bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Plot Twist: Changing the Story in Graphing Skills with an Open-Ended Approach
Authors: Young Kaisa E. , Young Chadwick H.
Published: December 2018

Two of the most fundamental skills that students acquire in introductory undergraduate physics laboratory courses are how to accurately plot data and interpret the physical meaning of linear graphs. We redesigned our graphing skills lab with an open-ended approach designed to promote inquiry in graphical analysis and to address specific areas of weakness in students’ understanding of graphs. Students had to decide on their own how to graph data in order to promote understanding of linear relationships between variables and slope. Students completing the new open-ended lab developed and retained better graphing skills than students that were taught the lab with a more traditional cookbook approach.
Augmenting Kirchhoff’s laws: Using augmented reality and smartglasses to enhance conceptual electrical experiments for high school students
Authors: Kapp Sebastian , Thees Michael , Strzys Martin P. , Beil Fabian , Kuhn Jochen , Amiraslanov Orkhan , Javaheri Hamraz , Lukowicz Paul , Lauer Frederik , Rheinländer Carl , Wehn Norbert
Published: December 2018

During the last decade the development of modern digital media such as smartphones and tablet computers has enabled new experimental possibilities in STEM education. Besides these now nearly ubiquitous devices, the fields of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) also made huge progress and reached education. In this paper we introduce an AR experiment alongside the basic idea of this column and following prior work. In the experiment high school students use smartglasses and real-time measurement data to study Kirchhoff’s circuit laws in electrical DC circuits.
Subglottal resonances of American English speaking children
Authors: Yeung Gary , Lulich Steven M. , Guo Jinxi , Sommers Mitchell S. , Alwan Abeer
Published: December 2018

This paper presents an investigation of children's subglottal resonances (SGRs), the natural frequencies of the tracheo-bronchial acoustic system. A total of 43 children (31 male, 12 female) aged between 6 and 18 yr were recorded. Both microphone signals of various consonant-vowel-consonant words and subglottal accelerometer signals of the sustained vowel /ɑ/ were recorded for each of the children, along with age and standing height. The first three SGRs of each child were measured from the sustained vowel subglottal accelerometer signals. A model relating SGRs to standing height was developed based on the quarter-wavelength resonator model, previously developed for adult SGRs and heights. Based on difficulties in predicting the higher SGR values for the younger children, the model of the third SGR was refined to account for frequency-dependent acoustic lengths of the tracheo-bronchial system. This updated model more accurately estimates both adult and child SGRs based on their heights. These results indicate the importance of considering frequency-dependent acoustic lengths of the subglottal system.
Sparse estimation of backscattered echoes from underwater object using integrated dictionaries
Authors: Meng Xiangxia , Li Xiukun , Jakobsson Andreas , Lei Yahui
Published: December 2018

The problem of time-delays estimation of backscattered echoes from underwater targets is presented using a sparse reconstruction framework employing an integrated dictionary. To achieve high resolution, the used dictionary is usually defined over a finely spaced grid over the region of interest. Such a procedure may result in problems of being computational cumbersome or suffering from basis mismatch. In addition, the shape of the backscattered echoes may differ significantly from the expected waveforms used to form the dictionary, causing further mismatch problems. To alleviate such problems, the use of an integrated dictionary framework is introduced. Unlike traditional dictionaries that are defined over a set of grid points, the elements in an integrated dictionary are formed by integrating the expected waveform over bands of the parameter space. The resulting dictionary may be used to find initial regions of the parameters of interest using a smaller dictionary than otherwise required, without suffering a loss of performance. The elements can also better match with the backscattered echoes, even if these differ from their expected shape. Simulated results of the backscattered echoes from a cylindrical shell, as well as results from experimental measurements, illustrate the performance of the proposed method.
Chapter 9: Will PETE Survive in the 21st Century?
Authors: Templin Thomas J. , Graber Kim C. , Richards K. Andrew R.
Published: December 2018

Physical education teacher education is at a “tipping point” in history, where the survivability of the profession in many institutions of higher education may be in question. This monograph reflects an initial attempt to understand recruitment and retention in physical education teacher education programs from the perspective of program coordinators. The purpose of this culminating chapter is to connect key points identified throughout the monograph and critically assess how the results add to the knowledge base in physical education teacher education. The chapter authors present a historical perspective on reduced enrollments and identified strategies for the promotion of student recruitment and retention. It will become evident that if a favorable future for physical education is to become reality, then a vision must be developed and enacted through the concentrated efforts of multiple stakeholders who have the time and commitment necessary to enact positive change at local, state, and national levels.
Root branching toward water involves posttranslational modification of transcription factor ARF7
Authors: Orosa-Puente Beatriz , Leftley Nicola , von Wangenheim Daniel , Banda Jason , Srivastava Anjil K. , Hill Kristine , Truskina Jekaterina , Bhosale Rahul , Morris Emily , Srivastava Moumita , Kümpers Britta , Goh Tatsuaki , Fukaki Hidehiro , Vermeer Joop E. M. , Vernoux Teva , Dinneny José R. , French Andrew P. , Bishopp Anthony , Sadanandom Ari , Bennett Malcolm J.
Published: December 2018

Rooting out the mechanism of asymmetry

Plant roots grow not in response to architectural blueprints but rather in search of scarce resources in the soil. Orosa-Puente
et al.
show why a new lateral root emerges on the damp side of a root rather than the dry side (see the Perspective by Giehl and von Wirén). The transcription factor ARF7 is found across the whole root but acquires a posttranslational modification on the dry side of the root, which represses its function. ARF7 on the damp side remains functional and is thus able to initiate the signaling cascade that leads to a new lateral root.

Science
, this issue p.
1407
; see also p.
1358
Chemotherapy and tumor immunity
Authors: Cornen Stéphanie , Vivier Eric
Published: December 2018

Inducing senescence in tumor cells stimulates antitumor innate immune responses
Seeing a global web of connected systems
Authors: Scheffer Marten , van Nes Egbert H.
Published: December 2018

Social-ecological shifts may often be causally linked
Unusual transcription factor protects against heart failure
Authors: Padmanabhan Arun , Haldar Saptarsi M.
Published: December 2018

Cleaved fragment of a cardiomyocyte structural protein moonlights as a transcription factor
Biogeochemical Regimes in Shallow Aquifers Reflect the Metabolic Coupling of the Elements Nitrogen, Sulfur, and Carbon
Authors: Wegner Carl-Eric , Gaspar Michael , Geesink Patricia , Herrmann Martina , Marz Manja , Küsel Kirsten
Published: December 2018

Groundwater is a key resource for drinking water production and irrigation. The interplay between geological setting, hydrochemistry, carbon storage, and groundwater microbiome ecosystem functioning is crucial for our understanding of these important ecosystem services. We targeted the encoded and expressed metabolic potential of groundwater microbiomes along an aquifer transect that diversifies in terms of hydrochemistry and land use. Our results showed that the groundwater microbiome has a higher spatial differentiation potential than does hydrochemistry.
Retrospective study in 608 cases on the rate of surgical site infections after orbital surgery without prophylactic systemic antibiotics
Authors: de Keizer Ronald Olaf Björn , Kozdras Genesis , Wubbels René , Van den Bosch Willem A , Paridaens Dion
Published: December 2018

Objective

To determine postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) rates in three separate patient groups who underwent orbital surgery without prophylactic systemic antibiotics.

Study design

Single-centre retrospective descriptive case series.

Study population

We studied the notes of 639 consecutive patients who had undergone orbital surgery in our hospital from 2009 through 2013. All patients belonged to either of three groups: (1) clean orbital surgery (n=226); (2) clean orbital surgery with implant (n=290); (3) clean-contaminated surgery (n=92). Thirty-one patients were excluded.

Results

Of the total of 608 patients, without systemic antibiotic prophylaxis, only five were diagnosed with SSI 5/608 (0.82%): 1/226 in the ‘clean’ group, 3/290 in the ‘clean-with-implant’ group and 1/92 in the ‘clean-contaminated’ group. All five patients with SSI were effectively treated with antibiotics.

Conclusion

In this study ‘clean’, ‘clean-with-implant’ and ‘clean-contaminated’ orbital surgery was safely performed without prophylactic antibiotics. Where postoperative infection did occur, the patients were effectively treated with systemic antibiotics. We suggest to restrict the administration of systemic antibiotic prophylaxis in orbital surgery.
Reasons for low utilisation of public facilities among households with hypertension: analysis of a population-based survey in India
Authors: Kujawski Stephanie A , Leslie Hannah H , Prabhakaran Dorairaj , Singh Kavita , Kruk Margaret E
Published: December 2018

Introduction

In India, for most patients, primary healthcare remains the intended entry point for the management of non-communicable disease risk factors. The extent and determinants of non-utilisation of public primary care among households with hypertension are not well examined. We explored health facility utilisation patterns and reasons for non-utilisation of public facilities in 21 states and union territories in India, with a focus on hypertension.

Methods

We used data from the 2012–2013 District Level Household and Facility Survey. We examined the self-reported usual source of care for all households, households with hypertension and─to understand multimorbidity for those with hypertension─households with hypertension and diabetes. Hypertension was defined by self-reported diagnosis or measurement of systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg. Diabetes was defined by self-reported diagnosis or fasting blood glucose level ≥ 7.0 mmol/L or non-fasting blood glucose level ≥ 11.1 mmol/L. We assessed facility utilisation choice and reasons for non-utilisation of public facilities by household with the presence of hypertension alone and hypertension with diabetes.

Results

In 336 305 households, 37.6% (N=126 597) had at least one household member with hypertension, while 15.9% (N=53 385) had members with hypertension and diabetes. 20.0% of households sought care at public primary clinics, 29.9% at public hospitals and 48.3% at private facilities. Choice of private facilities increased with the burden of disease. Households with hypertension only and hypertension and diabetes cited quality reasons for non-utilisation of public facilities more than households without hypertension.

Conclusion

Households, particularly those with hypertension, chose private over public primary facilities for usual care. Quality of care was an important determinant of facility choice in households with hypertension and diabetes. With the increase in hypertension and cardiovascular disease in India, quality of public primary healthcare must be addressed for current policy to become reality.
Alma Ata after 40 years: Primary Health Care and Health for All—from consensus to complexity
Authors: Rifkin Susan B
Published: December 2018

Forty years ago, the 134 national government members of the WHO signed the Alma Ata Declaration. The Declaration made Primary Health Care (PHC) the official health policy of all members countries. Emerging from the conference was the consensus that health was a human right based on the principles of equity and community participation. Alma Ata broadened the perception of health beyond doctors and hospitals to social determinants and social justice. In the following years implementing this policy confronted many challenges. These included: (1) whether PHC should focus on vertical disease programmes where interventions had the most possibility of success or on comprehensive programmes that addressed social, economic and political factors that influenced health improvements; (2) whether primary care and PHC are interchangeable approaches to health improvements; (3) how equity and community participation for health improvements would be institutionalised; and (4) how financing for PHC would be possible. Experiences in implementation over the last 40 years provide evidence of how these challenges have been met and what succeeded and what had failed. Lessons from these experiences include the need to understand PHC as a process rather than a blueprint, to understand the process must consider context, culture, politics, economics and social concerns, and therefore, to recognise the process is complex. PHC needs to be examined within evaluation frameworks that address complexity. Recent developments in monitoring and evaluation have begun to respond to this need. They include realist evaluation and implementation research.
Syconium development in Ficus petiolaris (Ficus, sect. Americanae, Moraceae) and the relationship with pollinator and parasitic wasps
Authors: Piedra-Malagón Eva María , Hernández-Ramos Balbina , Mirón-Monterrosas Ana , Cornejo-Tenorio Guadalupe , Navarrete-Segueda Armando , Ibarra-Manríquez Guillermo
Published: December 2018

For the first time in a Neotropical Ficus species (Ficus petiolaris Kunth), the external and internal structural changes in its syconia are described, together with the development of its fig wasps. Ficus petiolaris is endemic to Mexico and represents the northernmost limit of the geographical distribution of the genus in America. Considering the large variation in syconium morphology, we evaluated whether there are differences between syconium development in F. petiolaris and that described for Paleotropical species. We recorded the development of 428 syconia in two individuals from initiation to maturity, weekly, for a period of five months, as well as that of their associated insects. The time required for completion of syconium development ranged from 91 to 126 days. The external morphology of the syconia (color, ostiole size, and thickness of syconium wall) enabled phase recognition. Male and female pollinators (Pegoscapus sp.) and parasitic wasps (Idarnes sp.) were registered. High seed germination values (50%–90%) indirectly tested the positive role of pollinators. Our results are similar to those reported in Paleotropical Ficus species, and should contribute to our understanding of syconium development as well as to the relationships that they maintain with their Agaonidae wasps.
Effects of precipitation change on fine root morphology and dynamics at a global scale: a meta-analysis
Authors: Zhang Xin , Xing Yajuan , Yan Guoyong , Han Shijie , Wang Qinggui
Published: December 2018

We compiled data from 495 observations and 103 papers and carried out a meta-analysis of the responses of fine root biomass, production, decomposition, and morphology to precipitation increases and decreases. In addition, we evaluated the effects of plant life form, soil depth, and experiment duration on the responses of fine roots to precipitation changes. Our results confirmed that decreased precipitation limited fine root diameter and accelerated turnover. Increased precipitation stimulated fine root elongation and enhanced the fine root accumulation. The responses of fine roots to precipitation changes varied among plants of different life forms. Tree fine root production and decomposition and non-tree fine root diameter varied most strongly under decreased precipitation. Specific root length of non-tree fine roots was much higher than that of tree fine roots under increased precipitation. Decreased precipitation limited the growth of fine roots in 20–40 cm deep soil, whereas increased precipitation promoted the growth of fine roots in both shallow and deep soil layers. The responses of fine roots to decreased precipitation were affected by experiment duration. Results filled the gap of evaluation data on the effect of precipitation change on fine root morphology and dynamics, which are useful for better predicting the C cycle under precipitation change.
Programmable Gates Using Hybrid CMOS-STT Design to Prevent IC Reverse Engineering
Authors: Winograd Ted , Shenoy Gaurav , Salmani Hassan , Mahmoodi Hamid , Rafatirad Setareh , Homayoun Houman
Published: December 2018

This article presents a rigorous step towards design-for-assurance by introducing a new class of logically reconfigurable design resilient to design reverse engineering. Based on the non-volatile spin transfer torque (STT) magnetic technology, we introduce a basic set of non-volatile reconfigurable Look-Up-Table (LUT) logic components (NV-STT-based LUTs). An STT-based LUT with a significantly different set of characteristics compared to CMOS provides new opportunities to enhance design security yet makes it challenging to remain highly competitive with custom CMOS or even SRAM-based LUT in terms of power, performance, and area. To address these challenges, we propose several algorithms to select and replace custom CMOS gates with reconfigurable STT-based LUTs during design implementation such that the functionality of STT-based components and therefore the entire design cannot be determined in any manageable time, rendering any design reverse engineering attack ineffective. Our study, conducted on a large number of standard circuit benchmarks, concludes significant resiliency of hybrid STT-CMOS circuits against various types of attacks. Furthermore, the selection algorithms on average have a small impact on the performance of the circuit. We also tested these techniques against satisfiability attacks developed recently and show that these techniques also render more advanced reverse-engineering techniques computationally infeasible.
Knowledge- and Simulation-Based Synthesis of Area-Efficient Passive Loop Filter Incremental Zoom-ADC for Built-In Self-Test Applications
Authors: Erol Osman Emir , Ozev Sule
Published: December 2018

We propose a fully differential, synthesizable zoom-ADC architecture with a passive loop filter for low-frequency Built-In Self-Test (BIST) applications, along with a synthesis tool that can target various design specifications. We present the detailed ADC architecture and a step-by-step process for designing the zoom-ADC. The design flow does not rely on the extensive knowledge of an experienced ADC designer. Two ADCs have been synthesized with different performance requirements in the 65nm CMOS process. The first ADC achieves a 90.4dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in 512μs measurement time and consumes 17μW power. The second design achieves a 78.2dB SNR in 31.25μs measurement time and consumes 63μW power.
SynergyFlow
Authors: Li Jiajun , Yan Guihai , Lu Wenyan , Gong Shijun , Jiang Shuhao , Wu Jingya , Li Xiaowei
Published: December 2018

Neural networks (NNs) have achieved great success in a broad range of applications. As NN-based methods are often both computation and memory intensive, accelerator solutions have been proved to be highly promising in terms of both performance and energy efficiency. Although prior solutions can deliver high computational throughput for convolutional layers, they could incur severe performance degradation when accommodating the entire network model, because there exist very diverse computing and memory bandwidth requirements between convolutional layers and fully connected layers and, furthermore, among different NN models. To overcome this problem, we proposed an elastic accelerator architecture, called SynergyFlow, which intrinsically supports layer-level and model-level parallelism for large-scale deep neural networks. SynergyFlow boosts the resource utilization by exploiting the complementary effect of resource demanding in different layers and different NN models. SynergyFlow can dynamically reconfigure itself according to the workload characteristics, maintaining a high performance and high resource utilization among various models. As a case study, we implement SynergyFlow on a P395-AB FPGA board. Under 100MHz working frequency, our implementation improves the performance by 33.8% on average (up to 67.2% on AlexNet) compared to comparable provisioned previous architectures.
Remote Attestation via Self-Measurement
Authors: Carpent Xavier , Rattanavipanon Norrathep , Tsudik Gene
Published: December 2018

Remote attestation (RA) is a popular means of detecting malware in embedded and IoT devices. RA is usually realized as an interactive protocol, whereby a trusted party (
verifier
) measures software integrity of a potentially compromised remote device (
prover)
. Early work focused on purely software-based and fully hardware-based techniques, neither of which is ideal for low-end embedded devices. More recent results yielded hybrid (SW/HW) architectures with a minimal set of features to support efficient and secure RA on low-end devices.

All prior techniques require
on-demand operation
, i.e., RA is performed in
real time
. We identify some drawbacks of this general approach in the context of unattended devices: First, it fails to detect
mobile malware
that enters and leaves prover between successive RA instances. Second, it requires prover to engage in a potentially expensive (in terms of time and energy) computation, which can be harmful for mission-critical or real-time devices.

To address these drawbacks, we introduce the concept of
self-measurement
, whereby prover periodically and securely measures and records its own software state, based on a pre-established schedule. A (possibly untrusted) verifier occasionally collects and verifies these measurements. We present the design of a concrete technique, called Efficient Remote Attestation via Self-Measurement for Unattended Settings, (ERASMUS), justify its features and evaluate its performance. In the process, we also define a new metric,
Quality of Attestation
(QoA). We believe that ERASMUS is well suited for time-sensitive and/or safety-critical applications that are not served well by on-demand RA. Finally, we show that ERASMUS is a promising stepping stone toward handling attestation of multiple devices (i.e., a group or swarm) with high mobility.
Understanding Social Roles in an Online Community of Volatile Practice
Authors: Kou Yubo , Gray Colin M. , Toombs Austin L. , Adams Robin S.
Published: December 2018

Community of practice (CoP) is a primary framework in social computing research that addresses learning and organizing specific practices in online communities. However, the classic CoP theory does not provide a detailed account for how practices change or evolve. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing occupational landscape, it is crucial to understand how people participate in online communities focused on practices that have a volatile nature, as well as how social computing tools can best support them. In this article, we examine user experience (UX) design as a volatile practice that has no coherent body of knowledge and lacks a concrete path for newcomers to become a UX professional. Our study site is the “/r/userexperience” subreddit, an online UX community where practitioners socialize and learn. Using a mixed-methods approach, we identified five distinct social roles in relation to knowledge production and dissemination in the online community of volatile practice. We demonstrate that knowledge production is highly distributed, involving the participation and sensemaking of community members of varied levels of experience. We discuss how online platforms support online community of volatile practice and how our findings contribute to the CoP literature.
A Socio-Contextual Approach in Automated Detection of Public Cyberbullying on Twitter
Authors: Tahmasbi Nargess , Rastegari Elham
Published: December 2018

Cyberbullying is a major cyber issue that is common among adolescents. Recent reports show that more than one out of five students in the United States is a victim of cyberbullying. Majority of cyberbullying incidents occur on public social media platforms such as Twitter. Automated cyberbullying detection methods can help prevent cyberbullying before the harm is done on the victim. In this study, we analyze two corpora of cyberbullying tweets from similar incidents to construct and validate an automated detection model. Our method emphasizes the two claims that are supported by our results. First, despite other approaches that assume that cyberbullying instances use vulgar or profane words, we show that they do not necessarily contain negative words. Second, we highlight the importance of context and the characteristics of actors involved and their position in the network structure in detecting cyberbullying rather than only considering the textual content in our analysis.
Cardioprotection via the skin: nociceptor-induced conditioning against cardiac MI in the NIC of time
Authors: Ren Xiaoping , Roessler Anne E. , Lynch Thomas L. , Haar Lauren , Mallick Faryal , Lui Yong , Tranter Michael , Ren Michelle Huan , Xie Wen Rui , Fan Guo-Chang , Zhang Jun-Ming , Kranias Evangelia G. , Anjak Ahmad , Koch Sheryl , Jiang Min , Miao Qing , Wang Yang , Cohen Albert , Rubinstein Jack , Weintraub Neal L. , Jones W. Keith
Published: December 2018

Timely reperfusion is still the most effective approach to limit infarct size in humans. Yet, despite advances in care and reduction in door-to-balloon times, nearly 25% of patients develop heart failure postmyocardial infarction, with its attendant morbidity and mortality. We previously showed that cardioprotection results from a skin incision through the umbilicus in a murine model of myocardial infarction. In the present study, we show that an electrical stimulus or topical capsaicin applied to the skin in the same region induces significantly reduced infarct size in a murine model. We define this class of phenomena as nociceptor-induced conditioning (NIC) based on the peripheral nerve mechanism of initiation. We show that NIC is effective both as a preconditioning and postconditioning remote stimulus, reducing infarct size by 86% and 80%, respectively. NIC is induced via activation of skin C-fiber nerves. Interestingly, the skin region that activates NIC is limited to the anterior of the T9−T10 vertebral region of the abdomen. Cardioprotection after NIC requires the integrity of the spinal cord from the region of stimulation to the thoracic vertebral region of the origin of the cardiac nerves but does not require that the cord be intact in the cervical region. Thus, we show that NIC is a reflex and not a central nervous system-mediated effect. The mechanism involves bradykinin 2 receptor activity and activation of PKC, specifically, PKC-α. The similarity of the neuroanatomy and conservation of the effectors of cardioprotection supports that NIC may be translatable to humans as a nontraumatic and practical adjunct therapy against ischemic disease.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study shows that an electrical stimulus to skin sensory nerves elicits a very powerful cardioprotection against myocardial infarction. This stimulus works by a neurogenic mechanism similar to that previously elucidated for remote cardioprotection of trauma. Nociceptor-induced conditioning is equally potent when applied before ischemia or at reperfusion and has great potential clinically.
Postconditioning-like effect of exercis: new paradigm in experimental menopause
Authors: Szabó Renáta , Börzsei Denise , Karácsonyi Zoltán , Gesztelyi Rudolf , Nemes Kolos , Berkó Anikó Magyariné , Veszelka Médea , Török Szilvia , Kupai Krisztina , Varga Csaba , Juhász Béla , Pósa Anikó
Published: December 2018

The progression of coronary artery diseases in premenopausal women is lower than in age-matched men; however, its probability increases rapidly after menopause. The aim of our study was to investigate the postconditioning-like effects of voluntary physical exercise on postmenopausal cardiovascular outcomes after myocardial infarction. We used fertile Wistar females [control (CTRL)] and pharmacologically induced estrogen-deficient (POVX; 750 µg/kg triptorelin im, every 4th week) rats. CTRL and POVX animals were randomly assigned to receive an injection of 0.1 mg isoproterenol (ISO)/kg. At the 20th hour after ISO injection, serum markers of myocardial injury, such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and myoglobin, were measured. After a 3-wk resting period, ISO-treated and untreated animals were further divided into subgroups on the basis of 6 wk of physical exercise. At the end of the experiment, cardiac activity and content of the antioxidative heme oxygenase (HO) enzyme, levels of GSH and GSH + GSSG, activity of myeloperoxidase, as well as the concentration of TNF-α were determined. At the end of the experimental period, we observed a significant decrease in the activity and content of HO enzymes in POVX and POVX/ISO rats, whereas physical exercise significantly improved HO and GSH values in both CTRL and POVX rats. Furthermore, our training protocol significantly reduced the pathological levels of myeloperoxidase and TNF-α. Our findings clearly demonstrate that modulation of the HO system by voluntary physical exercise is a key process to decrease inflammatory parameters and ameliorate the antioxidative status in estrogen-deficient conditions postmyocardial injury.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY We used a noninvasive rat model of estrogen deficiency and myocardial infarction. The long-term effects of isoproterenol treatment revealed reduced heme oxygenase enzyme activity and expression and decreased glutathione levels. Isoproterenol treatment enhanced the myeloperoxidase enzyme activity. Voluntary physical exercise ameliorated the antioxidative status by increasing of the heme oxygenase enzyme system. Voluntary physical exercise is a potential therapeutic tool to improve cardiac antioxidant status in menopausal women postmyocardial injury.
Detection and Surveillance of Bladder Cancer Using Urine Tumor DNA
Authors: Dudley Jonathan C. , Schroers-Martin Joseph , Lazzareschi Daniel V. , Shi William Y. , Chen Simon B. , Esfahani Mohammad S. , Trivedi Dharati , Chabon Jacob J. , Chaudhuri Aadel A. , Stehr Henning , Liu Chih Long , Lim Harumi , Costa Helio A. , Nabet Barzin Y. , Sin Mandy L.Y. , Liao Joseph C. , Alizadeh Ash A. , Diehn Maximilian
Published: December 2018

Current regimens for the detection and surveillance of bladder cancer are invasive and have suboptimal sensitivity. Here, we present a novel high-throughput sequencing (HTS) method for detection of urine tumor DNA (utDNA) called utDNA CAPP-Seq (uCAPP-Seq) and apply it to 67 healthy adults and 118 patients with early-stage bladder cancer who had urine collected either prior to treatment or during surveillance. Using this targeted sequencing approach, we detected a median of 6 mutations per patient with bladder cancer and observed surprisingly frequent mutations of the PLEKHS1 promoter (46%), suggesting these mutations represent a useful biomarker for detection of bladder cancer. We detected utDNA pretreatment in 93% of cases using a tumor mutation–informed approach and in 84% when blinded to tumor mutation status, with 96% to 100% specificity. In the surveillance setting, we detected utDNA in 91% of patients who ultimately recurred, with utDNA detection preceding clinical progression in 92% of cases. uCAPP-Seq outperformed a commonly used ancillary test (UroVysion, P = 0.02) and cytology and cystoscopy combined (P ≤ 0.006), detecting 100% of bladder cancer cases detected by cytology and 82% that cytology missed. Our results indicate that uCAPP-Seq is a promising approach for early detection and surveillance of bladder cancer.

Significance:

This study shows that utDNA can be detected using HTS with high sensitivity and specificity in patients with early-stage bladder cancer and during post-treatment surveillance, significantly outperforming standard diagnostic modalities and facilitating noninvasive detection, genotyping, and monitoring.

This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 453
The Biology of m6A RNA Methylation in Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis
Authors: Vu Ly P. , Cheng Yuanming , Kharas Michael G.
Published: December 2018

Hematopoietic development and differentiation are highly regulated processes, and recent studies focusing on m6A mRNA methylation have uncovered how this mark controls cell fate in both normal and malignant hematopoietic states. In this review, we focus on how writers, readers, and erasers of RNA methylation can mediate distinct phenotypes on mRNAs and on cells. Targeting the RNA methylation program has emerged as a potential novel therapeutic strategy, and we explore the role for these regulators in both normal and dysregulated cell contexts.

Significance:

RNA methylation is required for cancer cell survival in solid tumors and in acute myeloid leukemia, and targeting this pathway has been proposed as a new therapeutic strategy in cancer. However, understanding the role for RNA methylation in both normal and malignant states is essential for understanding the potential consequences for therapeutic intervention.
Perinatal High-Fat Diet and Bisphenol A: Effects on Behavior and Gene Expression in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex
Authors: Wise Leslie M. , Hernández-Saavedra Diego , Boas Stephanie M. , Pan Yuan-Xiang , Juraska Janice M.
Published: December 2018

Both high-fat diets (HFD) and bisphenol A (BPA), an environmental endocrine disruptor, are prevalent in industrialized societies. Previous studies have detected separate effects of BPA and HFD; however, none have assessed possible interactive effects. Here, pregnant dams consumed 0, 40, or 400 µg BPA/kg/day and were fed either a control (CON; 15.8% kcal fat) or HFD (45% kcal fat) from gestational day 2 through parturition. The pups were individually dosed with BPA from postnatal days (P) 1–10, while the dams continued to consume one of the two diets. Maternal behavior increased with the HFD while the offspring’s periadolescent social play decreased with BPA, but no interactive effects were observed. Neither HFD nor BPA exposure changed performance on a social recognition task, and only BPA had an effect on the elevated plus maze. BPA increased several cytokines in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of P10 males but not females. Expression of several genes related to hormone synthesis and receptors, inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in the mPFC on P10 and P90 were altered due to BPA and/or HFD exposure with rare interactive effects. BPA resulted in an increase in the gene expression of Esr1 in the mPFC of females on both P10 and P90. Epigenetic analysis on P90 did not show a change in methylation or in the levels of pre-mRNA or microRNA. Thus, perinatal BPA and HFD have separate effects but rarely interact.
Influence of Chronic Coenzyme Q10 Supplementation on Cognitive Function, Learning, and Memory in Healthy and Diabetic Middle-Aged Rats
Authors: Monsef Amirreza , Shahidi Siamak , Komaki Alireza
Published: December 2018

Diabetes mellitus can induce impairment in learning and memory. Cognitive and memory deficits are common in older adults and especially in those with diabetes. This is mainly because of hyperglycemia, oxidative stress, and vascular abnormalities. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) can decrease oxidative stress, hyperglycemia, and inflammatory markers, and improve vascular function. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the possible effects of CoQ10 on cognitive function, learning, and memory in middle-aged healthy and diabetic rats. Adult middle-aged male Wistar rats (390–460 g, 12–13 months old) were divided into 6 experimental groups. Diabetes was induced by a single i.p. injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). CoQ10 (20 or 120 mg/kg, orally by gavage) was administered for 45 days. The cognitive function and learning memory of rats were evaluated using novel object recognition (NOR) and passive avoidance tests. The discrimination index of the NOR test in the diabetic groups receiving CoQ10 (20 or 120 mg/kg) and the healthy group receiving CoQ10 (120 mg/kg) was significantly higher than that in the control group. In addition, the step through latency was significantly longer and the time spent in the dark compartment was significantly shorter in the diabetic groups receiving CoQ10 than in the control group. CoQ10 supplementation can improve learning and memory deficits induced by diabetes in older subjects. In addition, CoQ10 at higher doses can improve cognitive performance in older healthy subjects.
Comparison of Supraclavicular, Infraclavicular, and Axillary Approaches for Ultrasound-Guided Brachial Plexus Block for Upper Limb Surgeries: A Retrospective Analysis of 182 Blocks
Authors: Tarıkçı Kılıç Ebru , Akdemir Mehmet Salim
Published: December 2018

Background: Supraclavicular (SCL), infraclavicular (ICL), and axillary (AX) brachial plexus nerve blocks are used for the upper extremity. Regional nerve blocks should be considered for their beneficial effects and less risk of complications. Objectives: The aim of this study was to conduct a retrospective evaluation of our experiences in ultrasound (US)-guided techniques of the SCL-ICL and AX approaches for brachial plexus block (BPB) in producing high-quality surgical anesthesia for operations below the shoulder. Methods: The records of 182 American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I–III patients undergoing upper extremity and vascular surgeries under BPB by US guidance were evaluated. SCL, AX, and ICL approaches were used. A linear US probe was used for all patients. Data pertaining to demographic characteristics, ASA physical status, underlying diseases, block type, time between the block performance and the start of the operation, duration of the operation, type of surgeries, needle length, toxicity findings, postoperative complications, and success rates were assessed. Results: Demographic data were found to be similar with no statistically significant differences between the study groups (p > 0.05). The three groups were also similar in ASA physical status, type of surgery, the experience of the anesthesiologists who performed the blocks, the time between the end of the block performance and the start of the operation, and the quality of the surgical anesthesia. Transient Horner’s syndrome was detected in 3 patients in the SCL group and in 1 patient in the ICL group. Conclusions: All three approaches can be used for US-guided BPB with adequate quality of surgical anesthesia.
O segredo na clínica da ambiguidade genital: um estudo de caso
Authors: Acácio Karolline Hélcias Pacheco , Zanotti Susane Vasconcelos , Monlleó Isabella Lopes
Published: December 2018

O artigo apresenta o estatuto do segredo familiar como forma de enfrentamento ao diagnóstico de ambiguidade genital de uma criança. O estudo de caso, realizado a partir da escuta clínica de base psicanalítica, evidenciou a experiência destes pais frente a condição da ambiguidade genital, de forma particular e única. Destaca-se o modo como cada um tenta assimilar o real desta condição genética a partir de um segredo familiar estabelecido entre os pais e o irmão mais velho do paciente.
Adolescer em contextos de vulnerabilidade e exclusão social
Authors: Warpechowski Marisa Batista , De Conti Luciane
Published: December 2018

Este trabalho discute a passagem adolescente, examinando como se produz esse processo para jovens em contextos de vulnerabilidade e exclusão social atendidos em um Centro de Referência Especializado de Assistência Social (CREAS). A passagem adolescente é marcada, para muitos jovens que habitam as periferias de nossas cidades, por inúmeras situações de abandono, violência e trauma, o que nos leva a interrogar sobre as vicissitudes e as estratégias de subjetivação desses jovens em contextos onde o viver se faz tão árido. Sustentados no referencial psicanalítico, procuramos explorar, a partir de recortes clínicos, as particularidades e as dificuldades no trabalho psíquico em curso nessa passagem para um adolescente com uma história marcada pela vulnerabilidade, pelo desamparo e por violências.
Perioperative Cerebral Microbleeds After Adult Cardiac Surgery
Authors: Patel Nikil , Banahan Caroline , Janus Justyna , Horsfield Mark A. , Cox Anthony , Li Xingfeng , Cappellugola Laurie , Colman Jordan , Egan Vincent , Garrard Peter , Chung Emma M.L.
Published: December 2018

Background and Purpose—

Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) have been observed using magnetic resonance imaging in patients with cardiovascular risk factors, cognitive deterioration, small vessel disease, and dementia. They are a well-known consequence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, chronic hypertension, and diffuse axonal injury, among other causes. However, the frequency and location of new CMBs postadult cardiac surgery, in association with cognition and perioperative risk factors, have yet to be studied.

Methods—

Pre- and postsurgery magnetic resonance susceptibility-weighted images and neuropsychological tests were analyzed from a total of 75 patients undergoing cardiac surgery (70 men; mean age, 63±10 years). CMBs were identified by a neuroradiologist blinded to clinical details who independently assessed the presence and location of CMBs using standardized criteria.

Results—

New CMBs were identified in 76% of patients after cardiac surgery. The majority of new CMBs were located in the frontal lobe (46%) followed by the parietal lobe (15%), cerebellum (13%), occipital lobe (12%), and temporal lobe (8%). Patients with new CMBs typically began with a higher prevalence of preexisting CMBs (
P
=0.02). New CMBs were associated with longer cardiopulmonary bypass times (
P
=0.003), and there was a borderline association with lower percentage hematocrit (
P
=0.04). Logistic regression analysis suggested a ≈2% increase in the odds of acquiring new CMBs during cardiac surgery for every minute of bypass time (odds ratio, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00–1.05;
P
=0.04). Postoperative neuropsychological decline was observed in 44% of patients and seemed to be unrelated to new CMBs.

Conclusions—

New CMBs identified using susceptibility-weighted images were found in 76% of patients who underwent cardiac surgery. CMBs were globally distributed with the highest numbers in the frontal and parietal lobes. Our regression analysis indicated that length of cardiopulmonary bypass time and lowered hematocrit may be significant predictors for new CMBs after cardiac surgery.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL:
http://www.isrctn.com
. Unique identifier: 66022965.
Unsupervised Compositionality Prediction of Nominal Compounds
Authors: Cordeiro Silvio , Villavicencio Aline , Idiart Marco , Ramisch Carlos
Published: December 2018

Nominal compounds such as red wine and nut case display a continuum of compositionality, with varying contributions from the components of the compound to its semantics. This article proposes a framework for compound compositionality prediction using distributional semantic models, evaluating to what extent they capture idiomaticity compared to human judgments. For evaluation, we introduce data sets containing human judgments in three languages: English, French, and Portuguese. The results obtained reveal a high agreement between the models and human predictions, suggesting that they are able to incorporate information about idiomaticity. We also present an in-depth evaluation of various factors that can affect prediction, such as model and corpus parameters and compositionality operations. General crosslingual analyses reveal the impact of morphological variation and corpus size in the ability of the model to predict compositionality, and of a uniform combination of the components for best results.
Learning an Executable Neural Semantic Parser
Authors: Cheng Jianpeng , Reddy Siva , Saraswat Vijay , Lapata Mirella
Published: December 2018

This article describes a neural semantic parser that maps natural language utterances onto logical forms that can be executed against a task-specific environment, such as a knowledge base or a database, to produce a response. The parser generates tree-structured logical forms with a transition-based approach, combining a generic tree-generation algorithm with domain-general grammar defined by the logical language. The generation process is modeled by structured recurrent neural networks, which provide a rich encoding of the sentential context and generation history for making predictions. To tackle mismatches between natural language and logical form tokens, various attention mechanisms are explored. Finally, we consider different training settings for the neural semantic parser, including fully supervised training where annotated logical forms are given, weakly supervised training where denotations are provided, and distant supervision where only unlabeled sentences and a knowledge base are available. Experiments across a wide range of data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of our parser.
Parsing Chinese Sentences with Grammatical Relations
Authors: Sun Weiwei , Chen Yufei , Wan Xiaojun , Liu Meichun
Published: December 2018

We report our work on building linguistic resources and data-driven parsers in the grammatical relation (GR) analysis for Mandarin Chinese. Chinese, as an analytic language, encodes grammatical information in a highly configurational rather than morphological way. Accordingly, it is possible and reasonable to represent almost all grammatical relations as bilexical dependencies. In this work, we propose to represent grammatical information using general directed dependency graphs. Both only-local and rich long-distance dependencies are explicitly represented. To create high-quality annotations, we take advantage of an existing TreeBank, namely, Chinese TreeBank (CTB), which is grounded on the Government and Binding theory. We define a set of linguistic rules to explore CTB’s implicit phrase structural information and build deep dependency graphs. The reliability of this linguistically motivated GR extraction procedure is highlighted by manual evaluation. Based on the converted corpus, data-driven, including graph- and transition-based, models are explored for Chinese GR parsing. For graph-based parsing, a new perspective, graph merging, is proposed for building flexible dependency graphs: constructing complex graphs via constructing simple subgraphs. Two key problems are discussed in this perspective: (1) how to decompose a complex graph into simple subgraphs, and (2) how to combine subgraphs into a coherent complex graph. For transition-based parsing, we introduce a neural parser based on a list-based transition system. We also discuss several other key problems, including dynamic oracle and beam search for neural transition-based parsing. Evaluation gauges how successful GR parsing for Chinese can be by applying data-driven models. The empirical analysis suggests several directions for future study.