bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Proof-of-concept for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in human preadipocytes: Deletion of FKBP5 and PPARG and effects on adipocyte differentiation and metabolism
Authors: Kamble Prasad G. , Hetty Susanne , Vranic Milica , Almby Kristina , Castillejo-López Casimiro , Abalo Xesús M. , Pereira Maria J. , Eriksson Jan W. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractCRISPR/Cas9 has revolutionized the genome-editing field. So far, successful application in human adipose tissue has not been convincingly shown. We present a method for gene knockout using electroporation in preadipocytes from human adipose tissue that achieved at least 90% efficiency without any need for selection of edited cells or clonal isolation. We knocked out the FKBP5 and PPARG genes in preadipocytes and studied the resulting phenotypes. PPARG knockout prevented differentiation into adipocytes. Conversely, deletion of FKBP51, the protein coded by the FKBP5 gene, did not affect adipogenesis. Instead, it markedly modulated glucocorticoid effects on adipocyte glucose metabolism and, furthermore, we show some evidence of altered transcriptional activity of glucocorticoid receptors. This has potential implications for the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The reported method is simple, easy to adapt, and enables the use of human primary preadipocytes instead of animal adipose cell models to assess the role of key genes and their products in adipose tissue development, metabolism and pathobiology.
Isothermal crystallization kinetics of (Cu60Zr25Ti15)99.3Nb0.7 bulk metallic glass
Authors: Mandal Soumen , Lee Dong-Eun , Park Taejoon 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis paper reports the crystallization kinetics of (Cu60Zr25Ti15)99.3Nb0.7bulk metallic glass under isothermal conditions. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been employed for isothermal annealing at ten different temperatures prior to the onset of crystallization (To) temperature. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy have been used to confirm the amorphous structure of the as cast sample. Crystallized volume fractions (x) are calculated from the exothermic peaks of DSC scans. Crystallized volume fractions (x) against time show sigmoidal type of curves as well as the curves become steeper at higher annealing temperatures. Continuous heating transformation diagram has been simulated to understand the stability of the bulk metallic glass. Crystallization kinetics parameters are calculated using Arrhenius and Johnson–Mehl–Avrami equations. Activation energy (Ea) and Avrami exponential factor (n) have exhibited strong correlation with crystallized volume fraction (x). The average activation energy for isothermal crystallization is found to be 330 ± 30 kJ/mol by Arrhenius equation. Nucleation activation energy (Enucleation) is found to be higher than that of growth activation energy (Egrowth). The Avrami exponential factor (n) indicates about the diffusion controlled mechanism of the nucleation and three-dimensional growth.
Rescue of mutant gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor function independent of cognate receptor activity
Authors: Smith Emery , Janovick Jo Ann , Bannister Thomas D. , Shumate Justin , Ganapathy Vadivel , Scampavia Louis , Spicer Timothy P. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractMolecules that correct the folding of protein mutants, restoring their functional trafficking, are called pharmacoperones. Most are clinically irrelevant and possess intrinsic antagonist or agonist activity. Here, we identify compounds capable of rescuing the activity of mutant gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor or GnRHR which, is sequestered within the cell and if dysfunctional leads to Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism. To do this we screened the E90K GnRHR mutant vs. a library of 645,000 compounds using a cell-based calcium detection system. Ultimately, we identified 399 compounds with EC50 ≤ 5 µM with no effect in counterscreen assays. Medicinal chemistry efforts confirmed activity of 70 pure samples and mode of action studies, including radioligand binding, inositol phosphate, and toxicity assays, proved that we have a series of tractable compounds that can be categorized into structural clusters. These early lead molecules rescue mutant GnRHR function and are neither agonist nor antagonists of the GnRHR cognate receptor, a feature required for potential clinical utility.
The dose–response characteristics of four NTCP models: using a novel CT-based radiomic method to quantify radiation-induced lung density changes
Authors: Begosh-Mayne Dustin , Kumar Shruti Siva , Toffel Steven , Okunieff Paul , O’Dell Walter 
Published: June 2020

AbstractMultiple competing normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models have been proposed for predicting symptomatic radiation-induced lung injury in human. In this paper we tested the efficacy of four common NTCP models applied quantitatively to sub-clinical X-ray computed tomography (CT)-density changes in the lung following radiotherapy. Radiotherapy planning datasets and follow-up chest CTs were obtained in eight patients treated for targets within the lung or hilar region. Image pixel-wise radiation dose exposure versus change in observable CT Hounsfield units was recorded for early (2–5 months) and late (6–9 months) time-points. Four NTCP models, Lyman, Logistic, Weibull and Poisson, were fit to the population data. The quality of fits was assessed by five statistical criteria. All four models fit the data significantly (p < 0.05) well at early, late and cumulative time points. The Lyman model fitted best for early effects while the Weibull Model fitted best for late effects. No significant difference was found between the fits of the models and with respect to parameters D50 and γ50. The D50 estimates were more robust than γ50 to image registration error. For analyzing population-based sub-clinical CT pixel intensity-based dose response, all four models performed well.
Quantitative SPECT/CT for differentiating between enchondroma and grade I chondrosarcoma
Authors: Choi Woo Hee , Han Eun Ji , Chang Ki Bong , Joo Min Wook 
Published: June 2020

AbstractAlthough differentiation between central chondroid tumors is important, their parallelism makes it a diagnostic conundrum for clinicians and radiologists. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of quantitative single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) in differentiating grade I chondrosarcomas from enchondromas. We reviewed SPECT/CT images of patients with enchondromas and grade I chondrosarcomas arising in the long bones. Volume, mean standardized uptake value (SUVmean), and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of tumors were calculated from SPECT/CT images. In addition, clinical characteristics and radiological information were assessed. Of a total of 34 patients, 14 had chondrosarcomas. Chondrosarcoma group had significantly larger volume, and higher SUVmean and SUVmax of tumors than enchondroma group. There was no significant difference in age and tumor size between two groups. Areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUCs) for tumor volume, SUVmean, and SUVmax were 0.727, 0.757, and 0.875. In pairwise analyses, SUVmax had larger AUC than SUVmean (p = 0.0216). With a cut-off value of 15.6 for SUVmax, its sensitivity and specificity were 86% and 75% for differentiating between enchondroma and grade I chondrosarcoma. Quantitative SPECT/CT is a potential method to differentiate grade I chondroarcomas from enchondromas in patients with central chondroid tumors.
The Effects of Performing Mental Exertion during Cycling Exercise on Fatigue Indices
Authors: Barzegarpoor Hamidreza , Amoozi Hamid , Rajabi Hamid , Button Duane , Fayazmilani Rana 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis study investigated the effect of performing prolonged mental exertion during
submaximal cycling exercise on exercise tolerance and fatigue. Participants
performed 5 experimental sessions. Session 1: determination of cycling peak
power output. Sessions 2 and 3: cycling to exhaustion at 65% peak power
output with mental exertion or watching a movie. Sessions 4 and 5: cycling for
45 min at 65% peak power output with mental exertion or while watching a
movie. During sessions 2–5, rate of perceived exertion and heart rate
were recorded while cycling and cortisol and prolactin concentrations,
psychomotor vigilance task performance, and maximal voluntary contraction were
measured pre-and post-sessions. During sessions 2 and 3, time to exhaustion was
reduced (p<0.01) and rate of perceived exertion was increased
(p<0.01) in session 2 compared to 3. Cortisol, prolactin and
heart rate increased and psychomotor vigilance task and maximal voluntary
contraction decreased from pre-to post-sessions with no difference between
sessions. Cortisol, prolactin and rate of perceived exertion were higher
(p<0.03) in session 4 than 5. Heart rate increased and
maximal voluntary contraction decreased from pre-to post-sessions with no
difference between sessions. Prolonged mental exertion during cycling exercise
reduces exercise tolerance, which appears to be mediated psychologically rather
than physiologically.
Total Hospital Costs and Readmission Rate of Patient-Specific Instrument in Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients
Authors: Thomas Stephen , Patel Ankur , Patrick Corey , Delhougne Gary 
Published: June 2020

AbstractDespite advancements in surgical technique and component design, implant loosening, stiffness, and instability remain leading causes of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) failure. Patient-specific instruments (PSI) aid in surgical precision and in implant positioning and ultimately reduce readmissions and revisions in TKA. The objective of the study was to evaluate total hospital cost and readmission rate at 30, 60, 90, and 365 days in PSI-guided TKA patients. We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent a primary TKA for osteoarthritis from the Premier Perspective Database between 2014 and 2017 Q2. TKA with PSI patients were identified using appropriate keywords from billing records and compared against patients without PSI. Patients were excluded if they were < 21 years of age; outpatient hospital discharges; evidence of revision TKA; bilateral TKA in same discharge or different discharges. 1:1 propensity score matching was used to control patients, hospital, and clinical characteristics. Generalized Estimating Equation model with appropriate distribution and link function were used to estimate hospital related cost while logistic regression models were used to estimate 30, 60, and 90 days and 1-year readmission rate. The study matched 3,358 TKAs with PSI with TKA without PSI patients. Mean total hospital costs were statistically significantly (p < 0.0001) lower for TKA with PSI ($14,910; 95% confidence interval [CI]: $14,735–$15,087) than TKA without PSI patients ($16,018; 95% CI: $15,826–$16,212). TKA with PSI patients were 31% (odds ratio [OR]: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.51–0.95; p-value = 0.0218) less likely to be readmitted at 30 days; 35% (OR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.50–0.86; p-value = 0.0022) less likely to be readmitted at 60 days; 32% (OR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.53–0.88; p-value = 0.0031) less likely to be readmitted at 90 days; 28% (OR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.60–0.86; p-value = 0.0004) less likely to be readmitted at 365 days than TKA without PSI patients. Hospitals and health care professionals can use retrospective real-world data to make informed decisions on using PSI to reduce hospital cost and readmission rate, and improve outcomes in TKA patients.
PrEP in the press
Authors: Jones Lucy , Collins Luke 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThis research reports on newspaper representations of PrEP, a HIV-prevention drug recently made available on a trial basis to at-risk individuals in England. Using corpus-assisted queer critical discourse analysis, we investigate the linguistic representations of the users of PrEP within three leading British newspapers from across the political spectrum between 2014–18. We find that users of PrEP are most frequently positioned as ‘men who have sex with men’ or ‘gay men’, a representation that we argue limits public awareness of HIV itself, and of available HIV prevention. Furthermore, while the most left-leaning newspaper in our corpus focuses on the human benefit of PrEP, the most right-leaning newspaper takes a moralistic stance which frames gay men as risk-taking and therefore less deserving of healthcare funding than other groups. We therefore argue that certain representations of PrEP’s beneficiaries are implicitly homophobic, and that most representations are unhelpfully restrictive.
A comparison of abstract and concrete mass nouns in terms of their
interaction with quantificational determiners
Authors: Hinterwimmer Stefan 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
In this paper, I compare concrete mass nouns such as
water with abstract mass nouns derived from gradable
adjectives like generosity in terms of their interaction
with quantificational determiners. The main focus is on vague quantifiers
such as a lot and little, on the one hand,
and specificity markers such as a certain, on the other. In
both cases the crucial factor setting the abstract mass nouns apart from the
concrete ones is that the latter make available only a quantity/cardinality
related scale for measurement and identification. The former, in contrast,
give rise to an additional reading since they are associated with a second
scale – namely one that orders the states denoted by the respective noun
according to the degree with which they instantiate the corresponding
property.
The impact of beetroot juice supplementation on muscular endurance, maximal strength and countermovement jump performance
Authors: Jonvik Kristin L. , Hoogervorst Daan , Peelen Harmen B. , de Niet Mark , Verdijk Lex B. , van Loon Luc J. C. , van Dijk Jan‐Willem 
Published: June 2020

AbstractPurpose: Dietary nitrate has been shown to enhance muscle contractile function and has, therefore, been linked to increased muscle power and sprint exercise performance. However, the impact of dietary nitrate supplementation on maximal strength, performance and muscular endurance remains to be established. Methods: Fifteen recreationally active males (25 ± 4 y, BMI 24 ± 3 kg/m2) participated in a randomized double‐blinded cross‐over study comprising two 6‐d supplementation periods; 140 mL/d nitrate‐rich (BR; 985 mg/d) and nitrate‐depleted (PLA; 0.37 mg/d) beetroot juice. Three hours following the last supplement, we assessed countermovement jump (CMJ) performance, maximal strength and power of the upper leg by voluntary isometric (30° and 60° angle) and isokinetic contractions (60, 120, 180 and 300°·s−1), and muscular endurance (total workload) by 30 reciprocal isokinetic voluntary contractions at 180°·s−1. Results: Despite differences in plasma nitrate (BR: 879 ± 239 vs. PLA: 33 ± 13 μmol/L, P < 0.001) and nitrite (BR: 463 ± 217 vs. PLA: 176 ± 50 nmol/L, P < 0.001) concentrations prior to exercise testing, CMJ height (BR: 39.3 ± 6.3 vs. PLA: 39.6 ± 6.3 cm; P = 0.39) and muscular endurance (BR: 3.93 ± 0.69 vs. PLA: 3.90 ± 0.66 kJ; P = 0.74) were not different between treatments. In line, isometric strength (P > 0.50 for both angles) and isokinetic knee extension power (P > 0.33 for all velocities) did not differ between treatments. Isokinetic knee flexion power was significantly higher following BR compared with PLA ingestion at 60°·s−1 (P = 0.001), but not at 120°·s−1 (P = 0.24), 180°·s−1 (P = 0.066), and 300°·s−1 (P = 0.36). Conclusion: Nitrate supplementation does not improve maximal strength, countermovement jump performance and muscular endurance in healthy, active males.
Nucleon effective mass splitting and density-dependent symmetry energy effects on elliptic flow in heavy ion collisions at Elab= 0.09 ~ 1.5 GeV/nucleon *
Authors: Tong Luyao , Li Pengcheng , Li Fupeng , Wang Yongjia , Li Qingfeng , Liu Fanxin 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
By incorporating an isospin-dependent form of the momentum-dependent potential in the ultra-relativistic quantum molecular dynamics (UrQMD) model, we systematically investigate effects of the neutron-proton effective mass splitting

=

and the density-dependent nuclear symmetry energy

on the elliptic flow

in

+

collisions at beam energies from 0.09 to 1.5 GeV/nucleon. It is found that at higher beam energies (

0.25 GeV

nucleon) with the approximately 75 MeV difference in slopes of the two different

, and the variation of

ranging from –0.03 to 0.03 at saturation density with isospin asymmetry

, the

has a stronger influence on the difference in

between neutrons and protons, i.e.,

, than

has. Meanwhile, at lower beam energies (

0.25 GeV

nucleon),

is sensitive to both the

and the

. Moreover, the influence of

on

is more evident with the parameters of this study when using the soft, rather than stiff, symmetry energy.
Evolution of intrinsic nuclear structure in medium mass even-even Xenon isotopes from a microscopic perspective *
Authors: Gupta Surbhi , Bakshi Ridham , Singh Suram , Bharti Arun , Bhat G. H. , Sheikh J. A. 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
In this study, the multi-quasiparticle triaxial projected shell model (TPSM) is applied to investigate

-vibrational bands in transitional nuclei of

. We report that each triaxial intrinsic state has a

-band built on it. The TPSM approach is evaluated by the comparison of TPSM results with available experimental data, which shows a satisfactory agreement. The energy ratios, B(E2) transition rates, and signature splitting of the

-vibrational band are calculated.
A new method to test the cosmic distance duality relation using the strongly lensed gravitational waves *
Authors: Lin Hai-Nan , Li Xin 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
We propose a new method to test the cosmic distance duality relation using the strongly lensed gravitational waves. The simultaneous observation of the image positions, relative time delay between different images, redshift measurements of the lens and the source, together with the mass modelling of the lens galaxy, provide the angular diameter distance to the gravitational wave source. On the other hand, the luminosity distance to the source can be obtained from the observation of the gravitational wave signals. To our knowledge this is the first time a method is proposed to simultaneously measure the angular diameter distance and the luminosity distance from the same source. Hence, the strongly lensed gravitational waves provide a unique method to test the cosmic distance duality relation. With the construction of the third generation gravitational detectors such as the Einstein Telescope, it will be possible to test the cosmic distance duality relation with an accuracy of a few percent.
Resilience for whom? Demographic change and the redevelopment of the built environment in Puerto Rico
Authors: Keenan Jesse M , Hauer Mathew E 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
As Puerto Rico (‘PR’) makes long-term investments in the reconstruction of its built environment following Hurricanes Maria and Irma, a fundamental research question remains unanswered: who will benefit from these recovery and resilience efforts? The article presents 30-year demographic projections (2017–2047) that show current fiscal and infrastructure planning efforts overestimate the size and composition of the future PR populations who may be the direct and indirect beneficiaries of post-Hurricane recovery and resilience investments in the built environment. Our projections suggest long-term projected depopulation are inconsistently applied in the fiscal and infrastructure planning, shaping both recovery and resilience efforts. As PR moves forward with long-term plans and capital investments, consistently deployed, long-range population projections are critical for determining the optimal stewardship of public resources and as a check on the construction of a built environment that might be beyond the sustainable capacity of PR to utilize, maintain, and pay for.
Resistance of mound-building termites to anthropogenic land-use change
Authors: Davies Andrew B , Brodrick Philip G , Parr Catherine L , Asner Gregory P 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Humans pose a major threat to many species through land-use change in virtually every habitat. However, the extent of this threat is largely unknown for invertebrates due to challenges with investigating their distributions at large scales. This knowledge gap is particularly troublesome for soil macrofauna because of the critical roles many of these organisms perform as ecosystem engineers. We used a combination of high-resolution airborne Light Detection and Ranging and deep learning models to map the distribution of the ecologically important termite genus Macrotermes across a South African savanna land-use gradient, quantifying the effects of land-use change on patterns of mound densities, heights and spatial patterning. Despite significant anthropogenic alteration to landscapes, termite mounds persisted and shared a number of similarities to mounds in untransformed areas. Mean mound height was not substantially reduced in transformed landscapes, and over-dispersion of mounds at localized scales was conserved. However, mound densities were partially reduced, and height distributions in transformed areas differed to those in protected areas. Our findings suggest that mound-building termites persist even in areas of relatively high human disturbance, but also highlight important differences in termite distributions that could lead to reductions in ecosystem services provided by termites in human-modified landscapes. The persistence of at least half of mounds in human-modified landscapes could serve as starting points for savanna restoration.
Spectral properties of soft quantum waveguides
Authors: Exner Pavel 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
We consider a soft quantum waveguide described by a two-dimensional Schrödinger operator with an attractive potential in the form of a channel of a fixed profile built along an infinite smooth curve which is not straight but it is asymptotically straight in a suitable sense. Using the Birman–Schwinger principle we show that the discrete spectrum of such an operator is nonempty if the potential well defining the channel profile is deep and narrow enough. Some related problems are also mentioned.