality of bilingual terminology extraction by doing different experiments. Moreover, we have introduced a strategy into the context-based projection method to re-estimate word co-occurrence observations. This is done by using smoothing or prediction techniques that boost the observations of word co-occurrences which are mainly useful for the smallest part of an unbalanced comparable corpus. Our results show that the use of unbalanced specialized comparable corpora results in a significant improvement in the quality of extracted lexicons.
The BIALL-IALS Foreign and International Law Courses
Authors: Swift Hester
Published: June 2016

Hester Swift writes about the successful one-day courses on foreign and international legal research that have been run since 2009 at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) in conjunction with BIALL. These courses have been a collaborative venture between the Foreign and International Law Librarians at the Bodleian Law Library at Oxford, the Squire Law Library at Cambridge, and the IALS Library, together with law librarians from the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies and the University of Cardiff. The courses have attracted delegates from many different sectors of the legal information profession. The post of Foreign and International Law Librarian, or Foreign, Comparative and International Law Librarian, is relatively new to the UK, but has a long history in the United States. The BIALL-IALS foreign and international law training initiative complements the cooperation of the Foreign Law Research (FLARE) Group.
Economic freedom of North America at state borders
Authors: MURPHY RYAN H.
Published: June 2016

I use matched county pairs on either side of US state borders to investigate the causal effects of the Economic Freedom of North America index (EFNA) on local outcomes. This method is similar to Dubeet al. (2010). I construct a panel of county pairs running from 1981–2012 and four measures of outcomes, logged real incomes, logged real per capita incomes, employment, and logged real wages, employing single year and five year differences-in-differences. I find small, but precisely estimated, effects on incomes but mixed effects on wages and employment. All regressions show lowR2. This supports the hypothesis that state-level economic freedom improves capital income or that it attracts capital income across state borders.
Identifying General Cognitive Abilities Involved in Argument Comprehension and Evaluation
Authors: Britt M. Anne , Kopp Kristopher J. , Durik Amanda M. , Blaum Dylan , Hastings Peter
Published: June 2016

Das Verständnis und die Evaluation von Argumenten: Zur Rolle allgemeiner kognitiver Fähigkeiten

Zusammenfassung. Personen, denen die notwendigen Fähigkeiten für die korrekte Bewertung von Argumenten fehlen, ziehen ein Leben lang daraus Nachteile. Forschungsbefunde zeigen, dass einfache Tutorien für viele Studierende (ca. 30 %) keinen Nutzen bringen. Wir berichten Daten zur Frage, wie sich durch allgemeine Fähigkeiten (z. B. Vokabelwissen, Leseverständnis, analytisches Schlussfolgern) das Erlernen der Argumentevaluation vorhersagen lässt. In Studie 1 konnte gezeigt werden, dass – obwohl alle drei kognitiven Fähigkeiten einige Aspekte von Argumentverständnis und Evaluationsfähigkeit vorhersagen – das Vokabelwissen sowohl die Argumentationsfähigkeit und nicht durch das Wissen um die Bedeutung einer spezifischen Aussage, die in der Aufgabe gestellt wurde, erklärt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auf, dass der gezielte Einsatz von Vokabelwissen und allgemeiner lexikalischer Qualität diesen Studierenden, die nicht von einem einfachen Tutorium profitieren, helfen könnte.
Experts Look for Early Successes from Paris Climate Accord
Authors: Showstack Randy
Published: June 2016

Although many current country pledges may be "unambitious" and "vague," one expert said the Paris agreement is just the first round in reducing emissions.
Polyinosinic‐polycytidylic acid inhibits the differentiation of mouse preadipocytes through pattern recognition receptor‐mediated secretion of tumor necrosis factor‐α
Authors: Yu Lili , Liu Guoyan , Yang Can , Song Xiangfeng , Wang Hui
Published: June 2016

Viral infections can disturb the functions of adipose tissues and thus result in metabolic diseases. Polyinosinic‐polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)), a synthetic analog of viral double‐stranded RNA, induces innate antiviral responses by mimicking viral infection through the activation of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) such as Toll‐like receptor 3 (TLR3), retinoic acid‐inducible gene I (RIG‐I) and melanoma differentiation‐associated gene 5 (MDA5). Poly(I:C) also inhibits the differentiation of mouse preadipocytes but the mechanism underlying this process remains unclear. In this study, poly(I:C) inhibited preadipocyte differentiation in a dose‐dependent manner, but not in a time‐dependent manner. Endogenously transfected poly(I:C) severely impaired the adipogenesis of preadipocytes compared with exogenously added poly(I:C). Low concentration of tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) could effectively inhibit the preadipocyte differentiation. The effect of exogenously added poly(I:C) on inhibition of differentiation was significantly diminished in the preadipocytes of TLR3 knockout mice. By contrast, endogenously transfected poly(I:C) still inhibited the differentiation of TLR3‐deficient preadipocytes. Hence, MDA5/RIG‐I signaling was involved in the poly(I:C)‐induced inhibition of preadipocyte differentiation. The effect of poly(I:C) stimulation, either through endogenous transfection or exogenous addition, on inhibition of differentiation was significantly diminished in the preadipocytes of TNF‐α knockout mice. These results confirmed the evidence that poly(I:C) inhibited the differentiation of mouse preadipocytes through PRR‐mediated secretion of TNF‐α.
Faster embryonic segmentation through elevated Delta-Notch signalling
Authors: Liao Bo-Kai , Jörg David J. , Oates Andrew C.
Published: June 2016

An important step in understanding biological rhythms is the control of period. A multicellular, rhythmic patterning system termed the segmentation clock is thought to govern the sequential production of the vertebrate embryo’s body segments, the somites. Several genetic loss-of-function conditions, including the Delta-Notch intercellular signalling mutants, result in slower segmentation. Here, we generate DeltaD transgenic zebrafish lines with a range of copy numbers and correspondingly increased signalling levels, and observe faster segmentation. The highest-expressing line shows an altered oscillating gene expression wave pattern and shortened segmentation period, producing embryos with more, shorter body segments. Our results reveal surprising differences in how Notch signalling strength is quantitatively interpreted in different organ systems, and suggest a role for intercellular communication in regulating the output period of the segmentation clock by altering its spatial pattern.
Interferometric measurements of many-body topological invariants using mobile impurities
Authors: Grusdt F. , Yao N. Y. , Abanin D. , Fleischhauer M. , Demler E.
Published: June 2016

Topological quantum phases cannot be characterized by Ginzburg–Landau type order parameters, and are instead described by non-local topological invariants. Experimental platforms capable of realizing such exotic states now include synthetic many-body systems such as ultracold atoms or photons. Unique tools available in these systems enable a new characterization of strongly correlated many-body states. Here we propose a general scheme for detecting topological order using interferometric measurements of elementary excitations. The key ingredient is the use of mobile impurities that bind to quasiparticles of a host many-body system. Specifically, we show how fractional charges can be probed in the bulk of fractional quantum Hall systems. We demonstrate that combining Ramsey interference with Bloch oscillations can be used to measure Chern numbers characterizing the dispersion of individual quasiparticles, which gives a direct probe of their fractional charges. Possible extensions of our method to other many-body systems, such as spin liquids, are conceivable.
Correction: Corrigendum: Both respiration and photosynthesis determine the scaling of plankton metabolism in the oligotrophic ocean
Authors: Serret Pablo , Robinson Carol , Aranguren-Gassis María , García-Martín Enma Elena , Gist Niki , Kitidis Vassilis , Lozano José , Stephens John , Harris Carolyn , Thomas Rob
Published: June 2016

Nature Communications 6:6961 doi: (2015); Published 24 April 2015; Updated 15 June 2016 The original version of this Article failed to fully credit the use of the Ocean Data View software in figure 3, which appears below: Schlitzer, R., Ocean Data View, http://odv.awi.de, 2016.
A unique coral biomineralization pattern has resisted 40 million years of major ocean chemistry change
Authors: Stolarski Jarosław , Bosellini Francesca R. , Wallace Carden C. , Gothmann Anne M. , Mazur Maciej , Domart-Coulon Isabelle , Gutner-Hoch Eldad , Neuser Rolf D. , Levy Oren , Shemesh Aldo , Meibom Anders
Published: June 2016

Today coral reefs are threatened by changes to seawater conditions associated with rapid anthropogenic global climate change. Yet, since the Cenozoic, these organisms have experienced major fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 levels (from greenhouse conditions of high pCO2 in the Eocene to low pCO2 ice-house conditions in the Oligocene-Miocene) and a dramatically changing ocean Mg/Ca ratio. Here we show that the most diverse, widespread, and abundant reef-building coral genus Acropora (20 morphological groups and 150 living species) has not only survived these environmental changes, but has maintained its distinct skeletal biomineralization pattern for at least 40 My: Well-preserved fossil Acropora skeletons from the Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene show ultra-structures indistinguishable from those of extant representatives of the genus and their aragonitic skeleton Mg/Ca ratios trace the inferred ocean Mg/Ca ratio precisely since the Eocene. Therefore, among marine biogenic carbonate fossils, well-preserved acroporid skeletons represent material with very high potential for reconstruction of ancient ocean chemistry.
Phosphorylation of the C-terminal tail of proteasome subunit α7 is required for binding of the proteasome quality control factor Ecm29
Authors: Wani Prashant S. , Suppahia Anjana , Capalla Xavier , Ondracek Alex , Roelofs Jeroen
Published: June 2016

The proteasome degrades many short-lived proteins that are labeled with an ubiquitin chain. The identification of phosphorylation sites on the proteasome subunits suggests that degradation of these substrates can also be regulated at the proteasome. In yeast and humans, the unstructured C-terminal region of α7 contains an acidic patch with serine residues that are phosphorylated. Although these were identified more than a decade ago, the molecular implications of α7 phosphorylation have remained unknown. Here, we showed that yeast Ecm29, a protein involved in proteasome quality control, requires the phosphorylated tail of α7 for its association with proteasomes. This is the first example of proteasome phosphorylation dependent binding of a proteasome regulatory factor. Ecm29 is known to inhibit proteasomes and is often found enriched on mutant proteasomes. We showed that the ability of Ecm29 to bind to mutant proteasomes requires the α7 tail binding site, besides a previously characterized Rpt5 binding site. The need for these two binding sites, which are on different proteasome subcomplexes, explains the specificity of Ecm29 for proteasome holoenzymes. We propose that alterations in the relative position of these two sites in different conformations of the proteasome provides Ecm29 the ability to preferentially bind specific proteasome conformations.
Dynamic nano-triboelectrification using torsional resonance mode atomic force microscopy
Authors: Cai Wei , Yao Nan
Published: June 2016

Understanding the mechanism of charge generation, distribution and transfer between surfaces is very important for energy harvesting applications based on triboelectric effect. Here, we demonstrate dynamic nanotriboelectrification with torsional resonance (TR) mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). Experiments on rubbing the sample surface using TR mode for the generation of triboelectric charges andin-situcharacterization of the charge distribution using scanning Kelvin probe microcopy (SKPM) were performed. This method allows the tip to perform lateral oscillation and maintains the tip-sample interaction in the attractive region to ensure high efficiency of the charge generation during the rubbing process. The measured efficiency of generating triboelectric charges can achieve ~10.53 times higher than conventional static/contact mode in the triboelectrification experiments. In addition to the charge generation, local discharging experiments were also performed. This work would provide a new method to generate patterned charges and also be helpful in understanding the mechanism of nanotriboelectrification.
Conformational flexibility related to enzyme activity: evidence for a dynamic active-site gatekeeper function of Tyr215 in Aerococcus viridans lactate oxidase
Authors: Stoisser Thomas , Brunsteiner Michael , Wilson David K. , Nidetzky Bernd
Published: June 2016

L-Lactate oxidase (LOX) belongs to a large family of flavoenzymes that catalyze oxidation of α-hydroxy acids. How in these enzymes the protein structure controls reactivity presents an important but elusive problem. LOX contains a prominent tyrosine in the substrate binding pocket (Tyr215 in Aerococcus viridans LOX) that is partially responsible for securing a flexible loop which sequesters the active site. To characterize the role of Tyr215, effects of substitutions of the tyrosine (Y215F, Y215H) were analyzed kinetically, crystallographically and by molecular dynamics simulations. Enzyme variants showed slowed flavin reduction and oxidation by up to 33-fold. Pyruvate release was also decelerated and in Y215F, it was the slowest step overall. A 2.6-Å crystal structure of Y215F in complex with pyruvate shows the hydrogen bond between the phenolic hydroxyl and the keto oxygen in pyruvate is replaced with a potentially stronger hydrophobic interaction between the phenylalanine and the methyl group of pyruvate. Residues 200 through 215 or 216 appear to be disordered in two of the eight monomers in the asymmetric unit suggesting that they function as a lid controlling substrate entry and product exit from the active site. Substitutions of Tyr215 can thus lead to a kinetic bottleneck in product release.
Association, characterisation and meta-analysis of SNPs linked to general reading ability in a German dyslexia case-control cohort
Authors: Müller Bent , Wilcke Arndt , Czepezauer Ivonne , Ahnert Peter , Boltze Johannes , Kirsten Holger ,   The LEGASCREEN consortium, Friederici Angela D. , Emmrich Frank , Brauer Jens , Wilcke Arndt , Neef Nicole , Boltze Johannes , Skeide Michael , Kirsten Holger , Schaadt Gesa , Müller Bent , Kraft Indra , Czepezauer Ivonne , Dörr Liane
Published: June 2016

Dyslexia is a severe disorder in the acquisition of reading and writing. Several studies investigated the role of genetics for reading, writing and spelling ability in the general population. However, many of the identified SNPs were not analysed in case-control cohorts. Here, we investigated SNPs previously linked to reading or spelling ability in the general population in a German case-control cohort. Furthermore, we characterised these SNPs for functional relevance with in silico methods and meta-analysed them with previous studies. A total of 16 SNPs within five genes were included. The total number of risk alleles was higher in cases than in controls. Three SNPs were nominally associated with dyslexia: rs7765678 within DCDC2 and rs2038137 and rs6935076 within KIAA0319. The relevance of rs2038137 and rs6935076 was further supported by the meta-analysis. Functional profiling included analysis of tissue-specific expression, annotations for regulatory elements and effects on gene expression levels (eQTLs). Thereby, we found molecular mechanistical implications for 13 of all 16 included SNPs. SNPs associated in our cohort showed stronger gene-specific eQTL effects than non-associated SNPs. In summary, our results validate SNPs previously linked to reading and spelling in the general population in dyslexics and provide insights into their putative molecular pathomechanisms.
Human Food Safety Implications of Variation in Food Animal Drug Metabolism
Authors: Lin Zhoumeng , Vahl Christopher I. , Riviere Jim E.
Published: June 2016

Violative drug residues in animal-derived foods are a global food safety concern. The use of a fixed main metabolite to parent drug (M/D) ratio determined in healthy animals to establish drug tolerances and withdrawal times in diseased animals results in frequent residue violations in food-producing animals. We created a general physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for representative drugs (ceftiofur, enrofloxacin, flunixin, and sulfamethazine) in cattle and swine based on extensive published literature. Simulation results showed that the M/D ratio was not a fixed value, but a time-dependent range. Disease changed M/D ratios substantially and extended withdrawal times; these effects exhibited drug- and species-specificity. These results challenge the interpretation of violative residues based on the use of the M/D ratio to establish tolerances for metabolized drugs.
Involvement of miR-15a in G0/G1 Phase Cell Cycle Arrest Induced by Porcine Circovirus Type 2 Replication
Authors: Quan Rong , Wei Li , Zhu Shanshan , Wang Jing , Cao Yongchang , Xue Chunyi , Yan Xu , Liu Jue
Published: June 2016

Many viruses exploit the host cell division cycle to favour their own growth. Here we demonstrated that porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), which is a major causative agent of an emerging and important swine disease complex, PCV2-associated diseases, caused G0/G1 cell cycle arrest through degradation of cyclin D1 and E followed by reduction of retinoblastoma phosphorylation in synchronized PCV2-infected cells dependent upon virus replication. This induction of G0/G1 cell cycle arrest promoted PCV2 replication as evidenced by increased viral protein expression and progeny virus production in the synchronized PCV2-infected cells. To delineate a mechanism of miRNAs in regulating PCV2-induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, we determined expression levels of some relevant miRNAs and found that only miR-15a but not miR-16, miR-21, and miR-34a was significantly changed in the PCV2-infected cells. We further demonstrated that upregulation of miR-15a promoted PCV2-induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest via mediating cyclins D1 and E degradation, in which involves PCV2 growth. These results reveal that G0/G1 cell cycle arrest induced by PCV2 may provide favourable conditions for viral protein expression and progeny production and that miR-15a is implicated in PCV2-induced cell cycle control, thereby contributing to efficient viral replication.
S-induced modifications of the optoelectronic properties of ZnO mesoporous nanobelts
Authors: Fabbri Filippo , Nasi Lucia , Fedeli Paolo , Ferro Patrizia , Salviati Giancarlo , Mosca Roberto , Calzolari Arrigo , Catellani Alessandra
Published: June 2016

The synthesis of ZnO porous nanobelts with high surface-to-volume ratio is envisaged to enhance the zinc oxide sensing and photocatalytic properties. Yet, controlled stoichiometry, doping and compensation of as-grown n-type behavior remain open problems for this compound. Here, we demonstrate the effect of residual sulfur atoms on the optical properties of ZnO highly porous, albeit purely wurtzite, nanobelts synthesized by solvothermal decomposition of ZnS hybrids. By means of combined cathodoluminescence analyses and density functional theory calculations, we attribute a feature appearing at 2.36 eV in the optical emission spectra to sulfur related intra-gap states. A comparison of different sulfur configurations in the ZnO matrix demonstrates the complex compensating effect on the electronic properties of the system induced by S-inclusion.
Mismatch of Low Perfusion and High Permeability Predicts Hemorrhagic Transformation Region in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients Treated with Intra-arterial Thrombolysis
Authors: Chen Hui , Liu Nan , Li Ying , Wintermark Max , Jackson Alan , Wu Bing , Su Zihua , Chen Fei , Hu Jun , Zhang Yongwei , Zhu Guangming
Published: June 2016

This study sought to determine whether the permeability related parameter Ktrans, derived from computed tomography perfusion (CTP) imaging, can predict hemorrhagic transformation (HT) in patients with acute ischemic stroke who receive intra-arterial thrombolysis. Data from patients meeting the criterion were examined. CTP was performed and Ktrans maps were used to assess the permeability values in HT and non-HT regions. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated, showing the sensitivity and specificity of Ktrans for predicting HT risk. Composite images were produced to illustrate the spatial correlations among perfusion, permeability changes and HT. This study examined 41 patients. Twenty-six patients had hemorrhagic infarction and 15 had parenchymal hemorrhage. The mean Ktrans value in HT regions was significantly lower than that in the non-HT regions (0.26 ± 0.21/min vs. 0.78 ± 0.64/min; P < 0.001). The ROC curve analysis identified an optimal cutoff value of 0.334/min for Ktrans to predict HT risk. Composite images suggested ischemic regions with low permeability, or the mismatch area of low perfusion and high permeability, more likely have HT. HT regions after intra-arterial thrombolysis had lower permeability values on Ktrans maps. The mismatch area of lower perfusion and higher permeability are more likely to develop HT.
The T-box transcription factor Midline regulates wing development by repressing wingless and hedgehog in Drosophila
Authors: Fu Chong-Lei , Wang Xian-Feng , Cheng Qian , Wang Dan , Hirose Susumu , Liu Qing-Xin
Published: June 2016

Wingless (Wg) and Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathways are key players in animal development. However, regulation of the expression of wg and hh are not well understood. Here, we show that Midline (Mid), an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor, expresses in the wing disc of Drosophila and plays a vital role in wing development. Loss or knock down of mid in the wing disc induced hyper-expression of wingless (wg) and yielded cocked and non-flat wings. Over-expression of mid in the wing disc markedly repressed the expression of wg, DE-Cadherin (DE-Cad) and armadillo (arm) and resulted in a small and blistered wing. In addition, a reduction in the dose of mid enhanced phenotypes of a gain-of-function mutant of hedgehog (hh). We also observed repression of hh upon overexpression of mid in the wing disc. Taken together, we propose that Mid regulates wing development by repressing wg and hh in Drosophila.
Band engineering in a van der Waals heterostructure using a 2D polar material and a capping layer
Authors: Cho Sung Beom , Chung Yong-Chae
Published: June 2016

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures are expected to play a key role in next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices. In this study, the band alignment of a vdW heterostructure with 2D polar materials was studied using first-principles calculations. As a model case study, single-sided fluorographene (a 2D polar material) on insulating (h-BN) and metallic (graphite) substrates was investigated to understand the band alignment behavior of polar materials. Single-sided fluorographene was found to have a potential difference along the out-of-plane direction. This potential difference provided as built-in potential at the interface, which shift the band alignment between h-BN and graphite. The interface characteristics were highly dependent on the interface terminations because of this built-in potential. Interestingly, this band alignment can be modified with a capping layer of graphene or BN because the capping layer triggered electronic reconstruction near the interface. This is because the bonding nature is not covalent, but van der Waals, which made it possible to avoid Fermi-level pinning at the interface. The results of this study showed that diverse types of band alignment can be achieved using polar materials and an appropriate capping layer.
Improvement of physical, chemical and biological properties of aridisol from Botswana by the incorporation of torrefied biomass
Authors: Ogura Tatsuki , Date Yasuhiro , Masukujane Masego , Coetzee Tidimalo , Akashi Kinya , Kikuchi Jun
Published: June 2016

Effective use of agricultural residual biomass may be beneficial for both local and global ecosystems. Recently, biochar has received attention as a soil enhancer and its effects on plant growth and soil microbiota have been investigated. However, there is little information on how the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil amended with biochar are affected. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the incorporation of torrefied plant biomass on physical and structural properties, elemental profiles, initial plant growth and metabolic and microbial dynamics in aridisol from Botswana. Hemicellulose in the biomass was degraded while cellulose and lignin were not, owing to the relatively low-temperature treatment in the torrefaction preparation. Water retentivity and mineral availability for plants were improved in soils with torrefied biomass. Furthermore, fertilization with 3% and 5% of torrefied biomass enhanced initial plant growth and elemental uptake. Although the metabolic and microbial dynamics of the control soil were dominantly associated with a C1 metabolism, those of the 3% and 5% torrefied biomass soils were dominantly associated with an organic acid metabolism. Torrefied biomass was shown to be an effective soil amendment by enhancing water retentivity, structural stability and plant growth and controlling soil metabolites and microbiota.
IGF-1 protects tubular epithelial cells during injury via activation of ERK/MAPK signaling pathway
Authors: Wu Zengbin , Yu Yang , Niu Lei , Fei Aihua , Pan Shuming
Published: June 2016

Injury of renal tubular epithelial cells can induce acute renal failure and obstructive nephropathy. Previous studies have shown that administration of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) ameliorates the renal injury in a mouse unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model, whereas the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. Here, we addressed this question. We found that the administration of IGF-1 significantly reduced the severity of the renal fibrosis in UUO. By analyzing purified renal epithelial cells, we found that IGF-1 significantly reduced the apoptotic cell death of renal epithelial cells, seemingly through upregulation of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, at protein but not mRNA level. Bioinformatics analyses and luciferase-reporter assay showed that miR-429 targeted the 3′-UTR of Bcl-2 mRNA to inhibit its protein translation in renal epithelial cells. Moreover, IGF-1 suppressed miR-429 to increase Bcl-2 in renal epithelial cells to improve survival after UUO. Furthermore, inhibition of ERK/MAPK signaling pathway in renal epithelial cells abolished the suppressive effects of IGF-1 on miR-429 activation and then the enhanced effects on Bcl-2 in UUO. Thus, our data suggest that IGF-1 may protect renal tubular epithelial cells via activation of ERK/MAPK signaling pathway during renal injury.
Integrated analysis of root microbiomes of soybean and wheat from agricultural fields
Authors: Rascovan Nicolás , Carbonetto Belén , Perrig Diego , Díaz Marisa , Canciani Wilter , Abalo Matías , Alloati Julieta , González-Anta Gustavo , Vazquez Martín P.
Published: June 2016

Root associated bacteria are critical for plant growth and health. Understanding the composition and role of root microbiota is crucial toward agricultural practices that are less dependent on chemical fertilization, which has known negative effects on the environment and human health. Here we analyzed the root-associated microbiomes of soybean and wheat under agricultural field conditions. We took samples from 11 different production fields across a large geographic area. We used 16S rRNA pyrosequencing to explore root microbial communities and also obtained 2,007 bacterial isolates from rhizospheres, which were tested for the presence of plant growth promoting (PGP) traits in-vitro. We observed that pH and nitrate content correlated with beta diversity variability of rhizospheric bacterial communities despite the variable field conditions. We described the dominant bacterial groups associated to roots from both crops at a large geographic scale and we found that a high proportion of them (60–70%) showed more than 97% similarity to bacteria from the isolated collection. Moreover, we observed that 55% of the screened isolates presented PGP activities in vitro. These results are a significant step forward in understanding crop-associated microbiomes and suggest that new directions can be taken to promote crop growth and health by modulating root microbiomes.
Fusing simulation and experiment: The effect of mutations on the structure and activity of the influenza fusion peptide
Authors: Lousa Diana , Pinto Antónia R. T. , Victor Bruno L. , Laio Alessandro , Veiga Ana S. , Castanho Miguel A. R. B. , Soares Cláudio M.
Published: June 2016

During the infection process, the influenza fusion peptide (FP) inserts into the host membrane, playing a crucial role in the fusion process between the viral and host membranes. In this work we used a combination of simulation and experimental techniques to analyse the molecular details of this process, which are largely unknown. Although the FP structure has been obtained by NMR in detergent micelles, there is no atomic structure information in membranes. To answer this question, we performed bias-exchange metadynamics (BE-META) simulations, which showed that the lowest energy states of the membrane-inserted FP correspond to helical-hairpin conformations similar to that observed in micelles. BE-META simulations of the G1V, W14A, G12A/G13A and G4A/G8A/G16A/G20A mutants revealed that all the mutations affect the peptide’s free energy landscape. A FRET-based analysis showed that all the mutants had a reduced fusogenic activity relative to the WT, in particular the mutants G12A/G13A and G4A/G8A/G16A/G20A. According to our results, one of the major causes of the lower activity of these mutants is their lower membrane affinity, which results in a lower concentration of peptide in the bilayer. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the influenza fusion process and open new routes for future studies.
Wingless ligand 5a is a critical regulator of placental growth and survival
Authors: Meinhardt Gudrun , Saleh Leila , Otti Gerlinde R. , Haider Sandra , Velicky Philipp , Fiala Christian , Pollheimer Jürgen , Knöfler Martin
Published: June 2016

The maternal uterine environment is likely critical for human placental morphogenesis and development of its different trophoblast subtypes. However, factors controlling growth and differentiation of these cells during early gestation remain poorly elucidated. Herein, we provide evidence that the ligand Wnt5a could be a critical regulator of trophoblast proliferation and survival. Immunofluorescence of tissues and western blot analyses of primary cultures revealed abundant Wnt5a expression and secretion from first trimester decidual and villous stromal cells. The ligand was also detectable in decidual glands, macrophages and NK cells. Wnt5a increased proliferation of villous cytotrophoblasts and cell column trophoblasts, outgrowth on collagen I as well as cyclin A and D1 expression in floating explant cultures, but suppressed camptothecin-induced apoptosis. Similarly, Wnt5a stimulated BrdU incorporation and decreased caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18 neo-epitope expression in primary cytotrophoblasts. Moreover, Wnt5a promoted activation of the MAPK pathway in the different trophoblast models. Chemical inhibition of p42/44 MAPK abolished cyclin D1 expression and Wnt5a-stimulated proliferation. Compared to controls, MAPK phosphorylation and proliferation of cytotrophoblasts declined upon supplementation of supernatants from Wnt5a gene-silenced decidual or villous stromal cells. In summary, non-canonical Wnt5a signalling could play a role in early human trophoblast development by promoting cell proliferation and survival.
Community diversity, structure and carbon footprint of nematode food web following reforestation on degraded Karst soil
Authors: Hu Ning , Li Hui , Tang Zheng , Li Zhongfang , Tian Jing , Lou Yilai , Li Jianwei , Li Guichun , Hu Xiaomin
Published: June 2016

We examined community diversity, structure and carbon footprint of nematode food web along a chronosequence of T. Sinensis reforestation on degraded Karst. In general, after the reforestation: a serious of diversity parameters and community indices (Shannon-Weinier index (H′), structure index (SI), etc.) were elevated; biomass ratio of fungivores to bacterivores (FFC/BFC) and fungi to bacteria (F/B) were increased and nematode channel ratio (NCR) were decreased; carbon footprints of all nematode trophic groups and biomass of bacteria and fungi were increased. Our results indicate that the Karst aboveground vegetation restoration was accompanied with belowground nematode food web development: increasing community complexity, function and fungal dominance in decomposition pathway and the driving forces included the bottom-up effect (resource control), connectedness of functional groups, as well as soil environments.
Interleukin-12 inhibits pathological neovascularization in mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy
Authors: Zhou Yedi , Yoshida Shigeo , Kubo Yuki , Kobayashi Yoshiyuki , Nakama Takahito , Yamaguchi Muneo , Ishikawa Keijiro , Nakao Shintaro , Ikeda Yasuhiro , Ishibashi Tatsuro , Sonoda Koh-Hei
Published: June 2016

Hypoxia-induced retinal neovascularization is a major pathological condition in many vision-threatening diseases. In the present study, we determined whether interleukin (IL)-12, a cytokine that regulates angiogenesis, plays a role in the neovascularization in a mouse model of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR). We found that the expressions of the mRNAs of both IL-12p35 and IL-12p40 were significantly reduced in the OIR retinas compared to that of the room air-raised control. The sizes of the avascular areas and neovascular tufts were larger in IL-12p40 knock-out (KO) mice than that in wild type (WT) mice. In addition, an intravitreal injection of recombinant IL-12 reduced both avascular areas and neovascular tufts. IL-12 injection enhanced the expressions of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and other downstream chemokines. In an in vitro system, IL-12 had no significant effect on tube formation of human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRECs). Moreover, a blockade of IFN-γ suppressed the inhibitory effect of IL-12 on pathological neovascularization. These results suggest that IL-12 plays important roles in inhibiting pathological retinal neovascularization.
Metabolic adaptation of microbial communities to ammonium stress in a high solid anaerobic digester with dewatered sludge
Authors: Dai Xiaohu , Yan Han , Li Ning , He Jin , Ding Yueling , Dai Lingling , Dong Bin
Published: June 2016

A high solid digester with dewatered sludge was operated for 110 days to ascertain the interactions between bacterial and archaeal communities under ammonium stress, as well as the corresponding changes in bio-degradation mechanisms. The volatile solids reduction (95% confidence intervals in mean) changed from 31.6 ± 0.9% in the stable period (day 40–55) to 21.3 ± 1.5% in the last period (day 71–110) when ammonium concentration was elevated to be within 5,000–6,000 mgN/L. Biogas yield dropped accordingly from 11.9 ± 0.3 to 10.4 ± 0.2 L/d and carbon dioxide increased simultaneously from 35.2% to 44.8%. Anaerobranca better adapted to the ammonium stress, while the initially dominant protein-degrading microbes-Tepidimicrobium and Proteiniborus were suppressed, probably responsible for the increase of protein content in digestate. Meanwhile, Methanosarcina, as the dominant Archaea, was resistant to ammonium stress with the constant relative abundance of more than 92% during the whole operation. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) analysis was thus conducted which indicated that the gradually increased TAN dictated the bacterial clusters. The dominant Methanosarcina and the increased carbon dioxide content under ammonium stress suggested that, rather than the commonly acknowledged syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, only SAO pathway was enhanced during the initial ‘ammonium inhibition’.