bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Contribution of Oculomotor Functions to Rates of Visual Information Processing in Younger and Older Adults
Authors: Ebaid Deena , Crewther Sheila G. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractOculomotor functions are established surrogate measures of visual attention shifting and rate of information processing, however, the temporal characteristics of saccades and fixations have seldom been compared in healthy educated samples of younger and older adults. Thus, the current study aimed to compare duration of eye movement components in younger (18–25 years) and older (50–81 years) adults during text reading and during object/alphanumeric Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) tasks. The current study also aimed to examine the contribution of oculomotor functions to threshold time needed for accurate performance on visually-driven cognitive tasks (Inspection Time [IT] and Change Detection [CD]). Results showed that younger adults fixated on individual stimuli for significantly longer than the older participants, while older adults demonstrated significantly longer saccade durations than the younger group. Results also demonstrated that older adults required longer threshold durations (i.e., performed slower) on the visually-driven cognitive tasks, however, the age-group time difference on the CD task was eradicated when the effects of saccade duration were covaried. Thus, these results suggest that age-related cognitive decline is also related to increased duration of saccades and hence, highlights the need to dissociate the age-related motor constraints on the temporal aspects of oculomotor function from visuo-cognitive speed of processing.
Bird-livestock interactions associated with increased cattle fecal shedding of ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli within feedlots in the United States
Authors: Carlson James C. , Chandler Jeffrey C. , Bisha Bledar , LeJeune Jeffrey T. , Wittum Thomas E. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis research study was conducted to determine if bird depredation in feedlots is associated with the prevalence of ciprofloxacin-resistantEscherichia coliin cattle and to determine if removal of invasive bird species could be an effective management strategy to help reduce ciprofloxacin-resistantE. coliin cattle within the United States. European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were collected from feedlots within multiple geographic regions within the United States and European starlings within all regions tested positive for ciprofloxacin-resistantE. coli, but prevalence differed by region. Total number of birds on feedlots were positively associated with increased cattle fecal shedding of ciprofloxacin-resistantE. coli. Targeted control of invasive European starlings reduced bird numbers on feedlots by 70.4%, but decreasing populations of European starlings was not associated with corresponding reductions in bovine fecal prevalence of ciprofloxacin-resistantE. coli. These data provide evidence for the role of wild bird depredation in feedlots contributing to fecal shedding of ciprofloxacin-resistantE. coli, but a single month of European starling control in feedlots was not sufficient to impact the fecal carriage of this organism in cattle.
Characterisation of CaCO3 phases during strain-specific ureolytic precipitation
Authors: Clarà Saracho Alexandra , Haigh Stuart K. , Hata Toshiro , Soga Kenichi , Farsang Stefan , Redfern Simon A. T. , Marek Ewa 
Published: June 2020

AbstractNumerous microbial species can selectively precipitate mineral carbonates with enhanced mechanical properties, however, understanding exactly how they achieve this control represents a major challenge in the field of biomineralisation. We have studied microbial induced calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation (MICP) in three ureolytic bacterial strains from the Sporosarcina family, including S. newyorkensis, a newly isolated microbe from the deep sea. We find that the interplay between structural water and strain-specific amino acid groups is fundamental to the stabilisation of vaterite and that, under the same conditions, different isolates yield distinctly different polymorphs. The latter is found to be associated with different urease activities and, consequently, precipitation kinetics, which change depending on pressure-temperature conditions. Further, CaCO3 polymorph selection also depends on the coupled effect of chemical treatment and initial bacterial concentrations. Our findings provide new insights into strain-specific CaCO3 polymorphic selection and stabilisation, and open up promising avenues for designing bio-reinforced geo-materials that capitalise on the different particle bond mechanical properties offered by different polymorphs.
Automated data cleaning of paediatric anthropometric data from longitudinal electronic health records: protocol and application to a large patient cohort
Authors: Phan Hang T. T. , Borca Florina , Cable David , Batchelor James , Davies Justin H. , Ennis Sarah 
Published: June 2020

Abstract‘Big data’ in healthcare encompass measurements collated from multiple sources with various degrees of data quality. These data require quality control assessment to optimise quality for clinical management and for robust large-scale data analysis in healthcare research. Height and weight data represent one of the most abundantly recorded health statistics. The shift to electronic recording of anthropometric measurements in electronic healthcare records, has rapidly inflated the number of measurements. WHO guidelines inform removal of population-based extreme outliers but an absence of tools limits cleaning of longitudinal anthropometric measurements. We developed and optimised a protocol for cleaning paediatric height and weight data that incorporates outlier detection using robust linear regression methodology using a manually curated set of 6,279 patients’ longitudinal measurements. The protocol was then applied to a cohort of 200,000 patient records collected from 60,000 paediatric patients attending a regional teaching hospital in South England. WHO guidelines detected biologically implausible data in <1% of records. Additional error rates of 3% and 0.2% for height and weight respectively were detected using the protocol. Inflated error rates for height measurements were largely due to small but physiologically implausible decreases in height. Lowest error rates were observed when data was measured and digitally recorded by staff routinely required to do so. The protocol successfully automates the parsing of implausible and poor quality height and weight data from a voluminous longitudinal dataset and standardises the quality assessment of data for clinical and research applications.
Synergistic stabilization by nitrosoglutathione-induced thiol modifications in the stromal interaction molecule-2 luminal domain suppresses basal and store operated calcium entry
Authors: Novello Matthew J. , Zhu Jinhui , Zhang MengQi , Feng Qingping , Stathopulos Peter B. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractStromal interaction molecule−1 and −2 (STIM1/2) are endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane-inserted calcium (Ca2+) sensing proteins that, together with Orai1-composed Ca2+ channels on the plasma membrane (PM), regulate intracellular Ca2+ levels. Recent evidence suggests that S-nitrosylation of the luminal STIM1 Cys residues inhibits store operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE). However, the effects of thiol modifications on STIM2 during nitrosative stress and their role in regulating basal Ca2+ levels remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the nitric oxide (NO) donor nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) thermodynamically stabilizes the STIM2 Ca2+ sensing region in a Cys-specific manner. We uncovered a remarkable synergism in this stabilization involving the three luminal Cys of STIM2, which is unique to this paralog. S-Nitrosylation causes structural perturbations that converge on the face of the EF-hand and sterile α motif (EF-SAM) domain, implicated in unfolding-coupled activation. In HEK293T cells, enhanced free basal cytosolic Ca2+ and SOCE mediated by STIM2 overexpression could be attenuated by GSNO or mutation of the modifiable Cys located in the luminal domain. Collectively, we identify the Cys residues within the N-terminal region of STIM2 as modifiable targets during nitrosative stress that can profoundly and cooperatively affect basal Ca2+ and SOCE regulation.
Differences in the prescribing of potentially inappropriate medicines in older Australians: comparison of community dwelling and residential aged care residents
Authors: Bony Hosam , Lloyd Renae A. , Hotham Elizabeth D. , Corre Lauren J. , Corlis Megan E. , Loffler Helen A. , Scarlett Gregory K. , Tsimbinos Jacquie M. , Todd Ian P. , Suppiah Vijayaprakash 
Published: June 2020

AbstractPotentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) can contribute to morbidity through exacerbations or progression of existing conditions among older people. In order to characterize the prevalence of PIMs according to the Beers Criteria in older Australians, three hundred and eleven participants were recruited from three residential aged care facilities (RACFs) and two hundred and twenty participants from three community pharmacies in South Australia for a retrospective audit of medication administration charts and community pharmacy dispensing histories. Although a similar number of participants were prescribed at least one PIM (P = 0.09), the average number of PIMs was significantly greater in the RACF cohort (1.96 vs 1.26, P < 0.05). Additionally, PIMs prescribed as pro re nata (PRN) in the RACF cohort had a significantly low administration rate compared to prescription rate (19.7% vs 40.7%). The mean number of PIMs within each cohort was statistically significant (RACF = 1.93 vs CDOA = 1.26, P < 0.05). RACF residents were at a slightly greater risk of being prescribed more than one PIM compared to those within the community. Routine medication reviews by pharmacists embedded in RACFs and within the community could be utilised to detect PIMs before such harm occurs.
Frailty: A cost incurred by reproduction?
Authors: Gordon E. H. , Peel N. M. , Chatfield M. D. , Lang I. A. , Hubbard R. E. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractEvolutionary theories of senescence, such as the ‘disposable soma’ theory, propose that natural selection trades late survival for early fecundity. ‘Frailty’, a multidimensional measure of health status, may help to better define the long-term consequences of reproduction. We examined the relationship between parity and later life frailty (as measured by the Frailty Index) in a sample of 3,534 adults aged 65 years and older who participated in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We found that the most parous adults were the most frail and that the parity-frailty relationship was similar for both sexes. Whilst this study provided some evidence for a ‘parity-frailty trade-off’, there was little support for our hypothesis that the physiological costs of childbearing influence later life frailty. Rather, behavioural and social factors associated with rearing many children may have contributed to the development of frailty in both sexes.
Limits on Anti-Phase Synchronization in Oscillator Networks
Authors: Vathakkattil Joseph George , Pakrashi Vikram 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAnti-phase synchronization is the spontaneous formation of 2 clusters of oscillators synchronized between themselves within a cluster but opposite in phase with the other cluster. Neuronal networks in human and animal brains, ecological networks, climactic networks, and lasers are all systems that exhibit anti-phase synchronization although the phenomenon is encountered less frequently than the celebrated in-phase synchronization. We show that this disparity in occurrence is due to fundamental limits on the size of networks that can sustain anti-phase synchronization. We study the influence of network structure and coupling conditions on anti-phase synchronization in networks composed of coupled Stuart-Landau oscillators. The dependence of probability of anti-phase synchronization on connectivity of the network, strength of interaction over distance, and symmetry of the network is illustrated. Regardless of favourable network conditions, we show that anti-phase synchronization is limited to small networks, typically smaller than 20 nodes.
Label-free, automated classification of microsatellite status in colorectal cancer by infrared imaging
Authors: Kallenbach-Thieltges Angela , Großerueschkamp Frederik , Jütte Hendrik , Kuepper Claus , Reinacher-Schick Anke , Tannapfel Andrea , Gerwert Klaus 
Published: June 2020

AbstractChallenging histopathological diagnostics in cancer include microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) colorectal cancer (CRC), which occurs in 15% of early-stage CRC and is caused by a deficiency in the mismatch repair system. The diagnosis of MSI-H cannot be reliably achieved by visual inspection of a hematoxylin and eosin stained thin section alone, but additionally requires subsequent molecular analysis. Time- and sample-intensive immunohistochemistry with subsequent fragment length analysis is used. The aim of the presented feasibility study is to test the ability of quantum cascade laser (QCL)-based infrared (IR) imaging as an alternative diagnostic tool for MSI-H in CRC. We analyzed samples from 100 patients with sporadic CRC UICC stage II and III. Forty samples were used to develop the random forest classifier and 60 samples to verify the results on an independent blinded dataset. Specifically, 100% sensitivity and 93% specificity were achieved based on the independent 30 MSI-H- and 30 microsatellite stable (MSS)-patient validation cohort. This showed that QCL-based IR imaging is able to distinguish between MSI-H and MSS for sporadic CRC - a question that goes beyond morphological features - based on the use of spatially resolved infrared spectra used as biomolecular fingerprints.
A novel device for elimination of cancer cells from blood specimens
Authors: Weth Agnes , Krol Ilona , Priesner Kurt , Donato Cinzia , Pirker Stefan , Wolf Christoph , Aceto Nicola , Baumgartner Werner 
Published: June 2020

AbstractCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) are derivatives of solid cancerous lesions that detach from the tumor mass and enter the blood circulation. CTCs are considered to be the precursors of metastasis in several cancer types. They are present in the blood of cancer patients as single cells or clusters, with the latter being associated with a higher metastatic potential. Methods to eliminate CTCs from the bloodstream are currently lacking. Here, we took advantage of the lower shear stress-resistance of cancer cells compared to blood cells, and developed a device that can eliminate cancer cells without blood damage. The device consists of an axial pump and a coupled rotating throttle, controllable to prevent local blood flow impairment, yet maintaining a constant shear performance. When processing cancer cells through our device, we observe cancer cell-cluster disruption and viability reduction of single cancer cells, without noticeable effects on human blood cells. When injecting cancer cell-containing samples into tumor-free recipient mice, processed samples fail to generate metastasis. Together, our data show that a selective disruption of cancer cells is possible while preserving blood cells, paving the way towards the development of novel, implantable tools for CTC disruption and metastasis prevention.
Development of metal adaptation in a tropical marine zooplankton
Authors: Dinh Khuong V. , Dinh Hanh T. , Pham Hong T. , Selck Henriette , Truong Kiem N. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractTropical marine ecosystems are highly vulnerable to pollution and climate change. It is relatively unknown how tropical species may develop an increased tolerance to these stressors and the cost of adaptations. We addressed these issues by exposing a keystone tropical marine copepod, Pseudodiaptomus annandalei, to copper (Cu) for 7 generations (F1–F7) during three treatments: control, Cu and pCu (the recovery treatment). In F7, we tested the “contaminant-induced climate change sensitivity” hypothesis (TICS) by exposing copepods to Cu and extreme temperature. We tracked fitness and productivity of all generations. In F1, Cu did not affect survival and grazing but decreased nauplii production. In F2-F4, male survival, grazing, and nauplii production were lower in Cu, but recovered in pCu, indicating transgenerational plasticity. Strikingly, in F5-F6 nauplii production of Cu-exposed females increased, and did not recover in pCu. The earlier result suggests an increased Cu tolerance while the latter result revealed its cost. In F7, extreme temperature resulted in more pronounced reductions in grazing, and nauplii production of Cu or pCu than in control, supporting TICS. The results suggest that widespread pollution in tropical regions may result in high vulnerability of species in these regions to climate change.
Emulating tightly bound electrons in crystalline solids using mechanical waves
Authors: Ramírez-Ramírez F. , Flores-Olmedo E. , Báez G. , Sadurní E. , Méndez-Sánchez R. A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractSolid state physics deals with systems composed of atoms with strongly bound electrons. The tunneling probability of each electron is determined by interactions that typically extend to neighboring sites, as their corresponding wave amplitudes decay rapidly away from an isolated atomic core. This kind of description is essential in condensed-matter physics, and it rules the electronic transport properties of metals, insulators and many other solid-state systems. The corresponding phenomenology is well captured by tight-binding models, where the electronic band structure emerges from atomic orbitals of isolated atoms plus their coupling to neighboring sites in a crystal. In this work, a mechanical system that emulates dynamically a quantum tightly bound electron is built. This is done by connecting mechanical resonators via locally periodic aluminum bars acting as couplers. When the frequency of a particular resonator lies within the frequency gap of a coupler, the vibrational wave amplitude imitates a bound electron orbital. The localization of the wave at the resonator site and its exponential decay along the coupler are experimentally verified. The quantum dynamical tight-binding model and frequency measurements in mechanical structures show an excellent agreement. Some applications in atomic and condensed matter physics are suggested.
Investigation of hindered phenol antioxidant effects on the aging performance of cross-linked LDPE in the presence of copper
Authors: Li Jianxi , Zhou Cheng , Xu Siyi , Shen Liguo 
Published: June 2020

AbstractIn this study, LDPE materials with different kinds of antioxidants were prepared by melt-blending method. To reveal the aging mechanism and the anti-oxidation efficiency of LDPE in the presence of copper, series of characterizations including tensile testing, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and computation simulation were performed. The experimental results indicated that the aging process significantly decreased the tensile strength and elongation of those aged samples except 1024, which retarded the aging degradation of LDPE at the same condition. These results were further confirmed by the FTIR analysis with the carbonyl index values. Additionally, the melting peaks of DSC plots became broader and shifted to the lower temperatures during the aging process for S-0, S-3114 and S-1010, whereas no obvious changes were observed for S-1024. Importantly, according to the results obtained from computation simulation, a strong metal-ligand interaction between hydrazide group and copper ions was formed to prevent the further oxidation, which accounted for the excellent anti-oxidation behavior of 1024 for LDPE in the presence of copper.
Relationship between presarcopenia and event occurrence in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Takada Hitomi , Amemiya Fumitake , Yasumura Tomoki , Yoda Hiroki , Okuwaki Tetsuya , Imagawa Naoto , Shimamura Naruki , Tanaka Keisuke , Kadokura Makoto , Maekawa Shinya , Enomoto Nobuyuki 
Published: June 2020

AbstractPresarcopenia is a prognostic factor in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The Japan integrated staging (JIS) score is a prognostic method that combines the Child–Turcotte–Pugh classification and the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging for HCC. We investigated the relationship between presarcopenia, the JIS score, and prognosis in patients with primary HCC. This retrospective study included 153 patients with primary HCC who were hospitalized from October 2011 to March 2018 at Municipal Hospital of Kofu. The skeletal muscle mass was measured using simplified psoas muscle mass index (PMI) based on CT imaging, and PMI using the volume analyzer SYNAPSE VINCENT ver3.0. We diagnosed presarcopenia based on the cut off value according to the assessment criteria for sarcopenia in liver disease defined by the Japan Society of Hepatology. Forty-three patients (28%) were diagnosed with presarcopenia. The median event-free survival was significantly worse in patients with presarcopenia than those without presarcopenia (P = 0.016). In multivariate analysis, presence of presarcopenia, JIS score ≥3, alpha-fetoprotein ≥200 ng/ml, and prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence-II ≥ 200 mAU/ml were significant prognostic factors. Among the patients with JIS scores ≥3, there was no difference in the event occurrence rate with presence of presarcopenia (P = 0.96). Among the patients with JIS scores ≤2, the median event-free-survival was significantly shorter in those with presarcopenia than those without presarcopenia (P = 0.045). Presarcopenia was an independent prognostic factor in patients with primary HCC. In patients with JIS scores ≤2, the median event-free survival was significantly shorter in those with presarcopenia compared to those without presarcopenia. In the patients with JIS scores ≥3, there was no difference in the event occurrence rates in those with and without presarcopenia.
Multi-domain structures in spheroidal Co nanoparticles
Authors: Usov N. A. , Nesmeyanov M. S. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe structure of multi-domain micromagnetic states in hcp cobalt nanoparticles of spheroidal shape has been studied using numerical simulation in the range of diameters 20–200 nm. The single-domain diameters of the particles are determined depending on their aspect ratio. The complicated vortex structure of domain walls for two- and three-domain micromagnetic configurations is investigated. It has been shown that three domain states are actually strongly deformed two vortex states. In hcp cobalt particles of sufficiently large sizes two types of three-domain micromagnetic states with close total energies have been obtained. They differ in different magnetization directions of the exchange cores of the vortex domain walls. The remanent magnetization of particles has been calculated for two- and three-domain micromagnetic states. The single-domain diameters of fcc cobalt nanoparticles with cubic type of magnetic anisotropy were also calculated.