bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Maternal voluntary exercise mitigates oxidative stress and incidence of congenital heart defects in pre‐gestational diabetes
Authors: Saiyin Tana , Engineer Anish , Greco Elizabeth R. , Kim Mella Y. , Lu Xiangru , Jones Douglas L. , Feng Qingping 
Published: June 2019

AbstractWomen with pre‐gestational diabetes have a higher risk of producing children with congenital heart defects (CHDs), caused predominantly by hyperglycemia‐induced oxidative stress. In this study, we evaluated if exercise during pregnancy could mitigate oxidative stress and reduce the incidence of CHDs in the offspring of diabetic mice. Female mice were treated with streptozotocin to induce pre‐gestational diabetes, then mated with healthy males to produce offspring. They were also given access to running wheels 1 week before mating and allowed to exercise voluntarily until E18.5. Heart morphology, gene expression, and oxidative stress were assessed in foetal hearts. Maternal voluntary exercise results in a significantly lower incidence of CHDs from 59.5% to 25%. Additionally, diabetes‐induced defects in coronary artery and capillary morphogenesis were also lower with exercise. Myocardial cell proliferation and epithelial‐mesenchymal transition at E12.5 was significantly lower with pre‐gestational diabetes which was mitigated with maternal exercise. Cardiac gene expression of Notch1, Snail1, Gata4 and Cyclin D1 was significantly higher in the embryos of diabetic mice that exercised compared to the non‐exercised group. Furthermore, maternal exercise produced lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress in the foetal heart. In conclusion, maternal exercise mitigates ROS and oxidative damage in the foetal heart, and results in a lower incidence of CHDs in the offspring of pre‐gestational diabetes. Exercise may be an effective intervention to compliment clinical management and further minimize CHD risk in mothers with diabetes.
Survival analysis and functional annotation of long non‐coding RNAs in lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Salavaty Adrian , Rezvani Zahra , Najafi Ali 
Published: June 2019

AbstractLong non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a subclass of non‐protein coding transcripts that are involved in several regulatory processes and are considered as potential biomarkers for almost all cancer types. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of lncRNAs for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), the most prevalent subtype of lung cancer. To this end, the processed data of The Cancer Genome Atlas LUAD were retrieved from GEPIA and circlncRNAnet databases, matched with each other and integrated with the analysis results of a non‐small cell lung cancer plasma RNA‐Seq study. Then, the data were filtered in order to separate the differentially expressed lncRNAs that have a prognostic value for LUAD. Finally, the selected lncRNAs were functionally annotated using a bioinformatic and systems biology approach. Accordingly, we identified 19 lncRNAs as the novel LUAD prognostic lncRNAs. Also, based on our results, all 19 lncRNAs might be involved in lung cancer‐related biological processes. Overall, we suggested several novel biomarkers and drug targets which could help early diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of LUAD patients.
Investigating and Remediating Selection Bias in Geriatrics Research: The Selection Bias Toolkit
Authors: Banack Hailey R. , Kaufman Jay S. , Wactawski‐Wende Jean , Troen Bruce R. , Stovitz Steven D. 
Published: June 2019

OBJECTIVESSelection bias is a well‐known concern in research on older adults. We discuss two common forms of selection bias in aging research: (1) survivor bias and (2) bias due to loss to follow‐up. Our objective was to review these two forms of selection bias in geriatrics research. In clinical aging research, selection bias is a particular concern because all participants must have survived to old age, and be healthy enough, to take part in a research study in geriatrics.DESIGNWe demonstrate the key issues related to selection bias using three case studies focused on obesity, a common clinical risk factor in older adults. We also created a Selection Bias Toolkit that includes strategies to prevent selection bias when designing a research study in older adults and analytic techniques that can be used to examine, and correct for, the influence of selection bias in geriatrics research.RESULTSSurvivor bias and bias due to loss to follow‐up can distort study results in geriatric populations. Key steps to avoid selection bias at the study design stage include creating causal diagrams, minimizing barriers to participation, and measuring variables that predict loss to follow‐up. The Selection Bias Toolkit details several analytic strategies available to geriatrics researchers to examine and correct for selection bias (eg, regression modeling and sensitivity analysis).CONCLUSIONThe toolkit is designed to provide a broad overview of methods available to examine and correct for selection bias. It is specifically intended for use in the context of aging research. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:1970–1976, 2019
Greater Mindfulness is Associated With Better Academic Achievement in Middle School
Authors: Caballero Camila , Scherer Ethan , West Martin R. , Mrazek Michael D. , Gabrieli Christopher F. O. , Gabrieli John D. E. 
Published: June 2019

ABSTRACTDespite increasing interest in improving academic outcomes for students by enhancing mindfulness, there is a paucity of evidence that greater mindfulness is associated with success in school. We measured mindfulness with the short‐form Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) in over 2,000 urban students in Grades 5–8. The MAAS had good internal consistency and scale homogeneity. Greater mindfulness correlated significantly with better academic achievement as measured by grade point average and standardized tests of mathematics and literacy, greater improvement in academic performance from the prior school year, better attendance, and fewer suspensions. The relation between mindfulness and academic achievement was similar across demographic characteristics. These findings support the reliability of the MAAS as a measure of mindfulness among youth and provide initial evidence of an association between mindfulness and academic achievement. This association strengthens the rationale to explore whether mindfulness‐based interventions can enhance academic outcomes by leveraging the malleability of mindfulness.
Streptococcus mutans requires mature rhamnose‐glucose polysaccharides for proper pathophysiology, morphogenesis and cellular division
Authors: Kovacs Christopher J. , Faustoferri Roberta C. , Bischer Andrew P. , Quivey Robert G. 
Published: June 2019

SummaryThe cell wall of Gram‐positive bacteria has been shown to mediate environmental stress tolerance, antibiotic susceptibility, host immune evasion and overall virulence. The majority of these traits have been demonstrated for the well‐studied system of wall teichoic acid (WTA) synthesis, a common cell wall polysaccharide among Gram‐positive organisms. Streptococcus mutans, a Gram‐positive odontopathogen that contributes to the enamel‐destructive disease dental caries, lacks the capabilities to generate WTA. Instead, the cell wall of S. mutans is highly decorated with rhamnose‐glucose polysaccharides (RGP), for which functional roles are poorly defined. Here, we demonstrate that the RGP has a distinct role in protecting S. mutans from a variety of stress conditions pertinent to pathogenic capability. Mutant strains with disrupted RGP synthesis failed to properly localize cell division complexes, suffered from aberrant septum formation and exhibited enhanced cellular autolysis. Surprisingly, mutant strains of S. mutans with impairment in RGP side chain modification grew into elongated chains and also failed to properly localize the presumed cell wall hydrolase, GbpB. Our results indicate that fully mature RGP has distinct protective and morphogenic roles for S. mutans, and these structures are functionally homologous to the WTA of other Gram‐positive bacteria.
First application of loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays for rapid identification of mating type in the heterothallic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus
Authors: King Kevin M. , Hawkins Nichola J. , Atkins Sarah , Dyer Paul S. , West Jonathan S. , Fraaije Bart A. 
Published: June 2019

SummaryBackgroundLoop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays, which operate at a single temperature and require no postreaction processing, have been described for rapid species‐specific detection of numerous fungi. The technology has much less commonly been applied to identification of other key genetic traits such as fungicide resistance, and has not yet been applied to mating‐type determination in any fungus.ObjectivesTo develop first LAMP assays for mating‐type identification in a fungus, in this instance with the saprophytic mould and human opportunistic pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus, a heterothallic ascomycete requiring isolates of opposite mating type (MAT1‐1, MAT1‐2) for sexual reproduction.MethodsNew LAMP primer sets, targeted to MAT gene sequences, were screened against 34 A fumigatus isolates (of known mating type) from diverse clinical, environmental and geographic sources to establish whether they could distinguish MAT1‐1 or MAT1‐2 genotypes.Results and conclusionsThe new assays, operating at a single temperature of 65°C, correctly identified the mating type of A fumigatus isolates in <20 minutes, and thus have numerous research and practical applications. Similar MAT LAMP assays could now be developed for other fungi of agricultural, environmental, industrial and/or medical importance.
Poland in the ‘Paris system’: self‐determination, stereotypes, and decisions in 1919
Authors: Clark Denis 
Published: June 2019

AbstractOne of the most important questions at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference was what to do about the newly re‐created state of Poland. The Paris peacemakers realised the importance of the settlement, thanks in part to dire warnings about Poland's future, and the leaders spent much time discussing the territorial settlement. Yet discussions of this important question regularly strayed from debates about policy to incorporate understandings of Polish national character. In particular, the leaders of the so‐called Big Three, Britain, France, and the United States, connected expert opinion and the broader political landscape to stereotyped understandings of national character, among other factors. With reference to scholarship on stereotyping, this article analyses how developing attitudes on Polish national character became integrated into the complex settlement of Poland's borders. The peacemakers' decisions, which were a compromise between different points of view, reflected interconnected understandings of the Polish settlement.
Collective action and social contagion: Community gardens as a case study
Authors: Shur‐Ofry Michal , Malcai Ofer 
Published: June 2019

AbstractInstitutions for collective action (ICAs), comprising individuals that informally organize to manage collective resources, have gained recognition as a significant means of informal governance of common resources alongside the more formal schemes of privatization and top‐down regulation. Using the case study of community gardens, this article locates ICAs within the broader phenomenon of self‐organization in complex systems, and inquires whether ICAs exhibit dynamics of social contagion and diffuse in accordance with patterns that prevail in self‐organized complex systems. Applying quantitative methods derived from the field of complexity, we measure the temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal diffusion of community gardens in the city of Jerusalem. The results suggest that the spread of community gardens in the urban space displays patterns of self‐organization and social contagion. More generally, these findings suggest that ICAs may scale from themicroto themacrolevel in a bottom‐up, self‐expanding manner, while maintaining the advantages of local, commons‐based arrangements. This perspective carries significant policy implications, and highlights the potential use of ICAs as a means for the governance of public resources, not only on a local, micro scale but also on a more global scale.
The imbalance of gut microbiota and its correlation with plasma inflammatory cytokines in pemphigus vulgaris patients
Authors: Huang Shuli , Mao Jing , Zhou Lin , Xiong Xia , Deng Yongqiong 
Published: June 2019

AbstractPemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the production of IgG autoantibodies owing to an imbalance in the Th1/Th2 and Th17/Tregs cell pathways. The role of gut microbiota in the development of immune system and autoimmune diseases has been unraveled in the last two decades. However, data pertaining to gut microbiota of PV patients is largely lacking. We aimed to compare the gut microbiota of PV patients and healthy controls and assessed potential correlation with circulating cytokines of Th1/Th2/Th17 cell. Faecal bacterial diversity was analysed in 18 PV patients and 14 age‐ and gender‐matched healthy individuals using hypervariable tag sequencing of the V3‐V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Plasma levels of 20 inflammatory cytokines were assessed using the Luminex screening system. As a result, we identified 10 differentially abundant taxa between patients and controls. At the genera level, Lachnospiracea_incertae_sedis and Coprococcus decreased, while Granulicatella, Flavonifractor enriched in PV. Plasma levels of C5a, interleukin (IL)‐2R, IL‐6, IL‐8, IL‐7, IL‐1β, IL17A, IL‐5 and IL‐21 were significantly increased in PV Flavonifractor exhibited a positive correlation with C5a, IL‐6, IL‐8, IL‐7, IL‐1β, IL17A and IL‐21. Lachnospiracea_incertae_sedis and Coprococcus showed a negative correlation with IL‐17A. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that PV patients have gut microbial dysbiosis which might contribute to the immune disorder and the development of PV.
Local Ambivalence to Diverse Mobilities – The Case of a Norwegian Rural Village
Authors: Villa Mariann 
Published: June 2019

AbstractIn Norway, immigration and tourism have become important drivers of diversity in rural communities. While rural migration mostly has been studied from the migrants’ perspective, this article examines how long‐term residents in a Norwegian rural mountain resort characterised by seasonal tourism and labour immigration experience the flux of diverse migrants and how this affects them and the local community. The article is based on 12 interviews with men and women who are long‐term community residents. A major narrative of the locals is that of the village and its inhabitants as accustomed to mobility, a local knowledge acquired through decades of tourism and in‐migration. But there are also narratives of ambivalence and contradictions and of the place as saturated by mobilities. The article explores how locals adjust to and avoid these mobilities.
It's okay to talk: suicide awareness simulation
Authors: Phillips Emma Claire , Neagle Gregg , Cameron Bethan , Moneypenny Michael 
Published: June 2019

SummaryBackgroundDoctors are at an increased risk of suicide compared with the general population, and there is a current lack of formal education on suicide prevention for peers and colleagues. This educational project aimed to increase suicide awareness for medical students through simulation.MethodsA simulation scenario was designed centred around a junior doctor (a qualified doctor who has not yet completed specialist postgraduate training) disclosing thoughts of suicide. The scenario and debriefing were designed using learning objectives and constructive alignment theory. Senior medical students participated in the scenario, which was followed by a facilitated debriefing and the provision of a framework for discussing suicide with a colleague. Quantitative and qualitative student feedback was collected and analysed.A simulation scenario was designed centred around a junior doctor colleague found distressed at work and disclosing thoughts of suicideResultsA total of 35 students participated in the simulation over six sessions. Feedback indicated that students felt this subject was important and that the learning objectives had been achieved.DiscussionThis simulation scenario focusing on suicide awareness for senior medical students has provided opportunity for open discussion and reflection on the topic and has increased the awareness and understanding of suicidality in colleagues. This is one step in the direction of preventing further deaths by suicide in health professionals.
Neighbourhood Poverty and Individual Earnings: Tales of Two (Norwegian) Cities
Authors: Nordvik Viggo , Turner Lena Magnusson , Friedrichs Jürgen 
Published: June 2019

AbstractAcross cities, one observes similarities in poverty and earnings of individuals within the same neighbourhood. Are these similarities due to causal influences neighbours exercise upon each other or to spatial sorting? We analyse this within the frame of a fixed effects model, estimated on a register‐based panel covering all residents of two urban areas in Norway over the years from 1997 to 2011. We find a significant depressing effect of the share of low‐earners in the neighbourhood on individual earnings in the capital region ‐ Oslo. Our estimates of the impact of neighbourhood poverty are small in magnitude compared to what is found in other studies. In the other, less central area studied, we do not find any such effect. It is tempting to speculate that sorting and neighbourhood effects are less intense in urban regions with a smaller menu of neighbourhood choices.[Correction added on 30 July 2019, after first publication: The Abstract has been modified for improvement in this version.]
Extracting human emotions at different places based on facial expressions and spatial clustering analysis
Authors: Kang Yuhao , Jia Qingyuan , Gao Song , Zeng Xiaohuan , Wang Yueyao , Angsuesser Stephan , Liu Yu , Ye Xinyue , Fei Teng 
Published: June 2019

AbstractThe emergence of big data enables us to evaluate the various human emotions at places from a statistical perspective by applying affective computing. In this study a novel framework for extracting human emotions from large‐scale georeferenced photos at different places is proposed. After the construction of places based on spatial clustering of user‐generated footprints collected from social media websites, online cognitive services are utilized to extract human emotions from facial expressions using state‐of‐the‐art computer vision techniques. Two happiness metrics are defined for measuring the human emotions at different places. To validate the feasibility of the framework, we take 80 tourist attractions around the world as an example and a happiness ranking list of places is generated based on human emotions calculated over 2 million faces detected from greater than 6 million photos. Different kinds of geographical contexts are taken into consideration to find out the relationship between human emotions and environmental factors. Results show that much of the emotional variation at different places can be explained by a few factors such as openness. The research offers insights into integrating human emotions to enrich the understanding of sense of place in geography and in place‐based GIS.
Natural disasters and countries' exports: New insights from a new (and an old) database
Authors: El Hadri Hajare , Mirza Daniel , Rabaud Isabelle 
Published: June 2019

AbstractThis paper is the first to uncover in details the impact of different families of disasters on exports from 1979 to 2000 (storms, floods, earthquakes and changes in temperatures). Besides, our paper is the first to compare in a quasi‐systematic way the results across the two data sets at hand, the standard EM‐DAT data and GeoMet data, a newly available data set based on geophysical and meteorological data (European Economic Review, 2013, 58, 18; Journal of Development Economics, 2014, 111, 92). We run series of regressions while accounting progressively for the characteristics of products (all traded goods v/s agriculture ones), the characteristics of the country (size, level of development) and the intensity of the catastrophes. When pooling all countries, and all types of disasters, we do not find any statistical impact on exports. But when focusing on each of them separately and on agricultural goods, the occurrence of an earthquake appears to reduce exports of about 3%, regardless of its location. A windstorm shock, even when it happens to be very severe, has hardly any impact. A flood, on its side, is estimated to reduce export flows of a small country by nearly 3%. The effect of changes in temperatures is ambiguous. All in all, except for temperature‐related disasters, the results are consistent across both data sets, EM‐DAT and GeoMet, although they appear to be slightly more in line with our expectations in the case of GeoMet.
Siberian Trap volcanism, global warming and the Permian-Triassic mass extinction: New insights from Armenian Permian-Triassic sections
Authors: Joachimski M.M. , Alekseev A.S. , Grigoryan A. , Gatovsky Yu.A. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractPermian-Triassic boundary sections from Armenia were studied for carbon isotopes of carbonates as well as oxygen isotopes of conodont apatite in order to constrain the global significance of earlier reported variations in the isotope proxies and elaborate the temporal relationship between carbon cycle changes, global warming and Siberian Trap volcanism. Carbon isotope records of the Chanakhchi and Vedi II sections show a 3–5‰ negative excursion that start in the Clarkina nodosa (C. yini) conodont Zone (latest Permian) with minimum values recorded in Hindeodus parvus to Isarcicella isarcica conodont zones (earliest Triassic). Sea surface temperatures (SST) reconstructed from oxygen isotopes of conodont apatite increase by 8–10 °C over an extrapolated time interval of ∼39 ka with the onset of global warming occurring in the C. iranica (C. meishanensis) Zone of the latest Permian. Climate warming documented in the Armenian sections is comparable to published time-equivalent shifts in SST in Iran and South China suggesting that this temperature change represents a true global signature. By correlating the Armenian and Iranian section with the radiometrically well-dated Meishan GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) section (South China), the negative shift in δ13C is estimated to have occurred 12–128 ka prior to the onset of global warming. This temporal offset is unexpected given the synchrony in changes in atmospheric CO2 and global temperature as seen in Pleistocene ice core records. The negative δ13C excursion is explained by the addition of emission of isotopically light CO2 and CH4 from thermogenic heating of organic carbon-rich sediments by Siberian Trap sill intrusions. However, the observed time lag in the δ13C and δ18O shifts questions the generally assumed cause-effect relationship between emission of thermogenically produced greenhouse gases and global warming. The onset of temperature rise coincides with a significant enrichment in Hg/TOC (total organic carbon) ratios arguing for a major volcanic event at the base of the extinction interval. Whether global warming was a major factor for the Late Permian mass extinction depends on the duration of the extinction interval. Warming only starts at the base of the extinction interval, but with the extinction encompassing a time interval of 60 ± 48 ka, global climate warming in conjunction with temperature-related stressors as hypoxia and reduced nutrient availability may have been one of the major triggers of the most devastating biotic crisis in Earth history.