bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Overexpression of the human cytomegalovirus UL111A is correlated with favorable survival of patients with gastric cancer and changes T-cell infiltration and suppresses carcinogenesis
Authors: Liu Xin , Lin Kangming , Huang Xielin , Xie Wangkai , Xiang Dan , Ding Ning , Hu Changyuan , Shen Xian , Xue Xiangyang , Huang Yingpeng 
Published: February 2020

Abstract
Purpose

We previously found that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is associated with gastric cancer (GC) development. UL111A plays a role during HCMV productive or latent infection. However, UL111A expression profiles in GC tissues and their relationship with this disease are unknown.

Methods
PCR and nested RT-PCR were performed to verify UL111A expression in 71 GC tissues and its transcripts in 16 UL111A-positive GC samples. UL111A expression levels in GC patients were evaluated by immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray for 620 GC patients. The correlations among UL111A expression levels, clinicopathological characteristics, and prognosis were analyzed. Further, the effects of overexpression of latency-associated viral interleukin-10 (LAcmvIL-10) and cmvIL-10 on GC cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion were assessed.

Results
The UL111A detection rate in GC tissues was 32.4% (23/71) and that of its mRNA expression was 68.75% (11/16). High expression of UL111A was also related to better overall and disease-free survival in GC patients. GC patients with TNM II/III stage expressing higher UL111A levels might benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) after surgery. Moreover, high UL111A expression was also associated with increased CD4+ , CD8+ T-lymphocyte and Foxp3+ T-cell infiltration. In vitro assays further demonstrated that LAcmvIL-10 and cmvIL-10 overexpression inhibits GC cell line proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion.

Conclusions
High UL111A expression changes the number of infiltrating T cells and is associated with favorable survival. Therefore, UL111A could be used as an independent prognostic biomarker and might be a potential therapeutic target for GC.
PD-L1 expression and survival in p16-negative and -positive squamous cell carcinomas of the vulva
Authors: Czogalla Bastian , Pham Deborah , Trillsch Fabian , Rottmann Miriam , Gallwas Julia , Burges Alexander , Mahner Sven , Kirchner Thomas , Jeschke Udo , Mayr Doris , Schmoeckel Elisa 
Published: February 2020

Abstract
Aim
Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has become a widely used predictive biomarker for therapy with checkpoint inhibitors in a variety of cancers. Here, we studied the expression of PD-L1 in squamous cell carcinomas of the vulva (SCCV) with regard to HPV status via its surrogate marker p16. Additionally, the status of PD-L1 and p16 were analyzed for prognostic information and potential correlation to tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs).

Methods
PD-L1 was analyzed in 128 cases of SCCV using the tumor proportion score (TPS), the immune cell score (ICS) and the combined positive score (CPS). Cases were immunostained for p16 and analyzed for stromal TILs. PD-L1, p16, and TILs were compared to clinico-pathological parameters and patient’s survival.

Results
TPS ≥ 50% and CPS ≥ 50 were correlated to a worse grading (p = 0.028 and p = 0.031), but not to FIGO-stage. CPS ≥ 50 was associated to a worse prognosis with overall survival (p = 0.021) but was not correlated to the progression-free survival. P16-positivity was correlated to a longer progression-free survival (p = 0.006) and overall survival (p = 0.023). PD-L1 expression was independent from p16 status. TILs ≥ 50% were present in 24% of the cases and were strongly correlated to PD-L1 (TPS p = 0.02, ICS p < 0.001, CPS p = 0.001).

Conclusion
Our data demonstrate that PD-L1 expression is frequent in SCCV and independent from p16 status. High PD-L1 expression was associated with an unfavorable outcome whereas p16-positivity turned out to be an independent positive prognostic factor.
Genetics of the congenital absence of the vas deferens
Authors: Bieth Eric , Hamdi Safouane M. , Mieusset Roger 
Published: February 2020

AbstractCongenital absence of the vas deferens (CAVD) may have various clinical presentations depending on whether it is bilateral (CBAVD) or unilateral (CUAVD), complete or partial, and associated or not with other abnormalities of the male urogenital tract. CBAVD is usually discovered in adult men either during the systematic assessment of cystic fibrosis or other CFTR-related conditions, or during the exploration of isolated infertility with obstructive azoospermia. The prevalence of CAVDs in men is reported to be approximately 0.1%. However, this figure is probably underestimated, because unilateral forms of CAVD in asymptomatic fertile men are not usually diagnosed. The diagnosis of CAVDs is based on clinical, ultrasound, and sperm examinations. The majority of subjects with CAVD carry at least one cystic fibrosis-causing mutation that warrants CFTR testing and in case of a positive result, genetic counseling prior to conception. Approximately 2% of the cases of CAVD are hemizygous for a loss-of-function mutation in the ADGRG2 gene that may cause a familial form of X-linked infertility. However, despite this recent finding, 10–20% of CBAVDs and 60–70% of CUAVDs remain without a genetic diagnosis. An important proportion of these unexplained CAVDs coexist with a solitary kidney suggesting an early organogenesis disorder (Wolffian duct), unlike CAVDs related to CFTR or ADGRG2 mutations, which might be the result of progressive degeneration that begins later in fetal life and probably continues after birth. How the dysfunction of CFTR, ADGRG2, or other genes such as SLC29A3 leads to this involution is the subject of various pathophysiological hypotheses that are discussed in this review.
Functional outcomes after laparoscopic versus robotic-assisted rectal resection: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Kowalewski K. F. , Seifert L. , Ali S. , Schmidt M. W. , Seide S. , Haney C. , Tapking C. , Shamiyeh A. , Kulu Y. , Hackert T. , Müller-Stich B. P. , Nickel F. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractSurgical resection is crucial for curative treatment of rectal cancer. Through multidisciplinary treatment, including radiochemotherapy and total mesorectal excision, survival has improved substantially. Consequently, more patients have to deal with side effects of treatment. The most recently introduced surgical technique is robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) which seems equally effective in terms of oncological control compared to laparoscopy. However, RAS enables further advantages which maximize the precision of surgery, thus providing better functional outcomes such as sexual function or contience without compromising oncological results. This review was done according to the PRISMA and AMSTAR-II guidelines and registered with PROSPERO (CRD42018104519). The search was planned with PICO criteria and conducted on Medline, Web of Science and CENTRAL. All screening steps were performed by two independent reviewers. Inclusion criteria were original, comparative studies for laparoscopy vs. RAS for rectal cancer and reporting of functional outcomes. Quality was assessed with the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. The search retrieved 9703 hits, of which 51 studies with 24,319 patients were included. There was a lower rate of urinary retention (non-RCTs: Odds ratio (OR) [95% Confidence Interval (CI)] 0.65 [0.46, 0.92]; RCTs: OR[CI] 1.29[0.08, 21.47]), ileus (non-RCTs: OR[CI] 0.86[0.75, 0.98]; RCTs: OR[CI] 0.80[0.33, 1.93]), less urinary symptoms (non-RCTs mean difference (MD) [CI] − 0.60 [− 1.17, − 0.03]; RCTs: − 1.37 [− 4.18, 1.44]), and higher quality of life for RAS (only non-RCTs: MD[CI]: 2.99 [2.02, 3.95]). No significant differences were found for sexual function (non-RCTs: standardized MD[CI]: 0.46[− 0.13, 1.04]; RCTs: SMD[CI]: 0.09[− 0.14, 0.31]). The current meta-analysis suggests potential benefits for RAS over laparoscopy in terms of functional outcomes after rectal cancer resection. The current evidence is limited due to non-randomized controlled trials and reporting of functional outcomes as secondary endpoints.
The impact of implant material and patient age on the long-term outcome of secondary cranioplasty following decompressive craniectomy for severe traumatic brain injury
Authors: Hamböck Martina , Hosmann Arthur , Seemann Rudolf , Wolf Harald , Schachinger Florian , Hajdu Stefan , Widhalm Harald 
Published: February 2020

Abstract
Background
Secondary cranioplasty (CP) is considered to support the neurological recovery of patients after decompressive craniectomy (DC), but the treatment success might be limited by complications associated to confounders, which are not yet fully characterized. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant factors based on the necessity to perform revision surgeries.

Methods
Data from 156 patients who received secondary CP following DC for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) between 1984 and 2015 have been retrospectively analyzed and arranged into cohorts according to the occurrence of complications requiring surgical intervention.

Results
Cox regression analysis revealed a lower revision rate in patients with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) implants than in patients with autologous calvarial bone (ACB) implants (HR 0.2, 95% CI 0.1 to 1.0, p = 0.04). A similar effect could be observed in the population of patients aged between 18 and 65 years, who had a lower risk to suffer complications requiring surgical treatment than individuals aged under 18 or over 65 years (HR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9, p = 0.02). Revision rates were not influenced by the gender (p = 0.88), timing of the CP (p = 0.53), the severity of the TBI (p = 0.86), or the size of the cranial defect (p = 0.16).

Conclusions
In this study, the implant material and patient age were identified as the most relevant parameters independently predicting the long-term outcome of secondary CP. The use of PMMA was associated with lower revision rates than ACB and might provide a therapeutic benefit for selected patients with traumatic cranial defects.
The effect of sub-facet scale surface structure on wall brightness temperatures at multiple scales
Authors: Hilland Rainer V. J. , Voogt James A. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractWall surface temperatures are important components of urban climates but are under-sampled by satellite and airborne remote sensing and at the microscale are under-sampled in observational studies. In urban canopy models, they are represented with simplistic geometries. This study examines the effect of microscale (sub-facet) surface structure geometries on wall surface brightness temperature distributions at micro- to neighbourhood scales using mobile sampling traverses of two suburban neighbourhoods with different sub-facet geometries. Visible and thermal imagery were recorded simultaneously and combined and classified to create a database of temperatures with associated geographic and thermal attributes. This study investigates (1) if sub-facet scale geometries affect temperature distributions, (2) if these cause canyon scale biases, and (3) if there are therefore inter-neighbourhood biases. It is shown that sub-facet geometries modify wall surface temperatures predominantly by cooling due to self-shading. Surface-sun geometry thus leads to intra- and inter-neighbourhood temperature differences of several degrees Celsius. The observed effects have important implications for modelling of urban surface temperatures, where simplified geometries may overestimate wall surface temperatures.
Prion protein PrP nucleic acid binding and mobilization implicates retroelements as the replicative component of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
Authors: Lathe Richard , Darlix Jean-Luc 
Published: February 2020

AbstractThe existence of more than 30 strains of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) and the paucity of infectivity of purified PrPSc, as well as considerations of PrP structure, are inconsistent with the protein-only (prion) theory of TSE. Nucleic acid is a strong contender as a second component. We juxtapose two key findings: (i) PrP is a nucleic-acid-binding antimicrobial protein that is similar to retroviral Gag proteins in its ability to trigger reverse transcription. (ii) Retroelement mobilization is widely seen in TSE disease. Given further evidence that PrP also mediates nucleic acid transport into and out of the cell, a strong case is to be made that a second element – retroelement nucleic acid – bound to PrP constitutes the second component necessary to explain the multiple strains of TSE.
Investigating the association between family connectedness and self-control in adolescence in a genetically sensitive design
Authors: Willems Yayouk E. , Laceulle Odilia M. , Bartels Meike , Finkenauer Catrin 
Published: February 2020

AbstractFamily connectedness is key for the development of self-control in early and middle childhood. But is family connectedness still important during the transitional phase of adolescence, when adolescents demand more independence from their parents and rely more on their peers? The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between family connectedness and self-control, and whether it still holds in adolescence using a genetically sensitive design. Data were used from a large sample of twins aged 14 (N = 11,260) and aged 16 (N = 8175), all enrolled in the Netherlands Twin Register. We applied bivariate twin models and monozygotic twin difference models to investigate the association between family connectedness and self-control and to unravel to what extent genetic and environmental factors explain this association. The results showed that more family connectedness is significantly related to better self-control in adolescence, albeit with a small effect size. Twin analyses revealed that this association was mainly explained by common genetic factors and that the effects of environmental factors were small. The current findings confirm the role of family connectedness in adolescent self-control. Importantly, however, the results demonstrate that phenomena we see within families seem the product of parent and children sharing the same genes rather than being exclusively attributable to environmental processes.
Major Effects of Alkalinity on the Relationship Between Metabolism and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Dynamics in Lakes
Authors: Khan Hares , Laas Alo , Marcé Rafael , Obrador Biel 
Published: February 2020

AbstractSeveral findings suggest that CO2 emissions in lakes are not always directly linked to changes in metabolism but can be associated with interactions with the dissolved inorganic carbon equilibrium. Alkalinity has been described as a determining factor in regulating the relative contributions of biological and inorganic processes to carbon dynamics in lakes. Here we analyzed the relationship between metabolic changes in dissolved oxygen (DO) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) at different timescales in eight lakes covering a wide range in alkalinity. We used high-frequency data from automatic monitoring stations to explore the sensitivity of DIC to metabolic changes inferred from oxygen. To overcome the problem of noisy data, commonly found in high-frequency measurements datasets, we used Singular Spectrum Analysis to enhance the diel signal-to-noise ratio. Our results suggest that in most of the studied lakes, a large part of the measured variability in DO and DIC reflects non-metabolic processes. Furthermore, at low alkalinity, DIC dynamics appear to be mostly driven by aquatic metabolism, but this relationship weakens with increasing alkalinity. The observed deviations from the metabolic 1:1 stoichiometry between DO and DIC were strongly correlated with the deviations expected to occur from calcite precipitation, with a stronger correlation when accounting also for the benthic contribution of calcite precipitation. This highlights the role of calcite precipitation as an important driver of CO2 supersaturation in lakes with alkalinity above 1 meq L−1, which represents 57% of the global area of lakes and reservoirs around the world.
Optimization techniques for tree-structured nonlinear problems
Authors: Hübner Jens , Schmidt Martin , Steinbach Marc C. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractRobust model predictive control approaches and other applications lead to nonlinear optimization problems defined on (scenario) trees. We present structure-preserving Quasi-Newton update formulas as well as structured inertia correction techniques that allow to solve these problems by interior-point methods with specialized KKT solvers for tree-structured optimization problems. The same type of KKT solvers could be used in active-set based SQP methods. The viability of our approach is demonstrated by two robust control problems.
Narrative Ethics in Robert Westall’s The Machine Gunners
Authors: Veldhuizen Vera Nelleke 
Published: February 2020

AbstractOne of the particularly challenging aspects of children’s literature lies in its ethics. The intended audience of children’s literature is often perceived to be morally malleable, and particularly vulnerable to narrative strategies. This why it is of high importance to consider the moral contents which children’s narratives attempt to communicate to the implied child reader and what narrative strategies are used to communicate them. In this paper I employ a classic narratological approach to analyse the many different ways through which children’s literature both constructs and communicates ethics to its young readership, both on the separate story/discourse levels and in an underlying, philosophical sense. Robert Westall’sThe Machine Gunnersserves as the example text analysis for this purpose, as the heightened stakes and emotions of war stories such as this one also increase the importance placed on moral reasoning, judgements, and consequences. In my analysis I show how certain ethical messages are communicated through different narrative strategies, and how these can either strengthen or contradict one another. This contradiction is potentially particularly confusing for young readers, and the resulting dissociation may undermine the moral framework of the work at large. This is why, at the end of the article, I call for a holistic narratological framework in the analysis of ethics.
The shielding effect extends the lifetimes of two-dimensional sessile droplets
Authors: Schofield Feargus G. H. , Wray Alexander W. , Pritchard David , Wilson Stephen K. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractWe consider the diffusion-limited evaporation of thin two-dimensional sessile droplets either singly or in a pair. A conformal-mapping technique is used to calculate the vapour concentrations in the surrounding atmosphere, and thus to obtain closed-form solutions for the evolution and the lifetimes of the droplets in various modes of evaporation. These solutions demonstrate that, in contrast to in three dimensions, in large domains the lifetimes of the droplets depend logarithmically on the size of the domain, and more weakly on the mode of evaporation and the separation between the droplets. In particular, they allow us to quantify the shielding effect that the droplets have on each other, and how it extends the lifetimes of the droplets.
Nondestructive Post-fire Damage Assessment of Structural Steel Members Using Leeb Harness Method
Authors: Liu Dianzhong , Liu Xinyi , Fu Feng , Wang Wugang 
Published: February 2020

AbstractAssessment of steel damage is one of the key methods in retrofitting and reconstruction of the steel structures after fire. The traditional assessment method is to cut the samples from the steel members and check the levels of damage. This method will damage the structural members and the process is time consuming. In this paper, a quick, simple and efficient nondestructive detection method to measure the strength of steel after fire is developed using so called Leeb hardness method by means of establishment the relationship between the residual strength of steel members after fire and the Leeb hardness, the post-fire steel strength can be fast determined without damage to the structural members. In this paper, in total 120 Chinese H-shaped steel sections were selected for testing the Leeb hardness after fire. The influence of the parameters such as the duration of the fire exposure, cooling mode, steel grade, stress state and location of the Leeb hardness test on the test results was investigated. The relationship between the steel Leeb hardness and the parameters were developed. In addition, regression functions between the residual strength of steel members after fire and the Leeb hardness was established based on these test results which can accurate predict the residual strength of the steel members after fire, providing the engineers a new fast assessment method for the residual strength of the steel after fire.
Organising the metals and nonmetals
Authors: Vernon René E. 
Published: February 2020

AbstractThe periodic table can be simply demarcated into four classes of metal and four classes of nonmetal. Such a treatment has been obstructed by the traditional view of metalloids as in-between elements; understandable but needless boundary squabbles; and a group-by-group view of the reactive nonmetals. Setting aside these limiting notions reveals some interesting patterns and facilitates teaching and learning the periodic table.
Ways to Greater Happiness: A Delphi Study
Authors: Buettner Dan , Nelson Toben , Veenhoven Ruut 
Published: February 2020

AbstractIn the first round of this Delphi study 14 experts suggested strategies for improving life-satisfaction. In a second round, experts rated these strategies for (a) effectiveness, (b) feasibility and (c) cost-effectiveness. They considered 56 strategies policy makers can use to raise average happiness in a nation and 68 ways in which individuals can raise their own happiness. Experts were informed about the average ratings made by the panel and about the arguments advanced. Then, in a third round, experts made their final judgments. Summed ratings for average effectiveness and feasibility of the strategies ranged between 8.4 and 4.9 on scale 2–10, which means that most of the recommendations were deemed suitable. Agreement was slightly higher on policy strategies than on individual ways to greater happiness. Policy strategies deemed the most effective and feasible are: (1) investing in happiness research, (2) support of vulnerable people and (3) improving the social climate, in particular by promoting voluntary work and supporting non-profits. Individual strategies deemed most effective are: (a) investing in social networks, (b) doing meaningful things and (c) caring for one’s health.