bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sleep Loss Impacts the Interconnected Brain-Body-Mood Regulation of Cardiovascular Function in Humans
Authors: Krause Adam J. , Vallat Raphael , Simon Eti Ben , Walker Matthew P. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractPoor sleep is associated with hypertension, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease1,2. However, the mechanism(s) through which sleep loss impacts blood pressure remain largely unknown, including the inter-related brain and peripheral body systems that regulate vascular function3. In a repeated-measures experimental study of 66 healthy adult participants, we demonstrate four core findings addressing this question. First, a night of sleep loss significantly increased blood pressure—both systolic and diastolic, yet this change in vascular tone was independent of any increase in heart rate. Second, sleep loss compromised functional brain connectivity within regions that regulate vascular tone. Third, sleep-loss related changes in brain connectivity and vascular tone were significantly inter-dependent, with changes in brain nodes explaining the shift towards hypertension. Fourth, sleep-loss related changes in mood, specifically reductions in positive and amplification in negative states, each demonstrated an interaction with the impairments in brain connectivity and blood pressure. Together, these findings support an embodied framework in which sleep loss confers increased risk of cardiovascular disease through interactions between brain homeostatic control, mood-state and blood pressure.
ZGA: a flexible pipeline for read processing, de novo assembly and annotation of prokaryotic genomes
Authors: Korzhenkov A.A. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractMotivationWhole genome sequencing (WGS) became a routine method in modern days and may be applied to study a wide spectrum of scientific problems. Despite increasing availability of genome sequencing by itself, genome assembly and annotation could be a challenge for an inexperienced researcher.ResultsZGA is a computational pipeline to assemble and annotate prokaryotic genomes. The pipeline supports several modern sequencing platforms and may be used for hybrid genome assembling. Resulting genome assembly is ready for deposition to an INSDC database or for further analysis.AvailabilityZGA was written in Python, the source code is freely available athttps://github.com/laxeye/zga/. ZGA can be installed via Anaconda Cloud and Python Package Index.Contactoscypek@ya.ruSupplementary informationSupplementary data are available atBioinformaticsonline.
Shaping information processing: the role of oscillatory dynamics in a working-memory task
Authors: ElShafei Hesham A. , Zhou Ying Joey , Haegens Saskia 
Published: April 2021

AbstractNeural oscillations are thought to reflect low-level operations that can be employed for higher-level cognitive functions. Here, we investigated the role of brain rhythms in the 1–30 Hz range by recording MEG in human participants performing a visual delayed match-to-sample paradigm in which orientation or spatial frequency of sample and probe gratings had to be matched. A cue occurring before or after sample presentation indicated the to-be-matched feature. We demonstrate that alpha/beta power decrease tracks the presentation of the informative cue and indexes faster responses. Moreover, these faster responses coincided with an augmented phase alignment of slow oscillations, as well as phase-amplitude coupling between slow and fast oscillations. Importantly, stimulus decodability was boosted by both low alpha power and high beta power. In summary, we provide support for a comprehensive framework in which different rhythms play specific roles: slow rhythms control input sampling, while alpha (and beta) gates the information flow, beta recruits task-relevant circuits, and the timing of faster oscillations is controlled by slower ones.Significance statementBrain oscillations reflect low-level operations, building blocks, that control the flow of information through the brain. We propose and test a novel comprehensive framework in which slow oscillations control input sampling, alpha gates information flow, beta recruits task-relevant circuits, and the timing of faster oscillations is controlled by slower ones. We collected MEG data while participants performed a visual delayed match-to-sample task with pre- & retro-cues. Phase alignment of slow oscillations, governing input sampling, indexed faster responses. Alpha/beta power, gating information flow, boosted behavior & tracked informative cues. Low alpha (gating) & high beta (circuit-setup) power boosted signal information content. This is an essential step towards a more unified framework regarding the role of oscillatory dynamics in shaping information processing.
GDF8 Contributes to the Adverse Effects of Liver Injury on Skeletal Muscle Homeostasis and Regeneration
Authors: Culver Alexander , Hamang Matthew , Wang Yan , White Emily , Gawrieh Samer , Vuppalanchi Raj K. , Chalasani Naga P. , Dai Guoli , Yaden Benjamin C. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACTBackgroundAn emerging clinical phenomenon in patients with end stage liver disease is progressive skeletal muscle atrophy. This loss in lean mass predicts poor survival outcomes for liver disease patients and highlights an underappreciated crosstalk between injured liver and muscle that lacks defined mediators. The purpose of our study was to identify potential liver-muscle mediator(s) in pre-clinicalin vivomodels of liver injury which may contribute to the muscle loss observed in liver disease.MethodsUtilizing a mouse model of carbon tetrachloride CCl4-induced liver injury in the presence or absence of cardiotoxin-induced muscle injury, we evaluated whether neutralizing Activin type IIB receptor (ActRIIB) ligands, or specifically growth differentiation factor 8 (Gdf8), could preserve or reverse muscle atrophy associated with liver disease.ResultsWe found that hepatic injury via CCl4or bile duct ligation (BDL) similarly caused significant muscle atrophy along with decreased gene expression in key myogenesis markers. This adverse effect of injured liver on muscle were completely prevented and reversed by the intervention of Activin type IIB receptor (ActRIIB)-Fc fusion protein, which neutralizes the ActRIIB ligands, including Activins and growth differentiation factor 8 (Gdf8 or myostatin). The results indicate that ActRIIB ligands promoted muscle atrophy which was manifested in response to hepatic injury/disease and conferred the negative communication of injured liver with muscle. Indeed, direct injection of exogenous Gdf8 protein into muscle along with acute focal muscle injury recapitulated similar dysregulated muscle regeneration as observed with liver injury. Furthermore, we found that hepatocytes produced Gdf8 in response to liver injury in rodents and in patients with end stage liver disease. A neutralizing antibody to Gdf8 attenuated muscle atrophy and unexpectedly ameliorated liver fibrosis in both CCl4and BDL models. Following this observation, we demonstrated Gdf8’s ability to induce fibrogenesis in stellate cells, potentially identifying a novel hepatic role for this protein. Moreover, hepatic Gdf8 promoted muscle wasting in response to liver damage and hindered skeletal muscle regeneration.ConclusionOur findings identified Gdf8 as a novel hepatomyokine contributing to injured liver-muscle negative crosstalk and liver injury progression. Moreover, we demonstrated a promising therapeutic strategy for muscle atrophy accompanying liver diseases.
Characterizing interactions between the microtubule-binding protein CLIP-170 and F-actin
Authors: Wu Yueh-Fu O. , Miller Rachel A. , Alberico Emily O. , Nelson Nora T. , Jonasson Erin M. , Goodson Holly V. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThe cooperation between the actin and microtubule (MT) cytoskeletons is important for cellular processes such as cell migration and muscle cell development. Full understanding of how this cooperation occurs has yet to be sufficiently developed. The MT plus-end tracking protein (+TIP) CLIP-170 has been implicated in this actin-MT coordination by associating with the actin-binding signaling protein IQGAP1, and by promoting actin polymerization through binding with formins. Thus far, CLIP-170’s interactions with actin were assumed to be indirect. Here, we demonstrate that CLIP-170 can bind to filamentous actin (F-actin) directly. The affinity is relatively weak, but is strong enough to be significant in the actin-rich cortex, where actin concentrations can be extremely high. Using CLIP-170 fragments and mutants, we show that the direct CLIP-170:actin interaction is independent of the FEED domain, the region that mediates formin-dependent actin polymerization, and that the CLIP-170 F-actin-binding region overlaps with the MT-binding region. Consistent with these observations,in vitrocompetition assays indicate that CLIP-170:F-actin and CLIP-170:MT interactions are mutually exclusive. Taken together, these observations lead us to speculate that direct CLIP-170:F-actin interactions may function to reduce the stability of MTs in actin-rich regions of the cell, as previously proposed for EB1.
The medial orbitofrontal cortex - basolateral amygdala circuit regulates the influence of reward cues on adaptive behavior and choice
Authors: Lichtenberg Nina T. , Sepe-Forrest Linnea , Pennington Zachary T. , Lamparelli Alexander C. , Greenfield Venuz Y. , Wassum Kate M. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACTAdaptive reward-related decision making requires accurate prospective consideration of the specific outcome of each option and its current desirability. Often this information must be inferred based on the presence of predictive environmental events. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) are two key nodes in the circuitry supporting such outcome expectations, but very little is known about the function of direct connections between these regions. Here, in male rats, we first anatomically confirmed the existence of bidirectional, direct projections between the mOFC and BLA and found that BLA projections to mOFC are largely distinct from those to lateral OFC (lOFC). Next, using pathway-specific chemogenetic inhibition and the outcome-selective Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer and devaluation tests, we interrogated the function of the bidirectional mOFC-BLA connections in reward-directed behavior. We found evidence that the mOFC→BLA pathway mediates the use of environmental cues to understand which specific reward is predicted, information needed to infer which action to choose, and how desirable that reward is to ensure adaptive responses to the cue. By contrast, the BLA→mOFC pathway is not needed to use the identity of an expected reward to guide choice, but does mediate adaptive responses to cues based on the current desirability of the reward they predict. These functions differ from those we previously identified for the lOFC-BLA circuit. Collectively, the data reveal the mOFC-BLA circuit as critical for the cue-dependent reward outcome expectations that influence adaptive behavior and decision making.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTTo make good decisions we evaluate how advantageous a particular course of action would be. This requires understanding what rewarding outcomes can be expected and how desirable they currently are. Such prospective considerations are critical for adaptive decision making but disrupted in many psychiatric diseases. Here we reveal that direct connections between the medial orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala mediate these functions. These findings are especially important in light of evidence of dysfunction in this circuit in substance use disorder and mental illnesses marked by poor decision making.
Stochastic Neural Networks for Automatic Cell Tracking in Microscopy Image Sequences of Bacterial Colonies
Authors: Sarmadi Sorena , Winkle James J. , Alnahhas Razan N. , Bennett Matthew R. , Josić Krešimir , Mang Andreas , Azencott Robert 
Published: April 2021

AbstractWe describe an automated analysis method to quantify the detailed growth dynamics of a population of bacilliform bacteria. We propose an innovative approach to frame-sequence tracking of deformable-cell motion by the automated minimization of a new, specific cost functional. This minimization is implemented by dedicated Boltzmann machines (stochastic recurrent neural networks). Automated detection of cell divisions is handled similarly by successive minimizations of two cost functions, alternating the identification of children pairs and parent identification. We validate this automatic cell tracking algorithm using recordings of simulated cell colonies that closely mimic the growth dynamics ofE. coliin microfluidic traps. On a batch of 1100 image frames, cell registration accuracies per frame ranged from 94.5% to 100%, with a high average. Our initial tests using experimental image sequences ofE. colicolonies also yield convincing results, with a registration accuracy ranging from 90% to 100%.
Gazing at Egypt's museums: toward a new internationalism
Authors: El-Ashmouni Marwa M. 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the transformation of the concept of cultural tourism within the sociopolitical empowerments, changes of visual realms and normative contexts, which is embedded within museums as institutions.Design/methodology/approachThese discussions will be conceptualized through investigating the shifts in the metamorphosis of the architectural vocabulary of Egypt's museums between nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This analysis will be highlighted through connecting both the notion of the “tourist reflexivity” of John Urry and Jonas Larsen in The Tourist Gaze 3.0 (2011) and the notion of the “interstitial spaces” and “new internationalism” of Homi Bhabha in The Location of Culture (1994). The analysis expands to interrogate these two notions as prelude for reflecting on representations of colonial and postcolonial museums in Egypt, starting from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo (c. 1863) to the most recent, the Egyptian Grand Museum, Cairo (c. 2002).FindingsThe analysis revealed that while colonial museums endeavored to stage external cultural authority and postcolonial ones staged traditions' liminality through “New internationalism”, they created spatiotemporal interstices. This finding, while is a timely example with the rising global cultural encounters that emerged during this transformative age, it challenges the collective imaginations of architects to liberate from traditional nationalism.Originality/valueThe paper offers novel theoretical and architectural analysis of Egypt's museums through the exigency of nationalism and “new internationalism”. The encounter between both notions is a timely example given the recent involvements by the “Modern State” and the recent pandemic upheaval that revealed the inevitability of globalism and the discursivity of such notions.
Farmer preferences regarding durum wheat contracts in Italy: a discrete choice experiment
Authors: Oliveira Gustavo Magalhães de , Martino Gaetano , Ciliberti Stefano , Frascarelli Angelo , Chiodini Gabriele 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis study aims to investigate farmer preferences regarding sales contracts for durum wheat in Italy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors consider that contracts are formed by an organisational entity that is in charge of transferring decision and property rights based on reductions in transaction costs. The empirical analysis presents a discrete choice experiment with three distinct models that was performed by a survey of 160 wheat farmers in southern Italy.FindingsThe results show that contractual terms affect the probability of both a contract being signed and allocating decision rights due to their effects on price, technology and quality.Practical implicationsThis study provides some insights on which contractual attributes could support the wider use of contracts along the durum wheat supply chain in Italy.Originality/valueThe paper reveals that contracts are relevant not only to the coordination of agri-food chains because of price stabilisation but also due to their impacts on technology and quality strategies.
Trajectory of research on maritime transportation in the era of digitization
Authors: Shankar Sonali , Punia Sushil , Singh Surya Prakash , Dong Jingxin 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe literature on Maritime Transportation (MT) is experiencing a transition phase where the focus of the research is repositioning. It registered steep growth in recent years with its beginning articles on the concepts of cost minimization to the current focus on achieving sustainable operational effectiveness using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Thus, this becomes a right time to investigate the trajectory of research on MT.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed study aims to explore the potential of data analytics techniques such as data mining and network analytics to reflect the trajectory of research in the maritime supply chain over time. This study identifies the eight main dimensions of the research published under maritime paradigm through network analytics. The in-depth review of these dimensions rendered us to segregate them further into sub-dimensions for the ease of understanding and interpretability. Further, the text mining is employed to extract thematic evolution of the research.FindingsThe evolved themes are completely exclusive from the conventional MT research with artificial intelligence, digital storage, waste management and biofuels emerging as contemporary themes. It is found that although there are a sufficient amount of literature on sustainable port practices but their policy implications are still underexplored. The inter-dimension research is needed to achieve the motive of economic efficiency and environmental sustainability simultaneously.Originality/valueThe study has contributed on the methodology side of conducting literature reviews. The dimensions, sub-dimensions and themes are obtained using data analytics tools and techniques. This omits the possibility of personal bias and thus making the results verifiable.
Crisis, rigidity and nonliberal governance in Japan: the cases of Mitsubishi Motors and Kanebo
Authors: Takeshita Seijiro , Lee Soo Hee , Williams Christopher , You Jacqueline Jing 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe authors examine the nature of institutional rigidity and governance problems contributing to crisis and under-performance of large corporations in Japan during a period of environmental turbulence for corporate Japan.Design/methodology/approachThrough explorative case studies of Mitsubishi Motors and Kanebo over a 10-year period from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s the authors see how informal norms deeply embedded in the Japanese business system prevented the adoption of more liberal forms of governance that may have helped to overcome crisis.FindingsDespite fundamental differences in formal organization between the two cases, there were similar underlying problems in terms of (1) mechanisms for capital investment that would underpin strategic resilience and rejuvenation and (2) management decision-making and strategic control during crisis.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases show how normative institutions rather than formal regulative institutions matter to strategic continuity in national business systems that are put under pressure.Originality/valueThe authors link informal norms of governance intrinsic to a country to the issues of strategic resilience and responses during crisis and warn against the retrenching to traditional governance approaches where there has been criticism of alternative governance approaches.
Response of contractor behavior to hierarchical governance: effects on the performance of mega-projects
Authors: Yin Hang , Wang Dan , Yin Yilin , Liu Henry , Deng Binchao 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impacts of formal and informal hierarchical governances (HGs) on the performance of mega-projects and the mediating role of contractor behavior (i.e. perfunctory and consummate behaviors) in these relationships.Design/methodology/approachA total of 375 valid data entries from managers representing 375 mega-projects were analyzed through path analysis.FindingsBoth formal and informal HGs exert positive effects on the performance of mega-projects. While formal HG positively affects contractor perfunctory behavior and contractor consummate behavior, informal HG affects contractor perfunctory behavior only. Contractor behavior mediates the relationship between formal HG and project performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe impacts of potential moderators (e.g. institutional arrangement and complexity) on the relationship between HG and contractor behavior have not been considered in this study.Practical implicationsThis study is useful for owners to enhance formal HG to improve contractor perfunctory and consummate behaviors, which in turn can enhance the performance of mega-projects.Originality/valueThis study expands the knowledge of mega-project performance management from the perspective of HG. It also contributes to the literature of contractor behavior within the context of mega-projects.
Investigating the influence of information complexity on construction quality: a systems thinking approach
Authors: Naveed Faizan , Khan Khurram Iqbal Ahmad 
Published: April 2021

Purpose
This paper investigates the causative relation between information complexity and construction quality. The objectives are to identify the challenges faced in the communication of information and data on construction projects and determine how these barriers influence quality performance of a project.

Design/methodology/approach
Limitations in the literature on information seeking, coupled with the utilization of Theory of Motivated Information Management as a response led to the development of research problem statement. Through comprehensive review of literature published between the years 2005–2019, the paper first identified barriers of information communication in the industry and key performance indicators of construction quality, followed by content analyses to rank and screen out the least important variables. This paved the way for quantitative and qualitative analyses through 180 structured questionnaires and 11 expert opinion sessions that respectively led to the use of systems thinking approach to establish causality.

Findings
The study finds ineffective communication, unclear details, changes in contract, information delays, unpleasant relationships between stakeholders and project complexity as the most critical factors causing information complexity in a construction project. These factors cause a reduction in quality performance of a project through increased rework and decreased implementation of total quality management.

Practical implications
The study will assist project managers to diagnose quality-related issues in their projects, trace them back to the challenges and barriers of information communication and then make policy/strategic interventions to reduce such issues through improved information flow.

Originality/value
Majority of the studies in this field of work have identified the effects of ineffective information flow on overall project performance, but very few have focused specifically on the quality of construction projects.