bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The reduced bactericidal activity of neutrophils as an incisive indicator of water-immersion restraint stress and impaired exercise performance in mice
Authors: Kinoshita Manabu , Nakashima Hiroyuki , Nakashima Masahiro , Koga Minori , Toda Hiroyuki , Koiwai Kazuki , Morimoto Yuji , Miyazaki Hiromi , Saitoh Daizoh , Suzuki Hiroaki , Seki Shuhji
Published: March 2019

The incisive evaluation of psychological stress may be required to determine the exercise performance of stressed hosts. We investigated objective markers of psychological stress that reflect exercise performance, focusing on the neutrophil function. We used murine water-immersion restraint (WIR) stress for our assessments. After receiving WIR for 1 or 2 h, mice were exercised on an airtight treadmill that monitors their respiratory exchange ratio. The neutrophil function was analyzed after WIR stress. Although the control mice (without WIR) showed good combustion of both carbohydrates and lipids as energy sources during treadmill exercise, mice that underwent 2-h WIR did not combust carbohydrates or lipids effectively, drastically reducing their performance. In contrast, the 1-h WIR mice showed carbohydrate combustion (albeit a slow response) but did not use lipids for energy, thereby running longer than the 2-h WIR mice but shorter than the control mice. The bactericidal activity of neutrophils, but not their superoxide production or microsphere-phagocytic activity, was significantly reduced by 1-h WIR and further reduced by 2-h WIR, indicating a significant association between WIR stress and exercise performance. The neutrophil bactericidal activity may be a good indicator of psychological stress and a useful tool for precisely assessing exercise performance.
Ultra-fast and automated immunohistofluorescent multistaining using a microfluidic tissue processor
Authors: Cappi Giulia , Dupouy Diego Gabriel , Comino Marta Aurelia , Ciftlik Ata Tuna
Published: March 2019

Multistaining of a tissue section targeting multiple markers allows to reveal complex interplays in a tumor environment. However, the resource-intensive and impractically long nature of iterative multiplexed immunostainings prohibits its practical implementation in daily routine, even when using work-flow automation systems. Here, we report a fully automated and ultra-fast multistaining using a microfluidic tissue processor (MTP) in as short as 20 minutes per marker, by immunofluorescent staining employing commercially available tyramide signal amplification polymer precipitation by horse-radish peroxidase (HRP) activation. The reported duration includes (i) 15 minutes for the entire fluidic exchange and reagent incubation necessary for the immunostaining and (ii) 5 minutes for the heat-induced removal of the applied antibodies. Using the automated MTP, we demonstrated a 4-plex automated multistaining with clinically relevant biomarkers within 84 minutes, showing perfect agreement with the state-of-the-art microwave treatment antibody removal. The presented HRP-based method is in principle extendable to multistaining by both tyramides accommodating higher number of fluorescent channels and multi-color chromogenic staining. We anticipate that our automated multi-staining with a turn-around time shorter than existing monoplex immunohistochemistry methods has the potential to enable multistaining in routine without disturbing the current laboratory workflow, opening perspectives for implementation of -omics approaches in tissue diagnostics.
Identification of regulators of the myofibroblast phenotype of primary dermal fibroblasts from early diffuse systemic sclerosis patients
Authors: Chadli Loubna , Sotthewes Britt , Li Kejie , Andersen Stefan N. , Cahir-McFarland Ellen , Cheung Marc , Cullen Patrick , Dorjée Annemarie , de Vries-Bouwstra Jeska K. , Huizinga Tom W. J. , Fischer David F. , DeGroot Jeroen , Viney Joanne L. , Zheng Timothy S. , Aarbiou Jamil , Gardet Agnes
Published: March 2019

Systemic sclerosis (SSc or scleroderma) is an auto-immune disease characterized by skin fibrosis. While primary cells from patients are considered as a unique resource to better understand human disease biology, the effect ofin vitroculture on these cells and their evaluation as a platform to identify disease regulators remain poorly characterized. The goal of our studies was to provide insights into the utility of SSc dermal fibroblast primary cells for therapeutic target discovery. The disease phenotypes of freshly isolated andin vitro cultured SSc dermal fibroblasts were characterized using whole transcriptome profiling, alpha smooth muscle actin (ASMA) expression and cell impedance. SSc dermal fibroblasts retained most of the molecular disease phenotype uponin vitroculture for at least four cell culture passages (approximatively 10 cell doublings). We validated an RNA interference high throughput assay that successfully identified genes affecting the myofibroblast phenotype of SSc skin fibroblasts. These genes includedMKL1,RHOAandLOXL2 thatwere previously proposed as therapeutic anti-fibrotic target, andITGA5, that has been less studied in fibrosis biology and may be a novel potential modifier of SSc fibroblast biology. Together our results demonstrated the value of carefully-phenotyped SSc dermal fibroblasts as a platform for SSc target and drug discovery.
Predicting bioavailability change of complex chemical mixtures in contaminated soils using visible and near-infrared spectroscopy and random forest regression
Authors: Cipullo S. , Nawar S. , Mouazen A. M. , Campo-Moreno P. , Coulon F.
Published: March 2019

A number of studies have shown that visible and near infrared spectroscopy (VIS-NIRS) offers a rapid on-site measurement tool for the determination of total contaminant concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons compounds (PHC), heavy metals and metalloids (HM) in soil. However none of them have yet assessed the feasibility of using VIS-NIRS coupled to random forest (RF) regression for determining both the total and bioavailable concentrations of complex chemical mixtures. Results showed that the predictions of the total concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), PHC, and alkanes (ALK) were very good, good and fair, and in contrast, the predictions of the bioavailable concentrations of the PAH and PHC were only fair, and poor for ALK. A large number of trace elements, mainly lead (Pb), aluminium (Al), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) were predicted with very good or good accuracy. The prediction results of the total HMs were also better than those of the bioavailable concentrations. Overall, the results demonstrate that VIS-NIR DRS coupled to RF is a promising rapid measurement tool to inform both the distribution and bioavailability of complex chemical mixtures without the need of collecting soil samples and lengthy extraction for further analysis.
Iodine nanoparticles enhance radiotherapy of intracerebral human glioma in mice and increase efficacy of chemotherapy
Authors: Hainfeld James F. , Ridwan Sharif M. , Stanishevskiy Yaroslav , Panchal Rahul , Slatkin Daniel N. , Smilowitz Henry M.
Published: March 2019

Gliomas and other brain tumors have evaded durable therapies, ultimately causing about 20% of all cancer deaths. Tumors are widespread in the brain at time of diagnosis, limiting surgery and radiotherapy effectiveness. Drugs are also poorly effective. Radiotherapy (RT) is limited by dose to normal tissue. However, high-atomic-number elements absorb X-rays and deposit the absorbed dose locally, even doubling (or more) the local dose. Previously we showed that gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with RT could eradicate some brain tumors in mice and many other preclinical studies confirmed AuNPs as outstanding radioenhancers. However, impediments to clinical translation of AuNPs have been poor clearance, skin discoloration, and cost. We therefore developed iodine nanoparticles (INPs) that are almost colorless, non-toxic, lower cost, and have reasonable clearance, thus overcoming major drawbacks of AuNPs. Here we report the use of iodine nanoparticle radiotherapy (INRT) in treating advanced human gliomas (U87) grown orthotopically in nude mice resulting in a more than a doubling of median life extension compared to RT alone. Significantly, INRT also enhanced the efficacy of chemotherapy when it was combined with the chemotherapeutic agent Doxil, resulting in some longer-term survivors. While ongoing optimization studies should further improve INRT, clinical translation appears promising.
Low C6orf141 Expression is Significantly Associated with a Poor Prognosis in Patients with Oral Cancer
Authors: Yang Cheng-Mei , Chang Hao-Sheng , Chen Hung-Chih , You Jyun-Jie , Liou Huei-Han , Ting Su-Chen , Ger Luo-Ping , Li Sung-Chou , Tsai Kuo-Wang
Published: March 2019

C6orf141 (Chromosome 6 open reading frame 141) is a novel gene, and its role in oral cancer progression remains unclear. C6orf141 expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and adjacent normal tissues from 428 patients was examined through immunohistochemistry (IHC). Our results revealed that C6orf141 expression was significantly reduced in OSCC compared with adjacent normal tissues. Low C6orf141 expression was significantly associated with a poor American Joint Committee on Cancer pathological stage (P < 0.001), T classification (P = 0.002), and pN stage (P = 0.032). Kaplan–Meier curves revealed that low C6orf141 expression was significantly associated with shorter disease-specific survival (DSS) in patients with OSCC (log-rank P = 0.007). Multivariate analysis indicated that low C6orf141 expression was an independent prognostic biomarker for DSS (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.34; 95% confidence interval = 1.10–1.81; P = 0.05). Additionally, ectopic C6orf141 expression could significantly suppress oral cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, and migratory and invasive abilities. Xenograft tumor growth assay revealed that C6orf141 could significantly suppress oral tumor growth in vivo. Our results suggest that C6orf141 plays a novel tumor-suppressive role in oral cancer cell growth and motility. Furthermore, C6orf141 dysfunction could be a potential prognostic biomarker for OSCC and provide new therapeutic strategies in the future.
Lithographically patterned metallic conduction in single-layer MoS2 via plasma processing
Authors: Stanford Michael G. , Lin Yu-Chuan , Sales Maria Gabriela , Hoffman Anna N. , Nelson Christopher T. , Xiao Kai , McDonnell Stephen , Rack Philip D.
Published: March 2019

Tailoring the electrical transport properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides can enable the formation of atomically thin circuits. In this work, cyclic hydrogen and oxygen plasma exposures are utilized to introduce defects and oxidize MoS2 in a controlled manner. This results in the formation of sub-stochiometric MoO3−x, which transforms the semiconducting behavior to metallic conduction. To demonstrate functionality, single flakes of MoS2 were lithographically oxidized using electron beam lithography and subsequent plasma exposures. This enabled the formation of atomically thin inverters from a single flake of MoS2, which represents an advancement toward atomically thin circuitry.
Indirect competitive ELISA and colloidal gold-based immunochromatographic strip for amantadine detection in animal-derived foods
Authors: Pan Mingfei , Yang Jingying , Li Shijie , Wang Guozhu , Wang Junping , Wang Shuo
Published: March 2019

In this research, an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and colloidal gold-based immunochromatographic (GICG) strip were developed for the detection of the antiviral drug amantadine (AM) in animal-derived foods.
Synergistic catalysis for light-driven proton reduction using a polyoxometalate-based Cu–Ni heterometallic–organic framework
Authors: Sun Wenlong , He Cheng , Liu Tao , Duan Chunying
Published: March 2019

Cu–Ni–POM employing bimetallic Cu–Ni and POM, which allows a concerted catalysis mechanism, hydrogen evolution reaction exhibited higher activity.
Effects of dietary supplementation with yeast glycoprotein on growth performance, intestinal mucosal morphology, immune response and colonic microbiota in weaned piglets
Authors: Qin Longshan , Ji Wei , Wang Jianlin , Li Biao , Hu Junpeng , Wu Xin
Published: March 2019

Antibiotics are commonly provided to weaned piglets; however, this practice has become controversial due to the increased occurrences of microbial resistance, and alternatives are needed.
ZIF-67 derived Co3O4/carbon aerogel composite for supercapacitor electrodes
Authors: Wang Mei-Xia , Zhang Jing , Fan Hui-Li , Liu Ben-Xue , Yi Xi-Bin , Wang Jie-Qiang
Published: March 2019

We report carbon aerogels with a 3D hierarchical porous structure as a backbone to support nanoporous Co3O4 derived from ZIF-67 for supercapacitors.
Blue Ti3+ self-doped TiO2 nanosheets with rich {001} facets for photocatalytic performance
Authors: Zhen Deshuai , Gao Chan , Yang De , Zhu Xingqi , Grimes Craig A. , Liu Yu , Cai Qingyun
Published: March 2019

The as-prepared BT1.5TNs exhibits superior photocatalytic performance for RhB degradation due to Ti3+ doping.
Label-free and highly sensitive fluorescence detection of lead(ii) based on DNAzyme and exonuclease III-assisted cascade signal amplification
Authors: Pan Jiafeng , Li Qiong , Zhou Danhua , Chen Junhua
Published: March 2019

A Pb2+ biosensor has been constructed based on Exo III-assisted cascade signal amplification using 2-amino-5,6,7-trimethyl-1,8-naphthyridine as the signal indicator.
Versatile fluorescence detection of microRNA based on novel DNA hydrogel-amplified signal probes coupled with DNA walker amplification
Authors: Li Chunli , Li Hongkun , Ge Junjun , Jie Guifen
Published: March 2019

A novel DNA hydrogel-amplified versatile fluorescence platform combined with hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and DNA walking multiple amplification was developed for ultrasensitive detection of miRNA.
Probing non-covalent interactions driving molecular assembly in organo-electronic building blocks
Authors: Johnson Sarah N. , Ellington Thomas L. , Ngo Duong T. , Nevarez Jorge L. , Sparks Nicholas , Rheingold Arnold L. , Watkins Davita L. , Tschumper Gregory S.
Published: March 2019

One co-crystal structure characterized to identify and quantify various non-covalent interactions with spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and density functional theory computations.
Crystal structures and electronic properties in 3d transition metal doped SrRuO3
Authors: Qasim Ilyas , Blanchard Peter E. R. , Knight Kevin S. , Ting Jimmy , Kennedy Brendan J.
Published: March 2019

The synthesis of polycrystalline samples of B-site doped SrRu1−xMxO3 with x ≤ 0.2 by solid state methods is described for a number of dopants (M = Mg, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, or Zn) and the structures of these established using Synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, and for SrRu0.8Cu0.2O3 high resolution neutron diffraction.
Hot off the Press
Authors: Hill Robert A. , Sutherland Andrew
Published: March 2019

A personal selection of 32 recent papers is presented covering various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as preuisolactone A from Preussia isomera.
Automatic classification of cells in microscopic fecal images using convolutional neural networks
Authors: Du Xiaohui , Liu Lin , Wang Xiangzhou , Ni Guangming , Zhang Jing , hao Ruqian , Liu Juanxiu , Liu Yong
Published: March 2019

The analysis of fecal-type components for clinical diagnosis is important. The main examination involves the counting of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and molds under the microscopic. With the development of machine vision, some vision-based detection schemes have been proposed. However, these methods have a single target for detection, with low detection efficiency and low accuracy. We proposed an algorithm to identify the visible image of fecal composition based on intelligent deep learning. The algorithm mainly includes region proposal and candidate recognition. In the process of segmentation, we proposed a morphology extraction algorithm in a complex background. As for the candidate recognition, we proposed a new convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture based on Inception-v3 and principal component analysis (PCA). This method achieves high-average Precision of 90.7%, which is better than the other mainstream CNN models. Finally, the images within the rectangle marks were obtained. The total time for detection of an image was roughly 1200 ms. The algorithm proposed in the present paper can be integrated into an automatic fecal detection system.
Identification and analysis of genes associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma by bioinformatics methods
Authors: Zhang Shulong , Wang Quan , Han Qi , Han Huazhong , Lu Pinxiang
Published: March 2019

The molecular mechanism of the occurrence and development of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has been widely explored, but has not been completely elucidated. The present study aimed to identify and analyze genes associated with PTC by bioinformatics methods. Two independent datasets were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between PTC tissues and matched non-cancerous tissues were identified using GEO2R tool. The common DEGs in the two datasets were screened out by VennDiagram package, and analyzed by the following tools: KOBAS, Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), Search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes/proteins (STRING), UALCAN and Gene expression profiling interactive analysis (GEPIA). A total of 513 common DEGs, including 259 common up-regulated and 254 common down-regulated genes in PTC, were screened out. These common up-regulated and down-regulated DEGs were most significantly enriched in cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction and metabolic pathways, respectively. Protein–protein interactions (PPI) network analysis showed that the up-regulated genes: FN1, SDC4, NMU, LPAR5 and the down-regulated genes: BCL2 and CXCL12 were key genes. Survival analysis indicated that the high expression of FN1 and NMU genes significantly decreased disease-free survival of patients with thyroid carcinoma. In conclusion, the genes and pathways identified in the current study will not only contribute to elucidating the pathogenesis of PTC, but also provide prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for PTC.
Compact high Q bandpass filter by using substrate integrated waveguide and split rings capacitive load post
Authors: Jelodar A. , Nooraei Yeganeh A. , Sedighy S.H.
Published: March 2019

A substrate integrated waveguide cavity filter is designed by loading with two split rings capacitive posts. Using these split rings posts results in high quality factor, low insertion loss (2.1 dB), very narrow bandwidth (2%) at 4.6 GHz centre frequency and compact (0.97×0.5 λg2) bandpass filter structure. The filter measured results are in good agreement with the simulation ones which prove the idea.
Neural optical probe with monolithically integrated intensity‐monitoring μLED and polymer waveguide for optogenetics
Authors: Sekiguchi H. , Yasunaga H. , Tsuchiyama K. , Nitta R.
Published: March 2019

A neural optical probe that is monolithically integrated with a micro‐light‐emitting diode (μLED), a micro‐photodiode (μPD), and a cyclo‐olefin polymer (COP) waveguide is a novel optogenetic tool that can suppress the influence of heat while utilising the advantage of LED. Although a μLED temperature increased by 0.3°C at a light output of 100 mW/mm2, heat did not spread to the optical stimulation area. The emission from the μLED is propagated through a 2 mm long COP waveguide, suggesting that the μLED placed on the outside of the brain can optically stimulate the deep region of brain tissue. Furthermore, it is successfully detected at the μPD located close to the μLED, which proved that the μPD was effective to monitor the light output of the μLED.
3D Layout encoding network for spatial‐aware 3D saliency modelling
Authors: Yuan Jing , Cao Yang , Kang Yu , Song Weiguo , Yin Zhongcheng , Ba Rui , Ma Qing
Published: March 2019

Three‐dimensional (3D) [red, green and blue (RGB) + depth] saliency modelling can help with popular 3D multimedia applications. However, depth images produced from existing 3D devices are often with low quality, e.g. containing noises and holes. In this study, rather than relying on features or predictions directly derived from single depth images, the authors propose to encode deep layout features to facilitate the spatial‐aware saliency prediction. Specifically, they first generate coarse depth‐induced saliency cues which are careless of depth details. Then, to leverage the information of the high‐quality RGB image, they embed both low‐level and high‐level RGB deep features to refine the final prediction. In this way, they take both bottom‐up and top‐down cues together with spatial layout into account and achieve better saliency modelling results. Experiments on five public datasets show the superiority of the proposed method.
Transferência tendínea do grande dorsal com enxerto tendíneo homólogo para as lesões irreparáveis do manguito rotador: técnica cirúrgica
Authors: Miyazaki Alberto Naoki , Checchia Caio Santos , de Castro Lopes Wagner , Fonseca Filho João Manoel , Sella Guilherme do Val , da Silva Luciana Andrade
Published: March 2019

No contexto do tratamento cirúrgico dos pacientes jovens com lesões irreparáveis da porção posterossuperior do manguito rotador, a técnica mais usada é a transferência do tendão do grande dorsal para a porção superolateral do tubérculo maior, conforme descrita e preconizada por Gerber et al. Entretanto, duas características dessa técnica podem levar a resultados ruins e complicações: (i) a deiscência da origem do deltoide, que ocorre devido à sua violação durante a criação da via em golpe de sabre e (ii) a ruptura pós-operatória da inserção da transferência. Na tentativa de solucionar esses dois problemas, as seguintes modificações foram feitas à técnica cirúrgica original. Por meio de uma única via deltopeitoral, o tendão do grande dorsal é isolado e desinserido do úmero. Ele é então alongado e reforçado com um enxerto tendíneo homólogo, transferido ao redor do úmero e fixado à porção superolateral do tubérculo maior. Não foi usada imobilização pós-operatória com órtese toracobraquial rígida.
Amplitude-frequency characteristics analysis for vertical vibration of hydraulic AGC system under nonlinear action
Authors: Zhu Yong , Qian Pengfei , Tang Shengnan , Jiang Wanlu , Li Wei , Zhao Jianhua
Published: March 2019

Hydraulic automatic gauge control (AGC) system is the core control system to ensure the thickness accuracy of cold-rolled plate, and the reliability of its load roll system is the key to guarantee the rolling process with high precision, high speed, continuity and stability. However, the working mechanism of hydraulic AGC system is complex. And it possesses some features such as high nonlinearity, time variability and strong coupling. The vertical vibration easily happens in its working process. Moreover, the stability of system is seriously affected. Nevertheless, the incentive is difficult to determine. In this paper, the theory and method of nonlinear dynamics were introduced to establish the load vertical vibration (LVV) model of HAGC system under nonlinear action. The model was solved with multi-scale method, and the amplitude-frequency characteristic equation of system was obtained. Moreover, the research object of this article also focused on the nonlinear elastic force, nonlinear damping force and nonlinear excitation force, and deeply explored the effect of nonlinear parameters change on the amplitude-frequency characteristics of LVV system. The mechanism and incentive for LVV of hydraulic AGC system were further revealed. The research results lay a theoretical foundation for the vibration inducement and suppression of hydraulic AGC system.
Numerical analysis of the momentum and heat transfer in an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge
Authors: Li Sen , Gu Fan , Tang Bo , Ma Tingting , Wang Xiaobing
Published: March 2019

In this paper, the momentum and heat transfer between charged particles and neutral particles in a needle-to-plane dielectric barrier discharge reactor with Ar as the working gas are simulated. In this simulation, the heat transfer from ions to the neutral atom is described by the interaction term between ions and atoms. Detailed discharge reaction mechanisms are considered in the simulation including metastable atom. The Navier-Stokes equation is solved in combination with the Poisson equation and the charged particles drift-diffusion equations. The interrelation between the gas discharge and the gas flow characteristics are preliminary revealed. In particular, when the streamer strikes the cathode, the maximum gas temperature can reach 1026 K, and the high temperature area is concentrated in a confined space around the needle cathode tip with a thickness of 0.01 mm and a diameter of 0.1 mm. Then, the temperature change decreases to 400 K in 1 μs. Induced by the discharge, the pressure perturbation of the gas can exceed 6×104 Pa at 1.1 μs, and an expanding wave is created. The propagation velocity of the expanding wave is close to the sound velocity. The forward velocity decreases from approximately 120 m/s at 1.1 μs to 5.5 m/s at 4.4 μs. The inverted velocity remains at approximately 5 m/s. The number density for the neutral particles has a minimum value, which is approximately 8×1024 m-3, in the sheath as well as changes in the expanding wave propagation in the plasma bulk.
A comprehensive review of electrolyte-gated magnetoelectric actuation
Authors: Johnson-Groh Mara
Published: March 2019

A new review presents a comprehensive overview of manipulating materials’ magnetic behavior through applying electric fields with liquid and solid electrolytes.
Extraposition in learner and expert writing
Authors: Larsson Tove , Kaatari Henrik
Published: March 2019

Subject extraposition (e.g. it is important to remember) is generally considered to be a formal
construction that learners, whose writing is often said to be overly informal, have been found to struggle with. This study
investigates to what extent register and text type can be used to explore learners’ reportedly “informal” use of this
construction. Learner writing is compared to expert writing from several different registers and to native-speaker student
writing. The results show that there are important differences across both registers and text types. Furthermore, while the
learners’ use is most like that of the experts’ academic writing, certain similarities to the non-academic registers were also
noted. The results additionally suggest that earlier claims about the informal status of learner writing seem mainly to have been
influenced by the text types included in the corpora previously investigated.
Impact of Academic Detailing on Benzodiazepine use among Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Authors: Bounthavong Mark , Lau Marcos K. , Popish Sarah J. , Kay Chad L. , Wells Daina L. , Himstreet Julianne E. , Harvey Michael A. , Christopher Melissa L. D.
Published: March 2019

Background

Benzodiazepine use in the US Veterans Administration (VA) has been decreasing; however, a small number of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continue to receive benzodiazepine. Academic detailing, a targeted-educational outreach intervention, was implemented at VA to help reduce the disparity between existing and evidence-based practices, including the reduction in benzodiazepine use in veterans with PTSD. Since evidence to support the national implementation of academic detailing in this clinical scenario was scarce, we performed a quality improvement evaluation on academic detailing's impact on benzodiazepine use in veterans with PTSD.

Methods

A retrospective cohort design was used to evaluate the impact of academic detailing on benzodiazepine prescribing in veterans with PTSD from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016. Providers exposed to academic detailing (AD-exposed) were compared with providers unexposed to academic detailing (AD-unexposed) using generalized estimating equations (GEEs) controlling for baseline covariates. Secondary aims evaluated academic detailing's impact on average lorazepam equivalent daily dose (LEDD), total LEDD, and benzodiazepine day supply.

Results

Overall, there was a decrease in the prevalence in benzodiazepine use in veterans with PTSD from 115.5 to 103.3 per 1000 population ( P < .001). However, the decrease was greater in AD-exposed providers (18.37%; P < .001) compared with AD-unexposed providers (8.74%; P < .001). In the GEE models, AD-exposed providers had greater reduction in the monthly prevalence of veterans with PTSD and a benzodiazepine prescription compared with AD-unexposed providers, by −1.30 veterans per 1000 population (95% confidence interval [CI]: −2.14, −0.46). Similar findings were reported for the benzodiazepine day supply; however, no significant differences were reported for total and average LEDD.

Conclusions

Although benzodiazepine use has been decreasing in veterans with PTSD, opportunities to improve prescribing continue to exist at the VA. In this quality improvement evaluation, AD-exposed providers were associated with a greater reduction in the prevalence of veterans with PTSD and a benzodiazepine prescription compared with AD-unexposed providers.
Objective Comparison of Nasojugal Fold Depth and Lower Eyelid Length After Fat Excision Versus Fat Transpositional Lower Blepharoplasty
Authors: Ramesh Sathyadeepak , Goldberg Robert A , Wulc Allan E , Brackup Alan B
Published: March 2019

Background

Lower blepharoplasty is one of the most commonly performed aesthetic surgeries in the world. However, there are no studies to directly compare patients who had fat excision vs fat transposition.

Objectives

The authors sought to compare and contrast aesthetic results of fat excisional and fat transpositional lower blepharoplasty.

Methods

A retrospective review was conducted of 60 patients (120 eyelids) who underwent transconjunctival lower blepharoplasty, either with fat excision or fat transposition into a preperiosteal plane. Marginal reflex distance-2, lower eyelid length, nasojugal fold depth, and pretarsal orbicularis definition were measured.

Results

Mean follow-up was 5.6 months. Mean marginal reflex distance-2 did not significantly differ after either fat excision or fat transposition. Mean lower lid length decreased after fat excision only (P < 0.001), and postoperative fat excision patients had a shorter lower eyelid length than patients who underwent fat transposition (13.5 ± 2.1 mm vs 16.1 ± 1.9 mm, P < 0.0001). Pretarsal orbicularis definition increased after both surgeries (P < 0.001), and the groups did not differ (1.0 ± 0.8 vs 1.1 ± 0.9, not significant). Mean nasojugal fold depth was effaced after surgery in both groups (P < 0.001), although the nasojugal fold was significantly more effaced after fat transposition (1.5 ± 0.7 vs 0.48 ± 0.6, P < 0.001).

Conclusions

In lower blepharoplasty, fat excision resulted in a shorter lower eyelid, and fat transposition resulted in a more effaced lid-cheek junction. Surgeons should be able to balance both techniques to deliver a customized aesthetic result.

Level of Evidence: 3
Collaborative Task Offloading with Computation Result Reusing for Mobile Edge Computing
Authors: Zhang Zikai , Wu Jigang , Chen Long , Jiang Guiyuan , Lam Siew-Kei
Published: March 2019

The task offloading problem, which aims to balance the energy consumption and latency for Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), is still a challenging problem due to the dynamic changing system environment. To reduce energy while guaranteeing delay constraint for mobile applications, we propose an access control management architecture for 5G heterogeneous network by making full use of Base Station’s storage capability and reusing repetitive computational resource for tasks. For applications that rely on real-time information, we propose two algorithms to offload tasks with consideration of both energy efficiency and computation time constraint. For the first scenario, i.e. the rarely changing system environment, an optimal static algorithm is proposed based on dynamic programming technique to get the exact solution. For the second scenario, i.e. the frequently changing system environment, a two-stage online algorithm is proposed to adaptively obtain the current optimal solution in real time. Simulation results demonstrate that the exact algorithm in the first scenario runs 4 times faster than the enumeration method. In the second scenario, the proposed online algorithm can reduce the energy consumption and computation time violation rate by 16.3% and 25% in comparison with existing methods.
Adipolin/CTRP12 protects against pathological vascular remodelling through suppression of smooth muscle cell growth and macrophage inflammatory response
Authors: Ogawa Hayato , Ohashi Koji , Ito Masanori , Shibata Rei , Kanemura Noriyoshi , Yuasa Daisuke , Kambara Takahiro , Matsuo Kazuhiro , Hayakawa Satoko , Hiramatsu-Ito Mizuho , Otaka Naoya , Kawanishi Hiroshi , Yamaguchi Shukuro , Enomoto Takashi , Abe Takaya , Kaneko Mari , Takefuji Mikito , Murohara Toyoaki , Ouchi Noriyuki
Published: March 2019

Aims

Secreted factors produced by adipose tissue are involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. We previously identified adipolin, also known as C1q/TNF-related protein 12, as an insulin-sensitizing adipokine. However, the role of adipolin in vascular disease remains unknown. Here, we investigated whether adipolin modulates pathological vascular remodelling.

Methods and results

Adipolin-knockout (APL-KO) and wild-type (WT) mice were subjected to wire-induced injury of the femoral artery. APL-KO mice showed increased neointimal thickening after vascular injury compared with WT mice, which was accompanied by an enhanced inflammatory response and vascular cell proliferation in injured arteries. Adipolin deficiency also led to a reduction in transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) 1 protein levels in injured arteries. Treatment of cultured macrophages with adipolin protein led to a reduction in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated expression of inflammatory mediators, including tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL) 6, and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-1. These effects were reversed by inhibition of TGF-β receptor II (TGF-βRII)/Smad2 signalling. Adipolin also reduced platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB-stimulated proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) through a TGF-βRII/Smad2-dependent pathway. Furthermore, adipolin treatment significantly increased TGF-β1 concentration in media from cultured VSMCs and macrophages.

Conclusion

These data indicate that adipolin protects against the development of pathological vascular remodelling by attenuating macrophage inflammatory responses and VSMC proliferation.
CRISPR-Cas, a highly effective tool for genome editing in Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4(HMT)
Authors: Atmadjaja Aretha N , Holby Verity , Harding Amanda J , Krabben Preben , Smith Holly K , Jenkinson Elizabeth R
Published: March 2019

The solventogenic clostridia have long been known for their ability to convert sugars from complex feedstocks into commercially important solvents. Although the acetone-butanol-ethanol process fell out of favour decades ago, renewed interest in sustainability and ‘green’ chemistry has re-established our appetite for reviving technologies such as these, albeit with 21st century improvements. As CRISPR-Cas genome editing tools are being developed and applied to the solventogenic clostridia, their industrial potential is growing. Through integration of new pathways, the beneficial traits and historical track record of clostridial fermentation can be exploited to generate a much wider range of industrially relevant products. Here we show the application of genome editing using the endogenous CRISPR-Cas mechanism of Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4(HMT), to generate a deletion, SNP and to integrate new DNA into the genome. These technological advancements pave the way for application of clostridial species to the production of an array of products.
Perceptions of system-identity and regime shift for marine ecosystems
Authors: van Putten Ingrid , Boschetti Fabio , Ling Scott , Richards Shane A
Published: March 2019

There is growing empirical evidence around the world demonstrating regime shifts of marine ecosystems. But generalizable criteria to detect and define regime shifts are elusive because of: (i) an incomplete scientific understanding of processes underlying regime shifts; (ii) because the baseline state and conditions are ill defined, and; (iii) due to an inherent ambiguity in the concept of system identity. We surveyed marine scientists in Tasmania, Australia, and determined the effect of changing conditions (including type of climate impact, species loss, species composition, spatio-temporal extent, and human intervention) on their perception of marine regime shift. We find, there is an objective difficulty in detecting regime shifts that goes beyond scientific uncertainty and there is disagreement on which configurations of change indeed constitute a regime shift. Furthermore, this difference of opinion was not related to the degree of confidence that scientists indicated when identifying regime shifts. This lack of consensus and seemingly unrelated scientific confidence, may be attributable to value ambiguity around people s attitudes, cognitive biases, and baseline shift. When applying evidenced-based reference points in well-reasoned Ecosystem Based Management, there should be scientific consensus on the manifestation and extent of specific regime shifts, and recognition of value ambiguities influencing scientific perceptions.
A Halo Occupation Interpretation of Quasars at z ∼ 1.5 Using Very Small-Scale Clustering Information
Authors: Eftekharzadeh S , Myers A D , Kourkchi E
Published: March 2019

We combine the most precise small-scale ($\lt 100\, \rm h^{-1}kpc$) quasar clustering constraints to date with recent measurements at large scales ($\gt 1\, \rm h^{-1}Mpc$) from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) to better constrain the satellite fraction of quasars at z ∼ 1.5 in the halo occupation formalism. We build our Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD) framework based on commonly used analytic forms for the one and two-halo terms with two free parameters: the minimum halo mass that hosts a central quasar and the fraction of satellite quasars that are within one halo. Inspired by recent studies that propose a steeper density profile for the dark matter haloes that host quasars, we explore HOD models at kiloparsec scales and best-fit parameters for models with 10 × higher concentration parameter. We find that an HOD model with a satellite fraction of $f_{\rm sat} = 0.071_{-0.004}^{+0.009}$ and minimum mass of $\rm M_{m} = 2.31_{-0.38}^{+0.41} \times 10^{12}\, \, \rm h^{-1} M_{\odot }$ for the host dark matter haloes best describes quasar clustering (on all scales) at z ∼ 1.5. Our results are marginally inconsistent with earlier work that studied brighter quasars, hinting at a luminosity-dependence to the one-halo term.
Central Banks and the New Regulatory Regime for Banks
Authors: Llewellyn David T.
Published: March 2019

The most serious global banking crisis in living memory has given rise to one of the most substantial changes in the regulatory regime of banks. While not all central banks have responsibility for regulation, because they are almost universally responsible for systemic stability, they have an interest in bank regulation. Two core objectives of regulation are discussed: lowering the probability of bank failures and minimizing the social costs of failures that do occur. The underlying culture of banking creates business standards and employee attitudes and behavior. There are limits to what regulation can achieve if the underlying cultures of regulated firms are hazardous. There are limits to what can be achieved through detailed, prescriptive, and complex rules, and when, because of what is termed the endogeneity problem, rules escalation raises issues of proportionality, a case is made for banking culture to become a supervisory issue.
Central Banking and Crisis Management from the Perspective of Austrian Business Cycle Theory
Authors: Schnabl Gunther
Published: March 2019

This chapter analyzes the evolution and effects of central bank crisis management since the mid-1980s based on a Hayek-Mises-Wicksell overinvestment framework. It is shown that given that the traditional transmission mechanism between monetary policy and consumer price inflation has collapsed, asymmetric monetary policy crisis management implies a convergence of interest rates toward zero and a gradual expansion of central bank balance sheets. From a Wicksell-Hayek-Mises perspective, asymmetric central bank crisis management has contributed to financial market bubbles, decreasing marginal efficiency of investment, increasing income inequality, and declining growth dynamics. The economic policy implication is a slow but decisive exit from ultra-expansionary monetary policies.
The Changing Role of the Central Bank in Crisis Avoidance and Management
Authors: Mayes David G.
Published: March 2019

This chapter explores how the handling of bank failures in the global financial crisis led to dramatic changes in provisions for crisis avoidance and crisis management at the national and international levels. These provisions have led to an increase in the role of the central bank. The intention has been to end the idea of “too big to fail” by giving the largest banks capital and liquidity buffers that make failure unlikely and also to introduce bailing in as a substitute for bailing out. This aggregation of powers in the central bank raises problems of potential conflict of interest and politicizes the role of the central bank in a way that may compromise its independence. Central banks may thus be at the apex of their power and find that functions are taken away from them in the future when the nature of the problems is exposed.
Role Theory in Politics and International Relations
Authors: Breuning Marijke
Published: March 2019

Role theory scholarship in politics and international relations (IR) seeks to understand decision-making from the perspective of the decision maker. That said, role theory scholarship has evolved over time. It has moved from an initial emphasis on the structural and institutional constraints that affect human behavior to a greater emphasis on the agency of human beings. In the past decade, role theory has re-emerged as an approach to the study of politics and IR. This new generation of scholarship places its emphasis on decision makers (or agents) while acknowledging that they are embedded in institutions (or structures). As such, role theory accepts the foundational characteristics of behavioral IR—which demands attention for the cognitive limitations of human decision makers, as well as their limited capacity to process information, and the various biases and heuristics that affect their reasoning. Role theory posits that theoretical models must simultaneously take into account the state’s material capabilities and the perceptions of decision makers, who bring their own biases and ideas (or maybe ideals) to the task of shaping foreign policy. Role theory enables scholars to model ideational factors alongside material ones and, in doing so, to improve understanding of the foreign policy decision-making of a wide range of states, including small(er) states, new states, and emerging powers.
Neural Representations of Concept Knowledge
Authors: Bauer Andrew J. , Just Marcel A.
Published: March 2019

This chapter reviews progress made by brain-reading (neurosemantic) studies that use multivariate analytic methods to delineate the nature, content, and neuroanatomical distribution of the neural representation of concept knowledge in semantic memory. Concept knowledge underlies almost all human thought, communication, and daily activity. The chapter describes how neurosemantic research has provided initial answers to such prominent questions as: What types of information are encoded in a given neural concept representation? To what extent are neural concept representations common across different people? Do neural concept representations evoked by pictures differ from those evoked by language? How are abstract versus concrete concepts represented in the brain? How does the neural representation of a concept evolve while a new concept is being learned? What are the properties and implications of the data analytic techniques that are used in this research area? The initial answers to these questions illuminate how the properties of brain organization impose a structure on the neural representations of concepts.
Finding Concepts in Brain Patterns
Authors: Musz Elizabeth , Thompson-Schill Sharon L.
Published: March 2019

Semantic memory is composed of one’s accumulated world knowledge. This includes one’s stored factual information about the real-world objects and animals, which enables one to recognize and interact with the things in one’s environment. How is this semantic information organized, and where is it stored in the brain? Newly developed functional neuroimaging (fMRI) methods have provided exciting and innovative approaches to studying these questions. In particular, several recent fMRI investigations have examined the neural bases of semantic knowledge using similarity-based approaches. In similarity models, data from direct (i.e., neural) and indirect (i.e., subjective, psychological) measurements are interpreted as proximity data that provide information about the relationships among object concepts in an abstract, high-dimensional space. Concepts are encoded as points in this conceptual space, such that the semantic relatedness between two concepts is determined by their distance from one another. Using this approach, neuroimaging studies have offered compelling insights to several open-ended questions about how object concepts are represented in the brain. This chapter briefly describes how similarity spaces are computed from both behavioral data and spatially distributed fMRI activity patterns. Then, it reviews empirical reports that relate observed neural similarity spaces to various models of semantic similarity. The chapter examines how these methods have both shaped and informed our current understanding of the neural representation of conceptual information about real-world objects.
Sensory Signaling Pathways in Inflammatory and Neuropathic Pain
Authors: Willemen Hanneke L. D. M. , Eijkelkamp Niels
Published: March 2019

Sensory neuron sensitivity is modulated by a large variety of mediators that can activate a plethora of signaling cascades. These signaling cascades allow sensory neurons to show remarkable plasticity in response to injury and inflammation. The understanding of intracellular signaling mechanisms that regulate sensory neuron function downstream of receptor–ligand interactions or electrical activity is still at a relatively developing stage. This article highlights what is known about some of the components of classical intracellular signal transduction cascades, such as cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and downstream cAMP sensors, mitogen-activated protein kinases, and others in regulating sensory neuron function. How these transduction cascades may contribute to the initiation, maintenance, or even resolution of inflammatory and neuropathic pain is discussed. Moreover, the focus is on how intracellular signaling cascades themselves are subject to plasticity and how this plasticity may underlie the development of chronic pain.