bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Characterization of vector communities and biting behavior in South Sulawesi with host decoy traps and human landing catches
Authors: Davidson Jenna R. , Baskin Robert N. , Hasan Hajar , Burton Timothy A. , Wardiman Muhammad , Rahma Nur , Saputra Fadly R. , Aulya Muhammad Sultanul , Wahid Isra , Syafruddin Din , Hawkes Frances M. , Lobo Neil F. 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
Indonesia has high mosquito diversity, with circulating malaria and arboviruses. Human landing catches (HLC) are ethically questionable where arboviral transmission occurs. The host decoy trap (HDT) is an exposure-free alternative outdoor sampling device. To determine HDT efficacy for local culicids, and to characterize local mosquito fauna, the trapping efficacy of the HDT was compared to that of HLCs in one peri-urban (Lakkang) and one rural (Pucak) village in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Results
In Lakkang the outdoor HLCs collected significantly more Anopheles per night (n = 22 ± 9) than the HDT (n = 3 ± 1), while the HDT collected a significantly greater nightly average of Culex mosquitoes (n = 110 ± 42), than the outdoor HLC (n = 15.1 ± 6.0). In Pucak, there was no significant difference in Anopheles collected between trap types; however, the HDT collected significantly more Culex mosquitoes than the outdoor HLC nightly average (n = 53 ± 11 vs 14 ± 3). Significantly higher proportions of blood-fed mosquitoes were found in outdoor HLC (n = 15 ± 2%) compared to HDT (n = 2 ± 0%). More blood-fed culicines were collected with outdoor HLC compared to the HDT, while Anopheles blood-fed proportions did not differ. For the HDT, 52.6%, 36.8% and 10.5% of identified blood meals were on cow, human, and dog, respectively. Identified blood meals for outdoor HLCs were 91.9% human, 6.3% cow, and 0.9% each dog and cat. Mosquitoes from Pucak were tested for arboviruses, with one Culex pool and one Armigeres pool positive for flavivirus, and one Anopheles pool positive for alphavirus.

Conclusions
The HDT collected the highest abundance of culicine specimens. Outdoor HLCs collected the highest abundance of Anopheles specimens. Although the HDT can attract a range of different Asian mosquito genera and species, it remains to be optimized for Anopheles in Asia. The high proportion of human blood meals in mosquitoes collected by outdoor HLCs raises concerns on the potential exposure risk to collectors using this methodology and highlights the importance of continuing to optimize a host-mimic trap such as the HDT.
Newcastle disease virus induces testicular damage and disrupts steroidogenesis in specific pathogen free roosters
Authors: Rehman Zaib Ur , Ren Shanhui , Yang Bin , Yang Xiaofeng , Butt Salman Latif , Afzal Alia , Malik Muhammad Irfan , Sun Yingjie , Yu Shengqing , Meng Chunchun , Ding Chan 
Published: June 2020

AbstractNewcastle disease (ND), which is caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), can cause heavy economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. It is characterised by extensive pathologies of the digestive, respiratory, and nervous systems and can cause severe damage to the reproductive system of egg-laying hens. However, it is unknown whether NDV replicates in the male reproductive system of chickens and induces any pathologies. In this study, we selected a representative strain (i.e. ZJ1) of the most common genotype (i.e. VII) of NDV to investigate whether NDV can induce histological, hormonal, and inflammatory responses in the testes of specific pathogen free (SPF) roosters. NDV infection increased the expression of toll like receptor TLR3, TLR7, MDA5, IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, IL-8, and CXCLi1 in the testes of NDV-infected roosters at 5 days post-infection (dpi). Severe histological changes, including decrease in the number of Sertoli cells and individualized, shrunken spermatogonia with pyknotic nuclei, were observed at 3 dpi. At 5 dpi, the spermatogenic columns were disorganized, and there were fewer cells, which were replaced by necrotic cells, lipid vacuoles, and proteinaceous homogenous material. A significant decrease in the plasma concentrations of testosterone and luteinizing hormone (LH) and the mRNA expression of their receptors in the testes, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme, and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the NDV-infected group was observed relative to those in the control group (P < 0.05). Collectively, these results indicate that NDV infection induces a severe inflammatory response and histological changes, which decrease the steroidogenesis.
Novel biallelic loss-of-function variants in CEP290 cause Joubert syndrome in two siblings
Authors: Wang Xiang , Zhang Zhu , Zhang Xueguang , Shen Ying , Liu Hongqian 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
Joubert syndrome (JS) is a rare genetic disorder, which can be defined by brain stem malformation, cerebellar vermis hypoplasia, and consequent “molar tooth sign” (MTS). JS always shares variety of phenotypes in development defects. With the development of next-generation sequencing, dozens of causative genes have been identified to JS so far. Here, we investigated two male siblings with JS and uncovered a novel pathogenesis through combined methods.

Results
The siblings shared similar features of nystagmus, disorders of intellectual development, typical MTS, and abnormal morphology in fourth ventricle. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) and chromosome comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) were then performed on the proband. Strikingly, a maternal inherited nonsense variant (NM_025114.3: c.5953G>T [p.E1985*]) in CEP290 gene and a paternal inherited deletion in 12q21.32 including exons 1 to 10 of CEP290 gene were identified in the two affected siblings. We further confirmed the two variants by in vitro experiments: quantitative PCR and PCR sequencing.

Conclusions
In this study, we first reported a novel causative mechanism of Joubert syndrome: a copy number variation (CNV) combined with a single-nucleotide variant in CEP290 gene, which can be helpful in the genetic diagnosis of this disease.
Epidemiologically characteristics of human brucellosis and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Brucella melitensis in Hinggan League of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Authors: Yuan Hai-Tao , Wang Cheng-Ling , Liu Li-Na , Wang Dan , Li Dan , Li Zhen-Jun , Liu Zhi-Guo 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
Hinggan League is located in the Northeast of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the historically endemic area of animal and human brucellosis. In this study, the epidemiological characteristics of human brucellosis were analyzed, and the genotypic profile and antimicrobial susceptibilities of Brucella melitensis strains isolated from humans in Hinggan League were investigated.

Methods
The epidemic characteristics were described using case number, constituent ratio, and rate. The 418 human blood samples were collected and tested by bacteriology, and suspect colonies were isolated and identified by conventional biotyping assays, the VITEK 2.0 microbial identification system, and AMOS (Brucella abortus, B. melitensis, B. ovis, and B. suis)-PCR. Subsequently, all strains were genotyped using multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) assays, and the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Brucella strains against the 10 most commonly used antibiotics was determined by microdilution method.

Results
A total of 22 848 cases of human brucellosis were reported from 2004 to 2019, with an annual average incidence of 87.2/100 000. The incidence rates in developed areas of animal husbandry (Horqin Youyi Qianqi [161.2/100 000] and Horqin Youyi Zhongqi [112.1/100 000]) were significantly higher than those in forest areas (Arxan [19.2/100 000]) (χ2 = 32.561, P < 0.001). In addition, peak morbidity occurred during May–August, accounting for 72.6% (16582/22 848) of cases. The highest number of cases occurred in the 40+ age group, accounting for 44.4% (10 137/22484) of cases, and morbidity in males was significantly higher than that in females in all age groups (χ2 = 299.97, P < 0.001), the most common occupation was farmers. A total of 54 B. melitensis strains were divided into 37 genotypes (GT1–37) with 80–100% genetic similarity. All 25 strains were sensitive to seven tested antibiotics, phenotypic resistance to cotrimoxazole and azithromycin was observed in 5 (20%) and 25 (100%) of the isolates, respectively.

Conclusions
Human brucellosis exhibited a significant increasing trend and B. melitensis is the main pathogen responsible for human brucellosis in this region. Improved surveillance of infected animals (sheep) and limiting their transfer and trade are optional strategies for decreasing the incidence of this disease.
Optical coherence tomography features of neovascularization in proliferative diabetic retinopathy: a systematic review
Authors: Vaz-Pereira Sara , Morais-Sarmento Tiago , Esteves Marques Raquel 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness due to diabetic macular edema (DME) or complications of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive imaging technique well established for DME but less used to assess neovascularization in PDR. Developments in OCT imaging and the introduction of OCT angiography (OCTA) have shown significant potential in PDR.

Objectives
To describe the tomographic features of PDR, namely of neovascularization, both of the optic disc (NVD) and elsewhere (NVE), intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA), retinal nonperfusion areas (NPA), status of the posterior vitreous, vitreoschisis and vitreous and subhyaloid/sub-ILM hemorrhages.

Data sources
Electronic database search on PubMed and EMBASE, last run on December 19th 2019.

Study eligibility criteria, participants and interventions
Publications assessing OCT and/or OCTA findings in PDR patients. All study designs were allowed except for case-reports, conference proceedings and letters.

Study appraisal
Newcastle–Ottawa Scale for observational studies was used for purposes of risk of bias assessment.

Results
From the 1300 studies identified, 283 proceeded to full-text assessment and 60 were included in this comprehensive review. OCT was useful in detecting NVD and NVE, such as in characterizing disease activity and response to laser and/or anti-VEGF therapies. The absence of posterior vitreous detachment seemed determinant for neovascular growth, with the posterior hyaloid acting as a scaffold. OCTA allowed a more detailed characterization of the neovascular complexes, associated NPA and disease activity, allowing the quantification of neovessel area and flow index. However, changes in OCTA blood flow signal following local therapies did not necessarily correlate with structural regression. Widefield and ultra-widefield OCTA were highly sensitive in the detection of PDR, adding value to disease staging and monitoring. Compared to fluorescein angiography, OCTA was more sensitive in detecting microvascular changes indicating disease progression.

Limitations
Publication languages were restricted. Most included studies were observational and non-comparative. Risk of bias regarding case representativeness.

Conclusions
OCT-based retinal imaging technologies are advancing rapidly and the trend is to be noninvasive and wide-field. OCT has proven invaluable in diagnosing, staging and management of proliferative diabetic disease with daily application in clinical and surgical practices.
Improvement of microcirculatory impairment in patients with predialysis chronic kidney disease after AST-120 administration
Authors: Ohtake Takayasu , Mochida Yasuhiro , Ishioka Kunihiro , Moriya Hidekazu , Hidaka Sumi , Hirata Masahiro , Yamada Hirokazu , Kumagai Hiromichi , Kobayashi Shuzo 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
Endothelial dysfunction starts at an earlier stage in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and induces macro- and microcirculatory impairments. We evaluated whether uremic toxin-lowering therapy could improve endothelial function in patients with CKD.

Methods
We performed a prospective interventional trial with 30 predialysis non-diabetic CKD patients who were administered oral adsorbent AST-120 (6 g/day) for 12 months. Surrogate markers of endothelial function including flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and skin perfusion pressure (SPP) were serially evaluated along with serum indoxyl sulfate (IS) levels and renal function. Renal function was evaluated based on blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine (sCr) levels, and estimated glomerular filtration ratio (eGFR).

Results
Monthly decline in renal function (slope of reciprocal sCr) after AST-120 administration did not change compared to that during the pre-treatment period. However, serum IS levels significantly decreased at 3 months after AST-120 administration (p < 0.01), and it was sustained during the period of AST-120 administration (p < 0.01). Although FMD did not improve, SPP was constantly elevated after AST-120 administration, and was significantly higher at 12 months compared with baseline value (69.7 ± 14.6 vs. 78.8 ± 18.9 mmHg, p < 0.05). A significant correlation between the change of IS and SPP from baseline values was shown at 6 months after AST-120 administration (r = − 0.558, p = 0.02).

Conclusion
Microcirculatory impairment was improved after AST-120 administration in patients with predialysis CKD.

Trial registration
UMIN, UMIN000013577. Registered on March 31, 2014,
Influence of rotor solidity on trailing edge noise from wind turbine blades
Authors: Nukala Vasishta Bhargava , Maddula Satya Prasad 
Published: June 2020

AbstractNoise prediction from streamlined bodies such as wind turbine blades can be predicted accurately using CFD computations that use spatio-temporal turbulence models at the expense of high computational power. In this work, empirical methods proposed from BPM, Grosveld and Lowson are used to compute numerically to analyse the influence of rotor solidity factor on broadband trailing edge noise from a 2 MW horizontal axis wind turbine with a blade length of 37 m. Inputs to acoustic solver are the velocity vector field and boundary layer data which are obtained using blade element momentum and X-Foil. The outputs from acoustic solver are directivity and far field sound pressure on a receiver located at distance of 120 m from tower base. The results have shown that for a wind speed of 10 m/s measured at 10 m above ground, sound power level was found to increase between mid-bands to high frequencies for all three methods. Rotor solidity effect was illustrated at constant rotational speed of 17 RPM and receiver height of 0.5 m located in downwind position. A minimum difference of 1.5dBA was found at f ~ 100 Hz for Lowson method and maximum of ~ 2.8dBA at 1 kHz between two and three blade rotor. For BPM and Grosveld methods however, the sound levels were ~ 5dBA lower for two blade rotor than three blade rotor between f ~ 100 Hz and f ~ 1 kHz. The study also demonstrated that as number of blades increase by integral multiples, the effect on noise radiation from trailing edge of blades increase by 2-5dBA due to amplitude modulation.
Ameliorative effect of alpha lipoic acid and royal jelly against the side effects of cyclophosphamide in liver of albino rats
Authors: Abdul-Hamid Manal , Moustafa Nadia , El-Nesr Khalid A. , Abukhadra Amal M. 
Published: June 2020

Abstract
Background
Cyclophosphamide (CP) is a cytotoxic anticancer drug used for the treatment of neoplastic diseases. The present study aimed to examine biochemical, histological, and ultrastructural effects of CP on rat liver and determine the hepatoprotective effects of alpha-lipoic acid (LA) or royal jelly (RJ) against CP.

Results
The present study revealed that CP-induced significant increase in hepatic marker enzymes (ALT and AST), and elevation in malonaldehyde (MDA) was concomitant with a significant decrease of superoxide dismutase (SOD). It caused histopathological changes in the liver of rat including vacuolation, infiltration, degeneration, and necrosis. Ultrastructurally, the hepatocytes appeared degenerated with multiple small- and medium-sized lipid droplets in the cytoplasm. Kupffer cell showed a shrunken nucleus. Administration of LA and RJ resulted in an obvious improvement in the altered level of ALT, AST, MDA, and SOD activities when compared with the CP-treated group in addition to marked amelioration in histopathology and ultrastructure of the liver.

Conclusions
LA is markedly effective than RJ in protecting rats against CP-induced biochemical, histopathological, and ultrastructural changes. This protection may be due to its antioxidant properties and scavenging abilities against active free radicals.
Measuring the psychological drivers of participation in collective action to address violence against women in Mumbai, India
Authors: Gram Lu , Kanougiya Suman , Daruwalla Nayreen , Osrin David 
Published: June 2020

Background: A growing number of global health interventions involve community members in activism to prevent violence against women (VAW), but the psychological drivers of participation are presently ill-understood. We developed a new scale for measuring three proposed drivers of participation in collective action to address VAW in the context of urban informal settlements in Mumbai, India: perceived legitimacy, perceived efficacy, and collective action norms. Methods: We did a household survey of 1307 men, 1331 women, and 4 trans persons. We checked for 1) social desirability bias by comparing responses to self-administered and face-to-face interviews, 2) acquiescence bias by comparing responses to positive and negatively worded items on the same construct, 3) factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis, and 4) convergent validity by examining associations between construct scores and participation in groups to address VAW and intent to intervene in case of VAW. Results: Of the ten items, seven showed less than five percentage point difference in agreement rates between self-administered and face-to-face conditions. Correlations between opposite worded items on the same construct were negative (p<0.05), while correlations between similarly worded items were positive (p<0.001). A hierarchical factor structure showed adequate fit (Tucker-Lewis index, 0.919; root mean square error of approximation, 0.036; weighted root mean square residual, 1.949). Comparison of multi-group models across gender, education, caste, and marital status showed little evidence against measurement invariance. Perceived legitimacy, efficacy and collective action norms all predicted participation in groups to address VAW and intent to intervene in case of VAW, even after adjusting for social capital (p<0.05). Conclusion: This is the first study to operationalize a measure of the psychological drivers of participation in collective action to address VAW in a low- and middle-income context. Our novel scale may provide insight into modifiable beliefs and attitudes community mobilisation interventions can address to inspire activism in similar low-resource contexts.
A Simple Rule for Pricing with Limited Knowledge of Demand
Authors: Cohen Maxime C. , Perakis Georgia , Pindyck Robert S. 
Published: June 2020

How should a firm price a new product for which little is known about demand? We propose a simple and practical pricing rule for new products where demand information is limited. The rule is simple: Set price as though the demand curve were linear. Our pricing rule can be used if three conditions hold: the firm can estimate the maximum price it can charge and still expect to sell some units, the firm need not plan in advance the quantity it will sell, and marginal cost is known and constant. We show that if the true demand curve is one of many commonly used demand functions, or even a more complex (randomly generated) function, the firm can expect its profit to be close to what it would earn if it knew the true demand curve. We derive analytical performance bounds for a variety of demand functions, calculate expected profit performance for randomly generated demand curves, and evaluate the welfare implications of our pricing rule. We show that with limited demand information (maximum price and marginal cost), our simple pricing rule can be used for new products while often achieving a near-optimal performance. We also discuss the limitations of our method by identifying cases where our pricing rule does not perform well. This paper was accepted by Joshua Gans, business strategy.
O PNAIC: POLÍTICA DE FORMAÇÃO CONTINUADA PARA A EDUCAÇÃO INFANTIL
Authors: Lima Laís Leni , Trindade Ana Paula Ferreira Trindade Ferreira 
Published: June 2020

Este trabalho é parte de uma pesquisa em andamento que tem como temática “O PNAIC: formação continuada para a educação infantil”. Partimos da seguinte problematização: qual a importância de uma formação continuada proposta por um programa de governo no âmbito do Pacto aos professores de Educação Infantil e como esse programa de formação pode contribuir para uma educação de qualidade na pré-escola? O objetivo é apresentar o Pacto Nacional pela Alfabetização na Idade Certa (PNAIC), como um programa de treinamento de professores para efetivar mudanças na qualidade educacional da pré-escola. O PNAIC constitui um conjunto articulado de ações, materiais e referências curriculares e pedagógicas, objetivando assegurar à todas as crianças o direito de serem alfabetizadas até os oito anos de idade. É uma política de alfabetização educacional que visa melhorar a aprendizagem, inclui treinamento para professores de alfabetização que trabalham na educação infantil como garantia de uma educação de qualidade. Frente a isso, existe a necessidade de assumirmos uma concepção de formação continuada numa perspectiva crítica, que busque contemplar todas as dimensões humanas e construir a indissociabilidade entre teoria e prática, permitindo que os professores possam ressignificar sua atuação docente, produzindo conhecimentos sobre seu trabalho. Os dados mostram que os documentos analisados em relação a formação continuada no âmbito do PNAIC são passíveis de uma formação técnica e não cumpre de maneira efetiva com o que propõe, uma educação de qualidade para a Educação infantil.