bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Posterior Surgical Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy
Authors: Kiely Paul D. , Quinn John C. , Du Jerry Y. , Lebl Darren R.
Published: February 2015

Background

Cervical spondylosis is now recognised as the leading cause of myelopathy and spinal cord dysfunction worldwide. Chronic spinal cord compression results in chronic inflammation, cellular apoptosis, and microvacular insufficiency, which are thought to the biologic basis for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM).

Questions/Purposes

Our purpose was to address the key principles of CSM, including natural history and presentation, pathogenesis, optimal surgical approach, results and complication rates of posterior surgical approaches for CSM so that the rationale for addressing CSM by a posterior approach can be fully understood.

Methods

We conducted a systematic search of PubMed/MEDLINE and the Cochrane Collaboration Library for literature published through February 2014 to identify articles that evaluated CSM and its management. Reasons for exclusion included patients with ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL), patients with degenerative disc disease without CSM, and patients with spine tumor, trauma and infection. Meeting abstracts/proceedings, white articles and editorials were additionally excluded.

Results

The search strategy yielded 1,292 articles, which was reduced to 52 articles, after our exclusion criteria were introduced. CSM is considered to be a surgical disorder due to its progressive nature. There is currently no consensus in the literature whether multilevel spondylotic compression is best treated via an anterior or posterior surgical approach.

Conclusion

Multilevel CSM may be safely and effectively treated using a posterior approach, either by laminoplasty or with a laminectomy and fusion technique.
Australian Consumers’ Decision-Making Styles for Everyday Products
Authors: Nayeem Tahmid , Casidy Riza
Published: February 2015

Investigated are the decision-making styles of Australian consumers for everyday products. Specifically, the applicability of Sproles and Kendall's Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) is examined in relation to the purchase of everyday products. Based on a sample of 214 respondents who had recently purchased a confectionery product, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis is used to validate the CSI. Six decision-making styles are retained from the original CSI (‘perfectionist, high quality’, ‘confused by over-choice’, ‘impulsive’, ‘habitual/brand loyal’, ‘novelty/fashion’, and ‘recreation conscious’) and one new decision-making style is developed (‘rational, price conscious’). Marketing and managerial implications are discussed.
The Educator
Authors: Lalor John , Heraud John Abraham , Higginson Edward , Simpson J. , Porter Sarah
Published: February 2015

This work on the theory of education was first published in 1839. The five writers had been chosen as the winners in a competition for an essay on the 'Expediency and Means of Elevating the Profession of the Educator in Society', organised by the Central Society of Education, founded in 1837 to promote state funding of education, at a time when the 'monitor' system, whereby older children taught younger ones, was seen as an effective (and money-saving) method. The journalist John Lalor (1814–56) won first prize with a wide-ranging consideration of all the aspects of education, comparing the status of teachers through history and across several countries, and championing their 'sacred mission'. The runners-up were the writer John A. Heraud, the Unitarian minister Edward Higginson, the lawyer and author James Simpson, and Mrs Sarah Porter, prolific writer on education and sister of the political economist David Ricardo.
The Discovery of the North-West Passage by HMS Investigator, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, 1854
Authors: McClure Robert John Le Mesurier
Published: February 2015

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the North-West Passage, a trade route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, had been sought for centuries without success. The Franklin expedition of 1845 became the latest victim, and Irish naval officer Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure (1807–73) took part in the attempts to ascertain its fate. His ship, H.M.S. Investigator, spent the years 1850–4 in the Arctic, and in the course of their search for the lost expedition, the crew discovered the North-West Passage. Upon his return to England, following the loss of the Investigator to pack ice, McClure handed over his journals to author and fellow officer Sherard Osborn (1822–75), who prepared this narrative of the pioneering expedition. First published in 1856, the work remains a compelling account of Arctic exploration, revealing how McClure and his men survived four forbidding winters.
Comparative Theology as Repeating with a Difference: Deconstruction, Yogācāra Buddhism, and Our Conditioned Condition
Authors: Kiblinger Kristin Beise
Published: February 2015

John D. Caputo, a contemporary American philosopher and theologian, is known for his work demonstrating the relevance of Derrida's deconstruction for theology. Vasubandhu, a fourth-century (c.e.) Indian thinker, is a seminal figure in the Mahāyāna Buddhist school known as Yogācāra. Although at first blush an odd pairing, and despite their great differences, these two thinkers share a fundamental presupposition: the priority and centrality of ourconditionedcondition. Indeed, for them, attending to the ways that we are conditioned makes possible the pursuit of a truth that is beyond our conditioned filters, aspiring to open us to the truth that is unconditioned. For this reason, it is illuminating to read and think Caputo and Vasubandhu together.
COMMON LAW JURISPRUDENCE AND ANCIENT CONSTITUTIONALISM IN THE RADICAL THOUGHT OF JOHN CARTWRIGHT, GRANVILLE SHARP, AND CAPEL LOFFT
Authors: OWERS GEORGE BERNARD
Published: February 2015

A number of late eighteenth-century English parliamentary reformers synthesized arguments based upon reason and natural law with appeals to the ‘ancient constitution’. This article aims to examine how such reformers were able to move to a democratic view of political agency while maintaining a rhetorically powerful appeal to constitutionalist precedent. It will examine how three of these radicals, John Cartwright, Granville Sharp, and Capel Lofft, collaborated in their utilization of the latent natural law maxims of the English common law, reviving the rationalist potential of the jurisprudence of Edward Coke and Christopher St Germain to democratize the seventeenth-century Whig conception of the ancient constitution. It will thereby show how reformers in the 1770s and 1780s challenged the domestic and imperial political status quo by exploiting the underlying ambiguities of the intellectual resources of their own ‘respectable’ legal and political tradition.
Activism and Political Economy in the New–Old Egypt
Authors: Sowers Jeannie
Published: February 2015

Under President al-Sisi, Egypt has revealed itself to be less tolerant of dissent and more successful at cloaking itself in nationalist sentiment than under either the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces or Husni Mubarak. The massacre at Rabʿa al-ʿAdawiyya, the arrests, detention, and torture of youth and prominent activists, the proliferation of criminal and treason charges against journalists, nongovernmental organizations, and Muslim Brotherhood figures, the banning of various organizations, and the passage of restrictive laws on basic civil rights—these practices make clear that the regime has no commitment to democratization understood either as substantive participation or the safeguarding of basic civil liberties.
Regeneration in calcareous sponges (Porifera)
Authors: Padua A. , Klautau M.
Published: February 2015

Wounds caused by predation and/or physical disturbances to sessile marine animals are common. Consequently, these organisms had to develop strategies to endure such injuries and survive in such a dynamic environment. Sponges are known to possess one of the greatest capacities of regeneration among living metazoans, but this feature has been largely studied only in Demospongiae. In Calcarea, very few species have been investigated. Hence, we analysed the regeneration and speed rates from two regions (osculum and choanosome) of the body of a calcareous sponge: Ernstia sp. Only the osculum regenerated until the end of the experiment, while the choanosome simply cicatrized. Calcareous sponges seem to have a polarized regeneration closely related to their external morphology and level of individuality and integration. A brief review of the regeneration capacity in Calcarea is presented.
Contemporary Queer Theatre and Performance Research: A Forum by the Queer Futures Working Group. Introduction
Authors: CAMPBELL ALYSON , WALSH FINTAN
Published: February 2015

The Queer Futures working group had its first formal meeting at the International Federation for Theatre Research's annual conference at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 2010. That year those gathered decided on our group's name, mindful of queer theory's temporal turn, but more fundamentally hoping it would signal a commitment to fostering queer research within IFTR for years to come. While some of us working on queer theatre and performance projects had found supportive homes in other working groups in the past, there was a sense among the founding members that a working group specifically dedicated to queer research was long overdue, in order to adequately respond to the range and complexity of queer practices, theories and methods that we found ourselves grappling with. Although we were aware of a sense within certain sectors of the academy that queer theory's moment had passed, this was not entirely consistent with our personal and political beliefs, or scholarly pursuits. This conviction has since been vindicated by the growth and activity of the group.
Intersections of Queer in Post-apartheid Cape Town
Authors: LEASE BRYCE
Published: February 2015

In 2013, Siona O'Connell, Nadia Davids and I were awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) grant to support our Sequins, Self & Struggle: Performing and Archiving Sex, Place and Class in Pageant Competitions in Cape Town project, the aims of which are to research, document and disseminate archives of the Spring Queen and Miss Gay Western Cape (MGWC) pageants performed by disparate coloured communities in the Western Cape. Important to these performance events is the figure of the ‘moffie’, a queer male, often a transsexual, who has traditionally choreographed and designed the Spring Queen pageant, but who is forbidden from competing in it. Alternatively, MGWC is a platform for queers of colour to perform in a secure environment without exploitation. My individual work in this collaboration focuses on the MGWC pageant and the attendant methodological questions that have arisen in our attempt to forge bridges between Western queer theory and local articulations of gender identity and alternative sexualities, considering the current preoccupations in scholarship around (South) Africa that cut across geography, politics, economics and history. I will briefly outline the research questions that have arisen from my particular focus on the project aims: the relationship between post-apartheid South African national identity and gay rights, new postcolonial directions in queer theory and the sexual geographies of Cape Town that are bounded by race and economic privilege.
‘Dissemblage’ and ‘Truth Traps’: Creating Methodologies of Resistance in Queer Autobiographical Theatre
Authors: PEARLMAN LAZLO
Published: February 2015

After more than thirty years of solo autobiographical theatre created by LGBTQQIA performers throughout the West, the primary focus of shows made by artists of these identities has more or less remained stable since 1980. In 1982, queer performance artist Tim Miller presented the autobiographical solo show Post-War, and he is part of what is now a tradition of presenting out, celebratory, authentic LGBTQQIA stories onstage. As a self-identified trans performance artist and performing researcher, I have taken part in this practice. Performances, extending from Miller in 1982 to J MASE III in 2014, continue to revolve around the necessity of ‘coming out’, presenting the stories of how we came to know and experience the ‘truths’ of our identities. Performance theorist Deirdre Heddon confirms that these autobiographical works have largely been concerned with, and successful in, ‘using the public arena to “speak out”, attempting to make visible denied or marginalized subjects, or to “talk back”, aiming to challenge, contest and problematize dominant representations and assumptions about those subjects'. Works such as Miller's Glory Box (1999), which used his personal history of having a partner who is not a US citizen to discuss gay marriage and legal immigration for same-sex couples, and trans and Tamil performer D’Loco Kid's D’FaQto Life (2013), which presented an intersectionally marginalized trans person of colour's experience and narrative, have been critical in supporting political and personal empowerment for audiences and performers alike.
Editorial: Performance Moves
Authors: CANNING CHARLOTTE M.
Published: February 2015

One of the most productive contributions to performance that scholars have made to theorizing globalization is to document how people understand global transformation as expressed through representation. An additional element of this contribution is the examination of reception – what understanding did audiences and critics glean from what they saw onstage. This issue of Theatre Research International brings together a diverse set of articles, ones that were not written with any of the others in mind. Despite this, however, read together these articles offer a primer on the effects, successes and failures of performance in the context of global movement currently and in the past. Some of these authors look at theatre that literally travels – around the world, around the nation – and others that travel more figuratively – as part of historical circuits of transmission like colonialism. In whatever sense travel is defined and explored in this issue of TRI, all of these articles remind us that live performance is always about the circulation of embodied ideas through time and space. Travel is built into the form itself.
Building Health Care System Capacity to Respond to Disasters: Successes and Challenges of Disaster Preparedness Health Care Coalitions
Authors: Walsh Lauren , Craddock Hillary , Gulley Kelly , Strauss-Riggs Kandra , Schor Kenneth W.
Published: February 2015

Introduction

This research aimed to learn from the experiences of leaders of well-developed, disaster preparedness-focused health care coalitions (HCCs), both the challenges and the successes, for the purposes of identifying common areas for improvement and sharing “promising practices.”

Hypothesis/Problem

Little data have been collected regarding the successes and challenges of disaster preparedness-focused HCCs in augmenting health care system preparedness for disasters.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of nine HCC leaders. Transcripts were analyzed qualitatively.

Results

The commonly noted benefits of HCCs were: community-wide and regional partnership building, providing an impartial forum for capacity building, sharing of education and training opportunities, staff- and resource-sharing, incentivizing the participation of clinical partners in preparedness activities, better communication with the public, and the ability to surge. Frequently noted challenges included: stakeholder engagement, staffing, funding, rural needs, cross-border partnerships, education and training, and grant requirements. Promising practices addressed: stakeholder engagement, communicating value and purpose, simplifying processes, formalizing connections, and incentivizing participation.

Conclusions

Strengthening HCCs and their underlying systems could lead to improved national resilience to disasters. However, despite many successes, coalition leaders are faced with obstacles that may preclude optimal system functioning. Additional research could: provide further insight regarding the benefit of HCCs to local communities, uncover obstacles that prohibit local disaster-response capacity building, and identify opportunities for an improved system capacity to respond to, and recover from, disasters.

WalshL, CraddockH, GulleyK, Strauss-RiggsK, SchorKW. Building health care system capacity to respond to disasters: successes and challenges of disaster preparedness health care coalitions. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-10.
DAVID MASSON,BELLES LETTRES, AND A VICTORIAN THEORY OF THE NOVEL
Authors: Downs Jack M.
Published: February 2015

It might seem bold, or even presumptuous, to assert that there is a clearly identifiable unified theory of the novel present in any aspect of Victorian literary culture. As John C. Olmsted rightly observes, assessing the presence of any specific and consistent critical stance in Victorian criticism is a difficult task; thus, any attempt to evaluate Victorian criticism of the novel is problematic. Victorian periodical criticism is

inconsistent, [and] most of it is deservedly forgotten. . . . The reader [of early Victorian novel criticism] finds he must take into account the prejudices of individual reviewers, the political affiliation of the periodical in which a review appears and, all too often in the 1830s, the ties that journals and reviewers had with publishing houses. (Olmsted xiii–xiv)

Another problem in assessing Victorian novel criticism lies in the aggressively non-theoretical stance of many Victorian critics. Edwin Eigner and George Worth characterize Victorian criticism of the novel as “written by highly intelligent reviewers and essayists . . . [most of whom] rather prided themselves on the non-theoretical character of their intellects” (1). The absence of theory – perceived or in actuality – in Victorian criticism makes the task of identifying common theoretical concerns and systematic approaches a difficult proposition.
SPENCERIAN EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY INDANIEL DERONDA
Authors: Cameron Lauren
Published: February 2015

George Eliot, notoriously sensitive to criticismof her novels, received a reassuring letter from her publisher, John Blackwood, one month into the publication ofDaniel Deronda(1876) in Books or Parts:

Critics both public and private amuse me by their complaint that they do not quite understand Gwendolen. Did they wish you to lay down a chart of her character and fate on the first page? Did they everfullyknow any human being at a first meeting or even after years of acquaintance? The objection is in reality the highest compliment, believing in fact the plainest confession of the interest excited. (GEL6: 232)

While Blackwood was certainly trying to flatter and calm an anxious, important client, this letter also highlights a central element of Eliot's final completed novel: the depth, development, and realism of its psychological portraiture. What made the psychology of Gwendolen Harleth especially, but the eponymous Daniel Deronda as well, resonate with discerning readers from that time to this? This essay argues that it is the same cause that frustrates many readers: Eliot's engagement with the most famous and scientifically integrated psychological theory of her time – Herbert Spencer’s.
FRAMING GERTRUDE: PHOTOGRAPHIC NARRATION AND THE SUBJECTIVITY OF THE ARTIST-OBSERVER IN LEVY’STHE ROMANCE OF A SHOP
Authors: Wanczyk David
Published: February 2015

In Amy Levy's 1888 novel,The Romance of a Shop, four orphaned sisters, the Lorimers, open a photography studio in London and struggle to find business and a balance between free expression and propriety. Certainly, the sisters’ commercial involvement with photography can be read as artistic and unconventional for women of the time, but their position as artist-observers sometimes seems to relegate them to a space behind the lens and behind the window that divides their apartment from the society they look out upon. It is from that position as photographer-observer that Gertrude, the most introspective and yet most socially conscious of the sisters, wields her perceptive powers, her piercing gaze. Photography, and the way in which it influences her mode of observing, gives Gertrude an accurate, superior vision and a kind of social agency; but that gaze is negatively mediated by photography, too, filtered by the machine.
NEW SCHOLARSHIP ON VICTORIAN INDIA
Authors: Morse Deborah Denenholz , Butler Virginia
Published: February 2015

A plethora of fine bookson Victorian India have been published in the last decade or so, a number of them in the past three years. These works cover a wide range of postcolonial thought: histories of Indian sub-cultures (Bhavani Raman'sDocument Raj, on scribal culture in the Madras East India company and Davesh Soneji's study of the devadāsī of South India inUnfinished Gestures); histories of English dissident subcultures (late Victorian homosexuals and vegetarians, among those documented in Leela Gandhi'sAffective Communities); Andrea Major's epicSlavery, Abolitionism, and Empire in India, 1772–1843, and the erudite and comprehensive Oxford edition,India and the British Empire, edited by Douglas Peers and Nandini Gooptu, a magisterial work that begins with recognition of the “remarkable efflorescence over the past generation” (1) in historical studies of colonial India.
OMEGA: OSIRIS Mapping of Emission-Line Galaxies in A901/2
Authors: del Pino Bruno Rodríguez , Chies-Santos Ana L. , Aragón-Salamanca Alfonso , Bamford Steven P. , Gray Meghan E.
Published: February 2015

This work presents the first results from an ESO Large Programme carried out using the OSIRIS instrument on the 10m GTC telescope (La Palma). We have observed a large sample of galaxies in the region of the Abell 901/902 system (z∼0.165) which has been extensively studied as part of the STAGES project. We have obtained spectrally and spatially resolved H-alpha and [NII] emission maps for a very large sample of galaxies covering a broad range of environments. The new data are combined with extensive multi-wavelength observations which include HST, COMBO-17, Spitzer, Galex and XMM imaging to study star formation and AGN activity as a function of environment and galaxy properties such as luminosity, mass and morphology. The ultimate goal is to understand, in detail, the effect of the environment on star formation and AGN activity.
On defining institutions: rulesversusequilibria
Authors: HODGSON GEOFFREY M.
Published: February 2015

In their stimulating paper, Hindriks and Guala (2014) bridge the prominent alternative conceptions of institutions-as-rules and institutions-as-equilibria, by proposing a ‘rules in equilibrium’ interpretation. This comment argues that the task ofdefininginstitutions as a class of phenomena is different from the tasks ofunderstandingoranalysingthem. Definitions are classification devices and are typically ill-based on behavioural outcomes such as equilibria. Accepting the useful insights of the Hindriks and Guala (2014) article, attention to the matter of definition reinstates a rules-based approach, notwithstanding the importance of understanding and analysing equilibria. The comment establishes a broad definition of institutions as systems of rules, which includes organizations. Finally this comment raised some of the problems involved in understanding the nature of institutional rules.
Norms, perverse effects, and torture
Authors: D’Ambruoso William L.
Published: February 2015

If torture is both ethically odious and usually ineffective as an interrogation method, why have states, especially democratic ones, practiced it? This paper develops a theoretical response to this puzzle by extending constructivist understandings of normative effects. I argue that the norm prohibiting torture has the perverse effect of making torture more attractive to some political leaders in two ways: first, the norm attracts those who are looking for an outside-the-box solution to challenging intelligence-gathering scenarios; second, the norm offers political leaders a narrative of heroism in which they sacrifice their morality for the greater good. I illustrate these explanations with the example of torture in the United States war on terror. My argument suggests that norms can shape the interests even of those who do not follow their scripts, implying that the scope of normative impact may be much wider than previously believed.
News and Announcements
Authors: Polisenska Veronika
Published: February 2015

This news bulletin provides a quick summary of a couple of recent conferences and looks forward to upcoming ones: The British Psychological Society annual conference due to take place in Liverpool in May 2015, the Word Psychological Forum scheduled for September 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic, and the German Psychologists’ Association conference due to take place in Leipzig, Germany, in September 2016.
Visual and Sensorimotor Contributions to the Esthetic Appraisal of Body Form, Motion, and Emotion
Authors: Candidi Matteo , Aglioti Salvatore Maria
Published: February 2015

Recent neuroscience studies indicate that the visual processing of human bodies relies on a cortical network comprising different sensorimotor regions (extrastriate body area [EBA], superior temporal sulcus [STS], parietal cortex [PC], and premotor cortex [PM]). These regions seem to be specifically involved in the processing of morphological (form) and dynamic (movement) cues of the body. Importantly, the integrated activity within the network dedicated to body processing seems to underpin the unified perception of the body and its movements via simulation-like mechanisms (“cold embodiment”). Studies also suggest that regions within the body-related network are involved in the esthetic appreciation of human bodies together with a variety of cortical and subcortical regions associated to the emotional reward coding of stimuli (e.g., the amygdala for fear/disgust and the nucleus accumbens, the insula, and the cingulate cortex for pleasure reward), which may drive a form of “hot embodiment.” Thus, the esthetic evaluation of human bodies may rely upon a large cortico-subcortical network. Here we review evidence concerning the role of specific sensorimotor cortical and subcortical regions in the perception of beauty and attractiveness of the body. We conclude that exploring the way in which visual, sensorimotor, affective, and multisensory information in art and ecological life in general perturb our body representations is crucial for understanding the neural foundations of esthetic body appreciation.
Farming of a defensive fungal mutualist by an attelabid weevil
Authors: Wang Lin , Feng Yu , Tian Jianqing , Xiang Meichun , Sun Jingzu , Ding Jianqing , Yin Wen-Bing , Stadler Marc , Che Yongsheng , Liu Xingzhong
Published: February 2015

The mutualism between fungus-growing animals and fungi is a classic example of a complex interspecies association. A handful of insects, notably the well-recognized fungus-farming ants, termites and beetles, have developed advanced agriculture, which includes seeding new gardens with crop propagules, improving growth conditions and protecting and harvesting the fungal crop. More examples, which could be called ‘proto-fungiculture’, involve fewer adaptations, as exemplified by marine snails that farm intertidal fungi on marsh grass. Recent work has indicated that the solitary leaf-rolling weevil Euops chinensis (family Attelabidae) has a protofarming symbiosis with the mycangial fungus Penicillium herquei (family Trichocomaceae). In this study, we investigated how the weevils create cradles (leaf-rolls) for their offspring and protect the fungal garden. We describe new specialized structures and behaviors that E. chinensis females use for leaf-rolling and fungus inoculation. The fungus P. herquei produces the antibiotic (+)-scleroderolide in laboratory culture and in leaf-rolls, which can serve to inhibit microbial ‘weeds’ and pests, thus protecting the fungal garden against potential infection. The fungiculture of E. chinensis differs from other advanced insect fungiculture systems because female weevils do not continuously tend the inoculated microbe and do not depend nutritionally on the fungus. The defensive role of the cultivated fungus makes the attelabid weevils exceptional in ‘proto-fungiculture’ animals.
Small heterodimer partner interacts with NLRP3 and negatively regulates activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome
Authors: Yang Chul-Su , Kim Jwa-Jin , Kim Tae Sung , Lee Phil Young , Kim Soo Yeon , Lee Hye-Mi , Shin Dong-Min , Nguyen Loi T. , Lee Moo-Seung , Jin Hyo Sun , Kim Kwang-Kyu , Lee Chul-Ho , Kim Myung Hee , Park Sung Goo , Kim Jin-Man , Choi Hueng-Sik , Jo Eun-Kyeong
Published: February 2015

Excessive activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome results in damaging inflammation, yet the regulators of this process remain poorly defined. Herein, we show that the orphan nuclear receptor small heterodimer partner (SHP) is a negative regulator of NLRP3 inflammasome activation. NLRP3 inflammasome activation leads to an interaction between SHP and NLRP3, proteins that are both recruited to mitochondria. Overexpression of SHP competitively inhibits binding of NLRP3 to apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC). SHP deficiency results in increased secretion of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18, and excessive pathologic responses typically observed in mouse models of kidney tubular necrosis and peritoneal gout. Notably, the loss of SHP results in accumulation of damaged mitochondria and a sustained interaction between NLRP3 and ASC in the endoplasmic reticulum. These data are suggestive of a role for SHP in controlling NLRP3 inflammasome activation through a mechanism involving interaction with NLRP3 and maintenance of mitochondrial homeostasis.
Ultrasensitive quantification of TAP-dependent antigen compartmentalization in scarce primary immune cell subsets
Authors: Fischbach Hanna , Döring Marius , Nikles Daphne , Lehnert Elisa , Baldauf Christoph , Kalinke Ulrich , Tampé Robert
Published: February 2015

Presentation of peptides on major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) is essential for the establishment and maintenance of self-tolerance, priming of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells and the exertion of several T-cell effector functions. Cytosolic proteasomes continuously degrade proteins into peptides, which are actively transported across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane by the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP). In the ER lumen antigenic peptides are loaded onto MHC I, which is displayed on the cell surface. Here we describe an innovative flow cytometric approach to monitor time-resolved ER compartmentalization of antigenic peptides. This assay allows the analysis of distinct primary human immune cell subsets at reporter peptide concentrations of 1 nM. Thus, this ultrasensitive method for the first time permits quantification of TAP activity under close to physiological conditions in scarce primary cell subsets such as antigen cross-presenting dendritic cells.
Thermogenesis-triggered seed dispersal in dwarf mistletoe
Authors: deBruyn Rolena A. J. , Paetkau Mark , Ross Kelly A. , Godfrey David V. , Church John S. , Friedman Cynthia Ross
Published: February 2015

Lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe (DM), Arceuthobium americanum, is a parasitic flowering plant and forest pathogen in North America. Seed dispersal in DM occurs by explosive discharge. Notably, slight warming of ripe DM fruit in the laboratory can trigger explosions. Previously, we showed that alternative oxidase, a protein involved in endogenous heat production (thermogenesis) in plants, is present in DM fruit. These observations have led us to investigate if thermogenesis induces discharge. Here, infrared thermographs reveal that ripe DM fruits display an anomalous increase in surface temperature by an average of 2.1±0.8 °C over an average time of 103±29 s (n=9, 95% confidence interval) before dehiscence. Furthermore, both non-isothermal and isothermal modulated differential scanning calorimetry consistently show an exothermic event (~1 J g−1) in the non-reversible heat flow just prior to discharge. These results support thermogenesis-triggered seed discharge, never before observed in any plant.
Radial extracorporeal shock wave treatment harms developing chicken embryos
Authors: Kiessling Maren C. , Milz Stefan , Frank Hans-Georg , Korbel Rüdiger , Schmitz Christoph
Published: February 2015

Radial extracorporeal shock wave treatment (rESWT) has became one of the best investigated treatment modalities for cellulite, including the abdomen as a treatment site. Notably, pregnancy is considered a contraindication for rESWT and concerns have been raised about possible harm to the embryo when a woman treated with rESWT for cellulite is not aware of her pregnancy. Here we tested the hypothesis that rESWT may cause serious physical harm to embryos. To this end, chicken embryos were exposedin ovoto various doses of radial shock waves on either day 3 or day 4 of development, resembling the developmental stage of four- to six-week-old human embryos. We found a dose-dependent increase in the number of embryos that died after radial shock wave exposure on either day 3 or day 4 of development. Among the embryos that survived the shock wave exposure a few showed severe congenital defects such as missing eyes. Evidently, our data cannot directly be used to draw conclusions about potential harm to the embryo of a pregnant woman treated for cellulite with rESWT. However, to avoid any risks we strongly recommend applying radial shock waves in the treatment of cellulite only if a pregnancy is ruled out.
Shorter spontaneous fixation durations in infants with later emerging autism
Authors: Wass Sam V. , Jones Emily J. H. , Gliga Teodora , Smith Tim J. , Charman Tony , Johnson Mark H. ,   BASIS team, Baron-Cohen Simon , Bedford Rachael , Bolton Patrick , Chandler Susie , Davies Kim , Fernandes Janice , Garwood Holly , Hudry Kristelle , Maris Helen , Pasco Greg , Pickles Andrew , Ribiero Helena , Tucker Leslie , Volein Agnes
Published: February 2015

Little is known about how spontaneous attentional deployment differs on a millisecond-level scale in the early development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We measured fine-grained eye movement patterns in 6-to 9-month-old infants at high or low familial risk (HR/LR) of ASD while they viewed static images. We observed shorter fixation durations (i.e. the time interval between saccades) in HR than LR infants. Preliminary analyses indicate that these results were replicated in a second cohort of infants. Fixation durations were shortest in those infants who went on to receive an ASD diagnosis at 36 months. While these findings demonstrate early-developing atypicality in fine-grained measures of attentional deployment early in the etiology of ASD, the specificity of these effects to ASD remains to be determined.
Natural Green Coating Inhibits Adhesion of Clinically Important Bacteria
Authors: Trentin Danielle S. , Silva Denise B. , Frasson Amanda P. , Rzhepishevska Olena , da Silva Márcia V. , de L. Pulcini Elinor , James Garth , Soares Gabriel V. , Tasca Tiana , Ramstedt Madeleine , Giordani Raquel B. , Lopes Norberto P. , Macedo Alexandre J.
Published: February 2015

Despite many advances, biomaterial-associated infections continue to be a major clinical problem. In order to minimize bacterial adhesion, material surface modifications are currently being investigated and natural products possess large potential for the design of innovative surface coatings. We report the bioguided phytochemical investigation of Pityrocarpa moniliformis and the characterization of tannins by mass spectrometry. It was demonstrated that B-type linked proanthocyanidins-coated surfaces, here termed Green coatings, reduced Gram-positive bacterial adhesion and supported mammalian cell spreading. The proposed mechanism of bacterial attachment inhibition is based on electrostatic repulsion, high hydrophilicity and the steric hindrance provided by the coating that blocks bacterium-substratum interactions. This work shows the applicability of a prototype Green-coated surface that aims to promote necessary mammalian tissue compatibility, while reducing bacterial colonization.
Cu0 Nanoparticles Deposited on Nanoporous Polymers: A Recyclable Heterogeneous Nanocatalyst for Ullmann Coupling of Aryl Halides with Amines in Water
Authors: Mondal John , Biswas Anup , Chiba Shunsuke , Zhao Yanli
Published: February 2015

Cu0 nanoparticles were deposited on a nanoporous polymer to develop a novel nanocatalyst (Cu-B) for carrying out Ullmann coupling of aryl halides with amines in water. Non-aqueous polymerization of a mixture of divinylbenzene and acrylic acid under hydrothermal conditions followed by the deposition of Cu0 nanoparticles were adopted to afford the Cu-B nanocatalyst. In order to compare the catalytic activity of the Cu-B nanocatalyst in the Ullmann coupling reactions, another nanocatalyst, Cu0 nanoparticle-loaded porous carbon (Cu-A), was also prepared. All the newly developed Cu0 nanoparticle-based nanocatalysts were thoroughly characterized using several characterization techniques. The Ullmann coupling reactions were carried out in water only with 1.35 mol% loading of Cu as catalytically active sites in Cu-B. The Cu-B nanocatalyst exhibited higher catalytic activity as compared with Cu-A and also showed a good catalytic recyclability with a high consistence in the catalytic activity. No Cu leaching from the nanocatalyst surface and the smooth nanocatalyst recovery confirm the true heterogeneity in these catalytic reactions.
Manipulation of the polarization of Terahertz wave in subwavelength regime
Authors: Xiao Xiao , Leung Ho Ming , Chan C. T. , Wen Weijia
Published: February 2015

By generalizing the concept of spoof surface Plasmons (Science 305, 847), we analytically demonstrate that subwavelength quarter-wave and half-wave plates can be realized in a metal hole array (MHA) sandwiched by two thin-layer materials, whose optical responses can be characterized by their optical conductivities. These abilities of polarization conversion can be attributed to the novel eigenstates induced by the hybridization of the spoof surface plamsons with the current generated in the thin-layer. Due to this mechanism, the robustness of the system is promised. The analytic predictions are verified numerically by modeling the thin-layer material as an experimentally feasible topological-insulator/SiO2 multilayer. Moreover, the possibility of extending the principle to a broad range of materials is dicussed.
Simultaneous speciation and determination of arsenic, chromium and cadmium in water samples by high performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Authors: Sun Jing , Yang Zhaoguang , Lee Hsiaowan , Wang Lin
Published: February 2015

The simultaneous separation and determination of As(iii), As(v), monomethylarsenic acid (MMA), dimethylarsenic acid (DMA), Cr(iii), Cr(vi) and Cd(ii) in water samples have been carried out by anion exchange liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.
Supramolecular cyclodextrin-based drug nanocarriers
Authors: Simões Susana M. N. , Rey-Rico Ana , Concheiro Angel , Alvarez-Lorenzo Carmen
Published: February 2015

Hosting of polymers, lipids and drug conjugates makes cyclodextrins suitable to prepare biocompatible, targetable and stimuli-responsive supramolecular drug nanocarriers.
Revisiting Lewis dot structure weightings: a pair density perspective
Authors: Ferro-Costas David , Mosquera Ricardo A.
Published: February 2015

Q-ALE coefficients for the Kekulé structures of benzene after the application of an electric field.
Plasmon-mediated photocatalytic activity of wet-chemically prepared ZnO nanowire arrays
Authors: Dao Thang Duy , Han Gui , Arai Nono , Nabatame Toshihide , Wada Yoshiki , Hoang Chung Vu , Aono Masakazu , Nagao Tadaaki
Published: February 2015

Relation among (1) photocatalytic activity (2) nano-scale electromagnetic field distribution and (3) hot electron injection of metal loaded ZnO wires was elucidated.
Multielement analysis of crude oil produced water by ICP OES after acid digestion assisted by microwave
Authors: Penha Taiane Rodrigues , Almeida Jenifer Rigo , Sousa Rafael Mantovaneli , de Castro Eustáquio Vinicius Ribeiro , Carneiro Maria Tereza Weitzel Dias , Brandão Geisamanda Pedrini
Published: February 2015

Crude oil produced water characterization is important because its disposal or reuse is difficult: environmental impacts (high salinity and toxic components) or risk of obstruction on the production columns (crust formation).
Targeted metabolomics in the expanded newborn screening for inborn errors of metabolism
Authors: Scolamiero Emanuela , Cozzolino Carla , Albano Lucia , Ansalone Antonella , Caterino Marianna , Corbo Graziella , di Girolamo Maria Grazia , Di Stefano Cristina , Durante Adriano , Franzese Giovanni , Franzese Ignazio , Gallo Giovanna , Giliberti Paolo , Ingenito Laura , Ippolito Giovanni , Malamisura Basilio , Mazzeo Pietro , Norma Antonella , Ombrone Daniela , Parenti Giancarlo , Pellecchia Silvana , Pecce Rita , Pierucci Ippolito , Romanelli Roberta , Rossi Anna , Siano Massimo , Stoduto Teodoro , Villani Guglielmo R. D. , Andria Generoso , Salvatore Francesco , Frisso Giulia , Ruoppolo Margherita
Published: February 2015

This paper highlights the importance of metabolic profiling by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS of biological fluids for diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism and confirms a high incidence of these disorders.
Nanostructured vanadium-doped iron oxide: catalytic oxidation of methylene blue dye
Authors: Oliveira Henrique S. , Oliveira Luiz C. A. , Pereira Márcio C. , Ardisson José D. , Souza Patterson P. , Patrício Patrícia O. , Moura Flávia C. C.
Published: February 2015

V-doped iron oxide exhibits remarkable catalytic activity for the oxidation of methylene blue with H2O2.
Dynamic control of the location of nanoparticles in hybrid co-assemblies
Authors: Su Zhilong , Li Xiaokang , Jiang Xuesong , Lin Shaoliang , Yin Jie
Published: February 2015

We herein demonstrated an approach to control the spatial distribution of components in hybrid microspheres dynamically.
Online determination of anisotropy during cellulose nanofibril assembly in a flow focusing device
Authors: Håkansson Karl M. O.
Published: February 2015

In order to utilize the high strength and stiffness of cellulose nanofibrils in a macroscopic material or composite, the structure of the elongated fibrils in the material must be controlled.
Water–ethanol solvent mixtures: a promising liquid environment for high quality positively-charged CdTe nanocrystal preparation
Authors: Jiang Yuan , Xu Shuhong , Zhao Zengxia , Zheng Liang , Wang Zhuyuan , Wang Chunlei , Cui Yiping
Published: February 2015

In this work, the photoluminescence quantum yield of positively-charged CdTe nanocrystals was brought up to 31% in a water–ethanol solvent mixture.
One-pot synthesis of well-defined amphiphilic alternating copolymer brushes based on POSS and their self-assembly in aqueous solution
Authors: Zhang Zhenghe , Hong Lizhi , Li Jinxia , Liu Feng , Cai Haibo , Gao Yun , Zhang Weian
Published: February 2015

The amphiphilic alternating copolymer brushes P(MIPOSS-alt-VBPEG) with a sequence of alternating MIPOSS and polyethylene glycol (PEG) side chains were synthesized via RAFT polymerization, and they could form spherical aggregates.
Modification of the emission colour and quantum efficiency for oxazoline- and thiazoline-containing iridium complexes via different N^O ligands
Authors: Si Yanling , Zhang Shuai , Gahungu Godefroid , Yang Jinghai , Wu Zhijian
Published: February 2015

We present the electronic structures, absorption and emission spectra, the quantum efficiency of Ir(iii) complexes to shed light on the effect of different N^O ligands on the emitting colour and quantum efficiency.
Characterization, performance, and applications of a yeast surface display-based biocatalyst
Authors: Eby J. M. , Peretti S. W.
Published: February 2015

Yeast surface display (YSD) of two lipases. Measured expression level and copy number. Synthetic and hydrolytic activity comparable to commercial lipase. Cost analysis of YSD system vs. commercial formulations.
Fluorescent graphene quantum dots for biosensing and bioimaging
Authors: Fan Zetan , Li Shuhua , Yuan Fanglong , Fan Louzhen
Published: February 2015

Graphene quantum dots with unique properties have great potential applications for biosensing and bioimaging.
Hydration entropy of BaZrO3 from first principles phonon calculations
Authors: Bjørheim Tor S. , Kotomin Eugene A. , Maier Joachim
Published: February 2015

The impact of phonons on the hydration and defect thermodynamics of undoped and acceptor (Sc, In, Y and Gd) doped BaZrO3 is addressed by means of first principles supercell calculations.
Free radical-quenched SERS probes for detecting H2O2 and glucose
Authors: Dong Jian , Guo Guoming , Xie Wei , Li Yuan , Zhang Mingyue , Qian Weiping
Published: February 2015

For developing a free radical-quenched surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe, starch, a linear molecule, was used as a protective layer to coat gold nanoshells (GNSs) as enhancement substrates and then, methylene blue (MB) was absorbed on the starch-coated GNSs as a free radical-responsive element.
Visible light induced radical cyclization of o-iodophenylacrylamides: a concise synthesis of indolin-2-one
Authors: Dong Wuheng , Liu Yan , Hu Bei , Ren Kai , Li Yuyuan , Xie Xiaomin , Jiang Yuexiu , Zhang Zhaoguo
Published: February 2015

Radical cyclization of o-iodophenylacrylamides afforded indolin-2-ones in good yields.
Active colloidal microdrills
Authors: Gibbs J. G. , Fischer P.
Published: February 2015

We demonstrate a chemically driven, autonomous catalytic microdrill.
Enantioselective synthesis of planar-chiral benzosiloloferrocenes by Rh-catalyzed intramolecular C–H silylation
Authors: Shibata Takanori , Shizuno Tsubasa , Sasaki Tomoya
Published: February 2015

The first synthesis of planar-chiral benzosiloloferrocenes was achieved by the intramolecular reaction of 2-(dimethylhydrosilyl)arylferrocenes.
Effect of substituent pattern and molecular weight of cellulose ethers on interactions with different bile salts
Authors: Torcello-Gómez Amelia , Fernández Fraguas Cristina , Ridout Mike J. , Woodward Nicola C. , Wilde Peter J. , Foster Timothy J.
Published: February 2015

Cellulose ethers interact with bile salts in the aqueous phase. These interactions are affected by the substituent type/pattern of cellulose ethers rather than their molecular weight and by the hydrophobicity of bile salts.
Unveiled magnetic transition in Na battery material: μ+SR study of P2-Na0.5VO2
Authors: Sugiyama Jun , Umegaki Izumi , Andreica Daniel , Baines Christopher , Amato Alex , Guignard Marie , Delmas Claude , Månsson Martin
Published: February 2015

Muon-spin spectroscopy has clarified that the magnetic transition occurs not at 13 K but at 2 K in P2-Na0.5VO2.
Sensitivity map computation in adaptive electrical capacitance volume tomography with multielectrode excitations
Authors: Zeeshan Z. , Teixeira F.L. , Marashdeh Q.
Published: February 2015

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a low‐cost, high‐speed imaging technique useful in many industrial settings. ECT is predicated on the knowledge of sensitivity maps between capacitance electrodes that blanket the imaging domain. The simultaneous activation of multiple electrodes can be advantageous to manipulate the resulting field distributions and capture additional spatial information for imaging purposes. However, conventional methods for sensitivity map computation in ECT are not adequate in the presence of multielectrode activation because the mutual coupling between electrodes is not properly accounted for. This coupling becomes especially critical in adaptive electrical capacitance volume tomography (AECVT) sensors, where signals from many small electrode segments are combined into synthetic electrodes. A more general approach is presented for sensitivity map computation in AECVT based on the actual posteriori (induced) charge distributions rather than the conventional approach based on boundary conditions with no account for electrode interactions.