bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Azithromycin combination therapy for community-acquired pneumonia: propensity score analysis
Authors: Ito Akihiro , Ishida Tadashi , Tachibana Hiromasa , Tokumasu Hironobu , Yamazaki Akio , Washio Yasuyoshi 
Published: December 2019

AbstractWhether macrolide combination therapy reduces the mortality of patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) hospitalized in the non-intensive care unit (ICU) remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of adding azithromycin to β-lactam antibiotics for such patients. This prospective cohort study enrolled consecutive patients with CAP hospitalized in the non-ICU between October 2010 and November 2016. The 30-day mortality between β-lactam and azithromycin combination therapy and β-lactam monotherapy was compared in patients classified as mild to moderate and severe according to the CURB-65, Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI), and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)/American Thoracic Society (ATS) criteria. Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) analysis was used to reduce biases. Based on the CURB-65 and PSI, combination therapy did not significantly reduce the 30-day mortality in either group (179 patients in the combination group, 952 in the monotherapy group). However, based on the IDSA/ATS criteria, combination therapy significantly reduced the 30-day mortality in patients with severe (odds ratio [OR] 0.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.007–0.57), but not non-severe pneumonia (OR 1.85, 95% CI 0.51–5.40); these results were similar after IPTW analysis. Azithromycin combination therapy significantly reduced the mortality of patients with severe CAP who met the IDSA/ATS criteria.
Adaptation of retinal ganglion cell function during flickering light in the mouse
Authors: Chou Tsung-Han , Toft-Nielsen Jonathon , Porciatti Vittorio 
Published: December 2019

AbstractRapid dilation of retinal vessels in response to flickering light (functional hyperemia) is a well-known autoregulatory response driven by increased neural activity in the inner retina. Little is known about flicker-induced changes of activity of retinal neurons themselves. We non-invasively investigated flicker-induced changes of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) function in common inbred mouse strains using the pattern electroretinogram (PERG), a sensitive measure of RGC function. Flicker was superimposed on the pattern stimulus at frequencies that did not generate measurable flicker-ERG and alter the PERG response. Transition from flicker at 101 Hz (control) to flicker at 11 Hz (test) at constant mean luminance induced a slow reduction of PERG amplitude to a minimum (39% loss in C57BL/6J mice and 52% loss in DBA/2J mice) 4–5 minutes after 11 Hz flicker onset, followed by a slow recovery to baseline over 20 minutes. Results demonstrate that the magnitude and temporal dynamics of RGC response induced by flicker at 11 Hz can be non-invasively assessed with PERG in the mouse. This allows investigating the functional phenotype of different mouse strains as well as pathological changes in glaucoma and optic nerve disease. The non-contact flicker-PERG method opens the possibility of combined assessment of neural and vascular response dynamics.
Influence of dust and sea-salt sandwich effect on precipitation chemistry over the Western Ghats during summer monsoon
Authors: Yang L. , Mukherjee S. , Pandithurai G. , Waghmare V. , Safai P. D. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractAssessment of Sea Salt (SS) and Non-Sea Salt (NSS) aerosols in rainwater is important to understand the characterization of marine and continental aerosols and their source pathways. Sea salt quantification based on standard seawater ratios are primarily constrained with high uncertainty with its own limitations. Here, by the novelty of k-mean clustering and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis, we segregate the air masses into two distinct clusters (oceanic and continental) during summer monsoon period signifying the complex intermingle of sources that act concomitantly. The rainwater composition during strong south-westerly wind regimes (cluster 2-oceanic) was profoundly linked with high sea salt and dust, whereas north-westerly low wind regimes (cluster 1-continental) showed an increase in SO42− and NO3−. However, SO42− abundance over NO3− in rain-water depicted its importance as a major acidifying ion at the region. The satellite-based observations indicate the presence of mid-tropospheric dust at the top (3–5 km) and marine sea salt at bottom acts as a “sandwich effect” for maritime clouds that leads to elevated Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, and Cl− in rainwater. This characteristic feature is unique as sea spray generation due to high surface winds and dust aloft is only seen during this period. Furthermore, four source factors (secondary inorganic aerosol, mixed dust & sea salt, biomass burning & fertilizer use, and calcium neutralization) derived from PMF analysis showed contribution from local activities as well as long-range transport as dominant sources for the rainwater species.
Synthesis and Characterization of Allyl Terpene Maleate Monomer
Authors: Gu Yan , Hummel Matthew , Muthukumarappan Kasiviswanathan , Zhao Zhendong , Gu Zhengrong 
Published: December 2019

AbstractTerpenes and their derivatives are sustainable, renewable chemicals that can be used as a complementary hydrocarbon. The exceptions are fossil-based feedstocks and lignin-based feedstocks. A simple method has been found to prepare allyl terpene maleate monomer by substitution reaction at lower reaction temperatures. Using terpenes from turpentine, maleic anhydride and allyl chloride as reactants, the synthesized monomer, terpene-diallyl maleate adduct, was prepared by D-A addition, hydrolysis, and substitution reaction. The resultant monomer was characterized for the first time. The synthesized product will be a versatile monomer and a very important intermediate, having broad application prospects. The synthesized monomer will replace similar aromatic compounds in certain applications because of its low-toxicity and sustainability. The synthesized monomer with two terminal olefin structures has great free radical polymerization potential, according to its physical and chemical properties and exploratory experimentation.
MeinteR: A framework to prioritize DNA methylation aberrations based on conformational and cis-regulatory element enrichment
Authors: Malousi Andigoni , Kouidou Sofia , Tsagiopoulou Maria , Papakonstantinou Nikos , Bouras Emmanouil , Georgiou Elisavet , Tzimagiorgis Georgios , Stamatopoulos Kostas 
Published: December 2019

AbstractDNA methylation studies have been reformed with the advent of single-base resolution arrays and bisulfite sequencing methods, enabling deeper investigation of methylation-mediated mechanisms. In addition to these advancements, numerous bioinformatics tools address important computational challenges, covering DNA methylation calling up to multi-modal interpretative analyses. However, contrary to the analytical frameworks that detect driver mutational signatures, the identification of putatively actionable epigenetic events remains an unmet need. The present work describes a novel computational framework, called MeinteR, that prioritizes critical DNA methylation events based on the following hypothesis: critical aberrations of DNA methylation more likely occur on a genomic substrate that is enriched in cis-acting regulatory elements with distinct structural characteristics, rather than in genomic “deserts”. In this context, the framework incorporates functional cis-elements, e.g. transcription factor binding sites, tentative splice sites, as well as conformational features, such as G-quadruplexes and palindromes, to identify critical epigenetic aberrations with potential implications on transcriptional regulation. The evaluation on multiple, public cancer datasets revealed significant associations between the highest-ranking loci with gene expression and known driver genes, enabling for the first time the computational identification of high impact epigenetic changes based on high-throughput DNA methylation data.
“D2 plus” lymphadenectomy is associated with improved survival in distal gastric cancer with clinical serosa invasion: a propensity score analysis
Authors: Liang Yuexiang , Cui Jingli , Cai Yaoqing , Liu Lijie , Zhou Jianghao , Li Qiang , Wu Junmei , He Donglei 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe aim of this study was to elucidate the potential impact of “D2 plus” lymphadenectomy on the long-term survival of distal gastric cancer (GC) patients with clinical serosa invasion. A total of 394 distal GC patients with clinical serosa invasion who underwent at least standard D2 lymphadenectomy were enrolled. Patients were categorized into two groups according to the extent of lymphadenectomy: D2 group and “D2 plus” group. Propensity score matching was used to adjust for the differences in baseline characteristics. In the multivariate analysis for the whole study series, extent of lymphadenectomy was an independent prognostic factor for GC patients (P = 0.011). With the strata analysis, the significant prognostic differences between the two groups were only observed in patients at the IIIa-b or N1-3a stages. After matching, patients in “D2 plus” group still demonstrated a significantly higher 5-year overall survival rate than those in D2 group (55.3% versus 43.9%, P = 0.042). The common therapeutic value index of No. 12b, No. 12p, No. 14v and No. 13 LNs was 4.6, which was close to that of No. 5 LN station. In conclusion, “D2 plus” lymphadenectomy may be associated with improved overall survival in distal GC with clinical serosa invasion.
Fast and slow dynamics for classical and quantum walks on mean-field small world networks
Authors: Souza Andre M. C. , Andrade Roberto F. S. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThis work investigates the dynamical properties of classical and quantum random walks on mean-field small-world (MFSW) networks in the continuous time version. The adopted formalism profits from the large number of exact mathematical properties of their adjacency and Laplacian matrices. Exact expressions for both transition probabilities in terms of Bessel functions are derived. Results are compared to numerical results obtained by working directly the Hamiltonian of the model. For the classical evolution, any infinitesimal amount of disorder causes an exponential decay to the asymptotic equilibrium state, in contrast to the polynomial behavior for the homogeneous case. The typical quantum oscillatory evolution has been characterized by local maxima. It indicates polynomial decay to equilibrium for any degree of disorder. The main finding of the work is the identification of a faster classical spreading as compared to the quantum counterpart. It stays in opposition to the well known diffusive and ballistic for, respectively, the classical and quantum spreading in the linear chain.
LINC00459 sponging miR-218 to elevate DKK3 inhibits proliferation and invasion in melanoma
Authors: Yang Yuhua , Xu Wenxian , Zheng Zhuojun , Cao Zhihai 
Published: December 2019

AbstractThe lncRNA biomarkers in melanoma remain to be further explored. The lncRNAs with different expression levels in melanoma tissue were identified by microarray analysis. To investigate the biological functions of target lncRNA, several in-vivo and in-vitro studies were performed. Potential mechanisms of competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) were predicted by using bioinformatics analysis and explored by western blot assay, fluorescence in situ hybridization assay, real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) array, RNA pull-down analysis, AGO2-RIP assay, and dual-luciferase reporter assay. The results demonstrated decreased LINC00459 in melanoma cell lines and tissues. According to the in-vitro and in-vivo experiments, up-regulated LINC00459 had inhibitory effect on cell proliferation and invasion. Bioinformatics analyses suggested that miR-218 could be a direct target of LINC00459. In addition, miR-218 was proved to be able to directly target the dickkopf-related protein 3 (DKK3) gene. In conclusion, our analysis suggested that the LINC00459 could sponge miR-218 and increase the expression of DKK3 gene, thus inhibiting the invasion and proliferation of melanoma cells, which indicated that the LINC00459 could be an effective biomarker for melanoma and its potential as the therapeutic target.
Noninvasive measures of physiological stress are confounded by exposure
Authors: Lafferty Diana J. R. , Zimova Marketa , Clontz Lindsay , Hackländer Klaus , Mills L. Scott 
Published: December 2019

AbstractGlucocorticoids and glucocorticoid metabolites are increasingly used to index physiological stress in wildlife. Although feces is often abundant and can be collected noninvasively, exposure to biotic and abiotic elements may influence fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations, leading to inaccurate conclusions regarding wildlife physiological stress. Using captive snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) and simulated environmental conditions, we evaluated how different realistic field conditions and temporal sampling constraints might influence FGM concentrations using an 11-oxoetiocholanolone-enzyme immunoassay. We quantified how fecal pellet age (i.e., 0–6 days), variable summer temperatures, and precipitation affected FGM concentrations. Fecal pellet age had a strong effect on FGM concentrations (βAge = 0.395, s.d. = 0.085; β2Age = −0.061, s.d. = 0.012), which were lowest at the beginning and end of our exposure period (e.g., meanday6 = 37.7 ng/mg) and typically highest in the middle (meanday3 = 51.8 ng/mg). The effect of fecal pellet age on FGM concentrations varied across treatments with warm-dry and cool-wet conditions resulting in more variable FGM concentrations relative to control samples. Given the confounding effects of exposure and environmental conditions, if fresh fecal pellet collection is not an option, we encourage researchers to develop a temporally consistent sampling protocol to ensure all samples are exposed to similar environmental conditions.
Ancient hybridization and mtDNA introgression behind current paternal leakage and heteroplasmy in hybrid zones
Authors: Mastrantonio Valentina , Urbanelli Sandra , Porretta Daniele 
Published: December 2019

AbstractHybridization between heterospecific individuals has been documented as playing a direct role in promoting paternal leakage and mitochondrial heteroplasmy in both natural populations and laboratory conditions, by relaxing the egg-sperm recognition mechanisms. Here, we tested the hypothesis that hybridization can lead to mtDNA heteroplasmy also indirectly via mtDNA introgression. By using a phylogenetic approach, we showed in two reproductively isolated beetle species, Ochthebius quadricollis and O. urbanelliae, that past mtDNA introgression occurred between them in sympatric populations. Then, by developing a multiplex allele-specific PCR assay, we showed the presence of heteroplasmic individuals and argue that their origin was through paternal leakage following mating between mtDNA-introgressed and pure conspecific individuals. Our results highlight that mtDNA introgression can contribute to promote paternal leakage, generating genetic novelty in a way that has been overlooked to date. Furthermore, they highlight that the frequency and distribution of mtDNA heteroplasmy can be deeply underestimated in natural populations, as i) the commonly used PCR-Sanger sequencing approach can fail to detect mitochondrial heteroplasmy, and ii) specific studies aimed at searching for it in populations where mtDNA-introgressed and pure individuals co-occur remain scarce, despite the fact that mtDNA introgression has been widely documented in several taxa and populations.
Multi-omics analysis of multiple missions to space reveal a theme of lipid dysregulation in mouse liver
Authors: Beheshti Afshin , Chakravarty Kaushik , Fogle Homer , Fazelinia Hossein , Silveira Willian A. da , Boyko Valery , Polo San-Huei Lai , Saravia-Butler Amanda M. , Hardiman Gary , Taylor Deanne , Galazka Jonathan M. , Costes Sylvain V. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractSpaceflight has several detrimental effects on the physiology of astronauts, many of which are recapitulated in rodent models. Mouse studies performed on the Space Shuttle showed disruption of lipid metabolism in liver. However, given that these animals were not sacrificed on-orbit and instead returned live to earth, it is unclear if these disruptions were solely induced by space stressors (e.g. microgravity, space radiation) or in part explained by the stress of return to Earth. In this work we analyzed three liver datasets from two different strains of mice (C57BL/6 (Jackson) & BALB/c (Taconic)) flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Notably, these animals were sacrificed on-orbit and exposed to varying spaceflight durations (i.e. 21, 37, and 42 days vs 13 days for the Shuttle mice). Oil Red O (ORO) staining showed abnormal lipid accumulation in all space-flown mice compared to ground controls regardless of strain or exposure duration. Similarly, transcriptomic analysis by RNA-sequencing revealed several pathways that were affected in both strains related to increased lipid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, lipid and fatty acid processing, lipid catabolic processing, and lipid localization. In addition, key upstream regulators were predicted to be commonly regulated across all conditions including Glucagon (GCG) and Insulin (INS). Moreover, quantitative proteomic analysis showed that a number of lipid related proteins were changed in the livers during spaceflight. Taken together, these data indicate that activation of lipotoxic pathways are the result of space stressors alone and this activation occurs in various genetic backgrounds during spaceflight exposures of weeks to months. If similar responses occur in humans, a prolonged change of these pathways may result in the development of liver disease and should be investigated further.
Short Communication: The Belly–Tendon Derivation Yields Superior Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Amplitudes in a Normal Pediatric Sample
Authors: Bilodeau Megan , Jacobson Gary P. , Roberts Richard A. , Hatton Kelsey 
Published: December 2019

Purpose
The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether the “belly–tendon” electrode derivation produced ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs) in children that were superior to those recorded with the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation.

Method
This was a prospective observational study using a sample of convenience at a tertiary care medical center. Subjects were 13 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years. We compared the latency of the N1 wave and the N1–P1 peak-to-peak amplitude for the belly–tendon electrode derivation to the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation.

Results
The belly–tendon electrode derivation was associated with superior N1–P1 amplitudes compared to the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation. However, the large amplitude was also associated with greater variability compared to the infraorbital–chin derivation. There were no significant electrode derivation–based differences in N1 latency. Additionally, there was no predictable relationship between age and oVEMP amplitude.

Conclusion
As shown previously in adults, the belly–tendon electrode derivation produces significantly larger oVEMP amplitudes compared to the infraorbital–chin electrode derivation.
Artemisia abrotanum L., Eberraute
Authors: Melzig Matthias F. 
Published: December 2019

ZusammenfassungDie Eberraute, Artemisia abrotanum L., ist eine seit dem Altertum bekannte Arzneipflanze, die traditionell bis ins 19. Jahrhundert bei Bronchial-, Lungen- und Darmkatarrhen genutzt wurde. In der Krautdroge sind neben ätherischem Öl v.a. Phenolsäuren, Cumarine, Flavonoide, Bitterstoffe sowie Peroxidhalbketale enthalten. Wegen des Thujongehaltes im ätherischen Öl einiger Herkünfte besitzt die Droge toxikologische Relevanz. Die pharmakologisch nur wenig untersuchte Arzneipflanze zeigt antimikrobielle, anthelminthische, repellente sowie immunmodulatorische Aktivität, die zur Behandlung der allergischen Rhinitis genutzt werden könnte. Ohne weitere klinische Studien kann die Anwendung der Droge nicht empfohlen werden.
Klostermedizin – Heilwissen aus der Antike bis heute
Authors: Mayer Johannes Gottfried 
Published: December 2019

ZusammenfassungEuropäische Klöster waren vom 8. bis zum 12. Jahrhundert wesentlich für die medizinische Versorgung. Antike Schriften dienten als Vorbild und prägten das heilkundliche Wissen. Die Klostermedizin umfasst dabei eine medizingeschichtliche Epoche, die auf die Regula Benedicti des Heiligen Benedikt zurückgeht. Die Klöster entwickelten sich zum Ort medizinischer Versorgung. Die zentralen heilkundlichen Ansätze der Klostermedizin waren die Humoralpathologie und die vier Primärqualitäten. Abhängig von den Primärqualitäten einer Erkrankung setzt man in der Klostermedizin Heilpflanzen mit jeweils gegenteiligen Qualitäten zur Behandlung ein.
Convolutional neural network enhancement of fast-scan low-dose cone-beam CT images for head and neck radiotherapy
Authors: Yuan Nimu , Dyer Brandon , Rao Shyam , Chen Quan , Benedict Stanley , Shang Lu , Kang Yan , Qi Jinyi , Rong Yi 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
To improve image quality and CT number accuracy of fast-scan low-dose cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) through a deep-learning convolutional neural network (CNN) methodology for head-and-neck (HN) radiotherapy.
Fifty-five paired CBCT and CT images from HN patients were retrospectively analysed. Among them, 15 patients underwent adaptive replanning during treatment, thus had same-day CT/CBCT pairs. The remaining 40 patients (post-operative) had paired planning CT and 1st fraction CBCT images with minimal anatomic changes. A 2D U-Net architecture with 27-layers in 5 depths was built for the CNN. CNN training was performed using data from 40 post-operative HN patients with 2080 paired CT/CBCT slices. Validation and test datasets include 5 same-day datasets with 260 slice pairs and 10 same-day datasets with 520 slice pairs, respectively. To examine the impact of differences in training dataset selection and network performance as a function of training data size, additional networks were trained using 30, 40 and 50 datasets. Image quality of enhanced CBCT images were quantitatively compared against the CT image using mean absolute error (MAE) of Hounsfield units (HU), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and structural similarity (SSIM).
Enhanced CBCT images reduced artifact distortion and improved soft tissue contrast. Networks trained with 40 datasets had imaging performance comparable to those trained with 50 datasets and outperformed those trained with 30 datasets. Comparison of CBCT and enhanced CBCT images demonstrated improvement in average MAE from 172.73 to 49.28 HU, SNR from 8.27 to 14.25 dB, and SSIM from 0.42 to 0.85. The image processing time is 2 s per patient using a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPU.
The proposed deep-leaning methodology was fast and effective for image quality enhancement of fast-scan low-dose CBCT. This method has potential to support fast online-adaptive re-planning for HN cancer patients.