bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dopamine D1 and D4 receptors contribute to light adaptation in ON-sustained retinal ganglion cells
Authors: Flood Michael D. , Eggers Erika D. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractThe adaptation of ganglion cells to increasing light levels is a crucial property of the retina. The retina must respond to light intensities that vary by 10-12 orders of magnitude, but the dynamic range of ganglion cell responses covers only ∼3 orders of magnitude. Dopamine is a crucial neuromodulator for light adaptation and activates receptors in the D1 and D2 families. D1Rs are expressed on horizontal cells and some bipolar, amacrine and ganglion cells. In the D2 family D2Rs are expressed on dopaminergic amacrine cells and D4Rs are primarily expressed on photoreceptors. However, the roles of activating these receptors to modulate the synaptic properties of the inputs to ganglion cells are not yet clear. Here we used single cell retinal patch-clamp recordings from the mouse retina to determine how activating D1Rs and D4Rs changed the light-evoked and spontaneous excitatory inputs to ON-sustained (ON-s) ganglion cells. We found that both D1R and D4R activation decrease the light-evoked excitatory inputs to ON-s ganglion cells, but that only the sum of the peak response decrease due to activating the two receptors was similar to the effect of light adaptation to a rod-saturating background. The largest effects on spontaneous excitatory activity of both D1R and D4R agonists was on the frequency of events, suggesting that both D1Rs and D4Rs are acting upstream of the ganglion cells.New and NoteworthyDopamine by bright light conditions allows retinal neurons to reduce sensitivity to adapt to bright light conditions. It is not clear how and why dopamine receptors modulate retinal ganglion cell signaling. We found that both D1 and D4 dopamine receptors in photoreceptors and inner retinal neurons contribute significantly to the reduction in sensitivity of ganglion cells with light adaptation. However, light adaptation also requires dopamine independent mechanisms that could reflect inherent sensitivity changes in photoreceptors.
Forward variable selection improves the power of random forest for high- dimensional microbiome data
Authors: Dang Tung , Kishino Hirohisa 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackgroundRandom forest (RF) captures complex feature patterns that differentiate groups of samples and is rapidly being adopted in microbiome studies. However, a major challenge is the high dimensionality of microbiome datasets. They include thousands of species or molecular functions of particular biological interest. This high dimensionality significantly reduces the power of random forest approaches for identifying true differences. The widely used Boruta algorithm iteratively removes features that are proved by a statistical test to be less relevant than random probes.ResultWe developed a massively parallel forward variable selection algorithm and coupled it with the RF classifier to maximize the predictive performance. The forward variable selection algorithm adds new variable to a set of selected variables as far as the prespecified criterion of predictive power is improved. At each step, the parameters of random forest are optimized. We demonstrated the performance of the proposed approach, which we named RF-FVS, by analyzing two published datasets from large-scale case-control studies: (i) 16S rRNA gene amplicon data forClostridioides difficileinfection (CDI) and (ii) shotgun metagenomics data for human colorectal cancer (CRC). The RF-FVS approach further screened the variables that the Boruta algorithm left and improved the accuracy of the random forest classifier from 81% to 99.01% for CDI and from 75.14% to 90.17% for CRC.ConclusionValid variable selection is essential for the analysis of high-dimensional microbiota data. By adopting the Boruta algorithm for pre-screening of the variables, our proposed RF-FVS approach improves the accuracy of random forest significantly with minimum increase of computational burden. The procedure can be used to identify the functional profiles that differentiate samples between different conditions.
The role of e-commerce in the urban food system under COVID-19: lessons from China
Authors: Guo Hongdong , Liu Yehong , Shi Xinjie , Chen Kevin Z. 
Published: October 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate e-commerce as a new means to ensure that the urban demand for food can be met during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Because a number of COVID-19 e-commerce models have emerged, this paper discusses whether and (if so) why and how e-commerce can ensure the food supply for urban residents if social distancing becomes a norm and the transport and logistics systems are hindered.Design/methodology/approachThis study used qualitative research methods following the lack of empirical data. The authors referred to relevant literature, statistical data and official reports and comprehensively described the importance of e-commerce in ensuring the safety of food supply to Chinese urban residents under the impact of the epidemic. Corresponding to the traditional case study, this study presented a Chinese case on ensuring food supply through e-commerce during an epidemic.FindingsThe authors found that three e-commerce models played a substantial role in preventing the spread of the epidemic and ensuring the food supply for urban residents. The nationwide e-commerce platforms under market leadership played their roles by relying on the sound infrastructure of large cities and its logistics system was vulnerable to the epidemic. In the worst-affected areas, particularly in closed and isolated communities, the local e-commerce model was the primary model, supplemented by the unofficial e-commerce model based on social relations. Through online booking, centralized procurement and community distribution, the risk of cross infection could be effectively reduced and the food demand could be effectively satisfied. The theoretical explanation further verifies that, apart from e-commerce, a governance system that integrates the government, e-commerce platform, community streets and the unofficial guanxi also impels the success of these models.Originality/valueLessons from China are drawn for other countries struggling to deliver food to those in need under COVID-19. The study not only provides a solution that will ensure constant food supply to urban residents under the COVID-19 epidemic but also provides some reference for the maintenance of the food system of urban residents under the impact of a globalization-related crisis in future.
Location and economic resilience in rubber farming communities in southwest China
Authors: Jin Shaoze , Huang Jikun , Waibel Hermann 
Published: October 2020

PurposeIn rural areas, geographic location is key to market access and labor mobility of farm households. This paper aims to investigate the opportunities and constraints of smallholder rubber farmers in southwest China to adjust to the changes in economic and institutional conditions, namely the declining rubber prices, emerging land rental markets and growing off-farm job opportunities.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical basis is a dataset of some 600 rubber farmers in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, collected in March 2015. The study uses instrumental variable and recursive bivariate probit models to account for possible endogeneity and selection bias.FindingsWith rubber prices in decline, the elevation of rubber plantations is an essential factor for the costs of access to the local factor markets and influences farm households' possibilities to adopt coping strategies. Notably, we find a U-shape type of relationship between the location and renting-out land due to the decline in rubber profitability. Rubber producers in low elevations are better bestowed with access to local markets. Households in high elevations, where rubber planting came in later, can shift to new crops like tea. However, the economic resilience of farmers in middle elevations is low due to their higher adjustment costs.Originality/valueThe paper provides a constructive basis for designing more location-specific development policies and can help avoid the past often ineffective blanket measures. Its implications have significant relevance for areas with similar conditions, for example, the remote, ethnic minority–dominated and mountainous rural areas in China.
Staying in a hotel or peer-to-peer accommodation sharing? A discrete choice experiment with online reviews and discount strategies
Authors: Fu Shixuan , Cheng Xusen , Bao Ying , Bilgihan Anil , Okumus Fevzi 
Published: October 2020

PurposeThis study aims to elicit the preferences of potential travelers for different property listings' attributes (online review number, positive valence rate of reviews and discount strategy) when selecting hotels and peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation sharing on online booking platforms.Design/methodology/approachA discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted with 291 respondents with accommodation needs. They were asked to choose between pairs of listings.FindingsThe authors found that when booking accommodation online, complex discount strategies were not determinant both in selecting hotels and P2P accommodations. Positive valence rate of reviews has a higher impact on the selection of traditional hotels than P2P accommodations, while the number of online reviews has a higher impact on the selection of P2P accommodations than traditional hotels. The authors further discuss the effect of each attribute on online accommodation selection in terms of price ranges of the property listings.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings provide suggestions for platform operators and product/service providers to improve their marketing strategies and optimize their management efforts.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that investigate the role of property listings' attributes on the selections between hotels and P2P accommodations. The findings from this research study could be generalized to other online platforms and electronic commerce-related transactions.
Psychological assessment in human resource management: discrepancies between theory and practice and two examples of integration
Authors: Sartori Riccardo , Costantini Arianna , Ceschi Andrea 
Published: October 2020

PurposePsychological assessment refers to the process whereby different methods and techniques are used to test hypotheses about people and their psychological characteristics. Understanding employees' psychological makeup is key to allow effective human resource management, from hiring to retirement. However, the gap between scientific evidence and organizational practices dealing with psychological assessment is still great.Design/methodology/approachGeneral review along with case studyFindingsThis paper shows the differences between research and practice, i.e. between what scientific evidence suggests to assess people from a psychological point of view reliably and what practitioners do when they want to reach the same goal.Originality/valueAt the end of the article, two examples of integration between research and practice are presented. We discuss how methods and techniques of psychological assessment can be developed to both respect scientific criteria and meet specific organizational needs.
Comparative effectiveness of external vs blended facilitation on collaborative care model implementation in slow‐implementer community practices
Authors: Smith Shawna N. , Liebrecht Celeste M. , Bauer Mark S. , Kilbourne Amy M. 
Published: October 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the comparative effectiveness of external facilitation (EF) vs external + internal facilitation (EF/IF), on uptake of a collaborative chronic care model (CCM) in community practices that were slower to implement under low‐level implementation support.Study SettingPrimary data were collected from 43 community practices in Michigan and Colorado at baseline and for 12 months following randomization.Study DesignSites that failed to meet a pre‐established implementation benchmark after six months of low‐level implementation support were randomized to add either EF or EF/IF support for up to 12 months. Key outcomes were change in number of patients receiving the CCM and number of patients receiving a clinically significant dose of the CCM. Moderators’ analyses further examined whether comparative effectiveness was dependent on prerandomization adoption, number of providers trained or practice size. Facilitation log data were used for exploratory follow‐up analyses.Data CollectionSites reported monthly on number of patients that had received the CCM. Facilitation logs were completed by study EF and site IFs and shared with the study team.Principal FindingsN = 21 sites were randomized to EF and 22 to EF/IF. Overall, EF/IF practices saw more uptake than EF sites after 12 months (ΔEF/IF‐EF = 4.4 patients, 95% CI = 1.87‐6.87). Moderators' analyses, however, revealed that it was only sites with no prerandomization uptake of the CCM (nonadopter sites) that saw significantly more benefit from EF/IF (ΔEF/IF‐EF = 9.2 patients, 95% CI: 5.72, 12.63). For sites with prerandomization uptake (adopter sites), EF/IF offered no additional benefit (ΔEF/IF‐EF = −0.9; 95% CI: −4.40, 2.60). Number of providers trained and practice size were not significant moderators.ConclusionsAlthough stepping up to the more intensive EF/IF did outperform EF overall, its benefit was limited to sites that failed to deliver any CCM under the low‐level strategy. Once one or more providers were delivering the CCM, additional on‐site personnel did not appear to add value to the implementation effort.
Rheology and tribology properties of cereal and legume flour paste from different botanical origins
Authors: Pang Zhihua , Cao Jinnuo , Li He , Chen Cunshe , Liu Xinqi 
Published: October 2020

AbstractPaste made from eight types of cereal grains (low fiber containing grains [LF grains]: rice, sticky rice, black rice, and millet; and high fiber containing grains [HF grains]: wheat, buckwheat, oat, and barley), and four types of legumes (soybean, red bean, kidney bean, and mung bean), were studied in terms of particle size, rheological, and tribological properties. Sticky rice and soybean pastes showed lower yield stress, viscosity and consistency coefficient than other pastes. Most cereal pastes showed a major peak at approximately 160 µm except for oat and barley, while legume pastes showed mono modal profiles except for soybean. Tribological results showed that starch tended to develop type A friction profiles, showing a typical Stribeck curve; bran/fiber tended to develop type B profiles, showing an ascent curve with clear onset of hydrodynamic regime; protein and lipids promoted type C profiles, showing a flat plateau shaped curve. Water soluble polysaccharides in grains or legumes could improve the paste lubrication. In general, 5% of the black rice paste and sticky rice in the LF grain group, and the soybean paste in the legume group, showed a low friction coefficient (μ) in the entire entrainment speed range; barley paste and oat paste in the HF grain group showed relatively low μ at low entrainment speed (0.5 mm/s) and medium entrainment speed (5 and 10 mm/s), respectively.
New evidence for diplomacy between the Mediterranean and South Arabia
Authors: Bukharin Mikhail 
Published: October 2020

AbstractTwo inscriptions that shed more light on the history of contacts between Hellenistic Egypt, the Roman Empire and the South Arabian kingdoms between the second century BCE and the mid‐second century CE are in the focus of this research. One inscription mentions foreign gifts for King Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Tryphon; the other ‒ a Greek inscription from Ẓafār ‒ seems to be the gift for either the king of Ḥimyar or the Roman colony in Ẓafār. The first inscription points to the existence of direct diplomatic contacts between these regions in the second century BCE. The second inscription is linked with the Latin text from the Farasān archipelago by viewing the reference in the first line to legio II Traiana.
Involvement of miR‐126 rs4636297 and miR‐146a rs2910164 polymorphisms in the susceptibility for diabetic retinopathy: a case–control study in a type 1 diabetes population
Authors: Massignam Eloísa Toscan , Dieter Cristine , Pellenz Felipe Mateus , Assmann Taís Silveira , Crispim Daisy 
Published: October 2020

AbstractBackground and purposeMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non‐coding RNAs that regulate gene expression. MiRNA‐126 and miRNA‐146a have been described as having abnormal expressions in diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients. Polymorphisms in genes codifying miRNAs (miRSNPs) may alter the expression of the corresponding miRNA and, thus, interfere with susceptibility to DR. Therefore, miRSNPs in miR‐126 and miR‐146a genes could be associated with DR susceptibility. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between miR‐126 rs4636297 (G/A) and miR‐146a rs2910164 (G/C) miRSNPs and DR.MethodsThis case–control study included 195 type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients with DR (cases) and 215 patients without DR and with ≥10 years of T1DM (controls). MiRSNPs were genotyped by real‐time PCR.ResultsGenotype distributions of two analysed miRSNPs were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in controls (p > 0.050). Frequencies of the miR‐126 rs4636297 miRSNP were not significantly different between case and control groups (p = 0.169). However, after adjustment for age, glycated haemoglobin, triglycerides, estimated glomerular filtration rate and ethnicity, the A allele of this miRSNP was associated with protection for DR under additive [OR: 0.444 (95% CI: 0.211–0.936), p = 0.033] and dominant [OR: 0.512 (95% CI: 0.303–0.865), p = 0.012] inheritance models. Genotype and allele frequencies of miR‐146a rs2910164 miRSNP did not differ between groups (p = 0.368 and p = 0.957), and this polymorphism was not associated with DR when assuming different inheritance models.ConclusionOur results suggest an association between the A allele of miR‐126 rs4636297 miRSNP and protection for DR in a Southern Brazilian population.
Single high‐dose peroral caffeine intake inhibits ultraviolet radiation‐induced apoptosis in human lens epithelial cells in vitro
Authors: Kronschläger Martin , Ruiß Manuel , Dechat Thomas , Findl Oliver 
Published: October 2020

AbstractPurposeThe aim of the present study was to determine whether caffeine concentrations in human lens epithelial cells (LECs) achieved from acute peroral caffeine intake inhibit ultraviolet radiation‐induced apoptosis in vitro.MethodsPatients were planned for cataract surgery of both eyes with a caffeine abstinence of 2 weeks in total, starting 1 week before surgery of the first eye. The second eye was scheduled 1 week after the first eye. At the day of the second eye surgery, patients were given coffee containing 180 mg caffeine shortly before surgery. Lens capsules including LEC, harvested after capsulorhexis, were transferred to a cell culture dish and immediately exposed to close to threshold ultraviolet radiation (UVR). At 24 hr after UVR exposure, apoptotic LECs were analysed by TdT‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining.ResultsTUNEL‐positive cells were detected in UVR‐exposed lens capsules both after caffeine intake and in controls. The mean difference in TUNEL‐positive cells between caffeine intake and contralateral controls (no caffeine) resulted in a 95% CI 15.3 ± 10.4% (degrees of freedom: 16).ConclusionPeroral caffeine consumption significantly decreased UVR‐induced apoptosis in LEC supporting epidemiological findings that caffeine delays the onset of cataract.
Associations between functional and structural measurements in non‐acute Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease
Authors: Souto Fernanda Maria Silveira , Missaka Ruy Felippe Brito Gonçalves , Lavezzo Marcelo Mendes , Mayumi Sakata Viviane , Oyamada Maria Kiyoko , Hirata Carlos Eduardo , Yamamoto Joyce Hisae 
Published: October 2020

AbstractPurposeTo evaluate associations between functional and structural measurements in patients with non‐acute VKHD.MethodsIn this cross‐sectional study, 16 non‐acute VKHD patients (32 eyes; 14 female) were evaluated with multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG), standardized automated perimetry (SAP) and optical coherence tomography (OCT)examinations. All included patients had a minimum 12 months of follow‐up from acute onset and were participants of an ongoing prospective study since acute phase with systematic clinical imaging evaluations and electroretinogram examinations within a predefined treatment. Age‐ and gender‐matched controls were included. Main outcomes were functional and structural abnormalities and their correlation; secondary outcome was correlation of these findings with clinical characteristics, including fundus abnormalities.ResultsSAP and mfERG parameters were significantly worse in patients than in controls. Fourteen eyes (43.7%) had disrupted ellipsoid zone (EZ); visual acuity (VA) was similar between eyes with intact or disrupted EZ. Eyes with intact and disrupted EZ differed significantly concerning N1 and P1 amplitudes and N1 peak time values on mfERG and mean sensitivity (MS), central sensitivity (CS), foveal threshold, visual field index, mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation values on SAP. The area under the curve on receiver operating curves for P1 amplitude was 0.81 (cut‐off value = 34.7 nV/deg2) and for MD value was 0.84 (cut‐off value = −5.2 dB). Central retinal thickness (CRT) significantly correlated with N1 and P1 amplitudes and P1 peak time values on mfERG (r = 0.354, r = 0.442 and r = −0.405, respectively) and MD, MS, CS and fovea threshold (log values) on SAP (r = 0.372, r = 0.406, r = 0.431 and r = 0.414, respectively). Statistically significant associations were found with the presence of peripapillary atrophy and recurrent anterior uveitis with a worse MD value (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, respectively).ConclusionIn non‐acute VKHD, disrupted EZ and reduced CRT were correlated with impaired mfERG and SAP parameters, even in patients with good VA.