bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
In vivo long-lasting alterations of central serotonin transporter activity and associated dopamine synthesis after acute repeated administration of methamphetamine
Authors: Huang Wen-Sheng , Chen Guann-Juh , Tsai Tung-Han , Cheng Chen-Yi , Shiue Chyng-Yann , Ma Kuo-Hsing , Yeh Skye Hsin-Hsien 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Methamphetamine (METH)-associated alterations in the striatal dopamine (DA) system or dopamine transport (DAT) have been identified in clinical and preclinical studies with positron emission tomography (PET) imaging but have not been well correlated with in vivo serotonin transporter (SERT) availability due to the lack of appropriate imaging agents to assess SERTs. N,N-dimethyl-2-(2-amino-4-[18F]-fluorophenylthio) benzylamine (4-[18F]-ADAM) has been developed by our group and validated for its high affinity and selectivity for SERTs, allowing the in vivo examination of SERT density, location, and binding function. The aims of this study were to investigate the potential of SERT imaging using 4-[18F]-ADAM PET to estimate the long-lasting effects of METH-induced serotonergic neurotoxicity, and further determine whether a correlative relationship exists between SERT availability/activity and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity in various brain regions due to the long-lasting consequences of METH treatment.

Results
Male rats received four administrations of METH (5 or 10 mg/kg, s.c.) or saline (1 ml/kg, s.c.) at 1-h intervals. At 30 days post-administration, in vivo SERT availability and activity were measured by 4-[18F]ADAM PET imaging. In contrast to the controls, the uptake of 4-[18F]ADAM in METH-treated mice was significantly reduced in a dose-dependent manner in the midbrain, followed by the hypothalamus, thalamus, striatum, hippocampus, and frontal cortex. The regional effects of METH on TH activity were assessed by quantitative immunohistochemistry and presented as integrated optical density (IOD). A significant decrease in TH immunostaining and IOD ratios was seen in the caudate, putamen, nucleus accumbens, substantia nigra pars compacta, and substantia nigra pars reticulata in the METH-treated rats compared to controls.

Conclusion
The present results suggested that the long-lasting response to METH decreased the uptake of 4-[18F]-ADAM and varied regionally along with TH immunoreactivity. In addition, 4-[18F]ADAM PET could be used to detect serotonergic neuron loss and to evaluate the severity of serotonergic neurotoxicity of METH.
Voxel-based statistical analysis and quantification of amyloid PET in the Japanese Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative (J-ADNI) multi-center study
Authors:   Japanese Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Akamatsu Go , Ikari Yasuhiko , Ohnishi Akihito , Matsumoto Keiichi , Nishida Hiroyuki , Yamamoto Yasuji , Senda Michio 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundAmyloid PET plays a vital role in detecting the accumulation of in vivo amyloid-β (Aβ). The quantification of Aβ accumulation has been widely performed using the region of interest (ROI)-based mean cortical standardized uptake value ratio (mcSUVR). However, voxel-based statistical analysis has not been well studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of analyzing amyloid PET scans by voxel-based statistical analysis. The results were then compared to those with the ROI-based mcSUVR. In total, 166 subjects who underwent11C-PiB PET in the J-ADNI multi-center study were analyzed. Additionally, 18 Aβ-negative images were collected from other studies to form a normal database. The PET images were spatially normalized to the standard space using an adaptive template method without MRI. The mcSUVR was measured using a pre-defined ROI. Voxel-wiseZ-scores within the ROI were calculated using the normal database, after whichZ-score maps were generated. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate whetherZ-sum (sum of theZ-score) and mcSUVR could be used to classify the scans into positive and negative using the central visual read as the reference standard. PET scans that were equivocal were regarded as positive.ResultsSensitivity and specificity were respectively 90.8% and 100% byZ-sum and 91.8% and 98.5% by mcSUVR. Most of the equivocal scans were subsequently classified by bothZ-sum and mcSUVR as false negatives.Z-score maps correctly delineated abnormal Aβ accumulation over the same regions as the visual read.ConclusionsWe examined the usefulness of voxel-based statistical analysis for amyloid PET. This method provides objectiveZ-score maps andZ-sum values, which were observed to be helpful as an adjunct to visual interpretation especially for cases with mild or limited Aβ accumulation. This approach could improve the Aβ detection sensitivity, reduce inter-reader variability, and allow for detailed monitoring of Aβ deposition.Trial registrationThe number of the J-ADNI study isUMIN000001374
The first fungal laccase with an alkaline pH optimum obtained by directed evolution and its application in indigo dye decolorization
Authors: Yin Qiang , Zhou Gang , Peng Can , Zhang Yinliang , Kües Ursula , Liu Juanjuan , Xiao Yazhong , Fang Zemin 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Engineering of fungal laccases with optimum catalytic activity at alkaline pH has been a long-lasting challenge. In this study, a mutant library containing 3000 clones was obtained by error-prone PCR to adapt the optimum pH of a fungal laccase Lcc9 from the basidiomycete Coprinopsis cinerea. After three rounds of functional screening, a mutant with three amino acid changes (E116K, N229D, I393T) named PIE5 was selected. PIE5 showed an optimum pH of 8.5 and 8.0 against guaiacol and 2,6-DMP when expressed in Pichia pastoris, representing the first fungal laccase that possesses an optimum pH at an alkaline condition. Site directed mutagenesis disclosed that N229D contributed the most to the optimum pH increment. A single N229D mutation caused an increase in optimum pH by 1.5 units. When used in indigo dye decolorization, PIE5 efficiently decolorized 87.1 ± 1.1% and 90.9 ± 0.3% indigo dye at the optimum conditions of pH 7.0–7.5 and 60 °C, and with either methyl 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzoate or 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothazoline-6-sulfonate) as the mediator. In comparison, the commercially available fungal laccase TvLac from Trametes villosa decolorized 84.3 ± 1.8% of indigo dye under its optimum conditions (opt. pH 5.0 and 60 °C). The properties of an alkaline-dependent activity and the high indigo dye decolorization ability (1.3-fold better than the parental Lcc9) make the new fungal laccase PIE5 an alternative for specific industrial applications.
X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein accelerates migration by inducing epithelial–mesenchymal transition through TGF-β signaling pathway in esophageal cancer cells
Authors: Jin Yuxiang , Lu Xinye , Wang Mingdong , Zhao Xuewei , Xue Lei 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
The prognosis of esophageal cancer is still dismal because of its high probability of metastasis that is likely related to the cellular process of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Recent studies have shown a novel role of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) in regulating the migration process of cancer cells and, therefore, linking to progression and poor prognosis of cancer.

Methods
The expression of XIAP in esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry assay. Cell migration was analyzed by wound healing assay and Transwell assay. The expression of EMT markers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin) was revealed by immunofluorescence assay. Quantitative real‑time PCR analysis and Western blot analysis were used to detect the expression of XIAP and EMT markers as well as transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) at mRNA and protein level, respectively.

Results
We found that the expression of XIAP closely correlated to the probability of lymphatic metastasis in patients and that ESCC patients with the high XIAP expression were associated with worse overall survival (OS). Univariate and multivariate analysis also revealed XIAP as an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in ESCC patients. In both EC9706 and TE13 cell lines, knockdown of XIAP decreased the migration of cancer cells by inhibiting EMT process through regulating the TGF-β signaling pathway, pinpointing a regulatory role of XIAP in migratory process upon TGF-β activation.

Conclusions
Taken together, our results suggest XIAP as a important prognostic and regulative factor in ESCC patients. XIAP may promote migration of esophageal cancer cells through the activation of TGF-β mediated EMT.
Attention-based Sentiment Reasoner for aspect-based sentiment analysis
Authors: Liu Ning , Shen Bo , Zhang Zhenjiang , Zhang Zhiyuan , Mi Kun 
Published: September 2019

AbstractAspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) is a powerful way of predicting the sentiment polarity of text in natural language processing. However, understanding human emotions and reasoning from text like a human continues to be a challenge. In this paper, we propose a model, named Attention-based Sentiment Reasoner (AS-Reasoner), to alleviate the problem of how to capture precise sentiment expressions in ABSA for reasoning. AS-Reasoner assigns importance degrees to different words in a sentence to capture key sentiment expressions towards a specific aspect, and transfers them into a sentiment sentence representation for reasoning in the next layer. To obtain appropriate importance degree values for different words in a sentence, two attention mechanisms we designed: intra attention and global attention. Specifically, intra attention captures the sentiment similarity between any two words in a sentence to compute weights and global attention computes weights by a global perspective. Experiments on all four English and four Chinese datasets show that the proposed model achieves state-of-the-art accuracy and macro-F1 results for aspect term level sentiment analysis and obtains the best accuracy for aspect category level sentiment analysis. The experimental results also indicate that AS-Reasoner is language-independent.
LY86, LRG1 and PDE9A genes overexpression in umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem progenitor cells by acute myeloid leukemia (M3) microvesicles
Authors: Razmkhah Farnaz , Ghasemi Sorayya , Soleimani Masoud , Amini Kafi-abad Sedigheh 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Microvesicles as a new device of cell–cell communication are potentially able to induce some phenotypes and genotypes of an origin cell in a target cell. We evaluate the role of leukemia microvesicles on the leukemia stem cells (LSCs)-specific genes expression in healthy hematopoietic stem progenitor cells (HSPCs).

Methods
HL-60 and NB-4 cell lines were selected for microvesicles isolation by ultracentrifugation. Healthy HSPCs were obtained by magnetic association cell sorting (MACS) and CD-34 micro-beads from umbilical cord blood samples and then, were treated with 20 and 40 μg/ml leukemia microvesicles for 10 days, respectively. LY86, LRG1 and PDE9A genes expression as LSC specific genes were analyzed by QRT-PCR. Surface CD-34 antigen as stemness marker was measured by flow cytometry technique.

Results
Healthy HSPCs showed a significant increase in LSC specific genes expression after treatment with both 20 and 40 μg/ml leukemia microvesicles at day 10. All studied groups showed more than 70% surface CD-34 antigen at the last day of experiment which proved HSPCs stemness.

Conclusion
Our results suggest that healthy HSPCs can be transformed genetically by leukemia microvesicles to over express LSC specific genes. This may be further evidence of leukemia-like transformation by leukemia microvesicles.
Yoga intervention and reminder e-mails for reducing cancer-related fatigue - a study protocol of a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Zetzl Teresa , Schuler Michael , Renner Agnes , Jentschke Elisabeth , van Oorschot Birgitt 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Almost 90% of cancer patients suffer from symptoms of fatigue during treatment. Supporting treatments are increasingly used to alleviate the burden of fatigue. This study examines the short-term and long-term effects of yoga on fatigue and the effect of weekly reminder e-mails on exercise frequency and fatigue symptoms.

Methods
The aim of the first part of the study will evaluate the effectiveness of yoga for cancer patients with mixed diagnoses reporting fatigue. We will randomly allocate 128 patients to an intervention group (N = 64) receiving yoga and a wait-list control group (N = 64) receiving yoga 9 weeks later. The yoga therapy will be performed in weekly sessions of 60 min each for 8 weeks. The primary outcome will be self-reported fatigue symptoms. In the second part of the study, the effectiveness of reminder e-mails with regard to the exercise frequency and self-reported fatigue symptoms will be evaluated. A randomized allocated group of the participants (“email”) receives weekly reminder e-mails, the other group does not. Data will be assessed using questionnaires the beginning and after yoga therapy as well as after 6 months.

Discussion
Support of patients suffering from fatigue is an important goal in cancer patients care. If yoga therapy will reduce fatigue, this type of therapy may be introduced into routine practice. If the reminder e-mails prove to be helpful, new offers for patients may also develop from this.

Trial registration
German Clincial Trials Register (DRKS00016034, 12/2018), retrospectively registered.
Agricultural entrepreneurship in Lower Brahmaputra Valley, Assam
Authors: Choudhury Krishnakhi , Easwaran Kanagaraj 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The present paper explores the role played by farmer entrepreneurs in making farming a profitable livelihood avenue in Lower Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. Agricultural entrepreneurship is often construed as a means for empowering the rural unemployed youth. In this context of Assam, the present paper attempts to understand the reasons for agriculture remaining unprofitable and the strategies used by the emerging agricultural entrepreneurs in promoting it as a profitable like a business venture. It is based on key informant interviews with 30 agricultural entrepreneurs in the Lower Brahmaputra Valley, Assam. A multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select districts, block, villages, and agripreneurs. The qualitative data was coded with the help of ATLAS ti software and analyzed with the help of SPSS. Results have shown that farmers in the Lower Brahmaputra Valley have more potential in the farming sector but self-motivation is highly required. Most of them were less educated and from the family background of farming. To promote the agripreneurship concept in Assam government, officials have to be free from corruption and partiality based on their political links. Middle man, low awareness, less knowledge about the crops, market facilities and most importantly demand and supply comes as a constraint in developing entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector. Results have also indicated that in lower Brahmaputra Valley, Assam farmers are facing lots of problems including human-wildlife conflict, irrigation, and improved variety of seeds. A common platform and unity amongst farmers regarding the prices of the product are very much important without which farmers fail to get the benefits. Societal recognition is more important in pursuing an occupation like agricultural entrepreneurship.
Electrical resistivity modeling around the Hidaka collision zone, northern Japan: regional structural background of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake (Mw 6.6)
Authors: Ichihara Hiroshi , Mogi Toru , Satoh Hideyuki , Yamaya Yusuke 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The Hidaka collision zone, the collision boundary between the NE Japan and Kurile arcs, is known to be an ideal region to study the evolution of island arcs. The hypocenter of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake (Mw 6.6) in the western part of the Hidaka collision zone was unusually deep for an inland earthquake, and the reverse fault that caused the earthquake has an uncharacteristically steep dip. In this study, we used three-dimensional inversion to reanalyze broadband magnetotelluric data acquired in the collision zone. The inverted resistivity model showed a significant area of high resistivity around the center of the collision boundary. We also identified a conductive zone beneath an area of serpentinite mélange in a zone of high P–T metamorphic rocks west of the high-resistivity zone. The conductive zone possibly reflects areas rich in pore fluids related to the formation and elevation of the serpentinites. Sensitivity tests indicated the need for additional magnetotelluric survey data to delineate the resistivity distribution around the epicentral area of the 2018 earthquake although the resistivity model showed a conductive zone in this area.
Source rupture process of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake deduced from strong-motion data considering seismic wave propagation in three-dimensional velocity structure
Authors: Asano Kimiyuki , Iwata Tomotaka 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThe source rupture process of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake (MJMA6.7) was analyzed by a kinematic waveform inversion method using strong-motion data in 0.04–0.5 Hz. This earthquake occurred close to the Hidaka Collision Zone and the Ishikari depression, where the crustal structure is rather complex. Thus, we used a three-dimensional velocity structure model to compute the theoretical Green’s functions by the finite difference method. A source fault model with strike-angle variation was set based on the spatial distribution of the early aftershocks. The strong-motion stations used for the source inversion were selected based on the result of forward ground motion simulation of a moderate aftershock. The slip in the first 5 s was relatively small, but an area of significant slip with peak slip of 1.7 m was found in the depth range from 22 to 32 km. The rupture propagated upward mainly in the southwest direction. Based on the regional crustal structure and the configuration of the Moho discontinuity, the large-slip area was thought to be located in the lower crust, and its rupture did not reach the upper part of the continental crust. Most of the early aftershocks occurred around the large-slip area. The later aftershocks at the depth shallower than 20 km occurred outside the causative source fault of the mainshock. Three-dimensional ground motion simulation demonstrated that the heterogeneous source process and the three-dimensional basin and crustal velocity structure brought a large velocity pulse to an area to the southwest of the source fault, where the largest PGV was observed during the mainshock. The spatial distribution of the simulated PGV resembled the observed PGV distribution except some sites located inside the Ishikari depression where thick Quaternary soft low-velocity sediments exist at the top of the basin.
Comparison of cognitive profiles in spinocerebellar ataxia subtypes: a case series
Authors: Bolton Corey , Lacy Maureen 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundThe spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA) are a heterogeneous group of progressive neurodegenerative disorders that are associated with diffuse cerebellar atrophy. While the physical symptoms of this condition have long been studied, more attention has been given to cognitive changes in recent years. We describe a case series of four adults with various genetically-confirmed subtypes of SCA.Case presentationPatients with SCA types 2, 3, and 6 presented with impaired cognitive profiles consistent with the existing literature while the reported patient with SCA-14 showed notable impairment inconsistent with the only published case controlled study.ConclusionsComparisons were made between the four patients with a common pattern of slowed processing speed, poor memory retrieval, and reduced mental flexibility. Confrontation naming and consolidation-based memory were intact across all patients. These findings are discussed in light of the relevant literature on cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome.
A power law study of the edge influence on the perceived filling-in brightness magnitude
Authors: Costa Marcelo Fernandes , Gaddi Carlo Martins 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Edge plays a special role in spatial perception and as well as in determining the brightness of a surface within borders. The aim of our study was to measure threshold brightness in different levels of edges thickness.

Methods
Steven’s power law for circles modulating in luminance was estimated for 30 subjects (mean age 24 years, SD 3.3, 13 female). Stimuli were presented on the iMac display using the 11-bit graphic board and consisted of two circles of 3° of visual angle, separated by 10°. We tested 7 levels of Michelson contrast: 7, 8, 10, 15, 26, 50, and 100. Three edges filtering were tested (0.3, 0.8, and 1.5° of smoothing). The subjects’ task was to judge the brightness of the edge filtered circle compared with the circle of the hard edge which was considered the modulus and received an arbitrary level of 50, representing the amount of brightness perception. In each trial, the same contrast level was presented in both circles. Five judgments were performed for each contrast level in edge filtering.

Results
We found an increase in the power law exponent as the increase of the edge filtering (for sigma of 0.3 = 0.43, sigma of 0.8 = 0.73, and sigma 1.5 = 0.97). All power function fitting had high correlation coefficients (r2 = .94, r2 = .95, r2 = .97, respectively to sigma 0.3, 0.8, and 1.5) passing to the model’s adhesion criteria.

Conclusions
There was a progressive distortion on the figure brightness perception as increasing the edge filtering suggesting the control of edges on the polarity of the overall brightness. Also, perceived brightness was increasingly veridical with increased filtering, approaching 1:1 correspondence at 1.5 sigmas.