bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Endocannabinoids and Fear-Related Behavior in Mice Selectively Bred for High or Low Alcohol Preference
Authors: Kirchhoff Aaron M. , Barker Eric L. , Chester Julia A.
Published: September 2019

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) have a high incidence of co-morbidity with stress-related psychopathologies, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Genetic and pharmacological studies support a prominent role for the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in modulating stress-related behaviors relevant to AUDs and PTSD. Mouse lines selectively bred for high (HAP) and low (LAP) alcohol preference show reproducible differences in fear-potentiated startle (FPS), a model for PTSD-related behavior. The first experiment in this study assessed levels of the endocannabinoids, anandamide (AEA) and sn-2 arachidonylglycerol (2-AG), in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), amygdala (AMG), and hippocampus (HIP) of male and female HAP1 and LAP1 mice following the expression of FPS to determine whether ECS responses to conditioned-fear stress (FPS) were correlated with genetic propensity toward high or low alcohol preference. The second experiment examined effects of a cannabinoid receptor type 1 agonist (CP55940) and antagonist (rimonabant) on the expression of FPS in HAP1 and LAP1 male and female mice. The estrous cycle of females was monitored throughout the experiments to determine if the expression of FPS differed by stage of the cycle. FPS was greater in male and female HAP1 than LAP1 mice, as previously reported. In both experiments, LAP1 females in diestrus displayed greater FPS than LAP1 females in metestrus and estrus. In the AMG and HIP, AEA levels were greater in male fear-conditioned HAP1 mice than LAP1 mice. There were no line or sex differences in effects of CP55940 or rimonabant on the expression of FPS. However, surprisingly, evidence for anxiogenic effects of prior treatment with CP55940 were seen in all mice during the third drug-free FPS test. These findings suggest that genetic differences in ECS function in response to fear-conditioning stress may underlie differences in FPS expression in HAP1 and LAP1 selected lines.
HDAC3 Activity is Essential for Human Leukemic Cell Growth and the Expression of β-catenin, MYC, and WT1
Authors: Beyer Mandy , Romanski Annette , Mustafa Al-Hassan M. , Pons Miriam , Büchler Iris , Vogel Anja , Pautz Andrea , Sellmer Andreas , Schneider Günter , Bug Gesine , Krämer Oliver H.
Published: September 2019

Therapy of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is unsatisfactory. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are active against leukemic cells in vitro and in vivo. Clinical data suggest further testing of such epigenetic drugs and to identify mechanisms and markers for their efficacy. Primary and permanent AML cells were screened for viability, replication stress/DNA damage, and regrowth capacities after single exposures to the clinically used pan-HDACi panobinostat (LBH589), the class I HDACi entinostat/romidepsin (MS-275/FK228), the HDAC3 inhibitor RGFP966, the HDAC6 inhibitor marbostat-100, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) indomethacin, and the replication stress inducer hydroxyurea (HU). Immunoblotting was used to test if HDACi modulate the leukemia-associated transcription factors β-catenin, Wilms tumor (WT1), and myelocytomatosis oncogene (MYC). RNAi was used to delineate how these factors interact. We show that LBH589, MS-275, FK228, RGFP966, and HU induce apoptosis, replication stress/DNA damage, and apoptotic fragmentation of β-catenin. Indomethacin destabilizes β-catenin and potentiates anti-proliferative effects of HDACi. HDACi attenuate WT1 and MYC caspase-dependently and -independently. Genetic experiments reveal a cross-regulation between MYC and WT1 and a regulation of β-catenin by WT1. In conclusion, reduced levels of β-catenin, MYC, and WT1 are molecular markers for the efficacy of HDACi. HDAC3 inhibition induces apoptosis and disrupts tumor-associated protein expression.
The Utility of Anatomical Liver Resection in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Associated with Improved Outcomes or Lack of Supportive Evidence?
Authors: Ju Michelle , Yopp Adam C.
Published: September 2019

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Surgical resection of HCC remains one of the mainstays of curative therapies and is associated with five-year overall survival rates approaching 60%. Despite improved perioperative outcomes, locoregional recurrence within the first two years following hepatic resection is of significant concern with recurrence rates of up to 50%. The use of anatomical resection surgical approaches, whereby the portal venous blood flow is ligated proximal to the tumor bed, is postulated to reduce recurrence rates due to reduction of micrometastatic disease. The aim of this review is to characterize the definition of an anatomical resection (AR) during partial hepatectomy, discuss the theoretical advantages of AR during hepatic resection for HCC, and to present evidence of the impact of AR on outcome measures in patients with HCC. Based on current data, there is a lack of conclusive evidence to support the universal use of AR in cirrhotic patients with HCC. A randomized clinical trial is warranted to further clarify the debate between AR versus non-anatomical resection (NAR) for HCC.
Hybrid 18F-FDG-PET/MRI Measurement of Standardized Uptake Value Coupled with Yin Yang 1 Signature in Metastatic Breast Cancer. A Preliminary Study
Authors: Schiano Concetta , Franzese Monica , Pane Katia , Garbino Nunzia , Soricelli Andrea , Salvatore Marco , de Nigris Filomena , Napoli Claudio
Published: September 2019

Purpose: Detection of breast cancer (BC) metastasis at the early stage is important for the assessment of BC progression status. Image analysis represents a valuable tool for the management of oncological patients. Our preliminary study combined imaging parameters from hybrid 18F-FDG-PET/MRI and the expression level of the transcriptional factor Yin Yang 1 (YY1) for the detection of early metastases. Methods: The study enrolled suspected n = 217 BC patients that underwent 18F-FDG-PET/MRI scans. The analysis retrospectively included n = 55 subjects. n = 40 were BC patients and n = 15 imaging-negative female individuals were healthy subjects (HS). Standard radiomics parameters were extracted from PET/MRI image. RNA was obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and YY1 expression level was evaluated by real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions (qRT-PCR). An enzyme-linked immuosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the amount of YY1 serum protein. Statistical comparison between subgroups was evaluated by Mann-Whitney U and Spearman’s tests. Results: Radiomics showed a significant positive correlation between Greg-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and standardized uptake value maximum (SUVmax) (r = 0.8 and r = 0.8 respectively) in BC patients. YY1 level was significant overexpressed in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive/progesteron receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor2-negative (ER+/PR+/HER2-) subtype of BC patients with synchronous metastasis (SM) at primary diagnosis compared to metachronous metastasis (MM) and HS (p < 0.001) and correlating significantly with 18F-FDG-uptake parameter (SUVmax) (r = 0.48). Conclusions: The combination of functional 18F-FDG-PET/MRI parameters and molecular determination of YY1 could represent a novel integrated approach to predict synchronous metastatic disease with more accuracy than 18F-FDG-PET/MRI alone.
STAT3 and STAT5 Targeting for Simultaneous Management of Melanoma and Autoimmune Diseases
Authors: Logotheti Stella , Pützer Brigitte M.
Published: September 2019

Melanoma is a skin cancer which can become metastatic, drug-refractory, and lethal if managed late or inappropriately. An increasing number of melanoma patients exhibits autoimmune diseases, either as pre-existing conditions or as sequelae of immune-based anti-melanoma therapies, which complicate patient management and raise the need for more personalized treatments. STAT3 and/or STAT5 cascades are commonly activated during melanoma progression and mediate the metastatic effects of key oncogenic factors. Deactivation of these cascades enhances antitumor-immune responses, is efficient against metastatic melanoma in the preclinical setting and emerges as a promising targeting strategy, especially for patients resistant to immunotherapies. In the light of the recent realization that cancer and autoimmune diseases share common mechanisms of immune dysregulation, we suggest that the systemic delivery of STAT3 or STAT5 inhibitors could simultaneously target both, melanoma and associated autoimmune diseases, thereby decreasing the overall disease burden and improving quality of life of this patient subpopulation. Herein, we review the recent advances of STAT3 and STAT5 targeting in melanoma, explore which autoimmune diseases are causatively linked to STAT3 and/or STAT5 signaling, and propose that these patients may particularly benefit from treatment with STAT3/STAT5 inhibitors.
Social Functioning of Childhood Cancer Survivors after Computerized Cognitive Training: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Mendoza Leanne K. , Ashford Jason M. , Willard Victoria W. , Clark Kellie N. , Martin-Elbahesh Karen , Hardy Kristina K. , Merchant Thomas E. , Jeha Sima , Wang Fang , Zhang Hui , Conklin Heather M.
Published: September 2019

Childhood cancer survivors are at risk for cognitive and social deficits. Previous findings indicate computerized cognitive training can result in an improvement of cognitive skills. The current objective was to investigate whether these cognitive gains generalize to social functioning benefits. Sixty-eight survivors of childhood cancer were randomly assigned to a computerized cognitive intervention (mean age 12.21 ± 2.47 years, 4.97 ± 3.02 years off-treatment) or waitlist control group (mean age 11.82 ± 2.42 years, 5.04 ± 2.41 years off-treatment). Conners 3 Parent and Self-Report forms were completed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and six-months post-intervention. Piecewise linear mixed-effects models indicated no significant differences in Peer Relations between groups at baseline and no difference in change between groups from pre- to immediate post-intervention or post- to six-months post-intervention (ps > 0.40). Baseline Family Relations problems were significantly elevated in the control group relative to the intervention group (p < 0.01), with a significantly greater decline from pre- to immediate post-intervention (p < 0.05) and no difference in change between groups from post- to six-months post-intervention (p > 0.80). The study results suggest cognitive gains from computerized training do not generalize to social functioning. Training focused on skill-based social processing (e.g., affect recognition) may be more efficacious.
Influence of Film Quality on Power Conversion Efficiency in Perovskite Solar Cells
Authors: Huang Jin , Gao Changji , Zhang Dan , Tian Qingwen , Zhang Fanghui , Liu Shengzhong (Frank)
Published: September 2019

Organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are a high-efficiency, low-cost form of solar technology because of the abundance of useful materials and a simple fabrication procedure relative to other photovoltaic devices. Furthermore, the perovskite material shows decent electron and hole mobilities, a wide absorption range, and long exciton diffusion length. So far, many groups have focused on the research of perovskite thin-film solar cells, and these perovskite solar cells have been deemed to be one of the leading next generation photovoltaic technologies. However, there are several problems that restrict the enhancement of perovskite solar cell performance such as their poor uniformity and low crystallinity. Herein we summarize and discuss the role of film quality on power conversion efficiency, and effect of fabrication condition on the light absorbance of perovskite film.
Information Across the Ecological Hierarchy
Authors: Ulanowicz Robert E.
Published: September 2019

The ecosystem is a theatre upon which is presented, in various degrees and at differing scales, a drama of constraint and information vs. disorganization and entropy. Concerning biology, most think immediately of genomic information. It strongly constrains the form and behavior of individual species, but its influence upon community structure is indeterminate. At the community level, information acts as a formal cause behind regular patterns of development. Community structure is an amalgam of information and entropy, and the Gibbs–Boltzmann formula departs from the thermodynamic sense of entropy. It measures only the extreme that entropy might reach if the elements of the system were completely independent. A closer analogy to physical entropy in systems with interactions is the conditional entropy—the amount by which the Shannon measure is reduced after the information in the constraints among elements has been subtracted. Finally, at the whole ecosystem level, in communities that inhabit mostly fixed physical environments (e.g., landscapes or seabeds), the distributions of plants and animals appear to be independent both of causal mechanisms and trophic controls, and assume instead forms that maximize the overall entropy of dispersal.
The Impact of an Energy Efficiency Improvement Policy on the Economic Performance of Electricity-Intensive Firms in Ghana
Authors: Ying Lee Chui , Lotsu Samuel , Islam Moinul , Yoshida Yuichiro , Kaneko Shinji
Published: September 2019

This paper investigates the economic impact of an energy efficiency improvement policy on electricity-intensive firms in Ghana. The policy imposed a penalty on these electricity-intensive firms, which are referred to as special load tariff (SLT) customers, when their power factor was below 90%. This paper applies the regression discontinuity design (RDD) to the panel data of these SLTs ranging from 1994 to 2012, excluding those years characterized by energy crisis. The results show adverse impacts of the policy on the employment and salary levels of the firms in the long run, in particular, the small- and medium–voltage firms. The results indicate that small- and medium–voltage firms are economically vulnerable to the penalty policy in the long run and recommend two policies to overcome this challenge. Firstly, the penalty for power factor improvement should not be imposed identically across firms with different voltage levels. Secondly, firms that satisfy the power factor standard should receive subsidies to improve their competitiveness in the market.
A Dynamic Analysis of the Multi-Stack SOFC-CHP System for Power Modulation
Authors: Yang Cheng-Hao , Chang Shing-Cheng , Chan Yen-Hsin , Chang Wen-Sheng
Published: September 2019

This paper performs a dynamic analysis of a 10-kW solid oxide fuel cell/combined heat and power (SOFC-CHP) system with a multi-stack module via numerical simulations. The performance of stacks, tail gas burners, heat exchangers, and fuel reformers are modeled by the MATLAB/Simulink module. The effects of fuel and air maldistribution on SOFC-CHP systems are addressed in this work. A two-stack module for 10-kW power generation is adopted to represent the multi-stack module with high power modulation. The air flow rate and operating current, which are related to the fuel use rate of an SOFC system, should be optimally regulated to perform with maximum power generation and efficiency. The proposed dynamic analysis shows that the operating temperatures of the two stacks have a difference of 33 K, which results in a reduced total power generation of 9.77 kW, with inconsistent fuel use (FU) rates of 78.3% and 56.8% for the two stacks. With the optimal control strategy, the output power is increased to 10.6 kW, an increment of 8.5%, and the FU rates of the two stacks are improved to 79% and 70%, respectively. As a potential distributed power generator, the long-term effects of the studied SOFC-CHP systems are also investigated. The dynamic analysis of the long-term operating SOFC-CHP system shows that the total daily output power can be increased 7.34% by using the optimal control strategy.
Offshore Wind Farms On-Site Submarine Cable Testing and Diagnosis with Damped AC
Authors: Gulski Edward , Jongen Rogier , Rakowska Aleksandra , Siodla Krzysztof
Published: September 2019

The current power cables IEC standards do not provide adequate recommendations for after-laying testing and diagnosis of offshore export and inter-array power cables. However the standards IEEE 400 and IEEE 400.4 recommend partial discharge monitored testing, e.g., by continuous or damped AC voltages (DAC). Based on the international experiences, as collected in more than 20 years at different power grids, this contribution focuses on the use of DAC for after-laying testing and diagnosis of submarine power cables both the export and inter-array cables. Higher risk of failure, long unavailability, higher repair costs, and maintenance costs imply that advanced quality control is becoming more important. The current state of the existing and drafting international standards are based on onshore experiences and not related to the actual serious problems experienced with failures on export up to 230 kV and inter-array cables up to 66 kV. The application of damped AC as a testing solution in this concern is specially discussed. The advantages of this testing technique, in combination with actual testing examples, show the findings on export and inter-array cables at offshore wind farms.
Analysis Application of Controllable Load Appliances Management in a Smart Home
Authors: Osório Gerardo J. , Shafie-khah Miadreza , Carvalho Gonçalo C. R. , Catalão João P. S.
Published: September 2019

The residential sector is one of the sectors with the highest rates of electricity consumption worldwide. For years, many studies have been presented in order to minimize energy consumption at the residential level. The idea of such studies is that the residential customer (RC) is the interested party of their own consumption. Moreover, the algorithms that have been developed to predict and manage the energy consumption, also analyze the behavior of the loads, with the objective of minimizing the energy costs, with good safety, robustness, and comfort levels. In the context of the smart house (SH), one of the objectives of smart grids (SGs) is to enable the RC, with home energy management systems (HEM), to actively participate, allowing for higher reliability at different levels. In this work, a new model that simulates the behavior of an SH, considering heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and sanitarian water heater (SWH) devices, is presented. For this purpose, the proposed model considers realistic physical parameters of the SH, together with customer comfort, in order to mitigate the RC disinterest. The proposed model considers the electric vehicle (EV), a battery-based energy storage system (ESS), a micro production unit, and different types of tariffs that the RC might choose, aiming to maximize the benefits, and temporarily shifting the proposed loads.
Robust Perturbation Observer-based Finite Control Set Model Predictive Current Control for SPMSM Considering Parameter Mismatch
Authors: Liu Zhicheng , Zhao Yang
Published: September 2019

In order to improve the dynamics of the surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors (SPMSM) used in servo systems, finite control set model predictive current control (FCS-MPCC) methods have been widely adopted. However, because the FCS-MPCC is a model-based strategy, its performance highly depends on the machine parameters, such as the winding resistance, inductance and flux linkage. Unfortunately, the parameter mismatch problem is common due to the measurement precision and environmental impacts (e.g., temperature). To enhance the robustness of the SPMSM FCS-MPCC systems, this paper proposes a Lundberg perturbation observer that is seldom used in the FCS model predictive control situations to remove the adverse effects caused by resistance and inductance mismatch. Firstly, the system model is established, and the FCS-MPCC mechanism is illustrated. Based on the machine model, the sensitivity of the control algorithm to the parameter mismatch is discussed. Then, the Luenberger perturbation observer that can estimate the general disturbance arising from the parameter uncertainties is developed, and the stability of the observer is analyzed by using the discrete pole assignment technique. Finally, the proposed disturbance observer is incorporated into the FCS-MPCC prediction plant model for real-time compensation. Both simulation and experiments are conducted on a three-phase SPMSM, verifying that the proposed strategy has marked control performance and strong robustness.
Pre-Plant Fumigation of Soils for Nematode Control Affects the Seedling Production and Morphological Properties of Pine and Larch Seedlings
Authors: Cha Sangsub , Kim Jeonghwan , Choi In Gyu , Choi Jongo , Han Hyerim , Koo Namin , Kim Yong Suk
Published: September 2019

Using a fumigation sterilizer (Dazomet) for nematode control, this study determined the effect of soil sterilization on the quantity and quality of the growth of Pinus densiflora Siebold & Zucc. and Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carrière seedlings in an open-field nursery at Jeongseon-gun, Kangwon-do, Republic of Korea. Most soil nematodes disappeared after fumigant sterilization. The organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, and Mg2+ content of the soil increased significantly, but the electrical conductivity (EC) decreased. The quantity of pine and larch seedlings was highly correlated with the soil nematode density. The soil properties changed due to soil fumigation, which affected the growth of both species. Pine seedling growth was affected by the soil chemical properties, such as available phosphorus (AP), Ca2+, Mg2+, and EC, and the growth of larch seedlings was affected by the EC and nematode density. The quality of the pine seedlings improved, whereas that of larch did not. This was a result of the difference in their tolerance to soil salinity. The seedling quality index (SQI) of the two species was related to the EC, but the pine seedlings were more affected by the EC, indicating that the control of soil nematodes by fumigant treatment significantly increased the quantity of seedlings produced and partly improved their quality. Soil management using a fumigant treatment was more efficient for producing pine seedlings than larch. Our results can be used to improve agricultural and forestry economics.
Photosynthetic Performance in Pinus canariensis at Semiarid Treeline: Phenotype Variability to Cope with Stressful Environment
Authors: González-Rodríguez Águeda María , Brito Patricia , Lorenzo Jose Roberto , Jiménez María Soledad
Published: September 2019

Low temperatures represent the most important environmental stress for plants at the treeline ecotone; however, drought periods at the semiarid treeline could modify photosynthetic performance patterns. Gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic pigments, and α-tocopherol were measured in a Pinus canariensis forest located at a semiarid treeline forest at 2070 m altitude over a whole year. The level of summer drought, caused by an extended period without rain and very low previous rainfall, was remarkable during the study. Furthermore, the cold season showed extraordinarily low temperatures, which persisted for five months. All of these factors combined made the study period an extraordinary opportunity to improve our understanding of photosynthetic performance in a drought-affected treeline ecotone. A high dynamism in all the measured parameters was detected, showing robust changes over the year. Maximum photosynthesis and optimal values were concentrated over a short period in spring. Beyond that, fine regulation in stomatal closure, high WUEi with a great plasticity, and changes in pigments and antioxidative components prevented dehydration during drought. In winter, a strong chronic photoinhibition was detected, and α-tocopherol and β-carotene acquired a main role as protective molecules, accompanied by morphological variations as changes in specific leaf areas to avoid freezing. The recovery in the next spring, i.e., after these extreme environmental conditions returned to normal, showed a strategy based on the breakdown of pigments and lower photosynthetic functions during the winter, and rebuilding and regreening. So, a high level of plasticity, together with some structural and physiological adaptations, make P. canariensis able to cope with stresses at the treeline. Nevertheless, the carbon gain was more limited by drought than by low temperatures and more extended droughts predicted in future climate change scenarios may strongly affect this forest.
The Biodiversity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Spontaneous Wine Fermentation: The Occurrence and Persistence of Winery-Strains
Authors: Granchi Lisa , Ganucci Donatella , Buscioni Giacomo , Mangani Silvia , Guerrini Simona
Published: September 2019

Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations occurring in spontaneous wine fermentations display a high polymorphism, although few strains are generally able to dominate the fermentative process. Recent studies have suggested that these indigenous S. cerevisiae strains are representative of a specific oenological ecosystem, being associated to a given wine-producing area or a single winery. In contrast, according to other ecological studies, no correlation between genotypic and phenotypic groups of the native S. cerevisiae strains and their origin was found. In this work, several S. cerevisiae strains were isolated in consecutive years from spontaneous fermentations carried out in the same wineries located in different oenological areas in Tuscany, and their persistence was assessed by molecular methods. Some predominant S. cerevisiae strains persisted in different fermentations in the same winery from one year to another and they seemed to be representative of a single winery rather than of an oenological area. Therefore, data suggested the idea of the “winery effect” or a microbial terroir at a smaller scale. The use of these typical strains as starter yeasts could provide wines with the distinctive characteristics of a particular winery or sub-zone.
Physicochemical, Spectroscopic and Chromatographic Analyses in Combination with Chemometrics for the Discrimination of Four Sweet Cherry Cultivars Grown in Northern Greece
Authors: Papapetros Spyridon , Louppis Artemis , Kosma Ioanna , Kontakos Stavros , Badeka Anastasia , Papastephanou Chara , Kontominas Michael G.
Published: September 2019

A total of 56 sweet cherry samples belonging to four cultivars (Ferrovia, Canada Giant, Lapins, and Germersdorfer) grown in northern Greece were characterized and differentiated according to botanical origin. For the above purpose, the following parameters were determined: conventional quality parameters (titratable acidity (TA), pH, total soluble solids (TSS), total phenolic content (TPC), mechanical properties and sensory evaluation, sugars by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), volatile compounds by GC/MS, and minerals by ICP-OES. Statistical treatment of the data was carried out using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). The results showed that the combination of volatile compounds and conventional quality parameters provided a correct classification rate of 84.1%, the combination of minerals and conventional quality parameters 86.4%, and the combination of minerals, conventional quality parameters and sugars provided the highest correct classification rate of 88.6%. When the above four cherry cultivars were combined with previously studied Kordia, Regina, Skeena and Mpakirtzeika cultivars, collected from the same regions during the same seasons, the respective values for the differentiation of all eight cultivars were: 85.5% for the combination of conventional quality parameters, volatiles and minerals; and 91.3% for the combination of conventional quality parameters, volatiles, minerals, and sugars.
A Game-Free Microfoundation of Mutual Optimism
Authors: Serena Marco
Published: September 2019

One of the most widely accepted explanations for why wars occur despite its Pareto-suboptimality is mutual optimism: if both sides expect to gain a lot by fighting, war becomes inevitable. The literature on mutual optimism typically assumes mutually optimistic beliefs and shows that, under such an assumption, war may occur despite its Pareto-suboptimality. In a war–peace model, we show that, if players neglect the correlation between other players’ actions and their types—a well-established concept in economics—then players’ expected payoffs from war increase relative to conventional informational sophistication predictions, hence providing a microfoundation of mutual optimism.
Coordinated Activity of Transcriptional Networks Responding to the Pattern of Action Potential Firing in Neurons
Authors: Iacobas Dumitru A. , Iacobas Sanda , Lee Philip R. , Cohen Jonathan E. , Fields R. Douglas
Published: September 2019

Transcriptional responses to the appropriate temporal pattern of action potential firing are essential for long-term adaption of neuronal properties to the functional activity of neural circuits and environmental experience. However, standard transcriptome analysis methods can be too limited in identifying critical aspects that coordinate temporal coding of action potential firing with transcriptome response. A Pearson correlation analysis was applied to determine how pairs of genes in the mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons are coordinately expressed in response to stimulation producing the same number of action potentials by two different temporal patterns. Analysis of 4728 distinct gene-pairs related to calcium signaling, 435,711 pairs of transcription factors, 820 pairs of voltage-gated ion channels, and 86,862 pairs of calcium signaling genes with transcription factors indicated that genes become coordinately activated by distinct action potential firing patterns and this depends on the duration of stimulation. Moreover, a measure of expression variance revealed that the control of transcripts abundances is sensitive to the pattern of stimulation. Thus, action potentials impact intracellular signaling and the transcriptome in dynamic manner that not only alter gene expression levels significantly (as previously reported) but also affects the control of their expression fluctuations and profoundly remodel the transcriptional networks.
Nanometer Titanium Dioxide Mediated High Efficiency Photodegradation of Fluazifop-p-Butyl
Authors: Li Guangling , Hou Zhiguang , Zhang Ruihong , Chen Xiling , Lu Zhongbin
Published: September 2019

The widespread use of fluazifop-p-butyl (FPB) contributes to its presence in the environment. Considering the ecological risks of FPB residues in the environment, the anatase nanometer titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) mediated photocatalytic degradation of FPB was studied by smearing FPB and nano-TiO2 together on a glass plane; illumination, trimethylsilane derivatization of photolysis products, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) quantitative analysis and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) identification were used. Results showed that the first order dynamic model could describe the photodegradation of FPB by nano-TiO2 mediated, and the photodegradation and photosensitization rates were found to be positively correlated with the dose of nano-TiO2 at lower dose ranges. It is noticeable that a strong photosensitization effect was exhibited on degradation of FPB, not only under high-pressure mercury lamps, but also simulated sunlight (xenon lamp light). Ultimately, twelve main photolytic products were reasonably speculated, whilst five photolysis pathways were proposed. These results together suggest that nano-TiO2 can be used as an effective photosensitizer to accelerate FPB photolysis.
Adolescent Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health Inequalities in the Netherlands, 2001–2017
Authors: Weinberg Dominic , Stevens Gonneke W. J. M. , Duinhof Elisa L. , Finkenauer Catrin
Published: September 2019

Even in wealthy countries there are substantial socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent mental health. Socioeconomic status (SES) indicators—parental SES, adolescent subjective SES and adolescent educational level—are negatively associated with adolescent mental health problems, but little is known about the interplay between these SES indicators and whether associations have changed over time. Using data from the Dutch Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) studies (n = 27,020) between 2001 and 2017, we examined associations between three SES indicators and six indicators of adolescent mental health problems. Linear regressions revealed that adolescent subjective SES and adolescent educational level were independently negatively associated with adolescent mental health problems and positively associated with adolescent life satisfaction, but parental SES had negligible independent associations with adolescent mental health problems and life satisfaction. However, when interactions between SES indicators were considered, high adolescent subjective SES was shown to buffer the negative association between parental SES and adolescent mental health problems and the positive association between parental SES and life satisfaction. Despite societal changes between 2001 and 2017, socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent mental health were stable during this period. Findings suggest that all three SES indicators—parental SES, adolescent subjective SES and adolescent educational level—are important for studying socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent mental health.
Effect of Increased Influent COD on Relieving the Toxicity of CeO2 NPs on Aerobic Granular Sludge
Authors: Zheng Xiaoying , Zhang Yuan , Chen Wei , Wang Weihong , Xu Hang , Shao Xiaoyao , Yang Mengmeng , Xu Zhi , Zhu Linghua
Published: September 2019

Due to the increased use of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs), their potential environmental risks have caused concern. However, their effects on the aerobic granular sludge (AGS) process and the later recovery of AGS are still unclear. In this study, we comprehensively determined the changes in pollutant removal and the levels of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in AGS that were exposed to CeO2 NP treatments (0 (the control, R0), 1 (R1), and 5 (R5) mg/L), following an increase in the influent chemical oxygen demand (COD). An increase in the CeO2 NP concentration enhanced their inhibitory effect on the removal of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), and promoted the production of polysaccharides (PS) and proteins (PN) in loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) or tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS), as well as the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) components in EPS, but had no long-term effects on the removal of organic matter. When the addition of CeO2 NPs was stopped and the concentration of influent COD increased, the TN and TP removal efficiencies in R1 and R5 slowly increased and recovered. In R1, they were only 4.55 ± 0.55% and 2.71 ± 0.58% lower than in R0, respectively, while the corresponding values for R5 were 5.06 ± 0.46% and 6.20 ± 0.63%. Despite the LB-EPS and TB-EPS concentrations in the R1 and R5 treatments recovering and being similar to the levels in the control when no CeO2 NPs were added, they were still slightly higher than in the R0, which indicating that the negative effects of CeO2 NPs could not be completely eliminated due to the residual CeO2 NP levels in AGS.
Association between Psychosocial Working Conditions and Perceived Physical Exertion among Eldercare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Multilevel Analysis of Nursing Homes, Wards and Workers
Authors: Januario Leticia Bergamin , Karstad Kristina , Rugulies Reiner , Bergström Gunnar , Holtermann Andreas , Hallman David M.
Published: September 2019

This cross-sectional multilevel study aims at investigating the associations between psychosocial working conditions of different workplace levels and perceived physical exertion among eldercare workers. Data were obtained from the ‘Danish Observational Study of Eldercare work and musculoskeletal disorderS’ (DOSES) study, including 536 eldercare workers, nested in 126 wards and 20 nursing homes. Psychosocial working conditions were measured by the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). The physical workload was measured with a self-administered scale (0–10) rating perceived physical exertion. Multilevel linear mixed models were used to determine associations of psychosocial conditions between nursing homes, wards, and workers with physical exertion. Most of the variance in the perceived physical exertion was explained by differences between workers (83%), but some variance was explained by wards (11%) and nursing homes (6%). Workers employed in nursing homes with low influence (p = 0.01) and poor leadership (p = 0.02), and in wards with high quantitative demands (p = 0.03), high work pace (p < 0.001), and low justice (p = 0.01) were at increased risk of reporting higher physical exertion. The strongest associations were found for low influence, low quality of leadership, and high work pace at nursing homes and ward levels. In conclusion, improving specific psychosocial working conditions at nursing home and ward levels may be of particular importance to reduce excessive physical workload in eldercare workers.
Copper, Manganese, Selenium and Zinc in Wild-Growing Edible Mushrooms from the Eastern Territory of “Green Lungs of Poland”: Nutritional and Toxicological Implications
Authors: Mirończuk-Chodakowska Iwona , Socha Katarzyna , Zujko Małgorzata Elżbieta , Terlikowska Katarzyna Maria , Borawska Maria Halina , Witkowska Anna Maria
Published: September 2019

The aims of this study were to determine Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn content in wild mushrooms collected from unpolluted areas of the eastern Green Lungs of Poland (GLP) territory, to compare them to some popular species of cultivated mushrooms, evaluate mushroom contribution to the daily intake of the studied bioelements, and to determine their possible toxic effect resulting from potentially excessive mushroom consumption from areas recognized as ecologically uncontaminated. Bioelements were determined in 21 species of edible mushrooms: eighteen species of wild mushrooms and three species of popular cultivated mushrooms. The mean Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn content (in µg/g, dry mass DM) ranged from 10.6–123.1, 12.2–41, 0.13–13.3, and 68.3–184, respectively. A comparison with recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for Cu, Se, and Zn as well as adequate intake (AI) for Mn demonstrated that a 100 g fresh mass (FM) portion of mushroom species with the highest content of a given element can meet the demand for Cu, Mn, Se and Zn at 203%, 14–17%, 211%, and 16–22%, respectively. A comparison of the content of the examined bioelements contained in one portion of mushrooms (100 g FM) against the toxicological intake limits for different chemical elements with the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) and upper intake level (UL) showed no risk of toxicity for the evaluated mushroom species.
The Influence of Available Cu and Au Nanoparticles (NPs) on the Survival of Water Fleas (Daphnia pulex)
Authors: Garncarek Małgorzata , Kowalska-Góralska Monika , Senze Magdalena , Czyż Katarzyna
Published: September 2019

Applications of nanotechnologies in different sectors and everyday items are very promising and their popularity continues to grow. The number of products containing nanoparticles makes environmental exposure to nanoparticles inevitable. The current understanding of the relationships between nanoparticles and the environment is inadequate despite the fast growth of nanotechnologies. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of copper and gold nanoparticles on Daphnia pulex survival. Our study included 48-h acute toxicity tests and determination of median lethal concentration values (LC50s) for Cu-NPs and Au-NPs. For nano-copper, 24 h LC50 was assumed > 1 mg/L, and 48 h LC50 = 0.5117 mg/L. For nano-gold the LC50 value after 24 h was 0.4027 mg/L, and after 48 h 0.1007 mg/L. The toxicity of nano -gold solutions was thus found to be higher than that of nano-copper. The addition of Cu-NPs at 0.0625 mg/L and 0.125 mg/L caused an increased multiplication of daphnia, while Au-NPs at 1 mg/L was an inhibitor of reproduction.
Child Maltreatment in Western China: Demographic Differences and Associations with Mental Health
Authors: Zhou Yueyue , Liang Yiming , Cheng Jin , Zheng Hao , Liu Zhengkui
Published: September 2019

Background: Child maltreatment has become a serious public health and social problem worldwide. However, knowledge regarding the status of child maltreatment in western China is limited. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the status of child maltreatment in western China and its relationship with mental health. Participants and setting: The present study evaluated child maltreatment in a sample of 1511 children (Mage = 11.48 years) from western China. Methods: The participants completed questionnaires designed to collect demographic information and assess their experiences with maltreatment and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results: In total, 12.3%, 14.0%, 1.3% and 28.1% of the children experienced physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, respectively, while 186 children (12.3%) experienced multiple types of maltreatment. Boys were more likely to experience maltreatment than girls in most cases. Physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect had unique effects on depression symptoms. Physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect, but not sexual abuse, had unique effects on anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: The children who experienced maltreatment had higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Population-based prevention and educational programs should highlight the serious negative effects of maltreatment, especially emotional abuse and neglect, which have long been ignored in China.
A Multi-Level Path Analysis of the Relationships between the Momentary Experience Characteristics, Satisfaction with Urban Public Spaces, and Momentary- and Long-Term Subjective Wellbeing
Authors: Weijs-Perrée Minou , Dane Gamze , van den Berg Pauline , van Dorst Machiel
Published: September 2019

Previous research has shown that the urban environment could influence people’s behavior and wellbeing. However, little is still known about how the objective and subjective measures of the momentary experience of urban public spaces could contribute to the satisfaction with the urban environment of cities, which eventually could influence the momentary and long-term subjective wellbeing (SWB) of citizens. Therefore, the aim of this research is to gain insight into how momentary experience and satisfaction with the urban public space could contribute to the SWB of citizens, and thereby control for personal, contextual characteristics. Relationships were simultaneously analyzed using a multi-level path analysis approach based on a sample of 1056 momentary experiences of urban public spaces reported by 161 citizens of the urban area Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The results showed that personality and personal characteristics are highly important for explaining long-term SWB and subsequently long-term SWB positively influences momentary SWB (the degree of feeling secure, comfortable, happy and annoyed) together with the momentary satisfaction of urban public space characteristics. In addition, contextual characteristics, such as time/day and distance to facilities are important for explaining people’s momentary SWB. Policy makers and urban planners can use these results when developing policy and designing a healthy, attractive, livable and safe living environment for citizens.
Ontology-Based Healthcare Named Entity Recognition from Twitter Messages Using a Recurrent Neural Network Approach
Authors: Batbaatar Erdenebileg , Ryu Keun Ho
Published: September 2019

Named Entity Recognition (NER) in the healthcare domain involves identifying and categorizing disease, drugs, and symptoms for biosurveillance, extracting their related properties and activities, and identifying adverse drug events appearing in texts. These tasks are important challenges in healthcare. Analyzing user messages in social media networks such as Twitter can provide opportunities to detect and manage public health events. Twitter provides a broad range of short messages that contain interesting information for information extraction. In this paper, we present a Health-Related Named Entity Recognition (HNER) task using healthcare-domain ontology that can recognize health-related entities from large numbers of user messages from Twitter. For this task, we employ a deep learning architecture which is based on a recurrent neural network (RNN) with little feature engineering. To achieve our goal, we collected a large number of Twitter messages containing health-related information, and detected biomedical entities from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). A bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) model learned rich context information, and a convolutional neural network (CNN) was used to produce character-level features. The conditional random field (CRF) model predicted a sequence of labels that corresponded to a sequence of inputs, and the Viterbi algorithm was used to detect health-related entities from Twitter messages. We provide comprehensive results giving valuable insights for identifying medical entities in Twitter for various applications. The BiLSTM-CRF model achieved a precision of 93.99%, recall of 73.31%, and F1-score of 81.77% for disease or syndrome HNER; a precision of 90.83%, recall of 81.98%, and F1-score of 87.52% for sign or symptom HNER; and a precision of 94.85%, recall of 73.47%, and F1-score of 84.51% for pharmacologic substance named entities. The ontology-based manual annotation results show that it is possible to perform high-quality annotation despite the complexity of medical terminology and the lack of context in tweets.
Short-Term Effects of Meteorological Factors and Air Pollutants on Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease among Children in Shenzhen, China, 2009–2017
Authors: Yan Siyu , Wei Lan , Duan Yanran , Li Hongyan , Liao Yi , Lv Qiuying , Zhu Fang , Wang Zhihui , Lu Wanrong , Yin Ping , Cheng Jinquan , Jiang Hongwei
Published: September 2019

Background: A few studies have explored the association between meteorological factors and hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) with inconsistent results. Besides, studies about the effects of air pollutants on HFMD are very limited. Methods: Daily HFMD cases among children aged 0–14 years in Shenzhen were collected from 2009 to 2017. A distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) model was fitted to simultaneously assess the nonlinear and lagged effects of meteorological factors and air pollutants on HFMD incidence, and to further examine the differences of the effect across different subgroups stratified by gender, age and childcare patterns. Results: The cumulative relative risk (cRR) (median as reference) of HFMD rose with the increase of daily temperature and leveled off at about 30 °C (cRR: 1.40, 95%CI: 1.29, 1.51). There was a facilitating effect on HFMD when relative humidity was 46.0% to 88.8% (cRR at 95th percentile: 1.18, 95%CI: 1.11, 1.27). Short daily sunshine duration (5th vs. 50th) promoted HFMD (cRR: 1.07, 95%CI: 1.02, 1.11). The positive correlation between rainfall and HFMD reversed when it exceeded 78.3 mm (cRR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.22, 1.63). Ozone suppressed HFMD when it exceeded 104 µg /m3 (cRR at 99th percentile: 0.85, 95%CI: 0.76, 0.94). NO2 promoted HFMD among infants and the cRR peaked at lag 9 day (cRR: 1.47, 95%CI: 1.02, 2.13) (99th vs. 50th). Besides, children aged below one year, males and scattered children were more vulnerable to high temperature, high relative humidity, and short sunshine duration. Conclusions: Temperature, relative humidity, sunshine duration, rainfall, ozone and NO2 were significantly associated with HFMD, and such effects varied with gender age and childcare patterns. These findings highlight the need for more prevention effort to the vulnerable populations and may be helpful for developing an early environment-based warning system for HFMD.