bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Resistance to the demethylation‐inhibiting fungicide propiconazole in Canadian populations of Microdochium nivale
Authors: Gourlie Ryan , Hsiang Tom 
Published: November 2021

AbstractTurfgrass managers have anecdotally reported decreased efficacy of DMI fungicides for the control of Microdochium patch and pink snow mold at golf courses in British Columbia, Canada. Isolates of Microdochium nivale from these locations, along with isolates collected in Ontario, Canada, were tested for their sensitivity to the fungicide propiconazole [1‐([2‐(2,4‐dichlorophenyl)‐4‐propyl‐1,3‐dioxolan‐2‐yl]methyl)‐1,2,4‐triazole]. Ontario isolates (47) had values for effective concentration causing 50% growth inhibition (EC50) ranging from <0.001 to 0.89 µg ml–1. In comparison, British Columbia isolates (50) had an EC50 range of 0.02 to 8.7 µg ml–1. Sensitivity testing with a discriminatory concentration (0.1 µg ml–1) of a larger set of isolates revealed that 24% of Ontario isolates (43 of 181) and 77% of British Columbia isolates (55 of 71) exhibited resistance to propiconazole (>50% growth on 0.1 µg ml–1 compared to non‐amended media). Because of the cool, wet climate of coastal British Columbia, turfgrass managers use more applications of fungicides annually, including propiconazole, to control diseases caused by M. nivale, and this has resulted in a greater proportion of isolates being resistant to propiconazole. In contrast, Ontario has a less favorable climate for these diseases, with accordingly fewer fungicide applications directed toward this pathogen and hence less risk of fungicide resistance developing.
The Glucocorticoid Receptor in Osterix-Expressing Cells Regulates Bone Mass, Bone Marrow Adipose Tissue, and Systemic Metabolism in Female Mice During Aging
Authors: Pierce Jessica L , Sharma Anuj K , Roberts Rachel L , Yu Kanglun , Irsik Debra L , Choudhary Vivek , Dorn Jennifer S , Bensreti Husam , Benson Reginald D , Kaiser Helen , Khayrullin Andrew , Davis Colleen , Wehrle Chase J , Johnson Maribeth H , Bollag Wendy B , Hamrick Mark W , Shi Xingming , Isales Carlos M , McGee-Lawrence Meghan E 
Published: November 2021

ABSTRACT
Hallmarks of aging-associated osteoporosis include bone loss, bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) expansion, and impaired osteoblast function. Endogenous glucocorticoid levels increase with age, and elevated glucocorticoid signaling, associated with chronic stress and dysregulated metabolism, can have a deleterious effect on bone mass. Canonical glucocorticoid signaling through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) was recently investigated as a mediator of osteoporosis during the stress of chronic caloric restriction. To address the role of the GR in an aging-associated osteoporotic phenotype, the current study utilized female GR conditional knockout (GR-CKO; GRfl/fl:Osx-Cre+) mice and control littermates on the C57BL/6 background aged to 21 months and studied in comparison to young (3- and 6-month-old) mice. GR deficiency in Osx-expressing cells led to low bone mass and BMAT accumulation that persisted with aging. Surprisingly, however, GR-CKO mice also exhibited alterations in muscle mass (reduced % lean mass and soleus fiber size), accompanied by reduced voluntary physical activity, and also exhibited higher whole-body metabolic rate and elevated blood pressure. Moreover, increased lipid storage was observed in GR-CKO osteoblastic cultures in a glucocorticoid-dependent fashion despite genetic deletion of the GR, and could be reversed via pharmacological inhibition of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). These findings provide evidence of a role for the GR (and possibly the MR) in facilitating healthy bone maintenance with aging in females. The effects of GR-deficient bone on whole-body physiology also demonstrate the importance of bone as an endocrine organ and suggest evidence for compensatory mechanisms that facilitate glucocorticoid signaling in the absence of osteoblastic GR function; these represent new avenues of research that may improve understanding of glucocorticoid signaling in bone toward the development of novel osteogenic agents. © 2021 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).
ParaCopasi: A package for parallel biochemical simulation and analysis
Authors: Yuan Lihuan , Wu Chengkun , Guo Xiaowei , Yang Canqun 
Published: November 2021

AbstractBiochemical simuflation and analysis play a significant role in systems biology research. Numerous software tools have been developed to serve this area. Using these tools for completing tasks, for example, stochastic simulation, parameter fitting and optimization, usually requires sufficient computational power to make the duration of completion acceptable. COPASI is one of the most powerful tools for quantitative simulation and analysis targeted at biological systems. It supports systems biology markup language and covers multiple categories of tasks. This work develops an open source package ParaCopasi for parallel COPASI tasks and investigates its performance regarding accelerations. ParaCopasi can be installed on platforms equipped with multicore CPU to exploit the cores, scaling from desktop computers to large scale high‐performance computing clusters. More cores bring more performance. The results show that the parallel efficiency has a positive correlation with the total workload. The parallel efficiency reaches a level of at least 95% for both homogeneous and heterogenous tasks when computational workload is adequate. An example is illustrated by applicating this package in parameter estimation to calibrate a biochemical kinetics model.
Application of a novel surgical difficulty grading system during laparoscopic cholecystectomy
Authors: Asai Koji , Iwashita Yukio , Ohyama Tetsuji , Endo Itaru , Hibi Taizo , Umezawa Akiko , Suzuki Kenji , Watanabe Manabu , Kurata Masanao , Mori Yasuhisa , Higashida Masaharu , Kumamoto Yusuke , Shindoh Junichi , Yoshida Masahiro , Honda Goro , Misawa Takeyuki , Abe Yuta , Nagakawa Yuichi , Toyota Naoyuki , Yamada Shigetoshi , Norimizu Shinji , Matsumura Naoki , Sata Naohiro , Sunagawa Hiroki , Ito Masahiro , Takeda Yutaka , Nakamura Yoshiharu , Rikiyama Toshiki , Higuchi Ryota , Gocho Takeshi , Homma Yuki , Hirashita Teijiro , Kanemoto Hideyuki , Nozawa Masashi , Watanabe Yusuke , Kohga Atsushi , Yazawa Takehisa , Tajima Hiroshi , Nakahira Shin , Asaoka Tadafumi , Yoshioka Ryuji , Fukuzawa Junya , Fujioka Shuichi , Hata Taigo , Haruta Hidenori , Asano Yukio , Nomura Ryohei , Matsumoto Joe , Kameyama Noriaki , Miyoshi Atsushi , Urakami Hidejiro , Seyama Yasuji , Morikawa Takanori , Kawano Yoichi , Ikoma Hisashi , Kin Dal Ho Kim , Takada Tadahiro , Yamamoto Masakazu 
Published: November 2021

AbstractBackgroundPrevention of bile duct injury and vasculo‐biliary injury while performing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is an unsolved problem. Clarifying the surgical difficulty using intraoperative findings can greatly contribute to the pursuit of best practices for acute cholecystitis. In this study, multiple evaluators assessed surgical difficulty items in unedited videos and then constructed a proposed surgical difficulty grading.MethodsWe previously assembled a library of typical video clips of the intraoperative findings for all LC surgical difficulty items in acute cholecystitis. Fifty‐one experts on LC assessed unedited surgical videos. Inter‐rater agreement was assessed by Fleiss's κ and Gwet's agreement coefficient (AC).ResultsExcept for one item (“edematous change”), κ or AC exceeded 0.5, so the typical videos were judged to be applicable. The conceivable surgical difficulty gradings were analyzed. According to the assessment of difficulty factors, we created a surgical difficulty grading system (agreement probability = 0.923, κ = 0.712, 90% CI: 0.587‐0.837; AC2 = 0.870, 90% CI: 0.768‐0.972).ConclusionThe previously published video clip library and our novel surgical difficulty grading system should serve as a universal objective tool to assess surgical difficulty in LC.
A robust method for simultaneous measurement of serum 25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2D, and 24,25(OH)2D by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry with efficient separation of 3‐epi analogs, 23R,25(OH)2D3, and 4β,25(OH)2D3
Authors: Wang Danchen , Yu Songlin , Zhang Qi , Cheng Qian , Xie Shaowei , Zhang Yuanyuan , Guo Xiuzhi , Zou Yutong , Yin Yicong , Yu Jialei , Li Honglei , Xia Liangyu , Qiu Ling , Xia Weibo 
Published: November 2021

AbstractBackgroundThis study aimed to establish a robust, simple method to detect 25‐hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), 25‐hydroxyvitamin D2 (25(OH)D2), 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3), 1,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D2 (1,25(OH)2D2), 24,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 (24,25(OH)2D3), and 24,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D2 (24,25(OH)2D2) simultaneously with efficient separation of 3‐epi 25(OH)D3, 3‐epi 24,25(OH)2D3, 23R,25(OH)2D3, and 4β,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D3 (4β,25(OH)2D3) by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS).MethodThis method was validated according to procedures established by Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and then applied in healthy population to determine the distribution of the vitamin D metabolites by LC‐MS/MS.ResultsThe total‐run CV% of 25(OH)D3, 25(OH)D2, 24,25(OH)2D3, 24,25(OH)2D2, 1,25(OH)2D3, and 1,25(OH)2D2 were 6.30%–8.40%, 5.00%–8.40%, 5.90%–9.00%, 5.60%–9.00%, 5.60%–8.00%, and 7.00%–9.70%, respectively. The linearity correlation coefficients r of these six vitamin D metabolites were >0.99. The matrix effects of 25(OH)D3, 25(OH)D2, 24,25(OH)2D3, 24,25(OH)2D2, 1,25(OH)2D3, and 1,25(OH)2D2 were 90.6%–103.3%, 97.3%–106.3%, 90.7%–106.3%, 100.7%–114.5%, 97.9%–104.6%, and 97.0%–111.0%. The trueness values of 25(OH)D3, 25(OH)D2, and 24,25(OH)2D3 were 93.8%–103.0%, 101.0%, and 96.3%–100%, respectively.ConclusionThis study successfully established an efficient, accurate, robust method for simultaneous measurement of serum 25(OH)D, 1,25(OH)2D, and 24,25(OH)2D by LC‐MS/MS with efficient separation of 3‐epi analogs, 23R,25(OH)2D3, and 4β,25(OH)2D3.
Unlocking the Creativity Potential of Dialectical Thinking: Field Investigations of the Comparative Effects of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles
Authors: Chua Roy Y. J. , Lim Jia Hui , Wiruchnipawan Wannawiruch (Fon) 
Published: November 2021

AbstractIn a digital economy characterized by high volumes of information and ideas, many of which could be contradictory to one another, employees high in dialectical thinking should be well poised to connect disparate ideas to generate creative solutions for business problems. Yet, it is unclear whether dialectical thinking as a creativity‐relevant skill can be realized in naturalistic workplace settings, given past mixed findings and the lack of field studies. We propose that supervisors’ leadership styles are important moderators that can unlock employees’ creativity potential in dialectical thinking. Additionally, we compare the activating effect of transformational leadership and the inhibiting effect of transactional leadership to investigate which leadership style is more impactful in unlocking the power of dialectical thinking on creativity. Through two multisource field studies, we find that dialectical thinking’s effect on creativity is context‐sensitive, and transactional leadership’s inhibiting effect on the dialectical thinking‐creativity relationship isstrongerthan transformational leadership’s activating effect. These findings qualify the predominant view that leaders should focus on enacting activators to stimulate employee creativity; rather, avoiding inhibitors might be more effective instead. Practically, our findings suggest that leaders should ensure they engage in fewer transactional leadership behaviors.
Impact of urbanization on soil microbial diversity and composition in the megacity of Shanghai
Authors: Liu Lan , Barberán Albert , Gao Cheng , Zhang Zhaochen , Wang Meng , Wurzburger Nina , Wang Xin , Zhang Ran , Li Junxiang , Zhang Jian 
Published: November 2021

AbstractUrbanization alters the physicochemical environment on an unprecedented scale and strongly affects biodiversity. How urbanization affects the biodiversity of soil microbial communities, especially in large cities, however, is poorly known. We investigated soil microbial communities from 258 sites covering a variety of environmental gradients in the megacity of Shanghai, China, to determine the impact of urbanization on soil microbial biodiversity. Using the distance to city centre, urbanized land cover, and road density as three proxies to characterize the levels of urbanization, we revealed that increased urbanization was associated with slightly homogenized communities of prokaryotes, total fungi, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi but not ectomycorrhizal fungi. The richness of soil prokaryotes and total fungi was weakly but positively related to urbanization as well. For the abundance of microbial phylotypes along urban gradients, we observed synchronous increases and decreases of many phylotypes at relatively high and low urbanization levels, respectively. Further, urbanization explained an independent part of microbial variances in richness and community composition, although the contribution of soil properties in explaining the variances was generally larger than that of urbanization. Together, this work provides evidence for the influences of urbanization on the biodiversity of soil microbes and highlights the importance of considering taxa and the level of urbanization to assess the impacts of urbanization on biodiversity.
Exosomes: Promising nanocarrier for cancer therapy
Authors: Zhao Chen‐Chen , Lv Hui‐Zhong , Tao Su‐Wan , Zhang Tong‐Cun , Xu Na , Zhu Lian 
Published: November 2021

AbstractCancer has intensively threatened the health and life of human beings across the world. Drug delivery systems (DDSs) can protect the packaged cargoes from degradation; effectively delivery cargoes to specific tissues. Most DDSs are based on functional nanomaterials. As natural nanomaterials, exosomes are secreting by mammalian cells through the multivesicle bodies route. Usually, exosomes possess uniform size ranging from 50 to 150 nm, their membrane surface has many functional proteins and cavity contains RNA, DNA similar to maternal cells. Owing to the high biocompatibility, excellent penetration capability as well as ease to be engineered, exosomes have shown outstanding potentials in delivering therapeutic molecules for cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review summarizes the unique characteristics which makes exosomes promising nanocarrier for cancer treatment. The future developments of exosomes based biomedical applications towards cancer are also outlined. We expect the review will help readers understand the potential value of exosomes based nanocarrier, and also try to elaborate their promising applications.
Zinc protoporphyrin binding to telomerase complexes and inhibition of telomerase activity*
Authors: Zhu Zhaowen , Tran Huy , Mathahs Meleah M. , Fink Brian D. , Albert John A. , Moninger Thomas O. , Meier Jeffery L. , Li Ming , Schmidt Warren N. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractZinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP), a naturally occurring metalloprotoporphyrin (MPP), is currently under development as a chemotherapeutic agent although its mechanism is unclear. When tested against other MPPs, ZnPP was the most effective DNA synthesis and cellular proliferation inhibitor while promoting apoptosis in telomerase positive but not telomerase negative cells. Concurrently, ZnPP down‐regulated telomerase expression and was the best overall inhibitor of telomerase activity in intact cells and cellular extracts with IC50 and EC50 values of ca 2.5 and 6 µM, respectively. The natural fluorescence properties of ZnPP enabled direct imaging in cellular fractions using non‐denaturing agarose gel electrophoresis, western blots, and confocal fluorescence microscopy. ZnPP localized to large cellular complexes (>600 kD) that contained telomerase and dysskerin as confirmed with immunocomplex mobility shift, immunoprecipitation, and immunoblot analyses. Confocal fluorescence studies showed that ZnPP co‐localized with telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and telomeres in the nucleus of synchronized S‐phase cells. ZnPP also co‐localized with TERT in the perinuclear regions of log phase cells but did not co‐localize with telomeres on the ends of metaphase chromosomes, a site known to be devoid of telomerase complexes. Overall, these results suggest that ZnPP does not bind to telomeric sequences per se, but alternatively, interacts with other structural components of the telomerase complex to inhibit telomerase activity. In conclusion, ZnPP actively interferes with telomerase activity in neoplastic cells, thus promoting pro‐apoptotic and anti‐proliferative properties. These data support further development of natural or synthetic protoporphyrins for use as chemotherapeutic agents to augment current treatment protocols for neoplastic disease.
A Novel Human Recombinant Lactoferrin Inhibits Lung Adenocarcinoma Cell Growth and Migration with No Cytotoxic Effect on Normal Human Epithelial Cells
Authors: Olszewska Paulina , Pazdrak Barbara , Kruzel Marian L. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractLung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Despite the recent advances in cancer treatment, only a subset of patients responds to targeted and immune therapies, and many patients developing resistance after an initial response. Lactoferrin (Lf) is a natural glycoprotein with immunomodulatory and anticancer activities. We produced a novel recombinant human Lf (rhLf) that exhibits glycosylation profile compatible with the natural hLf for potential parenteral therapeutic applications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anticancer effects of this novel rhLf in human lung adenocarcinoma cells and its mechanisms of action. The results showed a concentration-dependent inhibition of A549 cancer cell growth in response to rhLf. Treatment with 1 mg/ml of rhLf for 24 h and 72 h resulted in a significant inhibition of cancer cell growth by 32% and 25%, respectively. Moreover, rhLf increased fourfold the percentage of early and late apoptotic cells compared to the control. This effect was accompanied by increased levels of caspase-3 activity and cell cycle arrest at the S phase in rhLf-treated cancer cells. Furthermore, rhLf significantly attenuated A549 cell migration. Importantly, treatment of normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells with rhLf showed the cell viability and morphology comparable to the control. In contrast, chemotherapeutic etoposide induced cytotoxicity in NHBE cells and reduced the cell viability by 40%. These results demonstrate the selective anticancer effects of rhLf against lung adenocarcinoma cells without cytotoxicity on normal human cells. This study highlights a potential for clinical utility of this novel rhLf in patients with lung cancer.
Classification of target tissues of Eisenia fetida using sequential multimodal chemical analysis and machine learning
Authors: Ritschar Sven , Schirmer Elisabeth , Hufnagl Benedikt , Löder Martin G. J. , Römpp Andreas , Laforsch Christian 
Published: November 2021

AbstractAcquiring comprehensive knowledge about the uptake of pollutants, impact on tissue integrity and the effects at the molecular level in organisms is of increasing interest due to the environmental exposure to numerous contaminants. The analysis of tissues can be performed by histological examination, which is still time-consuming and restricted to target-specific staining methods. The histological approaches can be complemented with chemical imaging analysis. Chemical imaging of tissue sections is typically performed using a single imaging approach. However, for toxicological testing of environmental pollutants, a multimodal approach combined with improved data acquisition and evaluation is desirable, since it may allow for more rapid tissue characterization and give further information on ecotoxicological effects at the tissue level. Therefore, using the soil model organism Eisenia fetida as a model, we developed a sequential workflow combining Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) for chemical analysis of the same tissue sections. Data analysis of the FTIR spectra via random decision forest (RDF) classification enabled the rapid identification of target tissues (e.g., digestive tissue), which are relevant from an ecotoxicological point of view. MALDI imaging analysis provided specific lipid species which are sensitive to metabolic changes and environmental stressors. Taken together, our approach provides a fast and reproducible workflow for label-free histochemical tissue analyses in E. fetida, which can be applied to other model organisms as well.
Inertia Certificates – Möglichkeiten zur Gewährleistung von ausreichender Momentanreserve im Verbundsystem
Authors: Gawlik Wolfgang , Marchgraber Jürgen , Guo Yi 
Published: November 2021

ZusammenfassungDie Momentanreserve ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für die Aufrechterhaltung der Frequenzstabilität in Drehstromsystemen. Derzeit wird sie fast ausschließlich von direkt angebundenen Synchrongeneratoren aufgebracht, deren träge rotierende Schwungmasse sich Drehzahländerungen widersetzt und dadurch Frequenzgradienten nach Ungleichgewichten zwischen Einspeisung elektrischer Leistung ins und Entnahme elektrischer Leistung aus dem Netz begrenzt. Es steht zu erwarten, dass die für das Verbundsystem verfügbare Schwungmasse im Zuge der steigenden Verbreitung von über Leistungselektronik angeschlossenen Einspeiseanlagen zukünftig abnehmen wird. Die daraus resultierenden höheren Frequenzgradienten stellen eine Gefährdung der Frequenzstabilität des Verbundsystems dar. Inertia Certificates sind eine Möglichkeit, den Beitrag von Erzeugungsanlagen zur Bereitstellung von Momentanreserve im Verbundsystem zu quantifizieren und der Momentanreserve einen Preis zuzuordnen, der ihrem Wert für den Systembetrieb entspricht. Sie ermöglichen einen fairen Ausgleich zwischen jenen Anlagen, die aufgrund ihrer physikalischen Wirkungsweise inhärent Momentanreserve bereitstellen, und solchen, die prinzipbedingt keine oder nur eine geringe Schwungmasse aufweisen. Außerdem können durch die Abtretung und Abgeltung der Bereitstellung von Momentanreserve kostenintensive Nachrüstungen von solchen schwungmassearmen und schwungmasselosen Einspeisern vermieden werden.