bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of Lightweight Wearable Ankle Exoskeleton in an Individual With Parkinson Disease
Authors: Jain Tarang K. , Carter Valerie , Lerner Zachary F. 
Published: July 2020

Background:
This is a feasibility study aimed to investigate the effects of a novel lightweight ankle exoskeleton on gait and balance in an individual with Parkinson disease (PD).

Case Description:
An 85-year old woman with a 5-year history of PD (Hoehn and Yahr stage 2.5) participated in the study. The participant received 4 visits over 4 weeks including 1 evaluation and three 30-minute training sessions wearing the ankle exoskeleton.

Results:
The participant demonstrated a 26% reduction in metabolic cost during walking and nearly 10% improvement in peak anterior-posterior center-of-pressure displacement during balance testing with untethered exoskeleton assistance compared with baseline.

Conclusion:
Participant-specific ankle exoskeleton is a feasible and safe intervention that can improve walking economy as well as balance in individuals with PD.
Duganella lactea sp. nov., Duganella guangzhouensis sp. nov., Duganella flavida sp. nov. and Massilia rivuli sp. nov., isolated from a subtropical stream in PR China and proposal to reclassify Duganella ginsengisoli as Massilia ginsengisoli comb. nov.
Authors: Lu Huibin , Deng Tongchu , Liu Feifei , Wang Yonghong , Yang Xunan , Xu Meiying 
Published: July 2020

Five Gram-stain-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive, rod-shaped and motile strains (FT50WT, FT80WT, FT92WT, FT94W and FT135WT) were isolated from a subtropical stream in PR China. Comparisons based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strains FT50WT, FT94W and FT135WT take strain

Duganella sacchari

Sac-22T, and strains FT80WT and FT92WT take strain

Duganella ginsengisoli

DCY83T as their closest neighbour in the phylogenetic trees, respectively. The G+C contents of strains FT50WT, FT80WT, FT92WT, FT94W and FT135WT were 63.3, 62.4, 62.8, 63.8 and 60.8 %, respectively. The reconstructed phylogenomic tree based on concatenated 92 core genes showed that strains FT50WT, FT80WT, FT94W and FT135WT clustered together with species of the genus

Duganella

, but strains FT92WT and

D. ginsengisoli

KCTC 42409T were located in the clades of the genus

Massilia

. The calculated pairwise average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) values among strains FT50WT, FT80WT, FT92WT, FT94W, FT135WT and related strains were in the ranges of 75.6–87.8% and 20.3–33.8% except that the values between strains FT50WT and FT94W were 98.7 and 89.2%, respectively. The respiratory quinone of these five strains was Q-8. The major fatty acids were C16 : 1
ω7c, C16 : 0, C18 : 1
ω7c and C12 : 0. The polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and one unidentified phospholipid. Considering the distinct phylogenetic relationships of

D. ginsengisoli

with species of the genus

Massilia

in the phylogenomic tree, it was reasonable to transfer

D. ginsengisoli

to the genus

Massilia

as Massilia ginsengisoli comb. nov. Combining the results of phylogenomic analysis, ANI and dDDH data, and a range of physiological and biochemical characteristics together, strains FT50WT and FT94W should belong to the same species and be assigned to genus

Duganella

with strains FT80WT and FT135WT together, and strain FT92WT should be assigned to the genus

Massilia

, for which the names Duganella lactea sp. nov. (type strain FT50WT=GDMCC 1.1674T=KACC 21466T), Duganella guangzhouensis sp. nov. (FT80WT=GDMCC 1.1678T=KACC 21470T), Duganella flavida sp. nov. (FT135WT=GDMCC 1.1745T=KACC 21659T) and Massilia rivuli sp. nov. (FT92WT=GDMCC 1.1682T=KACC 21474T) are proposed.
On the effect of age on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in households, schools and the community
Authors: Goldstein E , Lipsitch M , Cevik M 
Published: July 2020

AbstractBackgroundThere is limited information on the effect of age on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in different settings, including primary, secondary and high schools, households, and the whole community. We undertook a literature review of published studies/data on detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection in contacts of COVID-19 cases, as well as serological studies, and studies of infections in the school setting to examine those issues.ResultsOur literature review presents evidence for significantly lower susceptibility to infection for children aged under 10 years compared to adults given the same exposure, for elevated susceptibility to infection in adults aged over 60y compared to younger/middle aged adults, and for the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection associated with sleeping close to an infected individual. Published serological studies also suggest that younger adults (particularly those aged under 35y) often have high cumulative rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the community. Additionally, there is some evidence of robust spread of SARS-CoV-2 in secondary/high schools, and there appears to be more limited spread in primary schools. Some countries with relatively large class sizes in primary schools (e.g.Chile and Israel) reported sizeable outbreaks in some of those schools, though routes of transmission of infection to both students and staff are not clear from current reports.ConclusionsOpening secondary/high schools is likely to contribute to the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and, if implemented, it should require both lower levels of community transmission and greater safeguards to reduce transmission. Compared to secondary/high schools, opening primary schools and daycare facilities may have a more limited effect on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community, particularly under smaller class sizes and in the presence of mitigation measures. Efforts to avoid crowding in the classroom and other mitigation measures should be implemented, to the extent possible, when opening primary schools. Efforts should be undertaken to diminish the mixing in younger adults to mitigate the spread of the epidemic in the whole community.
Fluorescent protein-based reporters reveal stress response of intracellularSalmonella entericaon single cell level
Authors: Schulte Marc , Olschewski Katharina , Hensel Michael 
Published: July 2020

AbstractIntracellular bacteria such asSalmonella entericaare confronted with a broad array of defense mechanisms of their mammalian host cells. The ability to sense host cell-imposed damages, and to mount efficient stress responses are crucial for survival and proliferation of intracellular pathogens. The various combinations of host defense mechanisms acting on intracellular bacteria and their individual response also explain the occurrence of distinct subpopulations of intracellularS. entericasuch as dormant or persisting, slowly or rapidly replicating cells. Here we describe a set of fluorescence protein (FP)-based reporter strains that were used to monitor the expression of cytoplasmic or periplasmic stress response systems on a single cell level. This is mediated by a fast maturing FP as reporter for induction of stress response genes. We evaluated slower maturing FPs for a second function, i.e. the analyses of the status of intracellular proliferation of pathogens. The combination of two FPs allows, on a single cell level, the interrogation of stress response and intracellular proliferation. Application of these reporters toS. entericaallowed us to detect and quantify distinct intracellular subpopulations with different levels of stress response and proliferation.ImportanceSensing of, and responding to host-mediated damages are important defensive virulence traits of bacterial pathogens. Intracellular pathogens such asSalmonella entericaare exposed to various types of antimicrobial host cell defenses that impose, among other, periplasmic and cytosolic stresses. IntracellularS. entericaform distinct subpopulations that differ in proliferation rate, metabolic activity and persister formation. Here we deploy fluorescence protein-based reporter strains to monitor, on a single cell level, the response of intracellularS. entericato periplasmic or cytoplasmic stress. A second fluorescent protein reports the biosynthetic capacity of individual intracellularS. enterica. The dual fluorescence reporters can be deployed to characterize by flow cytometry phenotypically diverse subpopulations and stress responses in intracellular bacteria.
Plasma amyloid, phosphorylated tau, and neurofilament light for individualized risk prediction in mild cognitive impairment
Authors: Cullen Nicholas C. , Leuzy Antoine , Palmqvist Sebastian , Janelidze Shorena , Stomrud Erik , Pesini Pedro , Sarasa Leticia , Allué José Antonio , Proctor Nicholas K. , Zetterberg Henrik , Dage Jeffrey L. , Blennow Kaj , Mattsson-Carlgren Niklas , Hansson Oskar 
Published: July 2020

AbstractWe developed models for individualized risk prediction of cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), using plasma biomarkers of β-amyloid (Aβ), tau, and neurodegeneration. We included MCI patients from the Swedish BioFINDER study (n=148) and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI; n=86 for model selection; n=425 for prognostic validation). The primary outcomes were longitudinal cognition and conversion to AD dementia, predicted by plasma Aβ42/Aβ40, P-tau181, and neurofilament light (NfL). A model which included P-tau181 and NfL, but not Aβ42/Aβ40, had the best performance (AUC=0.88 for four-year conversion to AD in BioFINDER, validated in ADNI). The prognostic ability of plasma biomarkers was stronger than a basic model of age, sex, education, and baseline cognition and similar to cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. Plasma biomarkers, in particular P-tau181 and NfL, may be of high value to identify MCI individuals who will progress to AD dementia in clinical trials and in clinical practice.
SARS-CoV-2 infection induces sustained humoral immune responses in convalescent patients following symptomatic COVID-19
Authors: Wu Jun , Liang Boyun , Chen Cunrong , Wang Hua , Fang Yaohui , Shen Shu , Yang Xiaoli , Wang Baoju , Chen Liangkai , Chen Qi , Wu Yang , Liu Jia , Yang Xuecheng , Li Wei , Zhu Bin , Zhou Wenqing , Wang Huan , Li Shumeng , Lu Sihong , Liu Di , Li Huadong , Krawczyk Adalbert , Lu Mengji , Yang Dongliang , Deng Fei , Dittmer Ulf , Trilling Mirko , Zheng Xin 
Published: July 2020

AbstractLong-term antibody responses and neutralizing activities following SARS-CoV-2 infections have not yet been elucidated. We quantified immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG) antibodies recognizing the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike (S) or the nucleocapsid (N) protein, and neutralizing antibodies during a period of six months following COVID-19 disease onset in 349 symptomatic COVID-19 patients, which were among the first world-wide being infected. The positivity rate and magnitude of IgM-S and IgG-N responses increased rapidly. High levels of IgM-S/N and IgG-S/N at 2-3 weeks after disease onset were associated with virus control and IgG-S titers correlated closely with the capacity to neutralize SARS-CoV-2. While specific IgM-S/N became undetectable 12 weeks after disease onset in most patients, IgG-S/N titers showed an intermediate contraction phase, but stabilized at relatively high levels over the six months observation period. At late time points the positivity rates for binding and neutralizing SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies was still over 70%. Taken together, our data indicate sustained humoral immunity in recovered patients who suffer from symptomatic COVID-19, suggesting prolonged immunity.
“We are at risk too”: The disparate impacts of the pandemic on younger generations
Authors: El-Gabalawy Renée , Sommer Jordana L. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractBackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in profound global impact with high rates of morbidity and mortality. It is essential to understand the psychosocial impacts of the pandemic to identify appropriate prevention and intervention targets. Across generational groups, this study examined: (1) rates of precautions and adaptive and maladaptive health behaviours, (2) differences in levels of anxiety, and (3) rates of and changes in COVID-related concerns over time during the early outbreak of COVID-19 in Canada.MethodsWe analyzed data from two Canadian population-based datasets: the Canadian Perspective Survey Series: Impact of COVID-19 survey (N=4,627; March 29-April 3, 2020), and Crowdsourcing: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians – Your Mental Health (N=45,989; April 24-May 11, 2020). We categorized generational age group, participants self-reported changes in behaviours and COVID-related concerns, and a validated measure assessed anxiety symptoms.ResultsThere are age differences in behavioural responses to the pandemic; adaptive health habits (e.g., exercise) were stable across groups, while maladaptive health habits (e.g., substance use) were highest among younger groups. COVID-related precautions were also highest among the younger generations, with Generation X exhibiting the highest rate of precautionary behaviour. Results also revealed that anxiety and worry are prevalent in response to the pandemic across all generations, with the highest rate of clinically significant anxiety among Millennials (36.0%). Finally, COVID-related concerns are greatest for younger generations and appear to be decreasing with time.ConclusionThese early data are essential in understanding at-risk groups given the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and its potential long-term implications.
Phenotypic signatures in clinical data enable systematic identification of patients for genetic testing
Authors: Morley Theodore J. , Han Lide , Morra Jonathan , Cox Nancy J. , Bastarache Lisa , Ruderfer Douglas M. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractAround five percent of the population is affected by a rare disease, most often due to genetic variation. A genetic test is the quickest path to a diagnosis, yet most suffer through years of diagnostic odyssey before getting a test, if they receive one at all. Identifying patients that are likely to have a genetic disease and therefore need genetic testing is paramount to improving diagnosis and treatment. While there are thousands of previously described genetic diseases with specific phenotypic presentations, a common feature among them is the presence of multiple rare phenotypes which often span organ systems. Here, we hypothesize that these patients can be identified from longitudinal clinical data in the electronic health record (EHR). We used diagnostic information from the EHRs of 2,286 patients that received a chromosomal microarray and 9,144 matched controls to train and test a prediction model. We identified high prediction accuracy (AUROC = 0.97, AUPR = 0.92) in a held-out test sample and in 172,265 hospital patients where cases were defined broadly as interacting with a genetics provider (AUROC = 0.9, AUPR = 0.63). High probabilities (median = 0.97) were associated with 46 patients carrying a known pathogenic copy number variant (CNV) among a subset of 6,445 genotyped patients. Our model identified many more patients needing a genetic test while increasing the proportion having a putative genetic disease compared to the current nonsytematic approach. Taken together, we demonstrate that phenotypic patterns representative of a genetic disease can be captured from EHR data and provide an opportunity to systematize decision making on genetic testing to speed up diagnosis, improve care, and reduce costs.
Paso doble: A two-step Late Pleistocene range expansion in the Tyrrhenian tree frogHyla sarda
Authors: Spadavecchia Giada , Chiocchio Andrea , Bisconti Roberta , Canestrelli Daniele 
Published: July 2020

AbstractThe Tyrrhenian tree frog,Hyla sarda, is an amphibian endemic to the Tyrrhenian islands (Western Mediterranean). Previous investigations of its Pleistocene evolutionary history suggested that it colonised the northern portion of its current range, through a spatial diffusion process from the Sardinia island, during the last glaciation. However, southern and northern portions of the species’ range experienced markedly different climatic conditions during the Late Pleistocene, suggesting the possibility of an unusual two-step process of demographic expansion. Here, we use Bayesian phylogeographic approaches to locate the ancestral area in Sardinia and to characterise better the demographic component of this expansion event. These analyses located the ancestral area forH. sardapopulations along the central-eastern coast of the Sardinia island, within an area previously shown to host suitable bioclimatic conditions forH. sardapopulations throughout the Late Pleistocene. Historical demographic reconstructions clearly showed that a two-step process of demographic growth fits well the data, with northern populations expanding later than Sardinia populations. The harsher climatic conditions occurred in northern islands during the glacial epoch, as compared to Sardinia, likely delayed tree frog colonisation of northern territories, and the associated demographic growth.
Sensitivity to perturbations of a cell migration under temporal regulation
Authors: Dubois Clément , Gupta Shivam , Mugler Andrew , Félix Marie-Anne 
Published: July 2020

AbstractFew studies have measured the robustness to perturbations of the final position of a long-range migrating cell. In the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans, the QR neuroblast migrates anteriorly in the young larva, while undergoing three rounds of division. The daughters of QR.pa stop their migration at an anterior body position and acquire a neuronal fate. Previous studies showed that the migration stops upon expression of the Wnt receptor MIG-1, which surprisingly is not induced by positional cues but by a timing mechanism (Mentink et al. 2014). Given this temporal regulation, we wondered 1) how precise QR.pax positioning is when confronted with various challenges, such as stochastic noise, environment or body size variation and 2) whether QR.pax position varies amongC. eleganswild isolates. We find that the variance of QR.pax final position is similar to that of other long-range migrating neurons. Its mean position undergoes a slight posterior shift at higher temperature, while its variance is greatly increased following sustained starvation at hatching. We manipulated body size using mutants and tetraploid animals. As expected from the temporal mechanism, smaller mutants display anteriorly shifted QR.pax cells, while longer mutants and tetraploids display posteriorly shifted QR.pax cells. Using a mathematical model, we show however that body size variation is partially compensated. We find that cell speed is indeed altered in body size mutants. Finally, we could detect highly significant variation amongC. eleganswild isolates. Overall, this study reveals that the final cell position of QR.pax shows some degree of sensitivity to external perturbations and natural genetic variation.
Translating the Human CANTAB Touchscreen Based Tasks to Evaluate Learning and Memory in Mouse Models of Down Syndrome
Authors: Siegel Ashley , Bianchi Diana W , Guedj Faycal 
Published: July 2020

AbstractHumans with Down syndrome (DS) exhibit hippocampal learning deficits in the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Here we translated the CANTAB Visual Discrimination (VD) and Extinction tasks to investigate hippocampal learning and cortical inhibitory control in the Dp(16)1/Yey, Ts65Dn and Ts1Cje mouse models of DS. No food or water restriction was used prior to testing. The number of days to reach 70% correct answers and percent of correct responses were analyzed. All Dp(16)1/Yey, Ts1Cje and WT mice reached Stage 5 of pre-training. No differences between genotypes were found in percent of correct responses. Five Ts65Dn and one WT animals reached Stage 5 and only one Ts65Dn mouse reached VD. Ts1Cje mice took longer (17.86±3.19 days) to move to VD vs. WT (11.44±1.96 days,P=0.09). There were no differences between Dp(16)1/Yey and WT mice. At VD, the average percent of correct answers was significantly lower in Dp(16)1/Yey (22.70±1.93%) and Ts1Cje (34.39±1.98%) compared to WT littermates (32.18±1.49% and 41.11±1.45%, respectively,P<0.05). In another set of experiments, we demonstrated that mild food restriction significantly reduced the time needed to complete pre-training in C57BL/6J mice compared to C67BL/6J mice that hadad libitumaccess to food and water. In conclusion, we were able to apply human cognitive tests to evaluate hippocampal learning and cortical inhibitory control in three mouse models of DS. These studies demonstrate significant cognitive differences between strains. Future experiments will evaluate whether food restriction and/or pre- and postnatal therapy decreases the time intervals to achieve training mile.
Malaria Outbreak Detection with Machine Learning Methods
Authors: Comert Gurcan , Begashaw Negash , Turhan-Comert Ayse 
Published: July 2020

AbstractIn this paper, we utilized and compared selected machine learning techniques to detect malaria out-break using observed variables of maximum temperature, minimum temperature, humidity, rainfall amount, positive case, and Plasmodium Falciparum rate. Random decision tree, logistic regression, and Gaussian processes are specially analyzed and adopted to be applied for malaria outbreak detection. The problem is a binary classification with outcomes of outbreak or no outbreak. Sample data provided in the literature from Maharashtra, India is used. Performance of the models are compared with the results from similar studies. Based on the sample data used, we were able to detect the malaria outbreak without any false positive or false negative errors in the testing dataset.
Cyclin G2 inhibits oral squamous cell carcinoma growth and metastasis by binding to insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 and regulating the FAK-SRC-STAT signaling pathway
Authors: Wang Danning , Gao Jinlan , Zhao Chenyang , Li Sen , Zhang Di , Hou Xiaoyu , Zhuang Xinbin , Liu Qi , Luo Yang 
Published: July 2020

AbstractThe cell cycle protein cyclin G2 is considered a tumor suppressor. However, its regulatory effects and potential mechanisms in oral cancers are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of cyclin G2 on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The data from 80 patients with OSCC were utilized to predict the abnormal expression of cyclin G2. The proliferation and metastasis were determined by a cell counting Kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, a wound-healing assay and a cell invasion assay. The expression of key proteins and genes associated with the cyclin G2 signaling pathways was determined by western blotting and real-time PCR, respectively. The orthotopic nude mice model was established by a mouth injection of SCC9 cells overexpressing cyclin G2. We showed that the low level of cyclin G2 in OSCC, which is negatively correlated with clinical staging, was a negative prognostic factor for the disease. We also found that cyclin G2 inhibited the proliferation, metastasis and blocked the cell cycle at G1/S of OSCC cells, suggesting that cyclin G2 has an inhibitory effect in OSCC. Mechanistically, cyclin G2 inhibited the growth and metastasis of OSCC by binding to insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP3) and regulating the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) -SRC-STAT signal transduction pathway. Cyclin G2 competed with integrin to bind to IGFBP3; the binding between integrin and IGFBP3 was reduced after cyclin G2 overexpression, thereby inhibiting the phosphorylation of FAK and SRC. These results showed that cyclin G2 inhibited the progression of OSCC by interacting with IGFBP3 and that it may be a new target for OSCC treatment.