bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Modelling and predicting the competitive effects of vertical mergers: The bargaining leverage over rivals effect
Authors: Rogerson William P. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractA new competitive effect of vertical mergers, based on the Nash bargaining model, has begun to play an important role in antitrust authorities’ evaluations of vertical mergers in the United States, Canada and abroad. The key idea is that a vertical merger will increase the bargaining leverage of the merged firm over its downstream rivals. Its bargaining leverage increases because it now takes into account the additional profit that its own downstream division will earn if it withholds inputs from downstream rivals, which changes its threat point in the bargaining game with downstream rivals. Consequently, the merged firm can increase the price that it charges rival downstream firms for inputs. One strong appeal of this theory is that it provides a simple and very intuitive formula to measure the upward pricing pressure caused by a vertical merger due to changes in bargaining leverage, based on variables whose values can generally be estimated using available data. This article describes this new competitive effect, which will be called the bargaining leverage over rivals (BLR) effect, and derives the upward pricing pressure formula. It also explains why this new competitive effect is distinct from the older raising rivals’ costs (RRC) effect that has been widely discussed in the economics literature, and discusses the relationship between the two different effects.
Glycogen synthase kinase‐3 inhibition overcomes epithelial‐mesenchymal transition‐associated resistance to osimertinib in EGFR‐mutant lung cancer
Authors: Fukuda Koji , Takeuchi Shinji , Arai Sachiko , Kita Kenji , Tanimoto Azusa , Nishiyama Akihiro , Yano Seiji 
Published: May 2020

AbstractA novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)‐tyrosine kinase inhibitor, osimertinib, has marked efficacy in patients with EGFR‐mutant lung cancer. While epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a role in the resistance to various targeted drugs, its involvement in EGFR‐inhibitor resistance remains largely unknown. Preclinical experiments with osimertinib‐resistant lung cancer cells showed that EMT was associated with decreased microRNA‐200c and increased ZEB1 expression. In several resistant clone cells, pretreatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor quisinostat helped overcome the resistance by reverting EMT. Furthermore, drug screening from a library of 100 kinase inhibitors indicated that Glycogen synthase kinase‐3 (GSK‐3) inhibitors, such as LY2090314, markedly inhibited the growth and induced apoptosis of resistant cells, specifically those with a mesenchymal phenotype. These results suggest that GSK‐3 inhibition could be useful to circumvent EMT‐associated resistance to osimertinib in EGFR‐mutant lung cancer.
Three ways to deliver a net positive impact with biodiversity offsets
Authors: Moilanen Atte , Kotiaho Janne S. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractBiodiversity offsetting is the practice of using conservation actions, such as habitat restoration, management, or protection, to compensate for ecological losses caused by development activity, including construction projects. The typical goal of offsetting is no net loss (NNL), which means that all ecological losses are compensated for by commensurate offset gains. We focused on a conceptual and methodological exploration of net positive impact (NPI), an ambitious goal that implies commitment beyond NNL and that has recently received increasing attention from big business and environmental nongovernmental organizations. We identified 3 main ways NPI could be delivered: use of an additional NPI multiplier; use of slowly developing permanent offsets to deliver additional gains after NNL has first been reached during a shorter offset evaluation time interval; and the combination of permanent offsets with partially temporary losses. An important and novel variant of the last mechanism is the use of an alternate mitigation hierarchy so that gains from the traditional third step of the mitigation hierarchy (i.e., onsite rehabilitation) are no longer be counted toward reduced offset requirements. The outcome from these 3 factors is that for the same ecological damage, larger offsets will be required than previously, thereby improving offset success. As a corollary, we show that offsets are NNL only at 1 ephemeral point in time, before which they are net negative and after which they become either NPI or net negative impact, depending on whether permanent offsets are combined with partially temporary losses or if temporary offset gains are combined with partially permanent losses. To achieve NPI, offsets must be made permanent, and they must achieve NNL during an agreed‐upon offset evaluation period. An additional NPI‐multiplier and use of the modified mitigation hierarchy will deliver additional NPI gains. Achieving NPI is fully conditional on prior achievement of NNL, and NNL offsets have been frequently observed to fail due to inadequate policy requirements, poor planning, or incomplete implementation. Nevertheless, achieving NPI becomes straightforward if NNL can be credibly reached first.
Protecting biodiversity and economic returns in resource‐rich tropical forests
Authors: Ball James G. C. , Burgman Mark A. , Goldman Elizabeth D. , Lessmann Janeth 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIn pursuit of socioeconomic development, many countries are expanding oil and mineral extraction into tropical forests. These activities seed access to remote, biologically rich areas, thereby endangering global biodiversity. We examined how protection of biodiversity and economic revenues can be balanced in biologically valuable regions. Using spatial data on oil profits and predicted species and ecosystem extents, we optimized the protection of 741 terrestrial species and 20 ecosystems of the Ecuadorian Amazon across a range of opportunity costs (i.e., sacrifices of extractive profit). We also applied spatial statistics to remotely sensed, historic deforestation data to focus the optimization on areas most threatened by imminent forest loss. Giving up 5% of a year's oil profits (US$221 million) allowed for a protected area network that retained an average of 65% of the extent of each species and ecosystem. This performance far exceeded that of the network produced by simple optimization for land area (which required a sacrifice of approximately 40% of annual oil profits [US$1.7 billion]) and used only marginally less land to achieve equivalent levels of ecological protection. We identified what we call emergency conservation targets: regions that are essential components of a cost‐effective conservation reserve network but at imminent risk of destruction, thus requiring urgent and effective protection. Governments can use our methods when evaluating extractive‐led development options to responsibly manage the associated ecological and economic trade‐offs and protect natural capital.
Artificial intelligence‐based wind forecasting using variational mode decomposition
Authors: V Vanitha , G Sophia J. , R Resmi , Raphel Delna 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIntermittency in wind offers the major challenge in accomplishing the wind energy as a dependable sustainable energy resource in power grid. Fluctuations in wind speed occur seasonally over a year and if this seasonality is considered, the prediction of the speed of wind can be made more accurate. In this paper, an attempt is made to apply a signal decomposition technique called Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD), which decomposes series of wind speed data into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) to make the data more regular thereby enhancing the accuracy of the wind speed forecast model. Then, artificial intelligence technique, Adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is applied for the wind speed prediction by combining the obtained modes from VMD. Here, wind data of two sites in India, Jogimatti and Lamba are taken for the study. Each site data is grouped into high and low wind speed months and later, this series is decomposed into regular modes using VMD. Later, ANFIS is applied for training and predicting the wind speed for different time horizons.
High‐speed and area‐efficient Sobel edge detector on field‐programmable gate array for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications
Authors: Sikka Prateek , Asati Abhijit R , Shekhar Chandra 
Published: May 2020

AbstractSobel edge detector is an algorithm commonly used in image processing and computer vision to extract edges from input images using derivative of image pixels in x and y directions against surrounding pixels. Most artificial intelligence and machine learning applications require image processing algorithms running in real time on hardware systems like field‐programmable gate array (FPGAs). They typically require high throughput to match real‐time speeds and since they run alongside other processing algorithms, they are required to be area efficient as well. This article proposes a high‐speed and low‐area implementation of the Sobel edge detection algorithm. We created the design using a novel high‐level synthesis (HLS) design method based on application specific bit widths for intermediate data nodes. Register transfer level code was generated using MATLAB hardware description language (HDL) coder for HLS. The generated HDL code was implemented on Xilinx Kintex 7 field programmable gate array (FPGA) using Xilinx Vivado software. Our implementation results are superior to those obtained for similar implementations using the vendor library block sets as well as those obtained by other researchers using similar implementations in the recent past in terms of area and speed. We tested our algorithm on Kintex 7 using real‐time input video with a frame resolution of 1920 × 1080. We also verified the functional simulation results with a golden MATLAB implementation using FPGA in the loop feature of HDL Verifier. In addition, we propose a generic area, speed, and power improvement methodology for different HLS tools and application designs.
Fam70A binds Wnt5a to regulate meiosis and quality of mouse oocytes
Authors: Zhang Na‐Na , Zhang Teng , Gao Wen‐Yi , Wang Xin , Wang Zi‐Bin , Cai Jin‐Yang , Ma Yang , Li Cong‐Rong , Chen Xi‐Chen , Zeng Wen‐Tao , Hu Fan , Li Jian‐Min , Yang Zhi‐Xia , Zhou Chun‐Xiang , Zhang Dong 
Published: May 2020

AbstractObjectivesLittle is known about the roles of integral membrane proteins beyond channels, carriers or receptors in meiotic oocytes. The transmembrane protein Fam70A was previously identified as a likely “female fertility factor” in Fox3a‐knockout mouse ovaries where almost all follicles underwent synchronous activation and the mice became infertile very early. However, whether Fam70A functions in oocyte meiosis remains unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to address this question.Materials and MethodsCo‐immunoprecipitation, immunogold labelling‐electron microscopy, co‐localization and yeast two‐hybrid assays were used to verify the interaction. Antibody or small interfering RNA transfection was used to deplete the proteins. Immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry and live tracker staining were used to examine the localization or characterize phenotypes. Western blot was used to examine the protein level.ResultsFam70A was enriched in oocyte membranes important for normal meiosis. Fam70A depletion remarkably disrupted spindle assembly, chromosome congression and first polar body extrusion, which subsequently increased aneuploidy and abnormal fertilization. Moreover, Fam70A directly bound Wnt5a, the most abundant Wnt member within oocytes. Depletion of either Fam70A or Wnt5a remarkably increased adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), which stabilizes active β‐catenin and microtubules. Consequently, depletion of either Fam70A or Wnt5a remarkably increased p‐β‐catenin (inactive form) and acetylated tubulin, while APC knockdown remarkably decreased these two. Furthermore, Fam70A depletion remarkably reduced Akt phosphorylation.ConclusionsFam70A regulates meiosis and quality of mouse oocytes through both canonical and non‐canonical Wnt5a signalling pathways.
Exercise interventions in solid organ transplant candidates: A systematic review
Authors: Pesce de Souza Fernanda , Massierer Daniela , Anand Raje Uma , Tansey Catherine M. , Boruff Jill , Janaudis‐Ferreira Tania 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIntroductionExercise training may be recommended to solid organ transplant (SOT) candidates to improve fitness and tolerance before surgery. We aimed to determine the acceptance, safety, and effectiveness of exercise interventions in SOT candidates.MethodsOnline databases were searched. Studies of any design were included. Outcomes of interest were acceptance, safety, exercise capacity, and health‐related quality of life.ResultsTwenty‐three articles were included. Acceptance ranged from 16% to 100%. In the fifteen studies that assessed adverse events, none mentioned any adverse events occurring during the study. Five out of seven studies reported an increase in maximal exercise capacity post‐exercise in the intervention group (range of mean change: 0.45 to 2.9 mL/kg). Eight out of fourteen studies reported an increase in 6‐minute walking distance in the intervention group after the training period (range of mean change: 40‐105 m). Two articles showed an improvement in the mental composite scores as well as in the physical composite scores post‐exercise in the intervention group.ConclusionThere was a lack of significant findings among most randomized controlled trials. Exercise training is acceptable and safe for selective SOT candidates. The effects of exercise training on exercise capacity and quality of life in SOT candidates are unclear.
Potentially inappropriate benzodiazepine use in Australian adults: A population‐based study (2014–2017)
Authors: Zheng Danni , Brett Jonathan , Daniels Benjamin , Buckley Nicholas A. , Pearson Sallie‐Anne , Schaffer Andrea L. 
Published: May 2020

AbstractIntroduction and AimsInappropriate benzodiazepine use continues to cause substantial morbidity and mortality globally. We aimed to characterise the initiation of new benzodiazepine treatment episodes in Australia and identify correlates of potentially inappropriate benzodiazepine use.Design and MethodsWe conducted a population‐based cohort study using dispensing claims from a 10% sample of Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme eligible Australians (2014–2017). Our cohort comprised adults initiating a new benzodiazepine treatment; we defined potentially inappropriate use as ≥3 benzodiazepine dispensing over any continuous 90‐day period in the year following initiation. We examined characteristics associated with potentially inappropriate benzodiazepine use using multivariable logistic regression.ResultsPeople initiating a new benzodiazepine treatment episode (n = 276 765) were more frequently female (59.1%) and <65 years of age (73.6%). In the 90 days prior to initiating benzodiazepine, people were commonly dispensed antidepressants (26.5%), opioid analgesics (17.6%) and antipsychotics (4.7%). In the first year after initiation, 20 938 (9.5%) people experienced ‘potentially inappropriate use’. Having a greater initial quantity of benzodiazepine dispensed [odds ratio (OR), 1.10; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–1.12 per 10 defined daily doses increase], dispensing of antipsychotics (OR 3.00, 95% CI 2.86–3.15) and >5 unique medicines (OR 2.54, 95% CI 2.44–2.64; vs. ≤5 unique medicines) in the 90 days prior to initiation were associated with potentially inappropriate benzodiazepine use.Discussion and ConclusionsApproximately, 1 in 10 people who initiated benzodiazepines were using it beyond the guideline recommended period. We identified factors at the time of initiation associated with potentially inappropriate use; clinicians should consider these before prescribing benzodiazepines and initiate conversations about alternative therapy when necessary.
SNPs in PRKCA‐HIF1A‐GLUT1 are associated with diabetic kidney disease in a Chinese Han population with type 2 diabetes
Authors: Huang Yan , Jin Li , Yu Hairong , Jiang Guozhi , Tam Claudia H.T. , Jiang Song , Zheng Chunxia , Jiang Feng , Zhang Rong , Zhang Hong , Chan Juliana C.N. , Ma Ronald C.W. , Jia Weiping , Hu Cheng , Liu Zhihong 
Published: May 2020

AbstractObjectiveTo explore the relationship between SNPs in PRKCA‐HIF1A‐GLUT1 and diabetic kidney disease in Chinese Han people.Materials and methodsA total of 2552 participants from Shanghai Diabetes Institute Inpatient Database of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital were involved in the stage 1 cross‐sectional population. A total of 6015 subjects from the Hong Kong Diabetes Register were included for validation. Genotyping of participants was conducted by the MassARRAY Compact Analyzer (Agena Bioscience). The data were analysed by plink, SAS, Haploview.ResultsWe identified variants associated with diabetic kidney disease in stage 1. Rs1681851 (P = .0105, OR = 1.331) in GLUT1 as well as rs2301108 (P = .0085, OR = 1.289) and rs79865957 (P = .0204, OR = 1.263) in HIF1A were significantly associated with diabetic kidney disease. Regarding DKD‐related traits, rs1681851 was associated with plasma creatinine levels (P = .0169, β = 4.822) and eGFR (P = .0457, β = −6.956). Moreover, the results showed the interactions between PRKCA‐GLUT1 in the occurrence of DKD. We further sought validation of the 17 SNPs in a prospective cohort and found that rs900836 and rs844501 were associated with the percentage change in eGFR slope. We performed a meta‐analysis of case‐control analysis data from the Hong Kong samples together with the stage 1 data from Shanghai. Rs9894851 showed significant correlation with the serum creatinine level as well as eGFR and no SNP showed association with DKD after meta‐analysis.ConclusionsOur results suggest potential association between SNPs in PRKCA‐HIF1A‐GLUT1 and diabetic kidney disease in Chinese Han people.
Influence of 38% silver diamine fluoride application on bond stability to enamel and dentin using universal adhesives in self‐etch mode
Authors: Markham Mark D. , Tsujimoto Akimasa , Barkmeier Wayne W. , Jurado Carlos A. , Fischer Nicholas G. , Watanabe Hidehiko , Baruth Andrew G. , Latta Mark A. , Garcia‐Godoy Franklin 
Published: May 2020

In order to evaluate the influence of 38% silver diamine fluoride (SDF) application on enamel and dentin bond stability of universal adhesives in self‐etch mode, a 38% SDF and three universal adhesives were used in this study. Initial shear bond strength (ISBS), fatigue bond strength (FBS), and shear bond strength of survivors (SBSS) to enamel and dentin of universal adhesives in self‐etch mode, with and without SDF application, were determined. SDF was applied to the polished enamel or dentin surface for 1 min, water‐rinsed and air‐dried for comparison with controls. The universal adhesives were applied to the prepared samples and composite resin was bonded using a mold‐enclosed method. Enamel bond stability of universal adhesives with SDF (ISBS: 14.7–20.4 MPa; FBS: 5.5–7.4 MPa and SBSS: 14.4–21.5 MPa) was significantly weaker than those without SDF (ISBS: 28.0–29.2 MPa; FBS: 12.1–15.6 MPa and SBSS: 28.4–34.4 MPa). Dentin bond stability with SDF (ISBS: 14.8–20.9 MPa; FBS: 7.1–8.2 MPa and SBSS: 17.3–21.8 MPa) was also significantly weaker than without SDF (ISBS: 19.3–36.1 MPa; FBS: 11.0–13.7 MPa and SBSS: 22.2–34.6 MPa). The results suggest that SDF application on enamel and dentin reduces the bond stability of universal adhesives in self‐etch mode.
A novel method for the classification of Alzheimer's disease from normal controls using magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Khan Riyaj Uddin , Tanveer Mohammad , Pachori Ram Bilas ,   Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI)
Published: May 2020

AbstractAlzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia. Although fewer people, who suffer from AD are correctly and promptly diagnosed, due to a lack of knowledge of its cause and unavailability of treatment, AD is more manageable if the symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are in an early stage. In recent years, computer‐aided diagnosis has been widely used for the diagnosis of AD. The main motive of this paper is to improve the classification and prediction accuracy of AD. In this paper, a novel approach is developed to classify MCI, normal control (NC), and AD using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) from the Alzheimer's disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset (50 AD, 50 NC, 50 MCI subjects). FreeSurfer is used to process these MRI data and obtain cortical features such as volume, surface area, thickness, white matter (WM), and intrinsic curvature of the brain regions. These features are modified by normalizing each cortical region's features using the absolute maximum value of that region's features from all subjects in each group of MCI, NC, and AD independently. A total of 420 features are obtained. To address the curse of dimensionality, the obtained features are reduced to 30 features using a sequential feature selection technique. Three classifiers, namely the twin support vector machine (TSVM), least squares TSVM (LSTSVM), and robust energy‐based least squares TSVM (RELS‐TSVM), are used to evaluate the classification accuracy from the obtained features. Five‐fold and 10‐fold cross‐validation are used to validate the proposed method. Experimental results show an accuracy of 100% for the studied database. The proposed approach is innovative due to its higher classification accuracy compared to methods in the existing literature.
Histological clues to the diagnosis of metastasis to the breast from extramammary malignancies
Authors: Lee Andrew H S , Hodi Zsolt , Soomro Irshad , Sovani Vishakha , Abbas Areeg , Rakha Emad , Ellis Ian O 
Published: May 2020

AbstractAimsThe aims of this study were to review the histological features useful for the identification of metastases to the breast and to investigate the impression that this diagnosis has become more common.Methods and resultsThe histological features of metastases to the breast from 2008 to 2018 were reviewed. Seventy‐four biopsies from 66 patients were identified: 1% compared with primary carcinoma of the breast. Non‐haematological metastases comprised 0.75% compared with 0.3% in a series from 1996 to 2005. The most common tumour types were pulmonary carcinoma (22), lymphoma (15), melanoma (13), gastrointestinal carcinoma (eight) and serous papillary carcinoma (four). In 73% there were histological features that were not typical of primary mammary carcinoma. Some metastases were histologically similar to breast cancer and the history was essential to making the correct diagnosis. Useful histological clues included small‐cell morphology for pulmonary carcinoma, glands containing necrosis for gastrointestinal carcinoma, intranuclear inclusions, marked pleomorphism and spindle cells for melanoma, clear cells for renal carcinoma, papillary architecture for serous papillary carcinoma and sheets of centroblasts or nodules of centroblasts and centrocytes for lymphoma. Useful immunohistochemical markers included TTF‐1 for pulmonary carcinoma, S100, melan‐A and HMB45 for melanoma, CK20 and CDX2 for colorectal carcinoma, PAX8 and WT1 for serous papillary carcinoma and lymphoid markers for lymphomas, in addition to the absence of expression of mammary markers ER, GATA3 and GCDFP‐15.ConclusionThe majority of metastases to the breast have histological clues to the diagnosis. Immunohistochemistry is helpful. This diagnosis is being made more frequently.