bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Changes in emm types and superantigen gene content of Streptococcus pyogenes causing invasive infections in Portugal
Authors: Friães A. , Melo-Cristino J. , Ramirez M. ,   Portuguese Group for the Study of Streptococcal Infections, Vaz Teresa , Gião Marília , Ferreira Rui , Fonseca Ana Buschy , Oliveira Henrique , Silva Ana Cristina , Costa Hermínia , Pinto Margarida , Chantre Odete , Marques João , Peres Isabel , Daniel Isabel , Canas Ema , Ferreira Teresa , Marcelo Cristina , Monteiro Lurdes , Lito Luís Marques , Marques Teresa , Martins Filomena , Pessanha Maria Ana , Gonçalves Elsa , Morais Teresa , Lopes Paulo , Felício Luísa , Lameirão Angelina , Vieira Ana Paula Mota , Tomaz Margarida , Bento Rosa , Ramos Maria Helena , Castro Ana Paula , Fonseca Fernando , Castro Ana Paula , Ribeiro Graça , Tomé Rui , Pontes Celeste , Boaventura Luísa , Canhoto Nuno , Afonso Teresa , Pina Teresa , Peres Helena , Fontes Ilse , Martinho Paulo , Domingos Ana , Marrão Gina , Grossinho José , Ribeiro Manuela , Faustino Alberta , Alves Adelaide , Pinheiro Maria Paula , Semedo R. , Coutinho Adriana , Cabral Luísa , Neto Olga , Sancho Luísa , Diogo José , Rodrigues Ana , Nascimento Isabel , Ramalheira Elmano , Bessa Fernanda , Marques I. , Ribeiro José Miguel , Read Maria Antónia , Alves Valquíria , Raposo Engrácia , Magalhães Maria Lurdes , Rochas Helena , Silva Anabela , Rodrigues Margarida , Meneses Maria Favila , de Sousa José Germano , Viana Mariana Bettencourt , Terra Isaura , Rodrigues Vitória , Pereira Patrícia , Duarte Jesuína , Pinto Paula , Moreira Ezequiel , Ferreira João Ataíde , Vicente Adília , Paixão Paulo , Novais Natália 
Published: December 2019

AbstractFluctuations in the clonal composition of Group AStreptococcus(GAS) have been associated with the emergence of successful lineages and with upsurges of invasive infections (iGAS). This study aimed at identifying changes in the clones causing iGAS in Portugal. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing,emmtyping and superantigen (SAg) gene profiling were performed for 381 iGAS isolates from 2010–2015. Macrolide resistance decreased to 4%, accompanied by the disappearance of the M phenotype and an increase of the iMLSBphenotype. The dominantemmtypes were:emm1 (28%),emm89 (11%),emm3 (9%),emm12 (8%), andemm6 (7%). There were no significant changes in the prevalence of individualemmtypes,emmclusters, or SAg profiles when comparing to 2006–2009, although an overall increasing trend was recorded during 2000–2015 foremm1,emm75, andemm87. Short-term increases in the prevalence ofemm3,emm6, andemm75 may have been driven by concomitant SAg profile changes observed within theseemmtypes, or reflect the emergence of novel genomic variants of the sameemmtypes carrying different SAgs.
Thawed Mesenchymal Stem Cell Product Shows Comparable Immunomodulatory Potency to Cultured Cells In Vitro and in Polymicrobial Septic Animals
Authors: Tan Yuan , Salkhordeh Mahmoud , Wang Jia-Pey , McRae Andrea , Souza-Moreira Luciana , McIntyre Lauralyn , Stewart Duncan J. , Mei Shirley H. J. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects in both acute and chronic diseases. In acute inflammatory conditions like sepsis, cell therapy must be administered within hours of diagnosis, requiring “off-the-shelf” cryopreserved allogeneic cell products. However, their immunomodulatory potency, particularly in abilities to modulate innate immune cells, has not been well documented. Herein we compared the stabilities and functionalities of cultured versus thawed, donor-matched MSCs in modulating immune responses in vitro and in vivo. Cultured and thawed MSCs exhibited similar surface marker profiles and viabilities at 0 hr; however, thawed MSCs exhibited higher levels of apoptotic cells beyond 4 hrs. In vitro potency assays showed no significant difference between the abilities of both MSCs (donor-matched) to suppress proliferation of activated T cells, enhance phagocytosis of monocytes, and restore endothelial permeability after injury. Most importantly, in animals with polymicrobial sepsis, both MSCs significantly improved the phagocytic ability of peritoneal lavage cells, and reduced plasma levels of lactate and selected inflammatory cytokines without significant difference between groups. These results show comparable in vitro and in vivo immunomodulatory efficacy of thawed and fresh MSC products, providing further evidence for the utility of a cryopreserved MSC product for acute inflammatory diseases.
Exploring the microbial biotransformation of extraterrestrial material on nanometer scale
Authors: Milojevic Tetyana , Kölbl Denise , Ferrière Ludovic , Albu Mihaela , Kish Adrienne , Flemming Roberta L. , Koeberl Christian , Blazevic Amir , Zebec Ziga , Rittmann Simon K.-M. R. , Schleper Christa , Pignitter Marc , Somoza Veronika , Schimak Mario P. , Rupert Alexandra N. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractExploration of microbial-meteorite redox interactions highlights the possibility of bioprocessing of extraterrestrial metal resources and reveals specific microbial fingerprints left on extraterrestrial material. In the present study, we provide our observations on a microbial-meteorite nanoscale interface of the metal respiring thermoacidophile Metallosphaera sedula. M. sedula colonizes the stony meteorite Northwest Africa 1172 (NWA 1172; an H5 ordinary chondrite) and releases free soluble metals, with Ni ions as the most solubilized. We show the redox route of Ni ions, originating from the metallic Ni° of the meteorite grains and leading to released soluble Ni2+. Nanoscale resolution ultrastructural studies of meteorite grown M. sedula coupled to electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) points to the redox processing of Fe-bearing meteorite material. Our investigations validate the ability of M. sedula to perform the biotransformation of meteorite minerals, unravel microbial fingerprints left on meteorite material, and provide the next step towards an understanding of meteorite biogeochemistry. Our findings will serve in defining mineralogical and morphological criteria for the identification of metal-containing microfossils.
ZnO nanocrystals derived from organometallic approach: Delineating the role of organic ligand shell on physicochemical properties and nano-specific toxicity
Authors: Wolska-Pietkiewicz Małgorzata , Tokarska Katarzyna , Wojewódzka Anna , Wójcik Katarzyna , Chwojnowska Elżbieta , Grzonka Justyna , Cywiński Piotr J. , Chudy Michał , Lewiński Janusz 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe surface organic ligands have profound effect on modulation of different physicochemical parameters as well as toxicological profile of semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs). Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most versatile semiconductor material with multifarious potential applications and systematic approach to in-depth understand the interplay between ZnO NCs surface chemistry along with physicochemical properties and their nano-specific toxicity is indispensable for development of ZnO NCs-based devices and biomedical applications. To this end, we have used recently developed the one-pot self-supporting organometallic (OSSOM) approach as a model platform to synthesize a series of ZnO NCs coated with three different alkoxyacetate ligands with varying the ether tail length which simultaneously act as miniPEG prototypes. The ligand coating influence on ZnO NCs physicochemical properties including the inorganic core size, the hydrodynamic diameter, surface charge, photoluminescence (quantum yield and decay time) and ZnO NCs biological activity toward lung cells was thoroughly investigated. The resulting ZnO NCs with average core diameter of 4-5 nm and the hydrodynamic diameter of 8-13 nm exhibit high photoluminescence quantum yield reaching 33% and a dramatic slowing down of charge recombination up to 2.4 µs, which is virtually unaffected by the ligand’s character. Nano-specific ZnO NCs-induced cytotoxicity was tested using MTT assay with normal (MRC-5) and cancer (A549) human lung cell lines. Noticeably, no negative effect has been observed up to the NCs concentration of 10 µg/mL and essentially very low negative toxicological impact could be noticed at higher concentrations. In the latter case, the MTT data analysis indicate that there is a subtle interconnection between inorganic core-organic shell dimensions and toxicological profile of ZnO NCs (strikingly, the NCs coated by the carboxylate bearing a medium ether chain length exhibit the lowest toxicity level). The results demonstrate that, when fully optimized, our organometallic self-supporting approach can be a highly promising method to obtain high-quality and bio-stable ligand-coated ZnO NCs.
Trade-off between motor performance and behavioural flexibility in the action selection of cricket escape behaviour
Authors: Sato Nodoka , Shidara Hisashi , Ogawa Hiroto 
Published: December 2019

AbstractTo survive a predator’s attack successfully, animals choose appropriate actions from multiple escape responses. The motor performance of escape response governs successful survival, which implies that the action selection in escape behaviour is based on the trade-off between competing behavioural benefits. Thus, quantitative assessment of motor performance will shed light on the biological basis of decision-making. To explore the trade-off underlying the action selection, we focused on two distinct wind-elicited escape responses of crickets, running and jumping. We first hypothesized a trade-off between speed and directional accuracy. This hypothesis was rejected because crickets could control the escape direction in jumping as precisely as in running; further, jumping had advantages with regard to escape speed. Next, we assumed behavioural flexibility, including responsiveness to additional predator’s attacks, as a benefit of running. The double stimulus experiment revealed that crickets running in the first response could respond more frequently to a second stimulus and control the movement direction more precisely compared to when they chose jumping for the first response. These data suggest that not only the motor performance but also the future adaptability of subsequent behaviours are considered as behavioural benefits, which may be used for choosing appropriate escape reactions.
Determinants of post-malarial anemia in African children treated with parenteral artesunate
Authors: Scheu Katrin , Adegnika Ayola Akim , Addo Marylyn M. , Ansong Daniel , Cramer Jakob P. , Fürst Svenja , Kremsner Peter G. , Kurth Florian , Jacobs Thomas , May Jürgen , Ramharter Michael , Sylverken Justice , Vinnemeier Christof D. , Agbenyega Tsiri , Rolling Thierry 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe pathophysiology of malarial anemia is multifactorial and incompletely understood. We assessed mechanistic and risk factors for post-malarial anemia in Ghanaian and Gabonese children with severe P. falciparum malaria treated with parenteral artesunate followed by an oral artemisinin-combination therapy. We analyzed data from two independent studies in which children were followed on Days 7,14, and 28 after treatment with artesunate. Specific hematological parameters included the presence of hemoglobinopathies and erythropoietin. Presence of once-infected erythrocytes was assessed by flow cytometry in a sub-population. Of 143 children with a geometric mean parasitemia of 116,294/µL (95% CI: 95,574–141,505), 91 (88%) had anemia (Hb < 10 g/dL) at presentation. Hemoglobin increased after Day 7 correlating with increased erythropoiesis through adequate erythropoietin stimulation. 22 children (24%) remained anemic until Day 28. Post-artesunate delayed hemolysis was detected in 7 children (5%) with only minor differences in the dynamics of once-infected erythrocytes. Hyperparasitemia and hemoglobin at presentation were associated with anemia on Day 14. On Day 28 only lower hemoglobin at presentation was associated with anemia. Most children showed an adequate erythropoiesis and recovered from anemia within one month. Post-artesunate delayed hemolysis (PADH) and hyperparasitemia are associated with early malarial anemia and pre-existing anemia is the main determinant for prolonged anemia.
Skin fairness is a better predictor for impaired physical and mental health than hair redness
Authors: Flegr Jaroslav , Sýkorová Kateřina 
Published: December 2019

AbstractAbout 1–2% of people of European origin have red hair. Especially female redheads are known to suffer higher pain sensitivity and higher incidence of some disorders, including skin cancer, Parkinson’s disease and endometriosis. Recently, an explorative study performed on 7,000 subjects showed that both male and female redheads score worse on many health-related variables and express a higher incidence of cancer. Here, we ran the preregistered study on a population of 4,117 subjects who took part in an anonymous electronic survey. We confirmed that the intensity of hair redness negatively correlated with physical health, mental health, fecundity and sexual desire, and positively with the number of kinds of drugs prescribed by a doctor currently taken, and with reported symptoms of impaired mental health. It also positively correlated with certain neuropsychiatric disorders, most strongly with learning disabilities disorder and phobic disorder in men and general anxiety disorder in women. However, most of these associations disappeared when the darkness of skin was included in the models, suggesting that skin fairness, not hair redness, is responsible for the associations. We discussed two possible explanations for the observed pattern, the first based on vitamin D deficiency due to the avoidance of sunbathing by subjects with sensitive skin, including some redheads, and second based on folic acid depletion in fair skinned subjects, again including some (a different subpopulation of) redheads. It must be emphasized, however, that both of these explanations are only hypothetical as no data on the concentration of vitamin D or folic acid are available for our subjects. Our results, as well as the conclusions of current reviews, suggest that the new empirical studies on the concentration of vitamin D and folic acids in relation to skin and hair pigmentation are urgently needed.
A Weighted Genetic Risk Score of Adult Glioma Susceptibility Loci Associated with Pediatric Brain Tumor Risk
Authors: Adel Fahmideh Maral , Lavebratt Catharina , Tettamanti Giorgio , Schüz Joachim , Röösli Martin , Kjaerheim Kristina , Grotzer Michael A. , Johansen Christoffer , Kuehni Claudia E. , Lannering Birgitta , Schmidt Lisbeth S. , Darabi Hatef , Feychting Maria 
Published: December 2019

AbstractGenetic risk score (GRS) is used to demonstrate the genetic variants contributing to the polygenic architecture of complex diseases. By using a GRS, we have investigated the additive impact of the known adult glioma susceptibility loci on the pediatric brain tumor (PBT) risk and assessed the proportion of PBT heritability attributable to these susceptibility loci. A GRS was generated for PBTs based on the alleles and associated effect sizes derived from a previously published genome-wide association study on adult glioma. The GRS was calculated in CEFALO, a population-based case-control study of brain tumors in children and adolescents including saliva DNA of 245 cases and 489 controls. The unconditional logistic regression model was used to investigate the association between standardized GRS and risk of PBTs. To measure the variance explained by the effect of GRS, Nagelkerke pseudo-R2 was calculated. The GRS for adult brain tumors was associated with an increased risk of PBTs (OR 1.25 [95% CI 1.06–1.49], p = 0.009) and 0.3% of the variance in PBTs could be explained by the effect of GRS on the liability scale. This study provides evidence that heritable risks of PBTs are in-part attributable to some common genetic variants associated with adult glioma.
Shock tube‐based calibration installation for dynamic pressure transducers and performance testing
Authors: Yan Laijun , Zhang Xu , Zhang Lihu , Yao Xianghong , Qi Xinhua , Chen Yong , Zhang Long 
Published: December 2019

A shock tube‐based calibration installation for dynamic pressure transducers was designed and manufactured. The hardware of the calibration installation contained a shock tube, two pressure transmitters, three transducers for velocity measurement, a temperature transmitter, two data sampling cards and a industrial personal computer, etc. The software of the calibration installation was a data sampling and data processing system. The functions of the software included test conditions monitoring, performance parameters computation, and calibration reports generation, etc. The performance of the calibration installation was tested. The test result showed that the range of the step pressure was 9.60 kPa–1.101 MPa, the maximum rise time of the step pressure was no more than 1μs, the minimum duration of the step pressure plateau was longer than 4 ms, the fluctuation of the step pressure plateau was better than ± 2%, and the maximum 2nd order expand uncertainty of the step pressure was less than 4%. Thus the calibration installation was qualified to be a shock tube‐based dynamic pressure standard because that the performance of the calibration installation was verified to meet the requirements of ‘Verification Regulation of Dynamic Pressure transducers’ and ‘Verification Regulation of Dynamic Pressure standards’.
Research on optimisation processing of spatiotemporal correlation temperature and humidity data based on wireless sensor networks in cigarette factory
Authors: Liao Yusheng , Ran Jingwang , Zhou Xianjiang 
Published: December 2019

The tobacco leaves have higher requirements on the environment during production and storage, especially for the temperature and humidity. In order to improve the quality of tobacco leaves, it is necessary to accurately monitor the temperature and humidity and optimise the parameters involved in the control. Based on the temperature and humidity monitoring system of cigarette factory, the authors optimised the temperature and humidity data obtained by wireless sensors. The data quality evaluation indicators were designed, and the Dixon criterion was used to eliminate gross errors in individual data instance. The abnormal data detection mechanism is designed to eliminate the fault data in multiple data instances by the similarity criteria among neighbour nodes in the area. In order to solve the problem of excessive computation caused by node explosion, extended rules of healthy node judgment were designed. Through the actual operation of the system for >6 months, the algorithm maintains good fault detection capabilities for different fault models and can provide support for temperature and humidity data processing of wireless sensor networks (WSNs).
Chancen und Risiken von Metaproteomik in der Mikrobiomforschung
Authors: Haange Sven-Bastiaan , Jehmlich Nico , Jacobi Thomas , Bergen Martin von 
Published: December 2019

ZusammenfassungDie Erforschung des menschlichen Darmmikrobioms in den letzten 15 Jahren führte zu neuen Erkenntnissen wodurch Korrelationen und sogar Kausalitäten vieler Erkrankungen mit der Veränderungen der Mikrobiota beschrieben werden konnten. Wegbereitend für die Analyse der Mikrobiota von in vivo Proben war dabei die Entwicklung der sogenannten Meta-omics Methoden, insbesondere die 16 S rRNA Gensequenzierung und die Metagenomik. Jedoch hat die taxonomische Zusammensetzung der Darmmikrobiota aufgrund der hohen funktionellen Redundanz und Vielfältigkeit des Stoffwechselpotentials einzelner Bakterienarten nur geringe Vorhersagekraft bezüglich ihrer tatsächlichen Funktionalität. Aus diesem Grund wurden metaproteomische und metabolische Markierungsmethoden mit stabilen Isotopen (Protein-SIP) entwickelt. Wenn man die Gesamtanzahl der Proteine einer mikrobiellen Gemeinschaft betrachtet, können somit Informationen zur taxonomischen Verteilung, metabolischer Funktion, metabolischer Aktivität sowie für die Funktion der Mikrobiota Schlüsselarten identifiziert werden.Der Fokus des Artikels liegt auf der Methode Metaproteomik sowie der proteinbasierten Stabil-Isotopen-Markierung (Protein-SIP), weil diese Ansätze funktionelle und taxonomische Ergebnisse vereinen. Zusätzlich werden Chancen aber auch Risiken betrachtet, mit denen die Methoden naturgemäß einhergehen.
Fäkaler Mikrobiom-Transfer (FMT) – eine Übersicht
Authors: Lübbert Christoph 
Published: December 2019

ZusammenfassungDie humane intestinale Mikrobiota hat wichtige metabolische und immunologische Funktionen für das Individuum und ist Bestandteil der Abwehr gegenüber pathogenen Erregern im Gastrointestinaltrakt. Antibiotika, Probiotika, diätetische Maßnahmen wie Präbiotika sowie als relativ neu etablierte Methode der fäkale Mikrobiom-Transfer (FMT, auch fäkale Mikrobiota-Transplantation) können die Zusammensetzung des intestinalen Mikrobioms beeinflussen. Als FMT wird die Übertragung von Stuhlmikroorganismen, vornehmlich Bakterien, aber auch Bakteriophagen, Pilzen und Viren eines gesunden humanen Spenders in den Gastrointestinaltrakt eines Patienten bezeichnet. Diese Maßnahme soll der Wiederherstellung einer normalen Darmmikrobiota bei Patienten mit einer Dysbiose-assoziierten Erkrankung dienen. Die bislang einzige Indikation für einen FMT ist die multipel rezidivierende Clostridioides difficile-Infektion (CDI). Über 85 % betroffener Patienten können in dieser Situation durch eine „Stuhltransplantation“ erfolgreich und dauerhaft geheilt werden. Als mögliche weitere Anwendungsgebiete werden chronisch-entzündliche und funktionelle Darmerkrankungen, nicht-alkoholisch bedingte Fettlebererkrankung, Insulinresistenz, morbide Adipositas, multiple Sklerose (MS) oder idiopathische thrombozytopenische Purpura (ITP) diskutiert. Die Evaluation in klinischen Studien ist noch unvollständig. Die Durchführung des FMT unterliegt in Deutschland dem Arzneimittelgesetz (AMG) als individuelle Heilmittelzubereitung, an deren Herstellung und Durchführung der behandelnde Arzt verantwortlich und persönlich beteiligt sein muss. Notwendig ist eine sorgfältige Spenderselektion durch genaue Anamnese, klinische Untersuchung, Blut- und Stuhluntersuchungen.
Radiofrequency Ablation, Where It Stands in Interventional Radiology Today
Authors: Patel Vipulkumar , Ritchie Charles A. , Padula Carlos , McKinney J. Mark 
Published: December 2019

AbstractRadiofrequency ablation (RFA) is one of the first developed minimally invasive definitive cancer therapies. The safety and efficacy of RFA is well documented and has led to its incorporation into multiple international societal guidelines. By expanding on the body of knowledge acquired during the clinical use of RFA, alternative ablative technologies have emerged and are successfully competing for locoregional therapy market share. The adaption of newer ablative technologies is leading to a rapid decline in the utilization of RFA by interventional radiologists despite the lack of proven superiority. In their 2010 article, Hong and Georgiades stated “… RFA is likely to remain the mainstay of ablations for small tumors until sufficient experience emerges for the widespread acceptance for alternative ablative modalities.” Within a decade of this publication, has this time arrived?