bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Breast Cancer Metastases to the Paranasal Sinuses Mimicking Inflammatory Sinus Disease
Authors: Harb Jennifer L. , Shah Ameer T. , O’Leary Miriam A. , Rebeiz Elie E. 
Published: June 2020

Introduction:
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. Metastatic disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. It frequently metastasizes to bone, lungs, regional lymph nodes, liver and brain. Metastasis to the orbit and paranasal sinuses is uncommon. Patients presenting with sinus pain, nasal congestion, or visual disturbance can be misdiagnosed with an infectious process.

Methods:
The authors describe 2 patients with metastatic breast cancer to the paranasal sinuses presenting with signs and symptoms of sinusitis and orbit pathology unresponsive to antibiotics. The authors discuss diagnostic strategy and perform a literature review. Both patients had biopsy-proven metastatic breast adenocarcinoma lesions, and subsequently underwent various treatment options.

Results:
A literature review reveals that metastatic breast adenocarcinoma lesions to the paranasal sinuses are a rare entity that commonly denotes a very poor prognosis. These lesions can significantly affect one's quality of life, and can cause blurry vision, diplopia, proptosis, sinus pressure and pain, nasal congestion, mandibular misalignment or difficulty with mastication. However, early diagnosis and treatment of these lesions can lead to prolonged survival and improved quality of life. If the lesion is surgically resectable, endoscopic sinus surgery is generally considered to be the optimal treatment. However, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy can potentially play a role in controlling the symptomatology.

Conclusion:
Metastatic lesions to the paranasal sinuses are a rare entity that should be considered in the appropriate clinical setting in order to expedite the proper treatment modality for improved morbidity and mortality
Estimation of SARS-CoV-2 aerosol emissions from simulated patients with COVID-19 and no to moderate symptoms
Authors: Riediker Michael , Tsai Dai-Hua 
Published: June 2020

AbstractImportanceCases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with no or mild symptoms were reported to frequently transmit the disease even without direct contact. The severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-COV-2) was found at very high concentrations in swab and sputum of such cases.ObjectiveWe aimed to estimate in a mathematical modeling study the virus release from such cases into different aerosol sizes by normal breathing and coughing, and what exposure can result from this in a room shared with such as case.Data Sources and ModelWe combined the size-distribution of exhaled breath microdroplets for coughing and normal breathing with viral sputum concentrations as approximation for lung lining liquid to obtain an estimate of emitted virus levels. The resulting emission data fed a single-compartment model of airborne concentrations in a room of 50 m3, the size of a small office or medical exam room.ResultsThe estimated viral load in microdroplets emitted by simulated patients while breathing normally was on typical 0.0000049 copies/cm3 and could go up to 0.637 copies/cm3. The corresponding numbers for coughing simulated patients were 0.277 copies/cm3 and 36,030/cm3, respectively, per cough. The resulting concentrations in a room with a coughing emitter were always very high, up to 7.44 million copies/m3. However, also regular breathing microdroplets from high emitters was modelled to lead to 1248 copies/m3.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this modelling study, breathing and coughing were estimated to release large numbers of viruses, ranging from thousands to millions of virus copies/m3 in a room with an emitter having a high viral load, depending on ventilation and microdroplet formation process. These findings suggest that strict respiratory protection may be needed when there is a chance to be in the same room with a patient - whether symptomatic or not - especially for a prolonged time.Key PointsQuestionHow much SARS-CoV-2 virus is released from a case by breathing and coughing, and what is the resulting concentration in a room?FindingIn this mathematical modelling study, both, breathing and coughing were estimated to release large numbers of viruses, which can lead to millions of virus copies/m3 in a poorly ventilated room with a coughing emitter.MeaningThese results may explain the important rate of transmissions and implies the need for strict respiratory protection when people are in the same room with a case with COVID-19.
TBDB – A database of structurally annotated T-box riboswitch:tRNA pairs
Authors: Marchand Jorge A. , Smela Merrick D. Pierson , Jordan Thomas H. H. , Narasimhan Kamesh , Church George M. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractT-box riboswitches constitute a large family of tRNA-binding leader sequences that play a central role in gene regulation in many gram-positive bacteria. Accurate inference of the tRNA binding to T-boxes is critical to predict their cis-regulatory activity. However, there is no central repository of information on the tRNA binding specificities of T-box riboswitches andde novoprediction of binding specificities requires advance knowledge of computational tools to annotate riboswitch secondary structure features. Here we presentT-boxannotationDatabase (TBDB,https://tbdb.io), an open-access database with a collection of 23,497 T-box sequences, spanning the major phyla of 3,621 bacterial species. Among structural predictions, the TBDB also identifies specifier sequences, cognate tRNA binding partners, and downstream regulatory target. To our knowledge, the TBDB presents the largest collection of feature, sequence, and structural annotations carried out on this important family of regulatory RNA.
Social media reveals consistently disproportionate tourism pressure on a threatened marine vertebrate
Authors: Papafitsoros Kostas , Panagopoulou Aliki , Schofield Gail 
Published: June 2020

AbstractEstablishing how wildlife viewing pressure is distributed across individual animals within a population can inform the management of this activity, and ensure targeted individuals or groups are sufficiently protected. Here, we used social media data to quantify whether tourism pressure varies in a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) population and elucidate potential implications. Laganas Bay (Zakynthos, Greece) supports both breeding (migratory, and hence transient) and foraging (resident) turtles, with turtle viewing representing a major component of the tourism industry. Social media entries spanning two seasons (April to November, 2018 and 2019) were evaluated, and turtles were identified via photo-identification. For both years, 1684 and 2105 entries of 139 and 122 unique turtles were obtained from viewings, respectively (boats and underwater combined). However, while residents represented less than one-third of uniquely identified turtles, they represented 81.9% and 87.9% of all entries. Even when the seasonal breeding population was present (May to July), residents represented more than 60% entries. Of note, the same small number of resident turtles (<10), mostly males, were consistently viewed in both years; however, different individuals were targeted by boats versus underwater. Thus, turtles appear to use and remain in the area despite high viewing intensity, possibly indicating low disturbance. However, photo-identification records revealed a high risk of propeller and boat strike to residents (30%) leading to trauma and mortality. To reduce this threat and ease viewing pressure, we recommend the compulsory use of propeller guards for all boats and the creation of temporary “refuge” zones for resident animals at viewing hotspots, with these suggestions likely being relevant for other wildlife with similar population dynamics. In conclusion, social media represents a useful tool for monitoring individuals at a population scale, evaluating the pressure under which they are placed, and providing sufficient data to refine wildlife viewing guidelines and/or zoning.
Coupled Dynamics of Behavior and Disease Contagion Among Antagonistic Groups
Authors: Smaldino Paul E. , Jones James Holland 
Published: June 2020

AbstractDisease transmission and behavior change are both fundamentally social phenomena. Behavior change can have profound consequences for disease transmission, and epidemic conditions can favor the more rapid adoption of behavioral innovations. We analyze a simple model of coupled behavior-change and infection in a structured population characterized by homophily and outgroup aversion. Outgroup aversion slows the rate of adoption and can lead to lower rates of adoption in the later-adopting group or even behavioral divergence between groups when outgroup aversion exceeds positive ingroup influence. When disease dynamics are coupled to the behavior-adoption model, a wide variety of outcomes are possible. Homophily can either increase or decrease the final size of the epidemic depending on its relative strength in the two groups and onR0for the infection. For example, if the first group is homophilous and the second is not, the second group will have a larger epidemic. Homophily and outgroup aversion can also produce dynamics suggestive of a “second wave” in the first group that follows the peak of the epidemic in the second group. Our simple model reveals dynamics that are suggestive of the processes currently observed under pandemic conditions in culturally and/or politically polarized populations such as the United States.
Outdoor Atmospheric Microbial Diversity is Associated with Urban Landscape Structure and Differs from Indoor-Transit Systems as Revealed by Mobile Monitoring and Three-Dimensional Spatial Analysis
Authors: Stewart JD , Kremer P. , Shakya K.M. , Conway M. , Saad A. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractMicrobes are abundant inhabitants of the near-surface atmosphere in urban areas. The distribution of microbial communities may benefit or hinder human wellbeing and ecosystem function. Surveys of airborne microbial diversity are uncommon in both natural and built environments and those that investigate diversity are stationary in the city, thus missing continuous exposure to microbes that covary with three-dimensional urban structure. Individuals in cities are generally mobile and would be exposed to diverse urban structures outdoors and within indoor-transit systems in a day. We used mobile monitoring of microbial diversity and geographic information system spatial analysis, across Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA in outdoor and indoor-transit (subways and train cars) environments. This study identifies to the role of the three-dimensional urban landscape in structuring atmospheric microbiomes and employs mobile monitoring over ~1920 kilometers to measure continuous biodiversity. We found more diverse communities outdoors that significantly differ from indoor-transit air in microbial community structure, function, likely source environment, and potentially pathogenic fraction of the community. Variation in the structure of the urban landscape was associated with diversity and function of the near-surface atmospheric microbiome in outdoor samples.ImportanceGlobal nutrient cycling and human health depend on the rich biodiversity of microorganisms. The influence of the urban environment on microbiomes remains poorly described despite cities being the fastest growing ecosystems. All life is exposed to the atmosphere and thus discerning what microbes are present and what their functions may be is critical to create resistant and resilient cities under climate change. This study combines a spatially explicit analysis of urban structure with mobile monitoring of the atmospheric microbiome.
Dog Savior: Immediate Scent-Detection of SARS-COV-2 by Trained Dogs
Authors: Vesga Omar , Valencia Andres F. , Mira Alejandro , Ossa Felipe , Ocampo Esteban , Agudelo Maria , Čiuoderis Karl , Perez Laura , Cardona Andres , Aguilar Yudy , González Javier M. , Cataño Juan C. , Agudelo Yuli , Hernández-Ortiz Juan P. , Osorio Jorge E. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractMolecular tests for viral diagnostics are essential to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, but their production and distribution cannot satisfy the current high demand. Early identification of infected people and their contacts is the key to being able to isolate them and prevent the dissemination of the pathogen; unfortunately, most countries are unable to do this due to the lack of diagnostic tools. Dogs can identify, with a high rate of precision, unique odors of volatile organic compounds generated during an infection; as a result, dogs can diagnose infectious agents by smelling specimens and, sometimes, the body of an infected individual. We trained six dogs of three different breeds to detect SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory secretions of infected patients and evaluated their performance experimentally, comparing it against the gold standard (rRT-PCR). Here we show that viral detection takes one second per specimen. After scent-interrogating 9,200 samples, our six dogs achieved independently and as a group very high sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, accuracy, and likelihood ratio, with very narrow confidence intervals. The highest metric was the negative predictive value, indicating that with a disease prevalence of 7.6%, 99.9% of the specimens indicated as negative by the dogs did not carry the virus. These findings demonstrate that dogs could be useful to track viral infection in humans, allowing COVID-19 free people to return to work safely.
Structural mimicry confers robustness in the cyanobacterial circadian clock
Authors: Heisler Joel , Swan Jeffrey A. , Palacios Joseph G. , Sancar Cigdem , Ernst Dustin C. , Spangler Rebecca K. , Bagshaw Clive R. , Tripathi Sarvind , Crosby Priya , Golden Susan S. , Partch Carrie L. , LiWang Andy 
Published: June 2020

AbstractThe histidine kinase SasA enhances robustness of circadian rhythms in the cyanobacteriumS. elongatusby temporally controlling expression of the core clock components,kaiBandkaiC. Here we show that SasA also engages directly with KaiB and KaiC proteins to regulate the period and enhance robustness of the reconstituted circadian oscillatorin vitro, particularly under limiting concentrations of KaiB. In contrast to its role regulating gene expression, oscillator function does not require SasA kinase activity; rather, SasA uses structural mimicry to cooperatively recruit the rare, fold-switched conformation of KaiB to the KaiC hexamer to form the nighttime repressive complex. Cooperativity gives way to competition with increasing concentrations of SasA to define a dynamic window by which SasA directly modulates clock robustness.One Sentence SummarySasA controls the assembly of clock protein complexes through a balance of cooperative and competitive interactions.
Structural Consequences of the Villin Headpiece Interaction with a Carbon Nitride Polyaniline (C3N) Nanosheet
Authors: Gu Zonglin , Perez-Aguilar Jose Manuel , Zhou Ruhong 
Published: June 2020

ABSTRACTCarbon nitride polyaniline (C3N) nanosheets shared a similar structure with graphene and have been utilized in biomedical applications since its recent successful synthesis. However, limited information was known about the interaction of this next-generation nanomaterial with biomolecules, which might hamper its applications in living tissues. Here, by using all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigated the interaction between a C3N nanosheet and the prototypical protein villin headpiece (HP35), in order to identify the mechanistic determinants of such interaction; this knowledge will provide guidelines about C3N’s biocompatibility. Our MD simulations revealed that the C3N-based nanomaterial caused the partial denaturation of HP35 once the protein was bound on its surface. That is, upon adsorption, we observed the loss of the protein’s interior hydrogen bonds and the native contacts, which were related with unwinding events in the protein’s helices. The protein/C3N nanosheet interacting process was dominated by vdW contributions to the energy and the stepwise changes observed in the values of this energy term suggested a gradual unfolding pattern of HP35 during the absorption event. Furthermore, we also found that the interaction energy showed a linear correlation with the native Q ratio of HP35, suggesting that the degree of HP35 unfolding was linearly time-dependent to the interaction energy. Our findings shed light on the underlying molecular mechanism of the potential consequences of C3N-based nanostructures to proteins, which might delineate the future applications of these nanomaterials in biomedicine.
GLP-1R agonist NLY01 reduces retinal inflammation, astrocyte reactivity, and retinal ganglion cell death secondary to ocular hypertension
Authors: Sterling Jacob K. , Adetunji Modupe , Guttha Samyuktha , Bargoud Albert , Uyhazi Katherine , Ross Ahmara G. , Dunaief Joshua L. , Cui Qi N. 
Published: June 2020

SUMMARYGlaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and is characterized by the death of retinal ganglion cells. Reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) is the only therapeutic mechanism available to slow disease progression. However, glaucoma can continue to progress despite normalization of IOP. New treatments are needed to reduce vision loss and improve outcomes for patients who have exhausted existing therapeutic avenues. Recent studies have implicated neuroinflammation in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases of both the retina and the brain, including glaucoma and Parkinson’s disease. Pro-inflammatory A1 astrocytes contribute to neuronal cell death in multiple disease processes and have been targeted therapeutically in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease. Microglial release of pro-inflammatory cytokines C1q, IL-1α, and TNF-α is sufficient to drive the formation of A1 astrocytes. The role of A1 astrocytes in glaucoma pathogenesis has not been explored. Using a mouse model of glaucoma, we demonstrated that IOP elevation was sufficient to trigger production of C1q, IL-1α, and TNF-α by infiltrating macrophages followed by resident microglia. These three cytokines drove the formation of A1 astrocytes in the retina. Furthermore, cytokine production and A1 astrocyte transformation persisted following IOP normalization. Ablation of this pathway, by either genetic deletions of C1q, IL-1α, and TNF-α, or treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist NLY01, reduced A1 astrocyte transformation and RGC death. Together, these results highlight a new neuroinflammatory mechanism behind glaucomatous neurodegeneration that can be therapeutically targeted by NLY01 administration.
Identification of enzymes for lignocellulose degradation in the genome and transcriptome of the aquatic hyphomyceteClavariopsis aquatica
Authors: Heeger Felix , Bourne Elizabeth C. , Wurzbacher Christian , Funke Elisabeth , Lipzen Anna , He Guifen , Ng Vivian , Grigoriev Igor V. , Schlosser Dietmar , Monaghan Michael T. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractFungi are ecologically important decomposers of lignocellulose. Basidiomycetes use peroxidases, laccases, and enzymes of the cytochrome P450 superfamily for cometabolic lignin degradation in order to access cellulose and hemicellulose as carbon sources. Limited lignin modification capabilities have also been reported for some terrestrial ascomycetes. Here we newly sequenced the genome of an exclusively aquatic ascomycete,Clavariopsis aquatica, documented the presence of genes for the modification of lignocellulose and its constituents, and compared differential gene expression betweenC. aquaticacultivated on lignocellulosic and sugar-rich substrates. We identified potential peroxidases, laccases, and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases several of which were differentially expressed when experimentally grown on different substrates. Additionally, we found regulation of pathways for cellulose and hemicellulose degradation. Our results suggest thatC. aquaticais able to modify lignin, detoxify aromatic lignin constituents, or both. This may facilitate the use of carbohydrate components of lignocellulose as carbon and energy sources.
Reward processing electrophysiology in schizophrenia: Effects of age and illness phase
Authors: Abram Samantha V. , Roach Brian J. , Holroyd CB , Paulus MP , Ford Judith M. , Mathalon Daniel H. , Fryer Susanna L. 
Published: June 2020

AbstractBackgroundReward processing abnormalities may underlie characteristic pleasure and motivational impairments in schizophrenia. Some neural measures of reward processing show strong age-related modulation, highlighting the importance of considering age effects on reward sensitivity. We compared event-related potentials (ERPs) reflecting reward anticipation (stimulus-preceding negativity, SPN) and evaluation (reward positivity, RewP; late-positive potential, LPP) across individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC), with an emphasis on examining effects of chronological age, brain age (i.e., predicted age based on neurobiological measures), and illness phase.MethodsSubjects underwent EEG while completing a slot-machine task for which rewards were not dependent on performance accuracy, speed, or other preparatory demands. Slot-machine task EEG responses were compared between 54 SZ and 54 HC individuals, ages 19 to 65. Reward-related ERPs were analyzed with respect to chronological age, categorically-defined illness phase (early; ESZ versus chronic schizophrenia; CSZ), and were used to model brain age relative to chronological age.ResultsIllness phase-focused analyses indicated there were no group differences in average SPN or RewP amplitudes. However, a group x reward outcome interaction revealed that ESZ differed from HC in later outcome processing, reflected by greater LPP responses following loss versus reward (a reversal of the HC pattern). While brain age estimates did not differ among groups, depressive symptoms in SZ were associated with older brain age estimates while controlling for negative symptoms.ConclusionsESZ and CSZ did not differ from HC in reward anticipation or early outcome processing during a cognitively undemanding reward task, highlighting areas of preserved functioning. However, ESZ showed altered later reward outcome evaluation, pointing to selective reward deficits during the early illness phase of schizophrenia. Further, an association between ERP-derived brain age and depressive symptoms in SZ extends prior findings linking depression with reward-related ERP blunting. Taken together, both illness phase and age may impact reward processing in SZ, and brain aging may offer a promising, novel marker of reward dysfunction that warrants further study.