bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Early neuroimaging and ultrastructural correlates of injury outcome after neonatal hypoxic-ischaemia
Authors: Kao Yu-Chieh Jill , Chen Seu-Hwa , Lu Chia-Feng , Hsieh Bao-Yu , Chen Cheng-Yu , Chang Ying-Chao , Huang Chao-Ching 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Hypoxic ischaemia encephalopathy is the major cause of brain injury in new-borns. However, to date, useful biomarkers which may be used to early predict neurodevelopmental impairment for proper commencement of hypothermia therapy is still lacking. This study aimed to determine whether the early neuroimaging characteristics and ultrastructural correlates were associated with different injury progressions and brain damage severity outcomes after neonatal hypoxic ischaemia. Longitudinal 7 T MRI was performed within 6 h, 24 h and 7 days after hypoxic ischaemia in rat pups. The brain damage outcome at 7 days post-hypoxic ischaemia assessed using histopathology and MRI were classified as mild, moderate and severe. We found there was a spectrum of different brain damage severity outcomes after the same duration of hypoxic ischaemia. The severity of brain damage determined using MRI correlated well with that assessed by histopathology. Quantitative MRI characteristics denoting water diffusivity in the tissue showed significant differences in the apparent diffusion coefficient deficit volume and deficit ratios within 6 h, at 24 h and 7 days after hypoxic ischaemia among the 3 different outcome groups. The susceptible brain areas to hypoxic ischaemia were revealed by the temporal changes in regional apparent diffusion coefficient values among three outcome groups. Within 6 h post-hypoxic ischaemia, a larger apparent diffusion coefficient deficit volume and deficit ratios and lower apparent diffusion coefficient values were highly associated with adverse brain damage outcome. In the apparent diffusion coefficient deficit areas detected early after hypoxic ischaemia which were highly associated with severe damage outcome, transmission electron microscopy revealed fragmented nuclei; swollen rough endoplasmic reticulum and degenerating mitochondria in the cortex and prominent myelin loss and axon detraction in the white matter. Taken together, different apparent diffusion coefficient patterns obtained early after hypoxic ischaemia are highly associated with different injury progression leading to different brain damage severity outcomes, suggesting the apparent diffusion coefficient characteristics may be applicable to early identify the high-risk neonates for hypothermia therapy.
Long-term fate of moderate aortic regurgitation left untreated at the time of mitral valve surgery
Authors: Del Forno Benedetto , Ascione Guido , Bisogno Arturo , Carino Davide , Lapenna Elisabetta , Verzini Alessandro , Bargagna Marta , Ruggeri Stefania , Schiavi Davide , Meneghin Roberta , Agricola Eustachio , Monaco Fabrizio , Alfieri Ottavio , Castiglioni Alessandro , De Bonis Michele 
Published: March 2021

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The appropriateness of moderate aortic regurgitation treatment during mitral valve (MV) surgery remains unclear. The goal of this study was to evaluate the immediate and long-term outcomes of patients with moderate aortic regurgitation at the time of MV surgery.

METHODS
We included 183 patients admitted to our institution for elective treatment of MV disease between 2004 and 2018, in whom moderate aortic regurgitation was diagnosed during preoperative evaluation. One hundred and twenty-two patients underwent isolated MV surgery (study group) whereas 61 patients underwent concomitant MV surgery and aortic valve replacement (control group).

RESULTS
One death (0.8%) occurred in the study group, and 3 deaths (4.8%) occurred in the control group (P = 0.52). The rate of the most common postoperative complication was similar between the 2 groups. At 12 years, the cumulative incidence function of cardiac death, with non-cardiac death as a competing risk, was 4.7 ± 2.8% in the study group; no cardiac deaths were observed in the control group (P = 0.078). At 6 and 12 years, in the study group, the cumulative incidence function of aortic valve reintervention, with death as a competing risk, was 2.5 ± 1.85% and 19 ± 7.1%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The appropriate management of moderate aortic regurgitation at the time of MV surgery deserves a careful evaluation by balancing the reintervention rate with the age, the operative risk and the life expectancy of the patient. Our findings suggest that a patient-tailored approach is the key to achieving the best clinical outcome for each individual patient.
DNA-SIP and repeated isolation corroborateVariovoraxas a key organism in maintaining the genetic memory for linuron biodegradation in an agricultural soil
Authors: Lerner Harry , Öztürk Başak , Dohrmann Anja B , Thomas Joice , Marchal Kathleen , De Mot René , Dehaen Wim , Tebbe Christoph C , Springael Dirk 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACTThe frequent exposure of agricultural soils to pesticides can lead to microbial adaptation, including the development of dedicated microbial populations that utilize the pesticide compound as a carbon and energy source. Soil from an agricultural field in Halen (Belgium) with a history of linuron exposure has been studied for its linuron-degrading bacterial populations at two time points over the past decade and Variovorax was appointed as a key linuron degrader. Like most studies on pesticide degradation, these studies relied on isolates that were retrieved through bias-prone enrichment procedures and therefore might not represent the in situ active pesticide-degrading populations. In this study, we revisited the Halen field and applied, in addition to enrichment-based isolation, DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP), to identify in situ linuron-degrading bacteria in linuron-exposed soil microcosms. Linuron dissipation was unambiguously linked to Variovorax and its linuron catabolic genes and might involve the synergistic cooperation between two species. Additionally, two novel linuron-mineralizing Variovorax isolates were obtained with high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to strains isolated from the same field a decade earlier. The results confirm Variovorax as a prime in situ degrader of linuron in the studied agricultural field soil and corroborate the genus as key for maintaining the genetic memory of linuron degradation functionality in that field.
Relative contributions of egg-associated and substrate-associated microorganisms to black soldier fly larval performance and microbiota
Authors: J. J. Schreven Stijn , de Vries Hugo , D. A. Hermes Gerben , Smidt Hauke , Dicke Marcel , J. A. van Loon Joop 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACTLarvae of the black soldier fly (BSF) can be used to convert organic waste into insect biomass for animal feed. In this process, they interact with microorganisms originating from the substrate, the insect and the environment. The substrate is the main determinant of the larval gut microbiota composition, but inoculation of the substrate with egg-associated bacteria can improve larval performance. We aimed to quantify the relative importance of substrate-associated and egg-associated microorganisms in BSF larval performance, bacterial abundance and bacterial community composition, when larvae were fed with chicken feed or chicken manure. For this, we inactivated substrate-associated microorganisms by autoclaving, or disinfected BSF eggs. Larval survival, weight and proportion of prepupae were determined on day 15. We collected substrate and larval samples on days 0 and 15 and performed 16S rRNA gene-targeted qPCR and amplicon sequencing. In both chicken feed and chicken manure, egg disinfection did not cause any difference in larval performance or overall microbiota composition. In contrast, in chicken manure, substrate-associated microorganisms increased larval biomass and sterilizing the substrate caused major shifts in microbiota. Thus, substrate-associated microorganisms impact not only larval microbiota but also larval performance, whereas egg-associated microorganisms have a minor role in the densities present.
The clinical path to deliver encapsulated phages and lysins
Authors: Pinto Ana Mafalda , Silva Maria Daniela , Pastrana Lorenzo M , Bañobre-López Manuel , Sillankorva Sanna 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACTThe global emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens is shaping the current dogma regarding the use of antibiotherapy. Many bacteria have evolved to become resistant to conventional antibiotherapy, representing a health and economic burden for those afflicted. The search for alternative and complementary therapeutic approaches has intensified and revived phage therapy. In recent decades, the exogenous use of lysins, encoded in phage genomes, has shown encouraging effectiveness. These two antimicrobial agents reduce bacterial populations; however, many barriers challenge their prompt delivery at the infection site. Encapsulation in delivery vehicles provides targeted therapy with a controlled compound delivery, surpassing chemical, physical and immunological barriers that can inactivate and eliminate them. This review explores phages and lysins' current use to resolve bacterial infections in the respiratory, digestive and integumentary systems. We also highlight the different challenges they face in each of the three systems and discuss the advances towards a more expansive use of delivery vehicles.
Long-insert clone experimental evidence for assembly improvement and chimeric chromosomes detection in an allopentaploid beer yeast
Authors: Gómez-Muñoz Cintia , García-Ortega Luis Fernando , Montalvo-Arredondo Javier , Pérez-Ortega Esmeralda , Damas-Buenrostro Luis Cástulo , Riego-Ruiz Lina 
Published: March 2021

AbstractLager beer is made with the hybrid Saccharomyces pastorianus. Many publicly available S. pastorianus genome assemblies are highly fragmented due to the difficulties of assembling hybrid genomes, such as the presence of homeologous chromosomes from both parental types, and translocations between them. To improve the assembly of a previously sequenced lager yeast hybrid Saccharomyces sp. 790 and elucidate its genome structure, we proposed the use of alternative experimental evidence. We determined the phylogenetic position of Saccharomyces sp. 790 and established it as S. pastorianus 790. Then, we obtained from this yeast a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) genomic library with its BAC-end sequences (BESs). To analyze these data, we developed a pipeline (applicable to other assemblies) that classifies BES pairs alignments according to their orientation. For the case of S. pastorianus 790, paired-end BESs alignments validated parts of the assembly and unpaired-end ones suggested contig joins or misassemblies. Importantly, the BACs library was preserved and used for verification experiments. Unpaired-end alignments were used to upgrade the previous assembly and provided an improved detection of translocations. With this, we proposed a genome structure of S. pastorianus 790, which was similar to that of other lager yeasts; however, when we estimated chromosome copy number and experimentally measured its genome size, we discovered that one key difference is the outstanding S. pastorianus 790 ploidy level (allopentaploid). Altogether, our results show the value of combining bioinformatic analyses with experimental data such as long-insert clone information to improve a short-read assembly of a hybrid genome.
Transforming Zones of Exclusion to Zones of Inclusion? Local-Level UN Peacekeeping Deployments and Educational Attainment
Authors: Reeder Bryce W , Polizzi Marc S 
Published: March 2021

AbstractHigher educational attainment levels are associated with better public health outcomes, lower levels of income inequality, more participation in democratic instructions, and safer communities. Promoting education in war-torn societies can have an immediate impact in mitigating violence and play a significant role in preventing conflict recurrence. This study investigates UN peacekeeping missions’ role in this process, positing that UN deployments to locations experiencing armed conflict lead to higher levels of educational attainment by increasing local stability, incentivizing individuals to return to school while also making renewed investment worthwhile. Testing this logic using new data on local-level educational attainment across Africa from 2000 to 2014, this study finds that conflict zones where the UN maintained peacekeeping deployments saw an increase in educational attainment when compared to those that did not, a finding corroborated by coarsened exact matching. Maintaining a modest number of UN forces is shown to increase female attainment by at least 4.89 percent and reduce gender disparity by 5.13 percent, revealing the critical role UN peacekeeping plays in restoring education in the shadow of political violence.
Common-Pool Hierarchy: Explaining the Emergence of Cooperative Hierarchies
Authors: Dillon Savage Jesse 
Published: March 2021

AbstractHierarchy in international relations has often been understood as an arrangement with a single dominant state controlling aspects of the subordinate actor's sovereignty. While such arrangements play an important role in structuring international politics, it does not exhaust the forms that hierarchy can take. Very often hierarchies have developed where multiple states jointly claim control of the same sovereign rights of the subordinate state. This paper introduces a new conceptualization of hierarchy where the sovereign rights of the subordinate state are understood as a resource that can be controlled by multiple dominant states. As with other resources, different types of property regimes can be developed to organize access and extraction of sovereignty, such as common property resources regimes. Finally, an explanation of common-pool hierarchy regimes is developed and explored using two case studies: European imperialism in the nineteenth-century China and the scramble for Africa.
A Survey on Applying Automated Recognition of Touchscreen Stroke Gestures to Children’s Input
Authors: Shaw Alex , Ruiz Jaime , Anthony Lisa 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Gesture recognition algorithms help designers create intelligent user interfaces for a number of application areas. However, these recognition algorithms are usually designed to recognize the gestures of adults, not children, and as such they generally do not perform as well for children as adults. Recognition of younger children’s gestures is particularly poor when compared to recognition of older children’s and adults’ gestures. Researchers have begun to examine the aspects of children’s gesture articulation patterns that make recognition difficult. This paper extends the initial work examining child-specific recognition approaches by considering general-purpose approaches and how they might apply to the problem of recognizing children’s touchscreen gestures. This paper presents a survey of existing recognition and analysis techniques for gestures of both adults and children from a human-centered perspective, highlighting ways in which improved recognition can lead to a better experience for children using touchscreen gestures in a variety of contexts.
An LC-MS/MS Method for the Determination of Antibiotic Residues in Distillers Grains: Collaborative Study
Authors: De Alwis Hemakanthi G , Nochetto Cristina , Kijak Philip J 
Published: March 2021

Abstract

Background
Antibiotics are used in ethanol production to discourage the growth of bacteria that would lower the yield of the product. Any antibiotic residues remaining in distillers grain (DG) co-product could lead to antimicrobial resistance, which is a public health concern. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) previously developed an LC-MS/MS analytical method to detect residues of erythromycin A, penicillin G, virginiamycin M1, and virginiamycin S1 in DG to enable regulatory decision making.

Objective
The objective of this study was to ensure the method’s robustness by carrying out a multi-laboratory validation of the method.

Method
Test portions were extracted with a mixture of acetonitrile and buffer. The extract was cleaned by solid phase extraction. The concentrated eluant was reconstituted and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Eight laboratories participated in the study.

Results
Average accuracies for the combined three matrixes for all four compounds at all fortification levels ranged from 83–&gt;109% with repeatability relative standard deviation (RSDr; within laboratory) ≤17% and reproducibility relative standard deviation (RSDR; between laboratory) ≤21%. The Horwitz ration (HorRat) values ranged 0.4–1.0 indicating that method reproducibility is acceptable.

Conclusions
An interlaboratory study was successfully conducted to evaluate an LC-MS/MS method for the determination of the drugs of interest in DG. The results demonstrate that the method is fit for purpose to determine the drugs in DG and could serve as a regulatory method capable of being used for compliance actions for DG containing these antibiotic contaminants.

Highlights
The method was posted to the FDA/Foods Program Compendium of Analytical Laboratory Methods.
BIMG-02. IMAGING IMMORTALITY: TERT EXPRESSION ALTERS GLUCOSE METABOLISM IN LOW-GRADE GLIOMAS IN A MANNER THAT CAN BE LEVERAGED FOR NONINVASIVE METABOLIC IMAGING
Authors: Viswanath Pavithra , Batsios Georgios , Gillespie Anne Marie , Luchman Hema Artee , Costello Joseph , Pieper Russell , Ronen Sabrina 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is essential for tumor immortality and uncontrolled proliferation, including in low-grade oligodendrogliomas (LGOGs). Since it is silenced in somatic cells, TERT is also a therapeutic target. Non-invasive imaging of TERT can differentiate tumor from normal brain or lesions such as gliosis and allow assessment of response to therapy. The goal of this study was to identify magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)-detectable metabolic alterations associated with TERT that can be leveraged for noninvasive imaging in LGOGs. We examined patient-derived BT54 neurospheres in which TERT expression was silenced by RNA interference. 1H-MRS showed that steady-state levels of NAD(P)/H, glutathione, aspartate and AXP were elevated in BT54TERT+ neurospheres relative to BT54TERT-. Glucose flux through the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is essential for generating NADPH, which maintains glutathione homeostasis. 13C-MRS confirmed that [2-13C]-glucose flux through the PPP was elevated in BT54TERT+ neurospheres relative to BT54TERT-, an effect associated with higher activity of the PPP enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH). Hyperpolarized 13C-MRS is a method of increasing the signal to noise ratio of 13C-MRS such that it can monitor metabolic fluxes noninvasively in cells, animals and patients. Consistent with elevated PPP flux and G6PDH activity, hyperpolarized [U-13C]-glucose metabolism via the PPP to 6-phosphogluconate (6-PG) was elevated in BT54TERT+ neurospheres relative to BT54TERT-. Importantly, examination of an additional patient-derived LGOG model, the SF10417 model which readily forms orthotopic tumor xenografts in rats, showed that 6-PG production from hyperpolarized [U-13C]-glucose demarcated tumor from normal brain. Furthermore, LGOG patient biopsies had elevated NAD(P)/H, glutathione, aspartate, AXP and G6PDH activity relative to gliosis biopsies, confirming the clinical validity of our observations. Collectively, we have identified a metabolic signature of TERT expression that can be leveraged via hyperpolarized [U-13C]-glucose to improve diagnosis and treatment response monitoring for LGOG patients.
BIMG-08. DEUTERIUM MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY USING 2H-PYRUVATE ALLOWS NON-INVASIVE IN VIVO IMAGING OF TERT EXPRESSION IN BRAIN TUMORS
Authors: Batsios Georgios , Taglang Celine , Tran Meryssa , Gillespie Anne Marie , Costello Joseph , Ronen Sabrina , Viswanath Pavithra 
Published: March 2021

Abstract
Telomere shortening constitutes a natural barrier to uncontrolled proliferation and all tumors must find a mechanism of maintaining telomere length. Most human tumors, including high-grade primary glioblastomas (GBMs) and low-grade oligodendrogliomas (LGOGs) achieve telomere maintenance via reactivation of the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), which is silenced in normal somatic cells. TERT expression is, therefore, a driver of tumor proliferation and, due to this essential role, TERT is also a therapeutic target. However, non-invasive methods of imaging TERT are lacking. The goal of this study was to identify magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)-detectable metabolic biomarkers of TERT expression that will enable non-invasive visualization of tumor burden in LGOGs and GBMs. First, we silenced TERT expression by RNA interference in patient-derived LGOG (SF10417, BT88) and GBM (GS2) models. Our results linked TERT silencing to significant reductions in steady-state levels of NADH in all models. NADH is essential for the conversion of pyruvate to lactate, suggesting that measuring pyruvate flux to lactate could be useful for imaging TERT status. Recently, deuterium (2H)-MRS has emerged as a novel, clinically translatable method of monitoring metabolic fluxes in vivo. However, to date, studies have solely examined 2H-glucose and the use of [U-2H]pyruvate for non-invasive 2H-MRS has not been tested. Following intravenous injection of a bolus of [U-2H]pyruvate, lactate production was higher in mice bearing orthotopic LGOG (BT88 and SF10417) and GBM (GS2) tumor xenografts relative to tumor-free mice, suggesting that [U-2H]pyruvate has the potential to monitor TERT expression in vivo. In summary, our study, for the first time, shows the feasibility and utility of [U-2H]pyruvate for in vivo imaging. Importantly, since 2H-MRS can be implemented on clinical scanners, our results provide a novel, non-invasive method of integrating information regarding a fundamental cancer hallmark, i.e. TERT, into glioma patient management.