bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Amniotic fluid stem cells ameliorate cisplatin-induced acute renal failure through induction of autophagy and inhibition of apoptosis
Authors: Minocha Ekta , Sinha Rohit Anthony , Jain Manali , Chaturvedi Chandra Prakash , Nityanand Soniya 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background
We have recently demonstrated that amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSC) express renal progenitor markers and can be differentiated in vitro into renal lineage cell types, viz, juxtaglomerular and renal proximal tubular epithelial-like cells. Here, we have evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of AFSC in a cisplatin-induced rat model of acute renal failure (ARF) and investigated the underlying mechanisms responsible for their renoprotective effects.

Methods
ARF was induced in Wistar rats by intra-peritoneal injection of cisplatin (7 mg/kg). Five days after cisplatin injection, rats were randomized into two groups and injected with either AFSC or normal saline intravenously. On days 8 and 12 after cisplatin injection, the blood biochemical parameters, histopathological changes, apoptosis and expression of pro-apoptotic, anti-apoptotic, and autophagy-related proteins in renal tissues were studied in both groups of rats. To further confirm whether the protective effects of AFSC on cisplatin-induced apoptosis were dependent on autophagy, chloroquine, an autophagy inhibitor, was administered by the intra-peritoneal route.

Results
Administration of AFSC in ARF rats resulted in improvement of renal function and attenuation of renal damage as reflected by significant decrease in blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine levels, tubular cell apoptosis as assessed by Bax/Bcl2 ratio, and expression of the pro-apoptotic proteins, viz, PUMA, Bax, cleaved caspase-3, and cleaved caspase-9, as compared to the saline-treated group. Furthermore, in the AFSC-treated group as compared to the saline-treated group, there was a significant increase in the activation of autophagy as evident by increased expression of LC3-II, ATG5, ATG7, Beclin1, and phospho-AMPK levels with a concomitant decrease in phospho-p70S6K and p62 expression levels. Chloroquine administration led to significant reduction in the anti-apoptotic effects of the AFSC therapy and further deterioration in the renal structure and function caused by cisplatin.

Conclusion
AFSC led to amelioration of cisplatin-induced ARF which was mediated by inhibition of apoptosis and activation of autophagy. The protective effects of AFSC were blunted by chloroquine, an inhibitor of autophagy, highlighting that activation of autophagy is an important mechanism of action for the protective role of AFSC in cisplatin-induced renal injury.
First identification and characterisation of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae in pigs in Hong Kong
Authors: Lugsomya Kittitat , Zeeh Friederike , La Tom , Phillips Nyree , Hampson David J. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractSwine dysentery (SD) is an important endemic disease of pigs throughout the world. The most common aetiological agent is the anaerobic intestinal spirochaeteBrachyspira hyodysenteriae.The related spirochaeteBrachyspira pilosicolicauses a milder form of colitis. We report the first isolation ofB. hyodysenteriaeandB. pilosicolifrom a pig farm in Hong Kong. Faecal samples containing mucus or fresh blood were collected from the ground where finisher pigs had just been loaded into a truck for transport to the abattoir. The samples were subjected to selective anaerobic culture and PCR forB. hyodysenteriaeandB. pilosicoli, and two isolates of both species were obtained. TheB. hyodysenteriaeisolates showed clinical resistance to tylosin and lincomycin, whilst theB. pilosicoliisolates were resistant to tylosin and showed intermediate susceptibility to lincomycin. TheB. hyodysenteriaeisolates were subjected to multilocus sequence typing and a single previously undescribed sequence type (ST250) was identified. Disease was not recorded in other pigs on the farm, but it may have been masked by the use of antimicrobials. Further work is required to examine the distribution of these two pathogens in this and other farms in Hong Kong and in adjoining mainland China.
Validation of the Spanish version of the MD Anderson symptom inventory – heart failure (MDASI-HF-Spanish) module
Authors: Fadol Anecita , Buitrago Joaquin , Diaz Maria C. , Shelton Valerie , Harty Carolyn , Mendoza Tito R. 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background
The lack of a validated symptom assessment instrument in Spanish for patients with cancer and heart failure (HF) can affect the care and impede the recruitment and participation of Spanish-speaking patients in clinical trials. Spanish is the second most common language spoken by the largest and most rapidly growing racial/ethnic minority group in the United States. To bridge the language barrier and improve symptom management in Spanish-speaking patients with cancer and HF, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Heart Failure (MDASI-HF) was translated to Spanish (MDASI-HF- Spanish).

Aim
To validate the MDASI-HF-Spanish symptom assessment instrument.

Methods
Following standard forward and backward translation of the original and previously validated English version of the MDASI-HF, a cognitive debriefing with nine native Spanish speaking participants was conducted to evaluate the participants’ understanding and comprehension of the MDASI-HF-Spanish. To examine the comprehensibility, acceptability and psychometric properties of the translated instrument, the MDASI-HF-Spanish was tested in a convenience sample of 50 Spanish speaking patients with a diagnosis of cancer and HF. Evidence for the psychometric validity of the MDASI-HF-Spanish was demonstrated via its internal consistency reliability and known-group validity.

Results
Overall, the participants had no problems with the understandability, readability, or number of questions asked. The MDASI-HF-Spanish subscales showed good internal consistency reliability, with a Cronbach’s coefficient alpha of 0.94 (13 core cancer symptoms), 0.92 (8 heart failure symptoms), and 0.90 (6 interference items) respectively. The MDASI-HF-Spanish was able to differentiate the functional status between patients based on the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification.

Conclusions
The MDASI-HF-Spanish is linguistically and psychometrically valid with ease of completion, relevance, and comprehensibility among the participants, and it can be a useful tool for clinical management and research purposes.
Spatiotemporal variability of fire characteristics affect animal responses in pyric landscapes
Authors: Cohen Bradley S. , Prebyl Thomas J. , Collier Bret A. , Chamberlain Michael J. 
Published: December 2019

AbstractBackgroundBehavioral responses are the most immediate ways animals interact with their environment, and are primary mechanisms by which individuals mitigate mortality risk while ensuring reproductive success. In disturbance-driven landscapes, animals must adjust behaviors both spatially and temporally to maximize individual fitness. Prescribed fire is an important ecosystem driver in many coniferous forests, as fire cycles nutrients, creates spatially heterogeneous distributions in quantity and quality of forage and cover, and provides opportunities for fire-adapted taxa. Because fire immediately shifts resource distribution, and fire characteristics may drive behavioral responses to recent burns, we examined behavioral responses of 105 Global Positioning System (GPS)-tagged female eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestrisLinnaeus, 1758) to fire application at three sites in southeastern United States. We used satellite-derived imagery to calculate burn severity and burn heterogeneity. We also calculated distance to adjacent unburned stands and time-since-fire at GPS locations of each turkey while inside burned stands. We used behavioral change point analyses to estimate behavioral state for turkeys using burned areas, and generalized linear mixed models to estimate how fire characteristics affected turkey behavior inside burned areas.ResultsTurkeys focused their use in less severely burned areas, and were less likely to use the interior of burned areas. Turkeys were more likely to forage and rest in less severely burned areas, suggesting that managers should apply prescribed fire frequently enough to promote low-severity burns. We found that, as distance to neighboring unburned areas increased, turkeys were more likely to walk through the interiors of recently burned areas, as opposed to resting or foraging in them, suggesting that the interiors of some burn units are less suitable habitat in the year that prescribed fire is applied. Our findings suggest that prescribed fire applied to ensure that interior areas of burned stands are <250 m from adjacent unburned stands or to stands shaped to maximize edge-to-area ratios likely create more suitable conditions for foraging and resting.ConclusionsThe application and spatial arrangement of prescribed fire, even in frequently burned areas, affect animal response and behaviors. Prescribed fire regimes should be created in recognition that sizes of burned stands and fire severity, along with determinants of fire severity (e.g.,fuel loads, return intervals, timing), are important influences on animal behavior in frequent-fire-managed landscapes.
Antitumor effect of TW-37, a BH3 mimetic in human oral cancer
Authors: Ahn Chi-Hyun , Lee Won Woo , Jung Yun Chan , Shin Ji-Ae , Hong Kyoung-Ok , Choi Sujung , Swarup Neeti , Kim Jihoon , Ahn Min-Hye , Jung Minjung , Cho Sung-Dae , Jin Bohwan 
Published: December 2019

AbstractTW-37 is a small molecule B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) homology 3 mimetic with potential anticancer activities. However, the in vivo anti-cancer effect of TW-37 in human oral cancer has not been properly studied yet. Here, we attempted to confirm antitumor activity of TW37 in human oral cancer. TW-37 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased the number of dead cells in MC-3 and HSC-3 human oral cancer cell lines. TW-37 enhanced apoptosis of both cell lines evidenced by annexin V/propidium iodide double staining, sub-G1population analysis and the detection of cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and caspase-3. In addition, TW-37 markedly downregulated the expression of Bcl-2 protein, while not affecting Bcl-xL or myeloid cell leukemia-1. In vivo, TW-37 inhibited tumor growth in a nude mice xenograft model without any significant liver and kidney toxicities. Collectively, these data reveal that TW-37 may be a promising small molecule to inhibit human oral cancer.
Coronary artery bypass surgery in type 2 diabetic patients: predictors of mortality and morbidity
Authors: Moutakiallah Younes , Boulahya Abdelatif , Seghrouchni Aniss , Mounir Reda , Atmani Noureddine , Drissi Mohammed , Hatim El Ghadbane Abdedaim , Lakhal Zouhair , Asfalou Iliyasse , El Bekkali Youssef , Abouqal Redouane , Aithoussa Mahdi 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Background
Coronary artery bypass grafting has been widely admitted in the therapeutic arsenal of coronary artery disease in diabetics with low morbi-mortality. However, it requires special management which may be challenging in low-volume centers especially in African countries. We aimed to analyze the outcome of coronary artery bypass graft in our diabetic population and define predictors of adverse events.

Patients and methods
We retrospectively enrolled 529 consecutive diabetic patients (type 2) who underwent on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting at our institution between January 2000 and June 2018. The mean age was 61.1 ± 8.3 years with 4.04 as sex ratio (M/F) and 2.95 as mean EuroSCORE II. History of acute myocardial infarction, left main coronary artery stenosis, and three-vessel disease was present in respectively 58%, 26.1%, and 72.2% of patients. The average number of bypass was 2.4 ± 0.8. Duration of cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamping were respectively 124.8 ± 43.5 and 79.7 ± 32.9 min.

Results
In-hospital mortality was 5.9% (n = 31) and the late mortality was 6.9% (n = 32). Duration of artificial ventilation, ICU stay, and postoperative stay were respectively 7 h, 44 h, and 13 days. Postoperative complications were myocardial infarction, superficial wound infection, mediastinitis, and low cardiac output syndrome in respectively 9.1%, 25.5%, 3.8%, and 12.7% of patients. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction < 40% (OR = 1.88; 95% CI 1.30–2.47; p = 0.03), poor perioperative glycemic control (OR = 1.53; 95% CI 1.12–2.38; p = 0.014), intra-aortic balloon pump insertion (OR = 2.29; 95% CI 1.47–3.10; p < 0.001), and postoperative cardiac complications (OR = 2.01; 95% CI 1.23–2.78; p < 0.001) were predictors of in-hospital mortality. Predictors of mediastinitis were obesity (OR = 5.86; 95% CI 1.43–23.95; p = 0.014), inotropic drugs use (OR = 8.14; 95% CI 1.57–42.34; p = 0.013), chest reopening for bleeding (OR = 4.01; 95% CI 0.62–25.85; p = 0.014), and blood transfusion (OR = 7.56; 95% CI 1.09–52.76; p = 0.041). Follow-up was 86.1% complete, with a mean follow-up of 63.5 ± 48.3 months (1–192 months), and cumulative survival at 5, 10, and 15 years was respectively 95.5 ± 1.1%, 86.3 ± 2.9%, and 76.9 ± 6.9%.

Conclusion
Even in low-volume centers in developing areas, coronary artery bypass surgery is an effective therapy for coronary artery disease in diabetic patients despite a relative high morbidity and mortality.
A New Chapter in the Story of Trauma: Narratives of Bodily Healing from 1860s America
Authors: Goldberg Shari 
Published: December 2019

AbstractScholars tracing the genealogy of trauma generally place its emergence in the 1870s, when the condition began to be conceptualized as mental rather than physical injury, treatable through psychological measures. This essay locates a complicating earlier engagement. Oliver Wendell Holmes’s The Guardian Angel (1867), Louisa May Alcott’s Hospital Sketches (1863), and Walt Whitman’s war entries in Specimen Days (from 1863) represent mental breakdown but propose a radically different therapy: the mind may be healed by acquiescing to the body’s physiological functions. This therapy is recommended in the course of narratives that are insistently conclusive, without the fragmentation usually assumed to distinguish representations of trauma. Thus, this essay challenges the premise that narratives of trauma formally resemble the condition’s broken mind, instead imagining how such texts may be analogized to the organic body.
The Politics of Pure Means
Authors: Gentili Dario 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This article is focused on the analysis of paragraphs 10 and 11 of Walter Benjamin's “Toward the Critique of Violence.” The article focuses on two sets of fundamental claims: those addressing the function of the police within the legal order of the state and those addressing what Benjamin calls the “politics of pure means.” Benjamin considers both the police and the politics of pure means as belonging to “the realm of means,” but they represent two alternative configurations of politics. The police state exemplifies the art of government when “the state of emergency is the rule,” that is, when the constantly reproduced fear of violence performs a disciplinary function. By contrast, the politics of pure means names the possibility of a politicization of human beings living together on the basis of subjective dispositions other than fear (which traditionally was thought to justify the creation of the legal order of the state).
“. . . and will do none”
Authors: François Anne-Lise 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
This article offers a partial commentary on the figures of parenthetical or bracketed power in paragraphs 12 and 13 of Walter Benjamin's “Toward the Critique of Violence.” Performing its own bracketing of the central question of the general strike, it focuses instead on Benjamin's interest in these paragraphs in the technique of open-ended discussion on a case-by-case basis. Technique, so understood, assumes, without necessarily exercising, the power to lie and be lied to.
Niobe and Korah, Different Orders of Time
Authors: Deuber-Mankowsky Astrid 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
Walter Benjamin's critique of violence assumes that violence is deeply intertwined with the division of time and space. Niobe serves as an example that allows Benjamin to give an account of the violent conditions of the order of time that is constituted under the rule of law. The example of Korah helps to illustrate the difference between divine violence and legal violence and to underscore the centrality of time's passage for the moral world. Unlike in the example of Niobe, whose children are condemned to death as punishment for her guilt, the children of Korah receive a new life and do not have to make amends for the guilt of their parents. Bearing in mind Niobe's guilt and her serving as “a stone marking the border (Grenze) between human beings and gods,” and given that Korah's children are spared after Moses has received the commandments, we can think of the boundless destruction of boundaries as opening a new historical order of time and the hope for an overcoming of the anthropocentric logic according to which the positing of law is the positing of power.
“Leben und Gewalt” or “Gewalt und Leben”
Authors: Bojanić Petar , Ðjordević Edward 
Published: December 2019

Abstract
In paragraph 18 of “Toward the Critique of Violence,” the terms life, living, and violence, and the relations among them, complicate Walter Benjamin's justification of divine violence—his text's main discovery. This article seeks to reconstruct Benjamin's uses of life and living in earlier texts and to consider the potential influence of various authors he was reading at the time (Heinrich Rickert, Erich Unger, Kurt Hiller, Gershom Scholem). Benjamin's distinction between life and living is crucial for his critique of pacifism and for his shift in perspective: he moves the focus from the victim to the one committing murder, but whose violent act just might bring justice.
A toolbox of stable integration vectors in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe
Authors: Vještica Aleksandar , Marek Magdalena , Nkosi Pedro Junior , Merlini Laura , Liu Gaowen , Bérard Melvin , Billault-Chaumartin Ingrid , Martin Sophie G. 
Published: December 2019

ABSTRACT
Schizosaccharomyces pombe is a widely used model organism to study many aspects of eukaryotic cell physiology. Its popularity as an experimental system partially stems from the ease of genetic manipulations, where the innate homology-targeted repair is exploited to precisely edit the genome. While vectors to incorporate exogenous sequences into the chromosomes are available, most are poorly characterized. Here, we show that commonly used fission yeast vectors, which upon integration produce repetitive genomic regions, give rise to unstable genomic loci. We overcome this problem by designing a new series of stable integration vectors (SIVs) that target four different prototrophy genes. SIVs produce non-repetitive, stable genomic loci and integrate predominantly as single copy. Additionally, we develop a set of complementary auxotrophic alleles that preclude false-positive integration events. We expand the vector series to include antibiotic resistance markers, promoters, fluorescent tags and terminators, and build a highly modular toolbox to introduce heterologous sequences. Finally, as proof of concept, we generate a large set of ready-to-use, fluorescent probes to mark organelles and cellular processes with a wide range of applications in fission yeast research.
This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
Molecular Renovation Strategy for Expeditious Synthesis of Molecular Probes
Authors: Niwa Takashi , Hosoya Takamitsu 
Published: December 2019

AbstractMolecular probes are useful chemical tools that are widely applied in life science research, including in molecular biology and drug discovery. However, the preparation of molecular probes often requires considerable time and effort even if the synthesis is conducted by well-trained organic chemists. This is mostly due to the complex structure of the target molecules or their precursors, which typically contain sensitive functional moieties. Furthermore, the synthetic route to probes must frequently be modified from that of the original compounds because the functional moiety of the probe should be preferably introduced into the molecule at a late stage of the synthesis. To address these issues, we propose a new concept that we named a “molecular renovation strategy” that can expedite the synthesis of molecular probes. This approach involves direct transformation of the original bioactive compounds to the probe precursors, followed by the introduction of a functional moiety. This account describes our recent efforts to realize this concept, particularly made for expeditious preparation of imaging probes for positron emission tomography (PET) via transition metal-catalyzed borylation reactions via cleavage of stable chemical bonds and transition metal-mediated deborylative radiolabeling reactions with PET nuclides.
Genetic risk assessment and haemoglobinopathy counselling: two case studies
Authors: Bennett-Day Sarah 
Published: December 2019

Background The author works as an antenatal and newborn (ANNB) screening coordinator in a hospital designated as an area of low prevalence for sickle cell and thalassaemia (SCT). As such, the opportunity for an ANNB coordinator to gain competency in prenatal counselling of individuals with SCT is limited. Method Two case studies are used to demonstrate social, cultural and ethical issues arising from counselling individuals with SCT. Findings Information regarding genetic risk and haemoglobinopathy status can be threatening for individuals and families, as well as transforming, depending on the context in which information is provided.
Humanized Embracement in Public Health Services in Brazil
Authors: Souza Paula Janaynne De , Matias Neto Wantuil , Rolim Neto Modesto Leite 
Published: December 2019

User embracement humanization aims to enable interdisciplinary care considering the patient's reality. This literature review compiles the perspectives on humanized embracement in the Brazilian Unified Health System. We performed a BVS platform search on the keywords “attendance”, “humanization” and “primary health care”, filtering the results using the PRISMA protocol. It was obtained 8 articles regarding humanization in public health system care, highlighting its conditions and difficulties. It was concluded that humanized care practice is important as an improvement tool in the health system and that professionals need to adapt to the humanized model. Keywords: User embracement; Humanization; Primary Health Care