bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A new nonlinear method for calculating growing degree days
Authors: Zhou Guanglin , Wang Quanjiu 
Published: June 2018

AbstractPrecise calculations of growing degree days (GDD) are an important component in crop simulation models and managerial decisions. Traditional methods for calculating GDD assume linear developmental responses to temperature and cannot precisely account for the delay in growth or development at temperatures above the optimal temperature (Topt). A new nonlinear method for calculating GDD was developed. Variations in the prediction of the dates since sowing to various developmental stages and performance measures for describing the accumulation of dry matter by GDD for two widely planted crops (corn and wheat) were used to evaluate the new method in comparison with the traditional methods. The new method predicted the dates of the developmental stages more precisely (date variations reduced by 1 d), and the errors for the predictions of the accumulation of dry matter for winter wheat and corn were smaller. The method was most promising for spring wheat. The new method was more stable and more precise than traditional methods, especially when Topt was lower than the maximum air temperature.
Characterization and Validation of a Human 3D Cardiac Microtissue for the Assessment of Changes in Cardiac Pathology
Authors: Archer Caroline R. , Sargeant Rebecca , Basak Jayati , Pilling James , Barnes Jennifer R. , Pointon Amy 
Published: June 2018

AbstractPharmaceutical agents despite their efficacy to treat disease can cause additional unwanted cardiovascular side effects. Cardiotoxicity is characterized by changes in either the function and/or structure of the myocardium. Over recent years, functional cardiotoxicity has received much attention, however morphological damage to the myocardium and/or loss of viability still requires improved detection and mechanistic insights. A human 3D cardiac microtissue containing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs), cardiac endothelial cells and cardiac fibroblasts was used to assess their suitability to detect drug induced changes in cardiac structure. Histology and clinical pathology confirmed these cardiac microtissues were morphologically intact, lacked a necrotic/apoptotic core and contained all relevant cell constituents. High-throughput methods to assess mitochondrial membrane potential, endoplasmic reticulum integrity and cellular viability were developed and 15 FDA approved structural cardiotoxins and 14 FDA approved non-structural cardiotoxins were evaluated. We report that cardiac microtissues provide a high-throughput experimental model that is both able to detect changes in cardiac structure at clinically relevant concentrations and provide insights into the phenotypic mechanisms of this liability.
Early phosphoproteomic changes for adverse outcome pathway development in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) brain
Authors: Smith L. C. , Lavelle C. M. , Silva-Sanchez C. , Denslow N. D. , Sabo-Attwood T. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractAdverse outcome pathways (AOPs) are conceptual frameworks that organize and link contaminant-induced mechanistic molecular changes to adverse biological responses at the individual and population level. AOPs leverage molecular and high content mechanistic information for regulatory decision-making, but most current AOPs for hormonally active agents (HAAs) focus on nuclear receptor-mediated effects only despite the overwhelming evidence that HAAs also activate membrane receptors. Activation of membrane receptors triggers non-genomic signaling cascades often transduced by protein phosphorylation leading to phenotypic changes. We utilized label-free LC-MS/MS to identify proteins differentially phosphorylated in the brain of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) aqueously exposed for 30 minutes to two HAAs, 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a strong estrogenic substance, and levonorgestrel (LNG), a progestin, both components of the birth control pill. EE2 promoted differential phosphorylation of proteins involved in neuronal processes such as nervous system development, synaptic transmission, and neuroprotection, while LNG induced differential phosphorylation of proteins involved in axon cargo transport and calcium ion homeostasis. EE2 and LNG caused similar enrichment of synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis. This study is the first to identify molecular changes in vivo in fish after short-term exposure and highlights transduction of rapid signaling mechanisms as targets of HAAs, in addition to nuclear receptor-mediated pathways.
Efficient production of human interferon beta in the white of eggs from ovalbumin gene–targeted hens
Authors: Oishi Isao , Yoshii Kyoko , Miyahara Daichi , Tagami Takahiro 
Published: June 2018

AbstractTransgenic chickens could potentially serve as bioreactors for commercial production of recombinant proteins in egg white. Many transgenic chickens have been generated by randomly integrating viral vectors into their genomes, but transgene expression has proved insufficient and/or limited to the initial cohort. Herein, we demonstrate the feasibility of integrating human interferon beta (hIFN-β) into the chicken ovalbumin locus and producing hIFN-β in egg white. We knocked in hIFN-β into primordial germ cells using a CRISPR/Cas9 protocol and then generated germline chimeric roosters by cell transplantation into recipient embryos. Two generation-zero founder roosters produced hIFN-β knock-in offspring, and all knock-in female offspring produced abundant egg-white hIFN-β (~3.5 mg/ml). Although female offspring of the first generation were sterile, their male counterparts were fertile and produced a second generation of knock-in hens, for which egg-white hIFN-β production was comparable with that of the first generation. The hIFN-β bioactivity represented only ~5% of total egg-white hIFN-β, but unfolding and refolding of hIFN-β in the egg white fully recovered the bioactivity. These results suggest that transgene insertion at the chicken ovalbumin locus can result in abundant and stable expression of an exogenous protein deposited into egg white and should be amenable to industrial applications.
Modeling erythrocyte electrodeformation in response to amplitude modulated electric waveforms
Authors: Qiang Yuhao , Liu Jia , Yang Fan , Dieujuste Darryl , Du E. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractWe present a comprehensive theoretical-experimental framework for quantitative, high-throughput study of cell biomechanics. An improved electrodeformation method has been developed by combing dielectrophoresis and amplitude shift keying, a form of amplitude modulation. This method offers a potential to fully control the magnitude and rate of deformation in cell membranes. In healthy human red blood cells, nonlinear viscoelasticity of cell membranes is obtained through variable amplitude load testing. A mathematical model to predict cellular deformations is validated using the experimental results of healthy human red blood cells subjected to various types of loading. These results demonstrate new capabilities of the electrodeformation technique and the validated mathematical model to explore the effects of different loading configurations on the cellular mechanical behavior. This gives it more advantages over existing methods and can be further developed to study the effects of strain rate and loading waveform on the mechanical properties of biological cells in health and disease.
Modeling SNP array ascertainment with Approximate Bayesian Computation for demographic inference
Authors: Quinto-Cortés Consuelo D. , Woerner August E. , Watkins Joseph C. , Hammer Michael F. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractSingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in commercial arrays have often been discovered in a small number of samples from selected populations. This ascertainment skews patterns of nucleotide diversity and affects population genetic inferences. We propose a demographic inference pipeline that explicitly models the SNP discovery protocol in an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) framework. We simulated genomic regions according to a demographic model incorporating parameters for the divergence of three well-characterized HapMap populations and recreated the SNP distribution of a commercial array by varying the number of haploid samples and the allele frequency cut-off in the given regions. We then calculated summary statistics obtained from both the ascertained and genomic data and inferred ascertainment and demographic parameters. We implemented our pipeline to study the admixture process that gave rise to the present-day Mexican population. Our estimate of the time of admixture is closer to the historical dates than those in previous works which did not consider ascertainment bias. Although the use of whole genome sequences for demographic inference is becoming the norm, there are still underrepresented areas of the world from where only SNP array data are available. Our inference framework is applicable to those cases and will help with the demographic inference.
Preparation of Anti-Human Podoplanin Monoclonal Antibody and its application in Immunohistochemical Diagnosis
Authors: Xie Chengjie , Wang Rongzhi , Saeed Abdullah F. U. H. , Yang Qinghai , Chen Huiling , Ling Sumei , Xiao Shiwei , Zeng Linmao , Wang Shihua 
Published: June 2018

AbstractPodoplanin (PDPN), a 38 kDa transmembrane sialoglycoprotein from human, is expressed in lymphatic endothelial cells but not in vascular endothelial cells, and has been considered as a specific marker of lymph. In this study, the gene encoding the extracellular part of PDPN (ePDPN) was synthesized and used to expressed fusion protein ePDPN-His and GST-ePDPN, respectively, in E.coli. The purified GST-ePDPN fusion protein was mixed with QuickAntibody-Mouse5W adjuvant to immune mice, and the antiserum titer was determined by indirect ELISA. A stable cell line named 5B3 generating anti-PDPN monoclonal antibody (mAb) was obtained by hybridoma technology. The isotype of 5B3 cell line was IgG2b, and the chromosome number was 102 ± 4. The 5B3 mAb was purified successfully from ascites fluid through Protein G column, and its affinity constant was 2.94 × 108 L/mol. Besides, excellent specificity of the 5B3 mAb was further demonstrated in ELISA, western blot and immunohistochemistry experiments, suggesting that 5B3 mAb displays similar application value to D2-40, a commercial available antibody. Hence, the current study provides conclusive guidelines for preparation of other mAbs and their applications in immunohistochemistry diagnosis.
Large photoelectric-gating effect of two-dimensional van-der-Waals organic/tungsten diselenide heterointerface
Authors: Cai Zhi , Cao Min , Jin Zhepeng , Yi Kongyang , Chen Xiaosong , Wei Dacheng 
Published: June 2018

AbstractPhoto- or photoelectric-gating modulation is a promising strategy for high-performance photodetectors, which amplifies photoresponsivity by long-lived trapped charges at the interface. However, the performance is normally limited by the uncontrollable trapping process. Here, we develop a large photoelectric-gating, which enhances interfacial charge trapping process by a van-der-Waals interface with an electric-gating tunable energy barrier in the band alignment. By synergy of photo-gating and electric-gating effects, responsivity and detectivity of 1,4-bis(4-methylstyryl)benzene/tungsten diselenide (WSe2) increase by 25-fold and 3-fold to 3.6 × 106 A/W and 8.6 × 1014 Jones. High-quality two-dimensional van-der-Waals interface is of great importance. Sufficient supply of gas-phase molecules in physical vapor deposition is pivotal to obtain such interface between organic crystal and WSe2. As an application, an electric-gating switchable photodetector has been developed, showing great potential of this strategy not only in high-performance photodetectors but also in new photoelectrical devices.
Genomic evidence for the degradation of terrestrial organic matter by pelagic Arctic Ocean Chloroflexi bacteria
Authors: Colatriano David , Tran Patricia Q. , Guéguen Celine , Williams William J. , Lovejoy Connie , Walsh David A. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe Arctic Ocean currently receives a large supply of global river discharge and terrestrial dissolved organic matter. Moreover, an increase in freshwater runoff and riverine transport of organic matter to the Arctic Ocean is a predicted consequence of thawing permafrost and increased precipitation. The fate of the terrestrial humic-rich organic material and its impact on the marine carbon cycle are largely unknown. Here, a metagenomic survey of the Canada Basin in the Western Arctic Ocean showed that pelagic Chloroflexi from the Arctic Ocean are replete with aromatic compound degradation genes, acquired in part by lateral transfer from terrestrial bacteria. Our results imply marine Chloroflexi have the capacity to use terrestrial organic matter and that their role in the carbon cycle may increase with the changing hydrological cycle.
Symmetry-based rational design for boosting chiroptical responses
Authors: Tanaka Hiroki , Ikenosako Mina , Kato Yuka , Fujiki Michiya , Inoue Yoshihisa , Mori Tadashi 
Published: June 2018

AbstractChiral molecules play indispensable roles in advanced materials and technologies. Nevertheless, no conventional, yet reliable logical strategies are available for designing chiral molecules of desired chiroptical properties. Here, we propose a general protocol for rationally aligning multiple chiral units to boost the chiroptical responses, using hexahelicene as a prototype. In this proof-of-concept study, we align two hexahelicenes in various orientations and examine by theoretical calculations to predict the best chiroptical performance for X-shaped and S-shaped double hexahelicenes. We synthesize and optically resolve both double hexahelicenes and show that they exhibit more than a twofold increase in intensity of circular dichroism and circularly polarized luminescence, experimentally validating the protocol. The enhanced chiroptical responses are theoretically assignable to the electric and magnetic transition dipole moments of component hexahelicenes aligned in the correct symmetry. A guiding principle for designing advanced molecular and supramolecular chiral materials is further discussed.
Electromagnetic interference shielding properties of graphene/MWCNT hybrid buckypaper
Authors: Lu Shaowei , Chen Dandan , Shao Junyan , Bai Yaoyao , Tian Caijiao , Ma Keming , Wang Xiaoqiang 
Published: June 2018

A type of lightweight and flexible graphene/multi‐walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) hybrid buckypaper (BP) is fabricated, which show superior shielding effectiveness (SE) of electromagnetic interference and without polymer. The EMI SE of graphene/MWCNT hybrid BP with thickness of 130 μm is up to ∼51 dB at 8 GHz, which is much higher than that of pure MWCNT BP with same thickness (∼32.5 dB) and the best electrical conductivity is up to 10,000 S/m. More important, the improvement in EMI SE is contributed to the SE absorption, while the SE reflection is almost unchanged. This paper‐like material is smooth, tough, and flexible enough to be attached on the complex curved surface structure. A facile way to fully develop graphene and MWCNT in lightweight and flexible EMI shielding materials and devices is provided here.
Development of the ELISSA array: prototype testing at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud
Authors: Guardo G. L. , Anzalone A. , Balabanski D. , Chesnevskaya S. , Crucillá W. , Filipescu D. , Gulino M. , La Cognata M. , Lattuada D. , Matei C. , Pizzone R. G. , Rapisarda G. G. , Romano S. , Spitaleri C. , Taffara A. , Tumino A. , Xu Y. 
Published: June 2018

The Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) facility, underconstruction in Magurele near Bucharest in Romania, will provide high-intensity andhigh-resolution gamma ray beams that can be used to address hotly debated problems in nuclear astrophysics, such as the accurate measurements of the cross sections of the24Mg(γ,α)20Ne reaction
For this purpose, a silicon strip detector array (named ELISSA) will be realized in acommon effort by ELI-NP and Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS), in order to measure excitation functions and angular distributions over a wide energy and angular range. A prototype of ELISSA was built and tested at INFN-LNS in Catania (Italy) with the support of ELI-NP. In this occasion, we have carried out experiments with alpha sources and with a 11 MeV 7Li beam that show up a very good energy resolution (better than 1%) and very good position resolution, of the order of 1 mm. Moreover, a threshold of 150 keV can be easily achieved with no cooling.
Third mandibular molar coronectomy: a way to prevent iatrogenic inferior alveolar nerve injuries—an systematic review
Authors: Lenfant Benoît , Haese Kevin , Kimakhe Said , Lesclous Philipe 
Published: June 2018

Introduction: In the field of oral and maxillo-facial surgery, the avulsion of third mandibular molar is a very common procedure. However, and although the injury on the alveolar inferior nerve is very rare, the neurological risk must not be underestimated. Indeed, it may lower the patient’s quality of life in a significant way. The coronectomy is a technique that allows us to avoid this risk. It consists in remaining in place the third mandibular molar’s roots. Educational objectives: After a clinical introduction to this surgical technique, the main characteristics of this type of procedure will be presented with the help of an exhaustive literature review. Thus, we will refer to the following subjects: the obvious decrease of neurological risks, the potential pre and post-operating complications, the potential necessity of an endodontic treatment for the residual roots, the becoming of these same roots, and finally the bony and mucosal cicatrization of the operated area. Conclusion: Every oral surgeon should have in mind this technique of coronectomy and master it. Indeed, when the case justifies it, the benefits are numerous for the patient.
Bleeding Time and Platelet Volume in Acute Myocardial Infarction – A 2 Year Follow-Up Study
Authors: Kristensen S Dalby , Milner P C , Martin J F 
Published: June 2018

SummaryThe bleeding time is shortened and the mean platelet volume is increased in the acute phase of myocardial infarction. In this follow-up study we repeated the measurement of the bleeding time, the platelet count and the platelet volume distribution in 18 patients who had suffered from a definite acute myocardial infarction two years before and in 16 control patients who had been admitted with chest pain but no definite myocardial infarction at that time. At the time of follow-up the bleeding time was significantly lengthened in the myocardial infarction group (median values = 169 s and 209 s respectively), whereas it had shortened in the control group (median values = 258 s and 228 s respectively). Comparison of the platelet volume distribution curves of the myocardial infarction patients at time of infarction and 2 years later revealed a significantly higher percentage of small platelets and significantly lower percentages of both medium-sized and large platelets at the time of infarction. These changes in the platelet volume distribution could indicate consumption of medium-sized and large platelets at the time of myocardial infarction. None of the measured variables predicted which of the patients with acute myocardial infarction would subsequently re-infarct or die. In the patients studied with definite ischaemic heart disease (n = 26) a significant negative correlation between bleeding time and mean platelet volume was found. The shortened bleeding time in myocardial infarction is related to the acute event itself or preceeds it, but is reversed two years later.
Immunopurification of Human Factor VIII/vWF Complex from Plasma
Authors: Mejan Odile , Fert Vincent , Delezay Maryléne , Delaage Michel , Cheballah Rose , Bourgois Alain 
Published: June 2018

SummaryIn this study we describe a process for immunopurification of FVIII/vWF complex directly from plasma. A mAb against vWF has been selected that is able to bind, under physiologic conditions, the FVIII/vWF complex and to release it in slightly alkaline conditions while preserving its activity.After investigating the influence of solid supports and of coupling methods on the recovery of active FVIII we produced an immunoadsorbent by immobilisation of the selected mAb onto a Sephacryl S-1000 support using a benzoquinone coupling method. With this immunoadsorbent we developed a purification process directly from plasma with an excellent recovery (50%) of both FVIII and vWF activities. The product obtained is very enriched (the FVIII: C specific activity is 20 IU/mg of protein) and is stable after lyophilization.
Fibrinolytic and Anticoagulant Activity After a Single Subcutaneous Administration of a Low Dose of Heparin or a Low Molecular Weight Heparin-Dihydroergotamine Combination
Authors: Grimaudo V , Omri A , Kruithof E K O , Hauert J , Bachmann F 
Published: June 2018

SummaryThe anticoagulant and potential profibrinolytic effect of a combination of low molecular weight heparin with dihydroergotamine (LMWH-DHE) and of unfractionated heparin was studied in eight healthy volunteers. Each volunteer received a subcutaneous injection of either LMWH-DHE (1,500 U anti-Xa of LMWH + 0.5 mg DHE), unfractionated heparin (5,000 IU) or of placebo (saline) between 7 and 8 h in the morning on three different occasions. Anti-Xa activity, and fibrinolytic activity measured by the euglobulin clot lysis time (ECLT) and by the fibrin plate assay were determined before and at different times after administration of the three substances. Anti-Xa activity in plasma reached a maximum four hours after injection of both LMWH-DHE and unfractionated heparin. LMWH-DHE showed a better bioavailability when compared to unfractionated heparin; the anti-Xa activity peak was two and a half fold higher after LMWH-DHE despite injection of a three fold lower dose of anti-Xa units. The half-life of anti-Xa activity was approximately 4 hours for LMWH-DHE but only 90 min for unfractionated heparin. The fibrinolytic activity measured by ECLT as well as by fibrin plate assay, showed a significant increase during the day reaching a peak 8–12 h after injection regardless of the product administered (including the placebo). The profile of the diurnal fibrinolytic activity curve was identical for all three substances. The increase in fibrinolytic activity, observed after administration of LMWH-DHE or unfractionated heparin, was therefore not due to these drugs but reflected the circadian physiological fluctuation of fibrinolysis.