bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Streptozotocin-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy in rats: ameliorative effect of PIPERINE via Bcl2, Bax/Bcl2, and caspase-3 pathways
Authors: Wang Yan , Sun Hui , Zhang Jianwu , Xia Zhiyang , Chen Wei 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
The objective of present investigation was to appraise the effects of piperine on STZ-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy in rats. Diabetes was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats with intraperitoneal STZ injection, and the rats were assigned to seven groups. Electrocardiograph, hemodynamic, various biochemical, molecular, and histological parameters were examined. Treatment with piperine significantly (p &lt; 0.05) restored altered myocardial functions, inhibited cardiac marker, and restored electrocardiogram and hemodynamic alterations. The elevated level of cardiac oxido-nitrosative stress and decreased cardiac Na-K-ATPase concentration, after STZ administration, were significantly (p &lt; 0.05) attenuated by piperine treatment. Piperine also considerably (p &lt; 0.05) increased myocardial mitochondrial enzyme activity. STZ-induced alteration in heart ANP, BNP, cTn-I, Bcl2, Bax/Bcl2, and caspase3 mRNA expression was significantly (p &lt; 0.05) restored by piperine treatment. Piperine administration reduced histopathological aberrations induced by STZ. In conclusion, the present investigation suggests that piperine ameliorates STZ-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy via modulation of caspase-3, Bcl2, Bax/Bcl2 pathways.
Abbreviations: ACE: Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme; ANOVA: Analysis of Variance; ANP: Atrial Natriuretic Peptide; APAF: Apoptotic Protease-Activating Factor; ARB: Angiotensin Receptor Blockers; ATP: Adenosine Triphosphate; Bax: Bcl-2-associated X protein; Bcl2: B-cell lymphoma 2; BPM: Beats Per Minute; BNP: brain natriuretic peptide; CAD: Caspase-3-Activated DNase; cDNA: Complementary DNA; CK-MB: Creatine Kinase-MB; CPCSEA: Committee for the Purpose of Control And Supervision of Experiments on Animals; cTn-I: cardiac troponin I; DBP: Diastolic Blood Pressure; DCM: Diabetic Cardiomyopathy; DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid; DPX: DisterenePhthalate Xylene; ECG: Electrocardiogram; ETC: Electron Transport Chain; GOD-POD: Glucose Oxidase Peroxidase; GSH: Glutathione; IAEC: Institutional Animal Ethics Committee; IL-6: Interleukin-6; IL-1b: Interleukin-1b; LDH: Lactate Dehydrogenase; LV: Left Ventricle; LVEDP: left ventricular end-diastolic Pressure; MABP: Mean Arterial Blood Pressure; MDA: Malondialdehyde; mRNA: Messenger Ribonucleic Acid; MTT: 3- (4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-DiphenyltetrazoliumBromide; NADH: Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate; NADPH: Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate Hydrogen; NO: nitric oxide; NP: Natriuretic Peptides; OXPHOS: Oxidative Phosphorylation; p.o.: per os; PCR: Polymerase Chain Reaction; RT-PCR: Reverse Transcriptionpolymerase Chain Reaction; PPAR: Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma; RAS: Renin-Angiotensin System; RNA: Ribonucleic Acid; ROS: Reactive Oxygen Species; SBP: Systolic Blood Pressure; SDH: Succinate Dehydrogenase; SEM: Standard Error Means; SOD: superoxide dismutase: STZ: Streptozotocin; TNF: Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha; TnI: Troponin I
Effects of breeding and molt activity on songbird site fidelity
Authors: Figueira Luiza , Martins Pedro , Ralph C John , Stephens Jaime L , Alexander John D , Wolfe Jared D 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe prebasic molt is a perilous period for songbirds, characterized by heightened energetic demands and vulnerability to predators. Given these vulnerabilities, songbirds are under selective pressure to locate and use quality habitat during the prebasic molt, potentially resulting in site fidelity between years. In this study, we aimed to determine how differences in breeding and molting activity affected site fidelity for a diversity of species at the landscape scale. To accomplish our objective, we used 31 yr of banding data from northern California and southern Oregon for 16 species of songbirds with Cormack-Jolly-Seber analyses and weighted linear regression models to assess the effects of molting and breeding activity on the probability of a species returning to a site in subsequent years. Despite substantial variation in site use for breeding and/or molting, each study species had at least some locations that were used for both breeding and molting. Captured breeding birds (n = 18,574) were much more common than molting birds (n = 7,622). Breeding activity was positively correlated with higher site fidelity for 10 of the 16 species, while we found little evidence of a relationship between molting activity and site fidelity. Only the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) showed increased site fidelity with increased presence of molt activity. It is likely that a shifting mosaic of food resources during the post-breeding period drives dynamic movements of songbirds in search of the necessary resources to successfully complete their annual molt.
Meta-i6mA: an interspecies predictor for identifying DNAN6-methyladenine sites of plant genomes by exploiting informative features in an integrative machine-learning framework
Authors: Hasan Md Mehedi , Basith Shaherin , Khatun Mst Shamima , Lee Gwang , Manavalan Balachandran , Kurata Hiroyuki 
Published: September 2020

AbstractDNA N6-methyladenine (6mA) represents important epigenetic modifications, which are responsible for various cellular processes. The accurate identification of 6mA sites is one of the challenging tasks in genome analysis, which leads to an understanding of their biological functions. To date, several species-specific machine learning (ML)-based models have been proposed, but majority of them did not test their model to other species. Hence, their practical application to other plant species is quite limited. In this study, we explored 10 different feature encoding schemes, with the goal of capturing key characteristics around 6mA sites. We selected five feature encoding schemes based on physicochemical and position-specific information that possesses high discriminative capability. The resultant feature sets were inputted to six commonly used ML methods (random forest, support vector machine, extremely randomized tree, logistic regression, naïve Bayes and AdaBoost). The Rosaceae genome was employed to train the above classifiers, which generated 30 baseline models. To integrate their individual strength, Meta-i6mA was proposed that combined the baseline models using the meta-predictor approach. In extensive independent test, Meta-i6mA showed high Matthews correlation coefficient values of 0.918, 0.827 and 0.635 on Rosaceae, rice and Arabidopsis thaliana, respectively and outperformed the existing predictors. We anticipate that the Meta-i6mA can be applied across different plant species. Furthermore, we developed an online user-friendly web server, which is available at http://kurata14.bio.kyutech.ac.jp/Meta-i6mA/.
TNF Inhibitors and Risk of Malignancy in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Systematic Review
Authors: Muller Marie , D’Amico Ferdinando , Bonovas Stefanos , Danese Silvio , Peyrin-Biroulet Laurent 
Published: September 2020

Abstract

Background and Aims
The association between tumour necrosis factor inhibitors [TNFi] and malignancy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] is not well understood. Our aim was to systematically evaluate the impact of TNFi use on risk of malignancy in IBD patients in daily clinical practice.

Methods
We searched Pubmed, Embase and Scopus until March 1, 2020 for observational cohort studies on adult IBD patients reporting malignancy occurrence and TNFi use.

Results
Twenty-eight studies [20 retrospective and eight prospective] were included, involving 298 717 IBD patients. Mean age at inclusion ranged from 28 to &gt;65 years. Mean follow-up varied from 7 to 80 months. Infliximab was the most frequently used TNFi [13/28 studies, 46.4%], followed by adalimumab [3/28, 10.7%], while both infliximab and adalimumab were evaluated in five studies [17.8%]. In total, 692 malignancies were diagnosed in IBD patients treated with TNFi, accounting for an overall occurrence of 1.0%. The most frequent malignancies were non-melanoma skin cancers [123/692, 17.8%], digestive malignancies [120/692, 17.3%] and haematological malignancies [106/692, 15.3%]. The association between TNFi and malignancy was evaluated in 11 studies [39.3%]: no significant association was found in ten studies, while an increased risk of lymphoma in patients exposed to TNFi was reported in one study.

Conclusion
TNFi treatment is not associated with an increased risk of malignancy in IBD patients in real-life settings. Further large studies are needed to assess the prognosis of patients exposed to TNFi and risk of recurrence or new cancers in subjects with personal malignancy history.
Musicians and their monuments in the Burgundian Netherlands: some art historical perspectives
Authors: Brine Douglas 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
Musicians and their monuments in the Burgundian Netherlands: some art historical perspectives
This article examines the monuments with which some of the most celebrated musicians and composers of the Burgundian Netherlands were commemorated. Perhaps best known is Guillaume Du Fay’s wall-mounted memorial; thanks to musicologists’ research, his sculpted tablet is also one of the best documented of its kind and thus can be situated within the context of the composer’s various provisions—musical and otherwise—to secure his posthumous commemoration. Du Fay’s memorial is considered in relation to selected artworks commemorating his contemporaries and successors, including Gilles Binchois, Jacob Obrecht, Josquin des Prez and Marbrianus de Orto. These include not only tombs and memorial tablets but also panel paintings—like Hans Memling’s portrait of Gilles Joye—and, in one case, a brass reliquary coffer. Of particular concern are the ways in which these monuments reflect their patrons’ wealth, status, personal relationships and devotional priorities, as well as their identities as musicians and clerics.
International Constraints, Political Turnover, and Voting Consistency in the United Nations General Assembly
Authors: DiLorenzo Matthew , Rooney Bryan 
Published: September 2020

AbstractRecent studies demonstrate that turnover in domestic political leadership is associated with change in states’ foreign policies. While domestic changes matter even after controlling for international factors, many argue that international factors should overwhelm the effects of domestic turnover on foreign policy change. Yet existing studies tend to focus on other domestic-level variables (e.g., regime type) as constraints on domestic turnover. We consider how three sets of international factors that scholars have argued might outweigh the influence of domestic changes—security environment, socialization, and economic dependence—moderate the effects of domestic coalition changes on variance in voting patterns in the United Nations. To do this, we interact a measure of domestic coalition turnover with various proxies for international context in a statistical model of voting consistency. We find that many international factors are associated with greater consistency in voting behavior. Yet the effects of domestic change on foreign policy are remarkably resilient. We find only limited evidence that the effect of domestic change attenuates as states face more international constraints. The results reinforce the importance of understanding the role of both domestic political factors and international context in shaping foreign policy.
On the Market Dominance of the Provider of Ad Blocker Software on an Asymmetrical Two-Sided Market – Also a Discussion of the German Federal Supreme Court’s Decision of 8 October 2019, KZR 73/17 ‒ Ad Blocker III
Authors: Seidel Andreas 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
The German Federal Supreme Court has once again ruled in the matter of advertisement blockers. It is the Court’s third decision concerning the use of ad blocking services, this time from the perspective of competition law. Of particular importance was the clarification of the market definition and market dominance in a two-sided market, where the substitution possibilities and ad blocker software countermeasures are of greater importance. The Court also developed guidelines for the balancing of interests in the context of the examination of an abusive exploitation of a possibly market dominant position by an ad blocking business model. The resolution of this dispute will provide a benchmark for the assessment of acceptable behaviour of intermediaries under competition law. It will be of considerable importance here that the company behind ‘Adblock Plus’ software is operating on an ‘asymmetrical’ or significantly imbalanced two-sided market. In this market the benefits of the software are almost one-sided on the part of the internet users, but the financing is mainly covered by website operators who themselves experience significant disadvantages from the use of the ad blocker.
Queering explanatory frameworks for wartime sexual violence against men
Authors: Schulz Philipp , Touquet Heleen 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
In this article we argue that prevalent explanatory frameworks of sexual violence against men primarily pursue one line of inquiry, explaining its occurrence as exclusively strategic and systematic, based on heteronormative and homophobic assumptions about violence, gender and sexualities. Feminist IR scholarship has significantly complexified our understanding of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), documenting its multiple forms and causes across time and space—thereby moving beyond the persistent opportunism-strategy dichotomy and critically engaging with the dominant ‘rape as a weapon of war’ narrative. Drawing on empirical material from Sri Lanka and northern Uganda we queer the current explanatory frameworks, analyzing multiple instances of CRSV against men that both simultaneously seem to confirm and defy categorizations as opportunistic or strategic, while being situated in broader and systematic warfare dynamics and unequal power-relationships. Our empirical material shows that relying on crude categorizations such as the opportunism–strategy binary is unproductive and essentialist, as it tends to mask over the complexities and messiness of deeply gendered power relationships during times of war. Binary strategy/opportunism categorizations also imply broader unintended political consequences, including the further marginalization of sexual violence acts that fall outside the dominant scripts or binary frameworks—such as sexual violence against men with opportunistic underpinnings.
Redescription and notes on the ecology of Pagurapseudes dentatus (Brown, 1956) (Peracarida: Tanaidacea), a shell-inhabiting tanaid from South Africa
Authors: Brokensha Rouane , Landschoff Jannes , du Plessis Anton , Griffiths Charles L 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
The tanaid Pagurapseudes dentatus was described from a male collected from the intertidal zone at False Bay, South Africa. The description was poorly illustrated, incomplete, did not describe the female or juvenile stages, and gave no information on its habitat. The species was rediscovered and found to be locally abundant at locations in South Africa, where it inhabits vacant gastropod shells. We redescribe P. dentatus by fully illustrating and describing its morphological characters, including the copulatory female and manca II stages. Pagurapseudes dentatus differs from similar species by a long seta on the basis of the characteristically elongated pereopod-1, as well as its singular distal pectinate setae on the propodus and adjacent to the dactylus of pereopod 6. Nano-CT scanning was used to illustrate and document the unusual mode of occupation of empty gastropod shells by the species. It was found (N = 139) occupying shells of 19 gastropod species from 10 different genera, occurring most abundantly in shells of Tricolia Risso, 1826, Burnupena Iredale, 1918, Assiminea Fleming, 1828, and Gibbula Risso, 1826. It forms dense populations under intertidal boulders, where it co-occurs with, and may compete for empty shells, with at least two common species of hermit crabs.
Pricing Under Fairness Concerns
Authors: Eyster Erik , Madarász Kristóf , Michaillat Pascal 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThis paper proposes a theory of pricing premised upon the assumptions that customers dislike unfair prices—those marked up steeply over cost—and that firms take these concerns into account when setting prices. Because they do not observe firms’ costs, customers must extract costs from prices. The theory assumes that customers infer less than rationally: When a price rises due to a cost increase, customers partially misattribute the higher price to a higher markup—which they find unfair. Firms anticipate this response and trim their price increases, which drives the passthrough of costs into prices below one: Prices are somewhat rigid. Embedded in a New Keynesian model as a replacement for the usual pricing frictions, our theory produces monetary nonneutrality: When monetary policy loosens and inflation rises, customers misperceive markups as higher and feel unfairly treated; firms mitigate this perceived unfairness by reducing their markups; in general equilibrium, employment rises. The theory also features a hybrid short-run Phillips curve, realistic impulse responses of output and employment to monetary and technology shocks, and an upward-sloping long-run Phillips curve.
Government-Created Nonprofit Organizations and Public Service Turnaround: Evidence from a Synthetic Control Approach
Authors: Alonso José M , Andrews Rhys 
Published: September 2020

AbstractTheories of sectoral advantage and failure suggest that collaborations between public and nonprofit organizations can create new collaborative capabilities that compensate for sector-specific weaknesses. Drawing on these perspectives, we investigate whether government-created nonprofit organizations (GCNPOs) can turn around public services regarded as “failing” by government agencies. In doing so, we analyze the transfer of all of the functions of a “failing” inner London local education authority (Hackney) to a specially created not-for-profit organization (the Learning Trust) responsible for all the primary and high schools within its jurisdiction (circa 60 schools, with about 25,000 pupils). Using a synthetic control method approach to investigate the performance effects of this intervention, we find that educational outcomes improved in Hackney during the years following the creation of the Learning Trust. Documentary evidence suggests that the nonprofit form of the Learning Trust may have enabled it to develop better relations with the local community and access new revenue streams, which helped to improve outcomes. Our findings highlight the breadth and depth of the contribution that GCNPOs can make to the delivery of public services and to their potential effectiveness in helping to turnaround those that are failing.
No false grounds and topology of argumentation
Authors: Shi Chenwei 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
We integrate Dung’s argumentation framework with a topological space to formalize Clark’s no false lemmas theory for solving the Gettier problem and study its logic. Our formalization shows that one of the two notions of knowledge proposed by Clark, justified belief with true grounds, satisfies Stalnaker’s axiom system of belief and knowledge except for the axiom of closure under conjunction. We propose a new notion of knowledge, justified belief with a well-founded chain of true grounds, which further improves on Clark’s two notions of knowledge. We pinpoint a seemingly reasonable condition which makes these three notions of knowledge collapse into the same one and explain why this result looks counter-intuitive. From a technical point of view, our formal analysis driven by the philosophical issues reveals the logical structure of the grounded semantics in Dung’s argumentation theory.
First L band detection of hot exozodiacal dust with VLTI/MATISSE
Authors: Kirchschlager Florian , Ertel Steve , Wolf Sebastian , Matter Alexis , Krivov Alexander V 
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACT
For the first time, we observed the emission of hot exozodiacal dust in L band. We used the new instrument MATISSE at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer to detect the hot dust around κ Tuc with a significance of 3σ to 6σ at wavelengths between 3.37 and $3.85\, {\mu {\rm m}}$ and a dust-to-star flux ratio of 5 to $7{{{\ \rm per\ cent}}}$. We modelled the spectral energy distribution based on the new L band data alone and in combination with H band data published previously. In all cases we find $0.58\, {\mu {\rm m}}$ grains of amorphous carbon to fit the κ Tuc observations the best, however, also nanometre or micrometre grains and other carbons or silicates reproduce the observations well. Since the H band data revealed a temporal variability, while our Lband data were taken at a different epoch, we combine them in different ways. Depending on the approach, the best fits are obtained for a narrow dust ring at a stellar distance in the 0.1–029 au range and thus with a temperature between 940 and $1430\, {\rm K}$. Within the 1σ uncertainty dust location and temperature are confined to $0.032{\!-\!}1.18\, {\rm au}$ and $600{\!-\!}2000\, {\rm K}$.
Three Models of Political Membership: Delineating ‘The People in Question’
Authors: Green Alex 
Published: September 2020

Abstract
In her timely monograph, The People in Question, Jo Shaw provides a much-needed critical comparative review of the complex interactions between citizenship and constitutional law. I argue that, despite its emphasis upon citizenship’s essentially contested nature, Shaw’s latest work contains rich moral commitments and an important caution against uncritically eliding ‘full citizenship’ with ‘political membership’ more broadly construed. To establish these claims, I present a tripartite taxonomy of approaches to defining ‘the people’ based, respectively, upon the concepts of status, subjugation and duty. I claim that Shaw’s incisive analysis demonstrates perfectly why we should avoid placing undue reliance upon ‘status-based’ models of community membership and conclude by advancing an original, alternative and hybridised model of ‘the people in question’.