bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Proteomic analysis of somatic embryo development in Musa spp. cv. Grand Naine (AAA)
Authors: Kumaravel Marimuthu , Uma Subbaraya , Backiyarani Suthanthiram , Saraswathi Marimuthu Somasundaram 
Published: March 2020

AbstractSomatic embryos are comparable to their zygotic counterparts for morphological traits but are derived from somatic cells through various metabolic regulations, collectively referred as somatic embryogenesis (SE). It has been well exploited for germplasm conservation, genetic engineering, mutation breeding, for artificial seed technology and as a tool for mass multiplication. Though somatic embryo development is an important area of interest in growth, and developmental studies, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, understanding the molecular basis behind somatic embryo development can provide insight into the signaling pathways integrating this process. Proteomic analysis of somatic embryo development in cv. Grand Naine (AAA) was carried out to identify the differentially expressed protein during somatic embryo development stages, using two dimensional gel electrophoresis together with mass spectrometry. In total, 25 protein spots were differentially expressed during sequential developmental stages of somatic embryos. Among these, three proteins were uniquely present in 30 days globular stage and six proteins in 60 days old mature somatic embryo. Functional annotation of identified spots showed that major proteins are involved in growth and developmental process (17%) followed by defense response (12%) and signal transportation events (12%). In the early stage, cell division and growth related proteins are involved in the induction of somatic embryos whereas in the late developmental stage, cell wall associated proteins along with stress related proteins played a defensive role against dehydration and osmotic stress and resulted in the maturation of somatic embryo. The identified stage specific proteins are valuable indicators and genetic markers for screening and for media manipulation to improve SE efficiency in recalcitrant crops and varieties.
A percolation model for the emergence of the Bitcoin Lightning Network
Authors: Bartolucci Silvia , Caccioli Fabio , Vivo Pierpaolo 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThe Lightning Network is a so-called second-layer technology built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain to provide “off-chain” fast payment channels between users, which means that not all transactions are settled and stored on the main blockchain. In this paper, we model the emergence of the Lightning Network as a (bond) percolation process and we explore how the distributional properties of the volume and size of transactions per user may impact its feasibility. The agents are all able to reciprocally transfer Bitcoins using the main blockchain and also – if economically convenient – to open a channel on the Lightning Network and transact “off chain”. We base our approach on fitness-dependent network models: as in real life, a Lightning channel is opened with a probability that depends on the “fitness” of the concurring nodes, which in turn depends on wealth and volume of transactions. The emergence of a connected component is studied numerically and analytically as a function of the parameters, and the phase transition separating regions in the phase space where the Lightning Network is sustainable or not is elucidated. We characterize the phase diagram determining the minimal volume of transactions that would make the Lightning Network sustainable for a given level of fees or, alternatively, the maximal cost the Lightning ecosystem may impose for a given average volume of transactions. The model includes parameters that could be in principle estimated from publicly available data once the evolution of the Lighting Network will have reached a stationary operable state, and is fairly robust against different choices of the distributions of parameters and fitness kernels.
Efficacy and safety at 6 months of the XEN implant for the management of open angle glaucoma
Authors: Buffault Juliette , Graber Martin , Bensmail Djawed , Bluwol Élisa , Jeanteur Marie-Nathalie , Abitbol Olivia , Benhatchi Nassima , Sauvan Lauren , Lachkar Yves 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and complications of the XEN implant as a solo procedure or in association with cataract surgery in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG). All patients who received a XEN implant between June 2017 and June 2018 were included in the study. The primary and secondary outcomes were: the reduction of the intraocular pressure (IOP) at 6 months postoperatively, the decrease of the glaucoma medications 6 months after surgery, the clinical success rate (eyes (%) achieving ≥20% IOP reduction on the same or fewer medications without secondary surgical intervention), the frequency and type of postoperative interventions as well as the complication rate. We included one hundred and seven eyes from 97 patients with primary OAG (79%), or secondary OAG (21%). Seventy-seven patients (72%) received a standalone XEN implantation and 30 (28%) underwent XEN implantation combined with phacoemusification. The IOP decreased from 20.4 mm Hg ± 6.4 preoperatively to 15.4 mm Hg ± 5.3 six months after the surgery, which represented a reduction of 24.5% (P = 1.4.10−7). It was associated with a lowering of glaucoma medications from 2.8 ± 1.0 preoperatively to 0.6 ± 1.0 six months postoperatively (P = 3.6.10−34). The clinical success rate was 67.2% six months after the surgery. The most frequent complications were: IOP spikes >30 mmHg (16.8%), improper position or angled drain (14.0%) and transient minimal hyphema (<1 week) (11.2%). During the follow-up, the needling was required in 34.6% of cases and a total of 10 eyes (9.4%) required a new glaucoma surgery. To conclude XEN implantation appears to be an effective short- and mid-term surgical technique to control IOP in OAG with a low risk of complication. However postoperative maneuvers were frequently required to maintain efficiency.
An improved method for culturing myotubes on laminins for the robust clustering of postsynaptic machinery
Authors: Pęziński Marcin , Daszczuk Patrycja , Pradhan Bhola Shankar , Lochmüller Hanns , Prószyński Tomasz J. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractMotor neurons form specialized synapses with skeletal muscle fibers, called neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). Cultured myotubes are used as a simplified in vitro system to study the postsynaptic specialization of muscles. The stimulation of myotubes with the glycoprotein agrin or laminin-111 induces the clustering of postsynaptic machinery that contains acetylcholine receptors (AChRs). When myotubes are grown on laminin-coated surfaces, AChR clusters undergo developmental remodeling to form topologically complex structures that resemble mature NMJs. Needing further exploration are the molecular processes that govern AChR cluster assembly and its developmental maturation. Here, we describe an improved protocol for culturing muscle cells to promote the formation of complex AChR clusters. We screened various laminin isoforms and showed that laminin-221 was the most potent for inducing AChR clusters, whereas laminin-121, laminin-211, and laminin-221 afforded the highest percentages of topologically complex assemblies. Human primary myotubes that were formed by myoblasts obtained from patient biopsies also assembled AChR clusters that underwent remodeling in vitro. Collectively, these results demonstrate an advancement of culturing myotubes that can facilitate high-throughput screening for potential therapeutic targets for neuromuscular disorders.
Serial evaluation of serum thymidine kinase activity is prognostic in women with newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer
Authors: Larsson Anna-Maria , Bendahl Pär-Ola , Aaltonen Kristina , Jansson Sara , Forsare Carina , Bergqvist Mattias , Jørgensen Charlotte Levin Tykjær , Rydén Lisa 
Published: March 2020

AbstractThe rapid development of new therapies in metastatic breast cancer (MBC), entails a need for improved prognostic and monitoring tools. Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is involved in DNA synthesis and its activity correlates to outcome in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum TK1 activity (sTK1) levels in MBC patients as a tool for prognostication and treatment monitoring. 142 women with MBC scheduled for 1st line systemic treatment were included in a prospective observational study. sTK1 was measured at baseline (BL) and at 1, 3 and 6 months and correlations to progression-free and overall survival (PFS, OS) evaluated. High sTK1 levels (above median) correlated to worse PFS and OS at BL, also after adjusting for other prognostic factors. sTK1 levels were significantly associated with PFS and OS measured from follow-up time points during therapy. Changes from 3 to 6 months during therapy significantly correlated to PFS and OS, whereas early changes did not. We could demonstrate sTK1 level as an independent prognostic factor in patients with newly diagnosed MBC. Changes in sTK1 levels from 3 to 6 months correlated to PFS and OS. Future studies of sTK1 are warranted to further define its clinical utility.
Mutations in disordered proteins as early indicators of nucleic acid changes triggering speciation
Authors: Forcelloni Sergio , Giansanti Andrea 
Published: March 2020

AbstractIn this study, we analyze the role of different structural variants of proteins in the speciation processes. We separate human and mouse proteomes (taken as a reference) into three previously defined variants of disorder: ordered proteins (ORDPs), structured proteins with intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs), and intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). Then, using the representation we call here Forsdyke plot, we study the correlation of DNA divergence with the corresponding protein (phenotypic) divergence in the three variants, comparing human and mouse coding sequences with their homologs from 26 eukaryotes. The parameters of the correlation are related to the speciation process. We find that the three variants of disordered proteins are differently related to the speciation process. Specifically, IDPs phenotypically diverge earlier than ORDPs and IDPRs. ORDPs diverge later but are phenotypically more reactive to nucleotide mutations than IDPRs and IDPs. Finally, IDPRs appear to diverge phenotypically later than IDPs, like ORDPs, but they are prone to accept mutations with rates that are similar to those of IDPs. We conclude that IDPs are involved in the early stages of the speciation process, whereas mutations in ORDPs, once speciation is initiated, accelerate phenotypic divergence.
Applying speech technologies to assess verbal memory in patients with serious mental illness
Authors: Holmlund Terje B. , Chandler Chelsea , Foltz Peter W. , Cohen Alex S. , Cheng Jian , Bernstein Jared C. , Rosenfeld Elizabeth P. , Elvevåg Brita 
Published: March 2020

AbstractVerbal memory deficits are some of the most profound neurocognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia and serious mental illness in general. As yet, their measurement in clinical settings is limited to traditional tests that allow for limited administrations and require substantial resources to deploy and score. Therefore, we developed a digital ambulatory verbal memory test with automated scoring, and repeated self-administration via smart devices. One hundred and four adults participated, comprising 25 patients with serious mental illness and 79 healthy volunteers. The study design was successful with high quality speech recordings produced to 92% of prompts (Patients: 86%, Healthy: 96%). The story recalls were both transcribed and scored by humans, and scores generated using natural language processing on transcriptions were comparable to human ratings (R = 0.83, within the range of human-to-human correlations of R = 0.73–0.89). A fully automated approach that scored transcripts generated by automatic speech recognition produced comparable and accurate scores (R = 0.82), with very high correlation to scores derived from human transcripts (R = 0.99). This study demonstrates the viability of leveraging speech technologies to facilitate the frequent assessment of verbal memory for clinical monitoring purposes in psychiatry.
Structure-based design of 2,4-diaminopyrimidine derivatives bearing a pyrrolyl group as ALK and ROS1 inhibitors
Authors: Wang Jie , Wei Shangfei , Li Tong , Xing Lingyun , Cao Meng , Jiang Nan , Guo Ming , Zuo Daiying , Zhai Xin 
Published: March 2020

Twenty-eight 2,4-diaminopyrimidine derivatives (9a–9n and 10a–10n) bearing a pyrrolyl moiety were designed and synthesized based on the co-crystal structure of ceritinib with ALKwt protein and compound 10d bearing sulfonamide (R1) and 4-methylpiperazinyl (R2) moiety was of great promising.
Paliperidone LAI and Aripiprazole LAI Plasma Level Monitoring in the
Prophylaxis of Bipolar Disorder Type I with Manic Predominance
Authors: Mauri Massimo Carlo , Reggiori Alessandra , Minutillo Alessandro , Franco Gemma , Pace Chiara Di , Paletta Silvia , Cattaneo Dario 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Introduction The objective of this study was the evaluation of utility of
plasma level monitoring in the clinical stabilizing efficacy and tolerability of
paliperidone palmitate (PP) vs. aripiprazole monohydrate (AM) in bipolar
disorder I (BD I) with manic predominance.
Methods Fifty-six outpatients of both sexes, age ranging from 18 to 65
years, affected by BD I with manic predominance, orally treated and stabilized
after acute episode for at least 2 weeks with paliperidone or aripiprazole
(n=31, paliperidone; n=25, aripiprazole) underwent a prospective
observational study of switching to the corresponding long-acting injection
(LAI) on the basis of clinical evaluation. The efficacy and tolerability of the
2 treatments were assessed by BPRS, PANSS, HAMD21, and MRS rating scales and a
check list every month for 12 months. Drug plasma levels determinations (PLs)
were performed at the same times.
Results A good clinical stability and tolerability of both drugs were
reported. Lower mean PLs of PP showed a positive effect on depressive symptoms.
AM PLs variability was associated with greater instability of manic symptoms
whereas intermediate PLs seem to have more influence on depressive
symptomatology.
Discussion PLs drug monitoring has been proven to be useful, and further
investigations to identify optimal therapeutic ranges for LAI formulations are
needed.
Influence of Tranexamic Acid on Inflammatory Signaling in Trauma
Authors: Barrett Christopher D. , Kong Yi Wen , Yaffe Michael B. 
Published: March 2020

AbstractPlasmin generation in trauma patients has wide-ranging effects, from breakdown of clots to remodeling the extracellular matrix. An evolving recognition of plasmin as a critical effector molecule in various inflammatory signals and pathways has rendered the study of plasmin(ogen) and its regulation by upstream activators and downstream targets and inhibitors key to understanding the inflammatory responses to trauma. Tranexamic acid, a widely available lysine analogue medication on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, has rapidly become one of the most commonly implemented adjunct treatments for bleeding after traumatic injury in clinical practice. In this article, we review the effects, both anti- and proinflammatory, of tranexamic acid, with a focus on the injured trauma patient.
Whole Blood for Civilian Urban Trauma Resuscitation: Historical, Present, and Future Considerations
Authors: Walsh Mark , Fries Dietmar , Moore Ernest , Moore Hunter , Thomas Scott , Kwaan Hau C. , Marsee Mathew K. , Grisoli Anne , McCauley Ross , Vande Lune Stefani , Chitta Swetha , Vyakaranam Sudhir , Waxman Dan , McCurdy Michael T. , Zimmer Donald , Patel Bhavesh , Thachil Jecko 
Published: March 2020

AbstractWhole blood (WB) has been used for more than a century for far-forward combat resuscitation. Following the Iraq/Afghanistan combat, maritime, and austere environment use of WB for the resuscitation of severely hemorrhaging patients, there has been an increasing use of WB for the civilian urban resuscitation environment population. The impetus for this was not just improved outcomes in far-forward hospitals, which had different populations and different needs than the civilian urban population, but also an application of the lessons suggested by recent 1:1:1 plasma:platelets:packed red cells fixed-ratio studies for patients with massive transfusion needs. Mechanistic, logistic, and standardization concerns have been addressed and are evolving as the WB project advances. A small number of studies have been published on WB in the civilian urban trauma population. In addition, European experience with viscoelastic testing and resuscitation with fibrinogen and prothrombin complex concentrate has provided another viewpoint regarding the choice of resuscitation strategies for severely bleeding trauma patients in urban civilian environments. There are randomized controlled trials in process, which are testing the hypothesis that WB may be beneficial for the civilian urban population. Whether WB will improve mortality significantly is now a matter of intense study, and this commentary reviews the history, mechanistic foundations, and logistical aspects for the use of WB in the civilian trauma population.
New advances in the catalysis of organic reactions by iron compounds
Authors: Khusnutdinov Ravil I. , Bayguzina Alfiya R. 
Published: March 2020

The review summarizes and systematizes the literature data on a new promising application area of iron compounds, that is, catalysis of organic reactions. The considered reactions include halogenation, formation of C−C bonds with the participation of various substrates, new methods for the synthesis of ethers and aromatic and heteroaromatic carboxylic acid esters, N-alkylation of aliphatic and aromatic amines and amidation of olefins and cyclopropane-containing hydrocarbons. The advances in the synthesis of quinolines and unusual cyclization reactions catalyzed by iron complexes are described.
The bibliography includes 144 references.
A single concept to teach mood contrastin Spanish
Authors: Solá Simón Elena 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Traditional methods for the teaching of the Spanish mood system are generally focused on the different morphosyntactic and semantic connections between the matrix and the embedded clause. This generally entails the provision of an extensive classification of subordinate clauses with the embedded verb in the subjunctive mood plus another classification with the exceptions which students need to learn/memorise in order to use them under controlled conditions. A preliminary study was carried out in which L2 learners were introduced to the subjunctive mood following a different approach (i.e. cognitive-operative). Based on the single binary opposition of declaration/non-declaration by Ruiz Campillo (2004), this approach provides a single operative value which can explain all the uses of the subjunctive without exception. The results were positive and showed that introducing Spanish mood contrast by means of this conceptual pair has the potential to improve learners’ ability to select between moods.
Unravelling the proteomic landscape of extracellular vesicles in prostate cancer by density‐based fractionation of urine
Authors: Dhondt Bert , Geeurickx Edward , Tulkens Joeri , Van Deun Jan , Vergauwen Glenn , Lippens Lien , Miinalainen Ilkka , Rappu Pekka , Heino Jyrki , Ost Piet , Lumen Nicolaas , De Wever Olivier , Hendrix An 
Published: March 2020

ABSTRACTExtracellular vesicles (EV) are increasingly being recognized as important vehicles of intercellular communication and promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cancer. Despite this enormous clinical potential, the plethora of methods to separate EV from biofluids, providing material of highly variable purity, and lacking knowledge regarding methodological repeatability pose a barrier to clinical translation. Urine is considered an ideal proximal fluid for the study of EV in urological cancers due to its direct contact with the urogenital system. We demonstrate that density‐based fractionation of urine by bottom‐up Optiprep density gradient centrifugation separates EV and soluble proteins with high specificity and repeatability. Mass spectrometry‐based proteomic analysis of urinary EV (uEV) in men with benign and malignant prostate disease allowed us to significantly expand the known human uEV proteome with high specificity and identifies a unique biological profile in prostate cancer not uncovered by the analysis of soluble proteins. In addition, profiling the proteome of EV separated from prostate tumour conditioned medium and matched uEV confirms the specificity of the identified uEV proteome for prostate cancer. Finally, a comparative proteomic analysis with uEV from patients with bladder and renal cancer provided additional evidence of the selective enrichment of protein signatures in uEV reflecting their respective cancer tissues of origin. In conclusion, this study identifies hundreds of previously undetected proteins in uEV of prostate cancer patients and provides a powerful toolbox to map uEV content and contaminants ultimately allowing biomarker discovery in urological cancers.
Inverted plasmonic lens design for nanometrology applications
Authors: Käseberg T , Siefke T , Kroker S , Bodermann B 
Published: March 2020

Abstract
Planar plasmonic lenses have attracted a great deal of interest over the last few years for their super-resolution focusing capabilites. These highly compact structures with dimensions of only a few micrometres allow for the focusing of light to sub-wavelength-sized spots with focal lengths reaching into the far-field. This offers opportunities for new methods in nanometrology; for example, applications in microscopic Mueller matrix ellipsometry setups. However, the conventional plasmonic lens is challenging to fabricate. We present a new design for plasmonic lenses, which is called the inverted plasmonic lens, to accommodate the lithographic fabrication process. In this contribution, we used numerical simulations based on the finite element method in combination with particle swarm optimization to determine ideal parameter ranges and tolerances for the design of inverted plasmonic lenses for different wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared domain and focal lengths between 5 µm and 1 mm.