bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Area and Geometry Dependence of Cell Migration in Asymmetric Two-State Micropatterns
Authors: Fink Alexandra , Brückner David B. , Schreiber Christoph , Röttgermann Peter J. F. , Broedersz Chase P. , Rädler Joachim O. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractMicro-structured surfaces provide a unique framework to probe cell migration and cytoskeletal dynamics in a standardized manner. Here, we report on the steady-state occupancy probability of cells in asymmetric two-state microstructures that consist of two fibronectin-coated adhesion sites connected by a thin guidance cue. In these dumbbell-like structures, cells transition between the two sites in a repeated and stochastic manner and average dwell times in the respective microenvironments are determined from the cell trajectories. We study the dynamics of human breast carcinoma cells (MDA-MB-231) in these microstructures as a function of area, shape and orientation of the adhesion sites. On square adhesive sites with different areas, we find that the occupancy probability ratio is directly proportional to the ratio of corresponding adhesion site areas. Sites of equal area but different shape lead to equal occupancy, if shapes are isotropic, e.g. squared or circular. In contrast, an asymmetry in the occupancy is induced by anisotropic shapes like rhombi, triangles or rectangles that enable motion in the direction perpendicular to the transition axis. Analysis of the 2D motion of cells between two rectangles with orthogonal orientation suggests that cellular transition rates depend on the cell polarisation induced by anisotropic micropatterns. Taken together, our results illustrate how two-state-micropatterns provide a dynamic migration assay with distinct dwell times and relative cell occupancy as readouts, which may potentially be useful to probe cell-microenvironment interactions.
Hearing impairment is associated with enhanced neural tracking of the speech envelope
Authors: Decruy Lien , Vanthornhout Jonas , Francart Tom 
Published: October 2019

AbstractElevated hearing thresholds in hearing impaired adults are usually compensated by providing amplification through a hearing aid. In spite of restoring hearing sensitivity, difficulties with understanding speech in noisy environments often remain. One main reason is that sensorineural hearing loss not only causes loss of audibility but also other deficits, including peripheral distortion but also central temporal processing deficits. To investigate the neural consequences of hearing impairment in the brain underlying speech-in-noise difficulties, we compared EEG responses to natural speech of 14 hearing impaired adults with those of 14 age-matched normal-hearing adults. We measured neural envelope tracking to sentences and a story masked by different levels of a stationary noise or competing talker. Despite their sensorineural hearing loss, hearing impaired adults showed higher neural envelope tracking of the target than the competing talker, similar to their normal-hearing peers. Furthermore, hearing impairment was related to an additional increase in neural envelope tracking of the target talker, suggesting that hearing impaired adults may have an enhanced sensitivity to envelope modulations or require a larger differential tracking of target versus competing talker to neurally segregate speech from noise. Lastly, both normal-hearing and hearing impaired participants showed an increase in neural envelope tracking with increasing speech understanding. Hence, our results open avenues towards new clinical applications, such as neuro-steered prostheses as well as objective and automatic measurements of speech understanding performance.HighlightsAdults with hearing impairment can neurally segregate speech from background noiseHearing loss is related to enhanced neural envelope tracking of the target talkerNeural envelope tracking has potential to objectively measure speech understanding
Inception Capsule Network for Retinal Blood Vessel Segmentation and Centerline Extraction
Authors: Kromm C. , Rohr K. 
Published: October 2019

ABSTRACTAutomatic segmentation and centerline extraction of retinal blood vessels from fundus image data is crucial for early detection of retinal diseases. We have developed a novel deep learning method for segmentation and centerline extraction of retinal blood vessels which is based on the Capsule network in combination with the Inception architecture. Compared to state-of-the-art deep convolutional neural networks, our method has much fewer parameters due to its shallow architecture and generalizes well without using data augmentation. We performed a quantitative evaluation using the DRIVE dataset for both vessel segmentation and centerline extraction. Our method achieved state-of-the-art performance for vessel segmentation and outperformed existing methods for centerline extraction.
Loss of Dnmt3a dependent methylation in inhibitory neurons impairs neural function through a mechanism that impacts Rett syndrome
Authors: Lavery Laura A. , Ure Kerstin , Wan Ying-Wooi , Luo Chongyuan , Trostle Alexander J. , Wang Wei , Lopez Joanna , Lucero Jacinta , Durham Mark A. , Castanon Rosa , Nery Joseph R. , Liu Zhandong , Goodell Margaret A. , Ecker Joseph R. , Behrens M. Margarita , Zoghbi Huda Y. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractMethylated cytosine is an effector of epigenetic gene regulation. In the mammalian brain, the DNA methyltransferase, Dnmt3a, is the sole “writer” of atypical non-CpG methylation (mCH), and methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) is the only known “reader” for mCH. We set out to determine if MeCP2 is the sole reader for Dnmt3a dependent methylation by comparing mice lacking either Dnmt3a or MeCP2 in GABAergic inhibitory neurons. Loss of either the writer or the reader causes overlapping and distinct features from the behavioral to the molecular level. Loss of Dnmt3a results in global loss of mCH and a small subset of mCG sites resulting in more widespread transcriptional alterations and severe neurological dysfunction than seen upon MeCP2 loss. These data indicate that MeCP2 is responsible for reading part of the Dnmt3a dependent methylation in the brain. Importantly, the impact of MeCP2 on genes differentially expressed in both cKO models shows a strong dependence on mCH, but not Dnmt3a dependent mCG, consistent with mCH playing a central role in the pathogenesis of Rett Syndrome.
Spatially mapped single-cell chromatin accessibility
Authors: Thornton Casey A. , Mulqueen Ryan M. , Nishida Andrew , Torkenczy Kristof A. , Lowenstein Eve G. , Fields Andrew J. , Steemers Frank J. , Zhang Wenri , McConnell Heather L. , Woltjer Randy L. , Mishra Anusha , Wright Kevin M. , Adey Andrew C. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractHigh-throughput single-cell epigenomic assays can resolve the heterogeneity of cell types and states in complex tissues, however, spatial orientation within the network of interconnected cells is lost. Here, we present a novel method for highly scalable, spatially resolved, single-cell profiling of chromatin states. We use high-density multiregional sampling to perform single-cell combinatorial indexing on Microbiopsies Assigned to Positions for the Assay for Transposase Accessible Chromatin (sciMAP-ATAC) to produce single-cell data of an equivalent quality to non-spatially resolved single-cell ATAC-seq, where each cell is localized to a three-dimensional position within the tissue. A typical experiment comprises between 96 and 384 spatially mapped tissue positions, each producing 10s to over 100 individual single-cell ATAC-seq profiles, and a typical resolution of 214 cubic microns; with the ability to tune the resolution and cell throughput to suit each target application. We apply sciMAP-ATAC to the adult mouse primary somatosensory cortex, where we profile cortical lamination and demonstrate the ability to analyze data from a single tissue position or compare a single cell type in adjacent positions. We also profile the human primary visual cortex, where we produce spatial trajectories through the cortex. Finally, we characterize the spatially progressive nature of cerebral ischemic infarct in the mouse brain using a model of transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. We leverage the spatial information to identify novel and known transcription factor activities that vary by proximity to the ischemic infarction core with cell type specificity.
The cryo-EM structure of human CST reveals a two-megadalton decameric assembly bound to telomeric DNA
Authors: Lim Ci Ji , Barbour Alexandra T. , Zaug Arthur J. , McKay Allison E. , Wuttke Deborah S. , Cech Thomas R. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThe single-stranded DNA-binding CTC1-STN1-TEN1 (CST) complex is essential for telomere maintenance and genome-wide replication recovery, processes that are critical for genome stability. Here, we report the 2.95 Å cryo-EM structure of human CST bound to telomeric single-stranded DNA, which unexpectedly assembles as a decameric supercomplex. The atomic model of the 134 kDa CTC1, built almost entirely de novo, reveals the overall architecture of CST and the DNA-binding anchor site. In situ arrangements of STN1 and TEN1 are revealed, with STN1 interacting with CTC1 at two separated sites, allowing allosteric mediation of CST decameric assembly. Surprisingly, CTC1 lacks the anticipated structural homology to yeast Cdc13 but instead shares similarity with a form of Replication Protein A. The atomic-resolution model of human CST provides crucial mechanistic understanding of CST mutations associated with human diseases. Moreover, the decameric form of CST suggests the intriguing possibility of ssDNA architectural organization similar to what the nucleosome provides for dsDNA.One Sentence SummaryHuman telomeric single-stranded DNA triggers the assembly of a decameric protein supercomplex solved by cryo-EM.
Patched regulates lipid homeostasis by controlling cellular cholesterol levels
Authors: Cadena del Castillo Carla E. , Hannich J. Thomas , Kaech Andres , Chiyoda Hirohisa , Fukuyama Masamitsu , Færgeman Nils J. , Riezman Howard , Spang Anne 
Published: October 2019

AbstractHedgehog (Hh) signaling is essential during development and in organ physiology. In the canonical pathway, Hh binding to Patched (PTCH) relieves the inhibition of Smoothened (SMO). Yet, PTCH may also perform SMO-independent functions. While the PTCH homolog PTC-3 is essential inC. elegans, worms lack SMO, providing an excellent model to probe non-canonical PTCH function. Here, we show that PTC-3 is a cholesterol transporter.ptc-3(RNAi)leads to accumulation of intracellular cholesterol and defects in ER structure and lipid droplet formation. These phenotypes were accompanied by a reduction in acyl chain (FA) length and desaturation.ptc-3(RNAi)-induced lethality, fat storage and ER morphology defects were rescued by reducing dietary cholesterol. We provide evidence that cholesterol accumulation modulates the function of nuclear hormone receptors such as of the PPARαhomolog NHR-49 and NHR-181, and affects FA composition. Our data uncover a novel role for PTCH in organelle structure maintenance and fat metabolism.
The response of remittances inflows to asymmetric oil price shocks in Egypt
Authors: Zahran Mohamed Samir Abdalla 
Published: October 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyse the dynamic relationship between remittances inflows of Egyptians working abroad and asymmetric oil price shocks.

Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a vector autoregressive (VAR) model to explain the impulse response functions (IRFs) and the forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD). The rationale behind using these tools is its ability to examine the dynamic effects of our variables of interest.

Findings
The impulse response functions confirmed that remittance inflows have various responses to asymmetric oil price shocks. For instance, inflowing remittances increase in response to positive oil price shocks, while it decreases in response to negative oil price shocks. Also, the results indicate that the responses are significant in the short and medium-run and insignificant in the long run. The magnitude of these responses reaches its peak or trough in the third year. Further, the variance decomposition reveals that oil price decreases are more influential than oil price increases.

Originality/value
This means that remittances inflows in Egypt are pro-cyclical with oil price shocks. That explained by the fact that more than one-half of those remittances sent from GCC countries where real economic growth is very pro-cyclical with the oil prices. This empirical assessment will help policymakers to determine the behaviour of remittances and highlights the impact of different kinds of oil prices shocks on remittances. Unlike the little existing literature, this study is the first study applied the VAR model using a novel dataset spanning 1960-2016.
When Does the Board Blame the CEO for Poor Firm Performance? Extreme Resource Reallocation and the Board's Industry and CEO Experience
Authors: Louca Christodoulos , Petrou Andreas P. , Procopiou Andreas 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThis study sheds light on our understanding of when boards dismiss the CEO by considering the inherent conflict created by the board's advisory role when the firm underperforms. Using a sample of US firms listed in Standard & Poor's ExecuComp for the period 2000–2012 we find that, when a firm underperforms, extreme resource reallocation increases the likelihood of CEO dismissal. This relationship is positively moderated by the board's industry and CEO experience. The study contributes to the literature on corporate governance by identifying the conditions that trigger dismissal of the CEO in light of boards’ motive to protect their reputation.
Antimicrobial sulphonamide azo dyes
Authors: Gaffer Hatem E. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractSulphonamide motifs are widely found in many drug candidates with relevant biological activity. Moreover, sulphonamide azo dyes are interesting candidates for synthetic chemists because such dyes provide access to a broad range of functional group transformations. Therefore, many synthetic procedures for the preparation of sulphonamide azo dyes have been developed in recent decades, and the search for rapid and efficient protocols is ongoing. The current article aims to review recent trends in the synthesis of sulphonamide azo dyes and their applications as high‐performance colorants with antimicrobial activity. For convenience, the diverse uses of sulphonamide azo dyes are discussed from the perspective of the application type rather than the structural class.
The influence of ultraviolet radiation on the optical properties of glass fibre reinforcements for polyurethane matrix composites
Authors: Sedlacik Michal , Osicka Josef , Pavlinek Vladimir , Fojtl Ladislav 
Published: October 2019

AbstractPolyurethanes represent one of the most frequently used polymeric matrixes in composites. Although there have been many studies focused on the weather resistance of polyurethanes, this important property is unheeded during the reinforcing phase. In this article, the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the changes in optical properties of commercially available glass fibre reinforcements containing various polymeric binders used as compatibilising agents for the polymeric matrix in the final composite products were studied. The standardised experiments were performed using accelerated ageing equipment, q‐lab ultraviolet tester, in dry mode. Chemical modification of the binder in the form of polyesters or silanes by UV irradiation was studied using Fourier Transform–infrared spectroscopy. Changes in the optical properties caused by the degradation processes of polymeric components due to UV irradiation were evaluated based on colour changes in the examined samples using the yellowness index; statistical evaluation of the data obtained was conducted with an Anderson–Darling test of normality and an ANOVA test. It was demonstrated that both the amount of the binder and the glass fibre reinforcement's construction play a more important role than the chemical structure of the binder.
UNHCR’s evolving discourse on returning refugee vulnerability in Afghanistan: The law of diminishing returns
Authors: Willner‐Reid Matthew 
Published: October 2019

AbstractMotivationThe competitive nature of the aid world means agencies often struggle to convince donors of the merits of investing in the sectors in which they work. This context, unsurprisingly, influences the process of their situational and needs analysis, which donors in turn rely on heavily to inform their own programming. An inherent risk is that the groups who receive the most support may not necessarily be the most vulnerable but rather those whose interests are championed by the most powerful actors.PurposeThis article explores the contradiction between the roles of aid actors as providers of specialist knowledge, and promoters of particular beneficiaries. Specifically, it analyses the evolution of UNHCR’s discourse regarding the needs of returning refugees in Afghanistan over the period 2001–2015.MethodsAn interdisciplinary mixed‐methods approach is employed, consisting of over 70 interviews, analysis of around 3,000 Afghanistan‐focused contemporary media articles and UNHCR documents, and limited quantitative data analysis.FindingsThe study finds that, as the relative needs of returnees diminished in comparison to the wider Afghan population, UNHCR’s official pronouncements conversely portrayed these needs as increasing as a way to focus donor attention on an area that would otherwise receive a diminished level of support.Policy implicationsThese findings have important implications for policy‐makers both in Afghanistan and more generally. They show the need to go beyond aid agencies’ public pronouncements and critically examine in depth the sources of data on which they are based.
Enantiomers of fuscumol acetate comprise the aggregation‐sex pheromone of the South American cerambycid beetle Psapharochrus maculatissimus, and likely pheromones of the cerambycids Eupromerella plaumanni and Hylettus seniculus
Authors: Silva Weliton D. , Zou Yunfan , Hanks Lawrence M. , Bento José Maurício S. , Millar Jocelyn G. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractThere is increasing evidence that pheromone chemistry within the large coleopteran family Cerambycidae is often highly conserved, with numerous related species sharing the same pheromone components. As a result, traps containing these components can attract multiple cerambycid species simultaneously. In the present study, we exploited this concept in the identification of the male‐produced aggregation‐sex pheromone of the South American species Psapharochrus maculatissimus (Bates) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae, subfamily Lamiinae, tribe Acanthoderini). Initially, live adults of both sexes were caught using a trap baited with a lure containing a blend of known cerambycid pheromone components. Headspace volatiles were collected from live beetles and analyzed by coupled gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Males of P. maculatissimus sex‐specifically produced a 1:38 blend of (R)‐fuscumol acetate ([2R,5E]‐6,10‐dimethylundeca‐5,9‐dien‐2‐yl acetate) and (S)‐fuscumol acetate, which were both components of the pheromone lures to which they had been attracted. In more focused field trials, traps baited with the (S)‐enantiomer, or a blend approximating the natural 1:38 ratio of (R)‐ to (S)‐enantiomers, attracted adults of both sexes in approximately equal numbers. During bioassays, adults of the lamiine species Eupromerella plaumanni (Fuchs) (tribe Acanthoderini) and Hylettus seniculus (Germar) (Acanthocinini) also were attracted, but to different lures, with E. plaumanni being attracted to the racemic mixture of the two enantiomers of fuscumol acetate, whereas H. seniculus was attracted specifically to (R)‐fuscumol acetate. Our results suggest that differences between these sympatric species in the stereochemistry of fuscumol acetate impart species‐specificity to pheromone communication channels, similar to what has been found recently with lamiine species from other continents.
Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome and prostate cancer: study of immune cells and cytokines
Authors: Liu Yuqian , Mikrani Reyaj , Xie Dianyou , Wazir Junaid , Shrestha Sajan , Ullah Rahat , Baig Mirza Muhammad Faran Ashraf , Ahmed Abrar , Srivastava Prateek Kumar , Thapa Kedar Bahadur , Zhou Xiaohui 
Published: October 2019

AbstractProstate cancer and prostatitis are both significant health concerns. A large number of studies have established that the occurrence of the two is closely related. However, the most common prostatitis, type III chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndromes (CP/CPPS), is reported to not correlate with the occurrence of prostate cancer. Although the etiology of CP/CPPS is unknown, it may be related to the autoimmune mechanism favored by most studies. Manipulating the immune system and targeting tumor microenvironment are promising new methods for the treatment of prostate cancer. Therefore, this review focuses on the immune cells and cytokines of CP/CPPS and prostate cancer from the perspective of biological immunology and immune microenvironment. We discuss T‐regulatory (Treg) and T helper 17 (Th17) cells dysfunction, the abnormal regulation of T helper 1(Th1) and T helper 2 (Th2) cells, macrophages, and their related cytokines as key activators in CP/CPPS. In addition, we discuss the roles of Treg and Th17 cells, Th1 and Th2 cells, and related cytokines in modulating prostate cancer progression. This review highlights the concept that immune cells and cytokines provide a research strategy for the etiology of CP/CPPS and offer potentially promising targets for the treatment of prostate cancer.
The future of bioenergy
Authors: Reid Walter V. , Ali Mariam K. , Field Christopher B. 
Published: October 2019

AbstractEnergy from biomass plays a large and growing role in the global energy system. Energy from biomass can make significant contributions to reducing carbon emissions, especially from difficult‐to‐decarbonize sectors like aviation, heavy transport, and manufacturing. But land‐intensive bioenergy often entails substantial carbon emissions from land‐use change as well as production, harvesting, and transportation. In addition, land‐intensive bioenergy scales only with the utilization of vast amounts of land, a resource that is fundamentally limited in supply. Because of the land constraint, the intrinsically low yields of energy per unit of land area, and rapid technological progress in competing technologies, land intensive bioenergy makes the most sense as a transitional element of the global energy mix, playing an important role over the next few decades and then fading, probably after mid‐century. Managing an effective trajectory for land‐intensive bioenergy will require an unusual mix of policies and incentives that encourage appropriate utilization in the short term but minimize lock‐in in the longer term.