bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Melatonin stimulates transcription of the rat phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene in hepatic cells
Authors: Asano Kosuke , Tsukada Akiko , Yanagisawa Yuki , Higuchi Mariko , Takagi Katsuhiro , Ono Moe , Tanaka Takashi , Tomita Koji , Yamada Kazuya 
Published: October 2020

Melatonin plays physiological roles in various critical processes, including circadian rhythms, oxidative stress defenses, anti‐inflammation responses, and immunity; however, the current understanding of the role of melatonin in hepatic glucose metabolism is limited. In this study, we examined whether melatonin affects gene expression of the key gluconeogenic enzyme, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). We found that melatonin treatment increased PEPCK mRNA levels in rat highly differentiated hepatoma (H4IIE) cells and primary cultured hepatocytes. In addition, we found that melatonin induction was synergistically enhanced by dexamethasone, whereas it was dominantly inhibited by insulin. We also report that the effect of melatonin was blocked by inhibitors of mitogen‐activated protein kinase/extracellular signal‐regulated protein kinase (MAPK/ERK), RNA polymerase II, and protein synthesis. Furthermore, the phosphorylated (active) forms of ERK1 and ERK2 (ERK1/2) increased 15 min after melatonin treatment. We performed luciferase reporter assays to show that melatonin specifically stimulated promoter activity of the PEPCK gene. Additional reporter analysis using 5′‐deleted constructs revealed that the regulatory regions responsive to melatonin mapped to two nucleotide regions, one between −467 and −398 nucleotides and the other between −128 and +69 nucleotides, of the rat PEPCK gene. Thus, we conclude that melatonin induces PEPCK gene expression via the ERK1/2 pathway at the transcriptional level, and that induction requires de novo protein synthesis.
Leukocyte telomere length associated with glioma risk and survival
Authors: Shen Jie , Song Renduo , Ye Yuanqing , Gong Ye , Zhao Hua 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundRelative telomere length (RTL) in leukocytes has been linked to risks of many cancers, although how leukocyte RTL contributes to adult glioma has rarely been studiedAimWe performed a case‐control study to evaluate the association between RTL in leukocytes and glioma risk in 565 glioma patients and 1130 healthy controlsMethods and resultsOverall, mean leukocyte RTL was significantly higher in cases than controls (P < .001). Longer RTL was associated with a 1.32‐fold increased risk of glioma (odds ratio [OR] = 1.32, 95% confidence internal [CI] = 1.13‐1.64). In quartile analysis, a significant dose‐response relationship was noted (P < .001). Compared to the first quartile with shortest RTL, the fourth quartile with longest RTL was associated with 1.51‐fold elevated risk of glioma (OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.10‐2.18). In further stratified analysis by clinical characteristics at baseline, the significant relationship was observed among cases with aggressive tumor characteristics, including glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), high tumor grade, and absence of IDH mutation and 1p/19q co‐deletion. Finally, we evaluated leukocyte RTL in GBM prognosis. We found that longer RTL was associated with increased probability of overall survival (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.70‐0.98), and progression/recurrence‐free survival (HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.60‐0.93) in patients with primary GBMConclusionOur findings indicate that longer RTL is significantly associated with glioma risk, and the association differs by tumor aggressiveness. Also, RTL in leukocyte could be a prognostic predictor of survival and progression in patients with GBM.
Mental health of medical personnel during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Authors: Antonijevic Jovana , Binic Iva , Zikic Olivera , Manojlovic Snezana , Tosic‐Golubovic Suzana , Popovic Nikola 
Published: October 2020

AbstractIntroductionThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic caused significant changes in the everyday functioning of the general population, as well as medical workers. Medical personnel, especially those in direct contact with COVID‐19 patients, could have increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. The objective of this study was to explore the mental health status of medical personnel in Serbia during the pandemic by assessing stress levels, symptoms of anxiety, and depression.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study was conducted as an online‐based survey, in the period from 8 April to 14 April 2020, during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The study included 1678 participants, and the snowball sampling technique was used to reach healthcare professionals. The level of stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed among medical personnel in Serbia by the 10‐item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Beck Depression Inventory IA (BDI‐IA), and the 7‐item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD‐7), respectively.ResultsA total of 1678 participants completed the survey, with a mean age of 40.38 ± 10.32 years, of which 1,315 (78.4%) were women, and 363 (21.6%) were men. Out of these, 684 (40.8%) participants were medical personnel, and 994 (59.2%) were people of other professions. Frontline medical personnel reported higher scores on all measurement tools than second‐line medical personnel (e.g., mean PSS scores: 19.12 ± 5.66 versus 17.53 ± 5.71; p = .006; mean GAD‐7 scores: 8.57 ± 6.26 versus 6.73 ± 5.76; p = .001; mean BDI‐IA scores: 9.25 ± 8.26 versus 7.36 ± 7.28; p = .006). Binary logistic regression showed that the probability of developing more severe anxiety symptoms doubles in frontline medical personnel.ConclusionOur findings suggest that frontline medical personnel is under an increased psychological burden during the COVID‐19 pandemic, having higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than second‐line medical personnel. Adequate measures should be taken to relieve this burden and preserve the mental health of frontline medical personnel.
What it takes to be at the top: The interrelationship between chronic social stress and social dominance
Authors: Šabanović Merima , Liu He , Mlambo Vongai , Aqel Hala , Chaudhury Dipesh 
Published: October 2020

AbstractIntroductionDominance hierarchies of social animal groups are very sensitive to stress. Stress experienced prior to social interactions between conspecifics may be a determinant of their future social dynamics. Additionally, long‐term occupancy of a specific hierarchical rank can have psychophysiological effects which increase vulnerability to future stressors.MethodsWe aimed to delineate differential effects of stress acting before or after hierarchy formation. We studied whether exposure to the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) paradigm before a two‐week‐long hierarchy formation affected the attainment of a dominant status using the social confrontation tube test (TT). These animals were singly housed for at least one week before CSDS to decrease confounding effects of prior hierarchy experience. Additionally, we investigated whether social rank predicted vulnerability to CSDS, measured by a social interaction test.ResultsIn TT, mice termed as dominant (high rank) win the majority of social confrontations, while the subordinates (low rank) lose more often. Within newly established hierarchies of stress‐naïve mice, the subordinate, but not dominant, mice exhibited significantly greater avoidance of novel social targets. However, following exposure to CSDS, both lowest‐ and highest‐ranked mice exhibited susceptibility to stress as measured by decreased interactions with a novel social target. In contrast, after CSDS, both stress‐susceptible (socially avoidant) and stress‐resilient (social) mice were able to attain dominant ranks in newly established hierarchies.ConclusionThese results suggest that the response to CSDS did not determine social rank in new cohorts, but low‐status mice in newly established groups exhibited lower sociability to novel social targets. Interestingly, exposure of a hierarchical social group to chronic social stress led to stress susceptibility in both high‐ and low‐status mice as measured by social interaction.
Financial toxicity and strain among men receiving prostate cancer care in an equal access healthcare system
Authors: Bauer Alexandria G. , Jefferson Melanie , Nahhas Georges J. , Savage Stephen , Drake Richard , Lilly Michael , Ambrose Linda , Caulder Susan , Mahvi David , Hughes Halbert Chanita 
Published: October 2020

AbstractPurposeTo examine financial toxicity and strain among men in an equal access healthcare system based on social determinants and clinical characteristics.MethodsObservational study among men receiving prostate cancer care (n = 49) at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility. Financial hardship included overall financial strain and financial toxicity due to healthcare costs. Financial strain was measured with one item asking how much money they have leftover at the end of the month. Financial toxicity was measured with the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) scale.ResultsComprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity scores among participants indicated moderate levels of financial toxicity (M = 24.4, SD = 9.9). For financial strain, 36% of participants reported that they did not have enough money left over at the end of the month. There were no racial or clinically related differences in financial toxicity, but race and income level had significant associations with financial strain.ConclusionFinancial toxicity and strain should be measured among patients in an equal access healthcare system. Findings suggest that social determinants may be important to assess, to identify patients who may be most likely to experience financial hardship in the context of obtaining cancer care and implement efforts to mitigate the burden for those patients.
Rinsing sampling of core needle biopsy for flow cytometric analysis: A favorable method for lymphoma diagnosis
Authors: Chi Pei‐Dong , Liu Yi‐Jun , Huang Yu‐Hua , Mao Ming‐Jie , Wang Yu , Li Zhi‐Ming , Li Jian 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundConventional protocols utilize core needle biopsy (CNB) or fine needle aspiration (FNA) to produce cell suspension for flow cytometry (FCM) is a diagnostic challenge for lymphoid malignancies. We aim to develop an alternative CNB rinsing technique (RT) to produce cell suspension for FCM during this mini‐invasive procedure of CNB for lymphoma diagnosis.MethodsFNA and CNB specimens from the same lesion of 93 patients with suspected lymphoma were collected under the guidance of B‐ultrasound simultaneously. The fresh CNB samples were prepared to cell suspension by RT for FCM immunophenotyping analysis (Group CNB‐RT). Then, the CNB tissues after performing the RT process and the fresh FNA tissues were processed by conventional tissue cell suspension (TCS) technique to obtain the cell suspensions (Groups of CNB‐TCS & FNA‐TCS), respectively, as comparison. The diagnostic efficacies, as well as the concordances of the FCM results with reference to the morphologic diagnoses were compared in these three groups.ResultsRT could yield sufficient cells for FCM immunophenotyping analysis, though a lower cell numbers compared to TCS technique. The diagnostic concordance was comparable in group CNB‐RT (91.1%) to the group CNB‐TCS (88.9%) and group FNA‐TCS (88.4%) (p = 0.819). The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of CNB‐RT (91.1%; 100%) was not inferior to that of CNB‐TCS (88.9%; 100%) and FNA‐TCS (88.4%; 98.8%).ConclusionsThis study shows the CNB‐RT presented non‐inferior diagnostic concordance and efficacy as compared to the TCS technique. CNB‐RT has the potential to produce cell suspension for FCM immunophenotyping while preserving tissue for lymphoma diagnosis and research.
Retinal horizontal cells of goldfish (Carassius auratus) display subtype‐specific differences in spontaneous action potentials in situ
Authors: Country Michael W. , Htite Elly Dimya , Samson Isaiah A. , Jonz Michael G. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractHorizontal cells (HCs) are neurons of the outer retina, which provide inhibitory feedback onto photoreceptors and contribute to image processing. HCs in teleosts are classified into four subtypes (H1–H4), each having different roles: H1–H3 feed back onto different sets of cones, H4 feed back onto rods, and only H1 store and release the inhibitory neurotransmitter, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA). Dissociated HCs exhibit spontaneous Ca2+‐based action potentials (APs), yet it is unclear if APs occur in situ, or if all subtypes exhibit APs. We measured intracellular Ca2+ and report APs in slice preparations of the goldfish retina. In HCs furthest from photoreceptors (i.e., H3/H4), APs were less frequent, with greater duration and area under the curve (a measure of Ca2+ flux). Next, we classified acutely dissociated HCs into subtypes by integrating the ratio of dendritic field size vs. soma size (rd/s). H1 and H2 subtypes had low rd/s values (<8); H3/H4 had high rd/s (>12). To verify this model, H1s were identified by immunoreactivity for GABA and 95% of these cells had an rd/s < 4. In Ca2+ imaging experiments, as rd/s increased, AP duration and area under the curve increased, while frequency decreased. Our results demonstrate the presence of Ca2+‐based APs in the goldfish retina in situ and show that HC subtypes H1 through H4 exhibit progressively longer and less frequent spontaneous APs. These results suggest that APs may play an important role in inhibitory feedback, and may have implications for understanding the relative contributions of HC subtypes in the outer retina.
Evolutionary and homeostatic changes in morphology of visual dendrites of Mauthner cells in Astyanax blind cavefish
Authors: Tanvir Zainab , Rivera Daihana , Severi Kristen E. , Haspel Gal , Soares Daphne 
Published: October 2020

AbstractMauthner cells are the largest neurons in the hindbrain of teleost fish and most amphibians. Each cell has two major dendrites thought to receive segregated streams of sensory input: the lateral dendrite receives mechanosensory input while the ventral dendrite receives visual input. These inputs, which mediate escape responses to sudden stimuli, may be modulated by the availability of sensory information to the animal. To understand the impact of the absence of visual information on the morphologies of Mauthner cells during developmental and evolutionary time scales, we examined the teleost Astyanax mexicanus. This species of tetra is found in two morphs: a seeing surface fish and a blind cavefish. We compared the structure of Mauthner cells in surface fish raised under daily light conditions, in surface fish raised in constant darkness, and in two independent lineages of cave populations. The length of ventral dendrites of Mauthner cells in dark‐raised surface fish larvae were longer and more branched, while in both cave morphs the ventral dendrites were smaller or absent. The absence of visual input in surface fish with normal eye development leads to a homeostatic increase in dendrite size, whereas over evolution, the absence of light led to the loss of eyes and a reduction in dendrite size.
Extracting signature responses from respiratory flows: Low‐dimensional analyses on Direct Numerical Simulation‐predicted wakes of a flapping uvula
Authors: Xi Jinxiang , Wang Junshi , Si Xiuhua April , Zheng Shaokuan , Donepudi Ramesh , Dong Haibo 
Published: October 2020

AbstractUvula‐induced snoring and associated obstructive sleep apnea is a complex phenomenon characterized by vibrating structures and highly transient vortex dynamics. This study aimed to extract signature features of uvula wake flows of different pathological origins and develop a linear reduced‐order surrogate model for flow control. Six airway models were developed with two uvula kinematics and three pharynx constriction levels. A direct numerical simulation (DNS) flow solver based on the immersed boundary method was utilized to resolve the wake flows induced by the flapping uvula. Key spatial and temporal responses of the flow to uvula kinematics and pharynx constriction were investigated using continuous wavelet transform (CWT), proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD). Results showed highly complex patterns in flow topologies. CWT analysis revealed multiscale correlations in both time and space between the flapping uvular and wake flows. POD analysis successfully separated the flows among the six models by projecting the datasets in the vector space spanned by the first three eigenmodes. Perceivable differences were also captured in the time evolution of the DMD modes among the six models. A linear reduced‐order surrogate model was constructed from the predominant eigenmodes obtained from the DMD analysis and predicted vortex patterns from this surrogate model agreed well with the corresponding DNS simulations. The computational and analytical platform presented in this study could bring a variety of applications in breathing‐related disorders and beyond. The computational efficiency of surrogate modeling makes it well suited for flow control, forecasting, and uncertainty analyses.
Simulation of vowel‐vowel utterances using a 3D biomechanical‐acoustic model
Authors: Dabbaghchian Saeed , Arnela Marc , Engwall Olov , Guasch Oriol 
Published: October 2020

AbstractA link is established between biomechanical and acoustic 3D models for the numerical simulation of vowel‐vowel utterances. The former rely on the activation and contraction of relevant muscles for voice production, which displace and distort speech organs. However, biomechanical models do not provide a closed computational domain of the 3D vocal tract airway where to simulate sound wave propagation. An algorithm is thus proposed to extract the vocal tract boundary from the surrounding anatomical structures at each time step of the transition between vowels. The resulting 3D geometries are fed into a 3D finite element acoustic model that solves the mixed wave equation for the acoustic pressure and particle velocity. An arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian framework is considered to account for the evolving vocal tract. Examples include six static vowels and three dynamic vowel‐vowel utterances. Plausible muscle activation patterns are first determined for the static vowel sounds following an inverse method. Dynamic utterances are then generated by linearly interpolating the muscle activation of the static vowels. Results exhibit nonlinear trajectory of the vocal tract geometry, similar to that observed in electromagnetic midsagittal articulography. Clear differences are appreciated when comparing the generated sound with that obtained from direct linear interpolation of the vocal tract geometry. That is, interpolation between the starting and ending vocal tract geometries of an utterance, without resorting to any biomechanical model.
Privacy preservation auction in a dynamic social network
Authors: Hu Xiangyu , Jin Zhiping , Zhang Lefeng , Zhou Andi , Ye Dayong 
Published: October 2020

SummaryThe growing popularity of users in online social network gives a big opportunity for online auction. The famous Information Diffusion Mechanism (IDM) is an excellent methods even meet the incentive compatibility and individual rationality. Although the existing auction in online social network has considered the buyers' information has not known by the seller, current mechanism still cannot preserve the information such as prices. In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism which modeled the auction process in online social network and preserved users' privacy by using differential privacy mechanism. Our mechanism can successfully process the auction and at the same time preserve clients' price information from neighbors. We achieved these by adding Laplace noise for its valuation and the number of valuation seller received in the auction process. We also formulate this mechanism on the real network to show the feasibility and effective of the proposed mechanism.
The role of corporate governance in environmental policy disclosure and sustainable development. Generalized estimating equations in longitudinal count data analysis.
Authors: Campanella Francesco , Serino Luana , Crisci Anna , D'Ambra Antonello 
Published: October 2020

AbstractAddressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues has become a critical element of company strategy. This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and financial characteristics and the extent of ESG disclosure in an international sample. The sample consists of 540 companies chosen from the Forbes Global 2000 list for the period 2014–2017. The econometric model used for analyzing the association between corporate characteristics and the extent of ESG disclosure is based on Generalized Estimating Equations for longitudinal count data. The current study argues that stakeholder engagement is the key to enhancing both business environmental policy and sustainable development. The statistical results show that all governance factors selected in our study, with the exception of the board size, are significant determinants that influence the extent of environmental policy disclosure.
Cultural environments and the appointment of female directors on boards: An analysis from a global perspective
Authors: Pucheta‐Martínez María Consuelo , Gallego‐Álvarez Isabel , Bel‐Oms Inmaculada 
Published: October 2020

AbstractHofstede's six cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long‐term orientation and indulgence) has received little attention concerning the presence of female directors on boards. Moreover, past research has only focussed on four or five of these six cultural dimensions. Thus, this research aimed to analyse how gender diversity on boards is affected by all of the Hofstede cultural dimensions in a sample of firms operating in different countries. The data for this research were collected from Thomson Reuters database. The article draws on institutional theory, which suggests that firms are influenced by cultural aspects, as they are not separated from their environment but interact with their environment through relationships with stakeholders. The findings show that cultural dimensions, such as power distance, individualism and indulgence, have a positive effect on the proportion of female directors on boards. In contrast, the dimensions of masculinity and long‐term orientation affect the proportion negatively, and uncertainty avoidance does not seem to have an influence.