bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A recurrent homozygous NHLRC1 variant in siblings with Lafora disease
Authors: Araya Nami , Takahashi Yukitoshi , Shimono Masayuki , Fukuda Tomofumi , Kato Mitsuhiro , Nakashima Mitsuko , Matsumoto Naomichi , Saitsu Hirotomo 
Published: July 2018

AbstractWe report a case of two siblings with progressive myoclonus epilepsy whose parents were not consanguineous. Their clinical symptoms were typical of Lafora disease (LD), but skin biopsies revealed no Lafora bodies. Whole-exome sequencing identified a recurrent homozygous frameshift variant in the NHLRC1 gene in both siblings. The genetic analysis was useful for the diagnosis of LD, as neither consanguinity nor Lafora bodies were found.
Task-induced brain state manipulation improves prediction of individual traits
Authors: Greene Abigail S. , Gao Siyuan , Scheinost Dustin , Constable R. Todd 
Published: July 2018

AbstractRecent work has begun to relate individual differences in brain functional organization to human behaviors and cognition, but the best brain state to reveal such relationships remains an open question. In two large, independent data sets, we here show that cognitive tasks amplify trait-relevant individual differences in patterns of functional connectivity, such that predictive models built from task fMRI data outperform models built from resting-state fMRI data. Further, certain tasks consistently yield better predictions of fluid intelligence than others, and the task that generates the best-performing models varies by sex. By considering task-induced brain state and sex, the best-performing model explains over 20% of the variance in fluid intelligence scores, as compared to <6% of variance explained by rest-based models. This suggests that identifying and inducing the right brain state in a given group can better reveal brain-behavior relationships, motivating a paradigm shift from rest- to task-based functional connectivity analyses.
The concerted roles of FANCM and Rad52 in the protection of common fragile sites
Authors: Wang Hailong , Li Shibo , Oaks Joshua , Ren Jianping , Li Lei , Wu Xiaohua 
Published: July 2018

AbstractCommon fragile sites (CFSs) are prone to chromosomal breakage and are hotspots for chromosomal rearrangements in cancer cells. We uncovered a novel function of Fanconi anemia (FA) protein FANCM in the protection of CFSs that is independent of the FA core complex and the FANCI–FANCD2 complex. FANCM, along with its binding partners FAAP24 and MHF1/2, is recruited to CFS-derived structure-prone AT-rich sequences, where it suppresses DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation and mitotic recombination in a manner dependent on FANCM translocase activity. Interestingly, we also identified an indispensable function of Rad52 in the repair of DSBs at CFS-derived AT-rich sequences, despite its nonessential function in general homologous recombination (HR) in mammalian cells. Suppression of Rad52 expression in combination with FANCM knockout drastically reduces cell and tumor growth, suggesting a synthetic lethality interaction between these two genes, which offers a potential targeted treatment strategy for FANCM-deficient tumors with Rad52 inhibition.
Manipulation of facet orientation in hybrid perovskite polycrystalline films by cation cascade
Authors: Zheng Guanhaojie , Zhu Cheng , Ma Jingyuan , Zhang Xiaonan , Tang Gang , Li Runguang , Chen Yihua , Li Liang , Hu Jinsong , Hong Jiawang , Chen Qi , Gao Xingyu , Zhou Huanping 
Published: July 2018

AbstractCrystal orientations in multiple orders correlate to the properties of polycrystalline materials, and it is critical to manipulate these microstructural arrangements to enhance device performance. Herein, we report a controllable approach to manipulate the facet orientation within the ABX3 hybrid perovskites polycrystalline films by cation cascade doping at A-site. Two-dimensional synchrotron radiation grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering is employed to probe the crystal orientations in multiple orders in mixed perovskites thin films, revealing a general pattern to guide crystal planes stacking upon extrinsic doping during crystallization. Different from previous studies, this method enables to adjust the crystal stacking mode of certain crystallographic planes in polycrystalline perovskites. Moreover, the preferred facet orientation is found to facilitate photocarrier transport across the absorber and pertaining interface in the resultant PV device, which provides an exemplary paradigm for further explorations that relate to the microstructures of hybrid perovskite materials and relevant optoelectronics.
Attosecond time-resolved photoelectron holography
Authors: Porat G. , Alon G. , Rozen S. , Pedatzur O. , Krüger M. , Azoury D. , Natan A. , Orenstein G. , Bruner B. D. , Vrakking M. J. J. , Dudovich N. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractUltrafast strong-field physics provides insight into quantum phenomena that evolve on an attosecond time scale, the most fundamental of which is quantum tunneling. The tunneling process initiates a range of strong field phenomena such as high harmonic generation (HHG), laser-induced electron diffraction, double ionization and photoelectron holography—all evolving during a fraction of the optical cycle. Here we apply attosecond photoelectron holography as a method to resolve the temporal properties of the tunneling process. Adding a weak second harmonic (SH) field to a strong fundamental laser field enables us to reconstruct the ionization times of photoelectrons that play a role in the formation of a photoelectron hologram with attosecond precision. We decouple the contributions of the two arms of the hologram and resolve the subtle differences in their ionization times, separated by only a few tens of attoseconds.
MreB polymers and curvature localization are enhanced by RodZ and predict E. coli's cylindrical uniformity
Authors: Bratton Benjamin P. , Shaevitz Joshua W. , Gitai Zemer , Morgenstein Randy M. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractThe actin-like protein MreB has been proposed to coordinate the synthesis of the cell wall to determine cell shape in bacteria. MreB is preferentially localized to areas of the cell with specific curved geometries, avoiding the cell poles. It remains unclear whether MreB’s curvature preference is regulated by additional factors, and which specific features of MreB promote specific features of rod shape growth. Here, we show that the transmembrane protein RodZ modulates MreB curvature preference and polymer number inE. coli, properties which are regulated independently. An unbiased machine learning analysis shows that MreB polymer number, the total length of MreB polymers, and MreB curvature preference are key correlates of cylindrical uniformity, the variability in radius within a single cell. Changes in the values of these parameters are highly predictive of the resulting changes in cell shape (r2 = 0.93). Our data thus suggest RodZ promotes the assembly of geometrically-localized MreB polymers that lead to the growth of uniform cylinders.
Automated defect analysis in electron microscopic images
Authors: Li Wei , Field Kevin G. , Morgan Dane 
Published: July 2018

AbstractElectron microscopy and defect analysis are a cornerstone of materials science, as they offer detailed insights on the microstructure and performance of a wide range of materials and material systems. Building a robust and flexible platform for automated defect recognition and classification in electron microscopy will result in the completion of analysis orders of magnitude faster after images are recorded, or even online during image acquisition. Automated analysis has the potential to be significantly more efficient, accurate, and repeatable than human analysis, and it can scale with the increasingly important methods of automated data generation. Herein, an automated recognition tool is developed based on a computer vison–based approach; it sequentially applies a cascade object detector, convolutional neural network, and local image analysis methods. We demonstrate that the automated tool performs as well as or better than manual human detection in terms of recall and precision and achieves quantitative image/defect analysis metrics close to the human average. The proposed approach works for images of varying contrast, brightness, and magnification. These promising results suggest that this and similar approaches are worth exploring for detecting multiple defect types and have the potential to locate, classify, and measure quantitative features for a range of defect types, materials, and electron microscopic techniques.
Thin Film of Amorphous Zinc Hydroxide Semiconductor for Optical Devices with an Energy-Efficient Beneficial Coating by Metal Organic Decomposition Process
Authors: Karakawa Makoto , Sugahara Tohru , Hirose Yukiko , Suganuma Katsuaki , Aso Yoshio 
Published: July 2018

AbstractAn effective metal oxide coating with solution processes by the metal organic decomposition method as deposited at room temperature (RT) poses great challenge. In this study, we report the characterization and evaluation of the semiconductor properties of a zinc hydroxide thin film with RT just as deposition by solution coating method. The films worked well as an inter-layer of the organic photovoltaic cell and optimized the film thickness condition with chemical and physical properties. As a result, we achieved a power conversion efficiency performance level, which was almost similar to that in the cells used after calcination in the crystal ZnO inter-layer. The presented process without any additional decomposition energy is expected to make a significant contribution to the realization of a flexible and cost-effective solution process for device fabrication.
Familial Associations in Testicular Cancer with Other Cancers
Authors: Zhang Luyao , Yu Hongyao , Hemminki Otto , Försti Asta , Sundquist Kristina , Hemminki Kari 
Published: July 2018

AbstractFamilial risks for testicular cancer (TC) are among the highest of all cancers. However, data are limited for histological types of TC and for possible familial associations of TC with other cancers. We used the nationwide Swedish Family-Cancer Database for years 1958 to 2015 to analyse familial relative risks (RR) for 11,138 TC patients when first-degree relatives were diagnosed with TC or other cancer in reference to those without a family history. A total of 191 familial TCs were found, which accounted for 2.0% of all TC. The RR was 5.06 when one family member was diagnosed with TC with no significant difference between seminoma and nonseminoma. However, the risk for nonseminoma was 33.59 when two family members were affected. Internally consistent familial associations of TC, particularly of seminoma, were found with breast and nervous system cancers and melanoma. Individual significant associations were found for a number of sites, including ovarian, endometrial and prostate cancers. Our results suggest that nonseminoma may have a stronger genetic background than seminoma but seminoma shares more familial associations with discordant cancers. Clustering of TC with hormone-dependent cancers of the breast, ovary, endometrium and prostate may suggest mechanistic links and possibly gene-environment interactions.
Trichromatic perception of flower colour improves resource detection among New World monkeys
Authors: Hogan J. D. , Fedigan L. M. , Hiramatsu C. , Kawamura S. , Melin A. D. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractMany plants use colour to attract pollinators, which often possess colour vision systems well-suited for detecting flowers. Yet, to isolate the role of colour is difficult, as flowers also produce other cues. The study of florivory by Neotropical primates possessing polymorphic colour vision provides an opportunity to investigate the importance of colour directly. Here we determine whether differences in colour vision within a mixed population of wild dichromatic and trichromatic white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus imitator) affect flower foraging behaviours. We collected reflectance data for flower foods and modelled their chromatic properties to capuchin colour vision phenotypes. We collected behavioural data over 22 months spanning four years, determined the colour vision phenotype of each monkey based on amino acid variation of the L/M opsin gene from fecal DNA, and compared foraging behaviours of dichromats and trichromats. Most flowers were more conspicuous to trichromats, and trichromats foraged in small flower patches significantly more often. These data demonstrate a difference in wild primate foraging patterns based on colour vision differences, supporting the hypothesis that trichromacy enhances detection of small, ephemeral resources. This advantage, which may also extend to other foods, likely contributes to the maintenance of colour vision polymorphism in Neotropical monkeys.
Non-canonicaly recruited TCRαβCD8αα IELs recognize microbial antigens
Authors: Wojciech Lukasz , Szurek Edyta , Kuczma Michal , Cebula Anna , Elhefnawy Wessam R. , Pietrzak Maciej , Rempala Grzegorz , Ignatowicz Leszek 
Published: July 2018

AbstractIn the gut, various subsets of intraepithelial T cells (IELs) respond to self or non-self-antigens derived from the body, diet, commensal and pathogenic microbiota. Dominant subset of IELs in the small intestine are TCRαβCD8αα+cells, which are derived from immature thymocytes that express self-reactive TCRs. Although most of TCRαβCD8αα+IELs are thymus-derived, their repertoire adapts to microbial flora. Here, using high throughput TCR sequencing we examined how clonal diversity of TCRαβCD8αα+IELs changes upon exposure to commensal-derived antigens. We found that fraction of CD8αα+IELs and CD4+T cells express identical αβTCRs and this overlap raised parallel to a surge in the diversity of microbial flora. We also found that an opportunistic pathogen (Staphylococcus aureus) isolated from mouse small intestine specifically activated CD8αα+IELs and CD4+derived T cell hybridomas suggesting that some of TCRαβCD8αα+clones with microbial specificities have extrathymic origin. We also report that CD8ααCD4+IELs and Foxp3CD4+T cells from the small intestine shared many αβTCRs, regardless whether the later subset was isolated from Foxp3CNS1sufficient or Foxp3CNS1deficient mice that lacks peripherally-derived Tregs. Overall, our results imply that repertoire of TCRαβCD8αα+in small intestine expendsin situin response to changes in microbial flora.
Scalable photonic reinforcement learning by time-division multiplexing of laser chaos
Authors: Naruse Makoto , Mihana Takatomo , Hori Hirokazu , Saigo Hayato , Okamura Kazuya , Hasegawa Mikio , Uchida Atsushi 
Published: July 2018

AbstractReinforcement learning involves decision-making in dynamic and uncertain environments and constitutes a crucial element of artificial intelligence. In our previous work, we experimentally demonstrated that the ultrafast chaotic oscillatory dynamics of lasers can be used to efficiently solve the two-armed bandit problem, which requires decision-making concerning a class of difficult trade-offs called the exploration–exploitation dilemma. However, only two selections were employed in that research; hence, the scalability of the laser-chaos-based reinforcement learning should be clarified. In this study, we demonstrated a scalable, pipelined principle of resolving the multi-armed bandit problem by introducing time-division multiplexing of chaotically oscillated ultrafast time series. The experimental demonstrations in which bandit problems with up to 64 arms were successfully solved are presented where laser chaos time series significantly outperforms quasiperiodic signals, computer-generated pseudorandom numbers, and coloured noise. Detailed analyses are also provided that include performance comparisons among laser chaos signals generated in different physical conditions, which coincide with the diffusivity inherent in the time series. This study paves the way for ultrafast reinforcement learning by taking advantage of the ultrahigh bandwidths of light wave and practical enabling technologies.
Inactivation of TCA cycle enhances Staphylococcus aureus persister cell formation in stationary phase
Authors: Wang Ying , Bojer Martin Saxtorph , George Shilpa Elizabeth , Wang Zhihao , Jensen Peter Ruhdal , Wolz Christiane , Ingmer Hanne 
Published: July 2018

AbstractPersister cells constitute a small subpopulation of bacteria that display remarkably high antibiotic tolerance and for pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus are suspected as culprits of chronic and recurrent infections. Persisters formed during exponential growth are characterized by low ATP levels but less is known of cells in stationary phase. By enrichment from a transposon mutant library in S. aureus we identified mutants that in this growth phase displayed enhanced persister cell formation. We found that inactivation of either sucA or sucB, encoding the subunits of the α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase of the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle), increased survival to lethal concentrations of ciprofloxacin by 10–100 fold as did inactivation of other TCA cycle genes or atpA encoding a subunit of the F1F0 ATPase. In S. aureus, TCA cycle activity and gene expression are de-repressed in stationary phase but single cells with low expression may be prone to form persisters. While ATP levels were not consistently affected in high persister mutants they commonly displayed reduced membrane potential, and persistence was enhanced by a protein motive force inhibitor. Our results show that persister cell formation in stationary phase does not correlate with ATP levels but is associated with low membrane potential.
A micron-scale surface topography design reducing cell adhesion to implanted materials
Authors: Robotti Francesco , Bottan Simone , Fraschetti Federica , Mallone Anna , Pellegrini Giovanni , Lindenblatt Nicole , Starck Christoph , Falk Volkmar , Poulikakos Dimos , Ferrari Aldo 
Published: July 2018

AbstractThe micron-scale surface topography of implanted materials represents a complementary pathway, independent of the material biochemical properties, regulating the process of biological recognition by cells which mediate the inflammatory response to foreign bodies. Here we explore a rational design of surface modifications in micron range to optimize a topography comprised of a symmetrical array of hexagonal pits interfering with focal adhesion establishment and maturation. When implemented on silicones and hydrogels in vitro, the anti-adhesive topography significantly reduces the adhesion of macrophages and fibroblasts and their activation toward effectors of fibrosis. In addition, long-term interaction of the cells with anti-adhesive topographies markedly hampers cell proliferation, correlating the physical inhibition of adhesion and complete spreading with the natural progress of the cell cycle. This solution for reduction in cell adhesion can be directly integrated on the outer surface of silicone implants, as well as an additive protective conformal microstructured biocellulose layer for materials that cannot be directly microstructured. Moreover, the original geometry imposed during manufacturing of the microstructured biocellulose membranes are fully retained upon in vivo exposure, suggesting a long lasting performance of these topographical features after implantation.
Cord Blood IL-12 Confers Protection to Clinical Malaria in Early Childhood Life
Authors: Song Yong , Aguilar Ruth , Guo Jing , Manaca Maria Nelia , Nhabomba Augusto , Berthoud Tamara Katherine , Khoo Siew-Kim , Wiertsema Selma , Barbosa Arnoldo , Quintó Llorenç , Laing Ingrid A , Mayor Alfredo , Guinovart Caterina , Alonso Pedro L. , LeSouëf Peter N. , Dobaño Carlota , Zhang Guicheng 
Published: July 2018

AbstractUsing a well-designed longitudinal cohort, we aimed to identify cytokines that were protective against malaria and to explore how they were influenced by genetic and immunological factors. 349 Mozambican pregnant women and their newborn babies were recruited and followed up for malaria outcomes until 24 months of age. Six Th1 cytokines in cord blood were screened for correlation with malaria incidence, of which IL-12 was selected for further analyses. We genotypedIL-12polymorphisms in children/mothers and evaluated the genotype-phenotype associations and genetic effects on IL-12 levels. Maternal IL-12 concentrations were also investigated in relation toPlasmodiuminfections and cord blood IL-12 levels. Our data showed that high background IL-12 levels were prospectively associated with a low incidence of clinical malaria, while IL-12 production after parasite stimulation had the opposite effect on malaria incidence.IL-12genotypes (IL-12brs2288831/rs17860508) and the haplotype CGTTAGAG distribution were related to malaria susceptibility and background IL-12 levels. Maternal genotypes also exhibited an evident impact on host genotype-phenotype associations. Finally, a positive correlation in background IL-12 levels between maternal and cord blood was identified. Thus, cord blood background IL-12 concentrations are important for protecting children from clinical malaria, likely mediated by both genotypes (children&mothers) and maternal immunity.
Nuclear Norm Clustering: a promising alternative method for clustering tasks
Authors: Wang Yi , Li Yi , Qiao Chunhong , Liu Xiaoyu , Hao Meng , Shugart Yin Yao , Xiong Momiao , Jin Li 
Published: July 2018

AbstractClustering techniques are widely used in many applications. The goal of clustering is to identify patterns or groups of similar objects within a dataset of interest. However, many cluster methods are neither robust nor sensitive to noises and outliers in real data. In this paper, we present Nuclear Norm Clustering (NNC, available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/nnc/), an algorithm that can be used in various fields as a promising alternative to the k-means clustering method. The NNC algorithm requires users to provide a data matrix M and a desired number of cluster K. We employed simulated annealing techniques to choose an optimal label vector that minimizes nuclear norm of the pooled within cluster residual matrix. To evaluate the performance of the NNC algorithm, we compared the performance of both 15 public datasets and 2 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on psoriasis, comparing our method with other classic methods. The results indicate that NNC method has a competitive performance in terms of F-score on 15 benchmarked public datasets and 2 psoriasis GWAS datasets. So NNC is a promising alternative method for clustering tasks.