bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Genetic determinants of heart failure: facts and numbers
Authors: Czepluch Frauke S. , Wollnik Bernd , Hasenfuß Gerd 
Published: February 2018

AbstractThe relevance of gene mutations leading to heart diseases and hence heart failure has become evident. The risk for and the course of heart failure depends on genomic variants and mutations underlying the so‐called genetic predisposition. Genetic contribution to heart failure is highly heterogenous and complex. For any patient with a likely inherited heart failure syndrome, genetic counselling is recommended and important. In the last few years, novel sequencing technologies (named next‐generation sequencing – NGS) have dramatically improved the availability of molecular testing, the efficiency of genetic analyses, and moreover reduced the cost for genetic testing. Due to this development, genetic testing has become increasingly accessible and NGS‐based sequencing is now applied in clinical routine diagnostics. One of the most common reasons of heart failure are cardiomyopathies such as the dilated or the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Nearly 100 disease‐associated genes have been identified for cardiomyopathies. The knowledge of a pathogenic mutation can be used for genetic counselling, risk and prognosis determination, therapy guidance and hence for a more effective treatment. Besides, family cascade screening for a known familial, pathogenic mutation can lead to an early diagnosis in affected individuals. At that timepoint, a preventative intervention could be used to avoid or delay disease onset or delay disease progression. Understanding the cellular basis of genetic heart failure syndromes in more detail may provide new insights into the molecular biology of physiological and impaired cardiac (cell) function. As our understanding of the molecular and genetic pathophysiology of heart failure will increase, this might help to identify novel therapeutic targets and may lead to the development of new and specific treatment options in patients with heart failure.
Regulatory T cells are required for normal and activin‐promoted wound repair in mice
Authors: Haertel Eric , Joshi Natasha , Hiebert Paul , Kopf Manfred , Werner Sabine 
Published: February 2018

AbstractHealing of skin wounds is orchestrated by various types of immune cells, but little is known about the role of FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in this process. Here, we determined if Tregs are important for wound healing in normal mice and if they contribute to the accelerated healing of mice overexpressing the growth and differentiation factor activin. Diphtheria toxin induced Treg depletion prior to injury caused impaired healing characterized by delayed reepithelialization, reduced wound contraction, and impaired vessel maturation. The accelerated wound repair of activin‐transgenic mice was also abrogated. Mechanistically, we found a strong increase in IL‐4 levels combined with overrepresentation of T‐bet+ and GATA‐3+ αβ T cells in Treg‐depleted 7‐day wounds. In addition, numbers of IFN‐γ‐ or IL‐17A‐producing CD4+ and CD4− T cells were elevated. These results demonstrate that Treg depletion in wounds facilitates the expansion of an αβ T‐cell population with features of Th1 and Th2 cells, and suggest that concomitant changes in the cytokine milieu disturb the healing process.
Direct Conversion of C6 Monosaccharide‐Based Carbohydrates to 5‐Hydroxymethylfurfural by the Combination of Sulfated Zirconia and Ceria Catalysts
Authors: Zhang Yunlei , Xiong Qingang , Zhu Enwei , Liu Meng , Pan Jianming , Yan Yongsheng 
Published: February 2018

AbstractIn this work, a series of ceria and sulfated zirconia (SZ) incorporated mesoporous SBA‐15 catalysts were prepared via layer‐by‐layer grafting and subsequent wet impregnation methods. And the obtained catalysts were well characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, TG, ICP‐OES, PY‐IR, NH3/CO2‐TPD, and XPS. The catalytic activity of the prepared SBA‐15 supported catalysts was investigated for the conversion of C6 monosaccharide‐based carbohydrates including fructose, glucose, inulin, sucrose, cellobiose, maltose, starch and cellulose into 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) with the presence of iPrOH‐mediated solvents, successively producing moderate to excellent yields of HMF under atmospheric pressure. Regeneration test showed the catalyst can be easily recovered and reused at least five times without significant loss of catalytic activity. The developed reaction system in this paper avoids the use of large amount of environmentally hazardous solvent, and offers a new route to large‐scale economical viable processes for carbohydrates conservation.
Mentalization and the left inferior frontal gyrus and insula
Authors: McAdams Carrie J. , Harper Jessica A. , Van Enkevort Erin 
Published: February 2018

AbstractObjectiveTo determine if an interpersonal attribution bias associated with self‐perception, the externalizing bias, was related to neural activations during mentalization.MethodsA functional magnetic resonance imaging task involving verbal appraisals measured neural activations when thinking about oneself and others in 59 adults, including healthy women as well as women with and recovered from anorexia nervosa. Whole‐brain regressions correlated brain function during mentalization with the externalizing bias measured using the Internal, Personal, and Situational Attributions Questionnaire.ResultsWomen with anorexia nervosa had a lower externalizing bias, demonstrating a tendency to self‐attribute more negative than positive social interactions, unlike the other groups. The externalizing bias was correlated with activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior insula, when comparing thinking about others evaluating oneself with direct self‐evaluation.DiscussionExternalizing biases may provide an office‐based assay reflecting neurocognitive disturbances in social self‐perception that are common during anorexia nervosa.
Unraveling the roles of asymmetric uplift, normal faulting and groundwater flow to drainage rearrangement in an emerging karstic landscape
Authors: Authemayou Christine , Brocard Gilles , Delcaillau Bernard , Molliex Stéphane , Pedoja Kevin , Husson Laurent , Aribowo Sonny , Cahyarini Sri Yudawati 
Published: February 2018

AbstractLandscape adjustment to tectonic, lithologic and climatic forcing leads to drainage reorganization and migration of divides. The respective contribution of these forcings, especially on carbonate landscapes is not well defined. Here, we have addressed this issue by combining field observations, satellite image interpretation and digital elevation model (DEM) quantitative analysis to assess drainage response to spatially heterogeneous rainfall, asymmetric uplift, and normal faulting on an emerging carbonated platform (Sumba Island, Indonesia). We map geomorphic markers of fluvial dynamics and drainage rearrangement and compute a χ parameter that incorporates the contributions of unevenly distributed precipitation and asymmetric uplift to estimate erosional disequilibrium across drainage divides. We find that asymmetric emergence of Sumba Island created an initial parallel drainage, asymmetric across a divide that propagates landwards. Soon after establishing itself on the emerging slopes this drainage was disturbed by normal faulting, which has become the main force driving drainage rearrangement. Vertical offsets across normal fault scarps first triggered aggradation within valleys over the hanging walls, and then disconnected upstream reaches from downstream reaches, leading to the formation of wind gaps atop the fault scarps and upstream perched sedimentary basins. The defeat of rivers by growing fault scarps was catalysed by the possibility for surface water to be rerouted near the fault scarps into underground water networks inside the underlying carbonates. At the end of the process, the opposite drainage across the main water divide captured the struggling drainage. Capture mechanisms include initial groundwater capture of the perched alluvial aquifers, followed by ground sapping at the head of the opposite drainage and surface stream diversion by avulsion. Finally, normal faulting is the main driving force of drainage rearrangement allowing avulsion and karstic rerouting whereas asymmetric uplift and climate forcings have shown a low efficiency. The role of karstification is more ambiguous, catalysing or inhibiting drainage rearrangement. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A hybrid V2V system for collision‐free high‐speed internet access in intelligent transportation system
Authors: Guchhait Arghya , B Maji , D Kandar 
Published: February 2018

AbstractVehicle‐to‐vehicle communication can be effective in avoiding accident and traffic collision using dedicated short‐range communication (DSRC) in intelligent transportation systems. The problem of DSRC is it works in a short range of 1000 m and its frequency band cannot support a large number of users simultaneously, which leads to multiaccess interference, (MAI) noise, and low transmission rate. Multiaccess interference is referred as the overlapping of signals from different users in the network. A combination of the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and the DSRC is proposed to improve the quality of service and network congestion using multiuser detection (MUD) and scheduling technique. This paper proposes a scheduling algorithm called league championship priority scheduling algorithm. In the league championship priority scheduling algorithm, the message will be sent on priority basis, depending on the bandwidth values and network coverage, so that MAI can be avoided. Moreover, MUD plays a major role in identifying the active users and nonactive users based on the condition of the threshold frequency and bandwidth. Thus, the implementation result shows that the proposed algorithm provides high‐transmission data rate and multiaccess interference can be avoided. The performance is evaluated to validate and estimate the performance of MUD and scheduling algorithm.
Enhancing physical layer security in AF relay–assisted multicarrier wireless transmission
Authors: Aman Waqas , Sidhu Guftaar Ahmad Sardar , Furqan Haji M. , Ali Zain 
Published: February 2018

AbstractIn this paper, we study the physical layer security problem in the dual‐hop orthogonal frequency division multiplexing–based wireless communication system. First, we consider a single‐user single‐relay system and study a joint power optimization problem at the source and relay subject to individual power constraint at the 2 nodes. The aim is to maximize the end‐to‐end secrecy rate with optimal power allocation over different subcarriers. Later, we consider a more general multiuser multirelay scenario. Under high signal‐to‐noise ratio approximation for end‐to‐end secrecy rate, an optimization problem is formulated to jointly optimize power allocation at the base station, the relay selection, subcarrier assignment to users, and the power loading at each of the relaying node. The target is to maximize the overall security of the system subject to independent power budget limits at each transmitting node and the orthogonal frequency division multiple access–based exclusive subcarrier allocation constraints. A joint optimization solution is obtained through the duality theory. Dual decomposition allows to exploit convex optimization techniques to find the power loading at the source and relay nodes. Furthermore, an optimization for power loading at relaying nodes along with relay selection and subcarrier assignment for the fixed power allocation at the base station is also studied. A suboptimal scheme that explores joint power allocation at all transmitting nodes for the fixed subcarrier allocation and relay assignment is investigated. Finally, simulation results are presented to validate the performance of the proposed schemes.
A lightweight reliability mechanism proposed for datagram congestion control protocol over wireless multimedia sensor networks
Authors: Ahmed Adel A. , Ali Waleed 
Published: February 2018

AbstractTransmission of multimedia data over wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs) is a challenging task and requires an effective design for the transport layer protocols to meet both the resource‐constrained WMSN and the requirements of multimedia streaming. The standard transport layer protocols (eg, UDP, TCP, SCTP, and DCCP) have been shown inefficient to transport multimedia data over WMSN without modification in the design of end‐to‐end (ETE) reliability and the congestion control mechanisms. This paper proposed a lightweight reliability mechanism for datagram congestion control protocol (LW‐DCCP) over WMSNs. The lightweight reliability mechanism consists of caching and retransmission algorithms that consider the resource‐constrained WMSNs and the requirements of video streaming over WMSN. Moreover, this paper presents an important modification to TCP‐friendly rate control congestion control mechanism that calculates the loss interval based on intracoded frame sending time. The LW‐DCCP has been evaluated through comprehensive simulation experiments and compared with baseline transport protocols using the 2 frameworks (Eval‐SCTP and Eval‐DCCP) that we developed in NS‐2 environment. The experimental results show that LW‐DCCP ensures effective congestion control and ETE reliability for video transmission over WMSN. In addition, LW‐DCCP experiences better performance in terms of energy consumption, ETE delay, jitter delay, frame delivery ratio, frame peak signal‐to‐noise ratio, and visual quality of the received video as compared to the baseline transport layer protocols.
A heating method for producing frozen pizza ingredients with increased total polyphenol content and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity
Authors: Cheung Lennie K. Y. , Tomita Haruo , Takemori Toshikazu 
Published: February 2018

AbstractDespite growing demand for more healthful frozen pizza, current technologies for increasing potential healthfulness such as reformulation or enrichment of raw ingredients may lead to undesirable changes in the final product. This study evaluated alternative heat treatments of selected frozen pizza ingredients as methods for increasing the healthfulness of frozen pizza. Four common vegetable toppings (i.e., onion, corn, Japanese green pepper, and red pepper) were heated on a 250°C hot plate, and commercially available par‐baked pizza base was reheated at 500°C for 50 s to induce browning. These alternatively heat‐treated (AHT) ingredients were compared to their conventional counterparts (e.g., steam‐blanched vegetable toppings and commercially available par‐baked pizza base, respectively) in terms of total polyphenol content (TPC) and 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (DPPH RSA). TPC increased and was correlated with internal temperature for onion and peppers during alternative heat treatment, while increases in DPPH RSA of AHT onion and pizza base may be due to the formation of Maillard reaction products. Replacing conventional samples with AHT counterparts increased TPC and DPPH RSA by 1.2‐fold to 1.6‐fold and 1.3‐fold to 2.1‐fold, respectively, for vegetable toppings after reheating at 230°C for 12 min. Significant differences in acceptability of sensory attributes (i.e., appearance, taste, aroma, texture, and overall preference) were not observed between AHT and conventional vegetable topping when incorporated into pizza. These results suggest that alternative heat treatment of raw ingredients, particularly vegetable toppings, for the purpose of increasing TPC and DPPH RSA may be a viable method for increasing the potential healthfulness of frozen pizza.
Nutrient, phytochemical, and antinutrient composition of Citrus maxima fruit juice and peel extract
Authors: Ani Peace Nwanneka , Abel Happiness Chiamaka 
Published: February 2018

AbstractNutrient, phytochemical, and antinutrient composition of Citrus maxima fruit juice and peel extract were determined. The fruit was procured from a garden in Trans‐Ekulu, Enugu East Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria. Mature undamaged Citrus maxima fruits were thoroughly washed with distilled water to remove contamination, dirt, and air‐dried. The peel was separated from the pulp. The pulp (100 g) was blended and filtered through a muslin cloth to obtain a clear juice. The peel (50 g) was macerated with 200 ml of ethanol for 20 min. The peel extract was filtered through filter paper. The supernatant was concentrated by rotary evaporation. The peel extract was weighed and stored in a plastic container until needed. Proximate, mineral, vitamins, antinutrient, and phytochemical composition of the juice and peel extract were determined using standard procedures. Citrus maxima peel extract contains significantly (p < .05) higher crude fiber (2.58%), fat (9.74%), ash (2.49%), and carbohydrate (71.57%) compared with Citrus maxima juice. Alkaloid, phenolics, and flavonoids were also significantly (p < .05) higher in the peel extract. The mineral composition revealed the order Ca > Na > Ph > Fe > Mg > K in the juice and Ca > Ph > Na > Fe > K > Mg in the peel extract. Vitamin C content of the juice and peel extract were 26.36 mg/100 g and 19.34 mg/100 g, respectively. Citrus maxima peel is highly nutritive and rich in phytochemicals, further research is recommended to investigate its therapeutic effect.
Evaluation of physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of kombucha “Tea Fungus” during extended periods of fermentation
Authors: Amarasinghe Hashani , Weerakkody Nimsha S. , Waisundara Viduranga Y. 
Published: February 2018

AbstractKombucha fermentation is traditionally carried out by inoculating a previously grown tea fungal mat into a freshly prepared tea broth and incubating under aerobic conditions for 7–10 days. In this study, four kombucha beverages were prepared by placing the tea fungal mats in sugared Sri Lankan black tea at varying concentrations for a period of 8 weeks. The antioxidant activities, physicochemical, and qualitative properties were monitored prior to the commencement of the fermentation process, one day after the inoculation with the microorganisms and subsequently on a weekly basis. All samples displayed a statistically significant decrease (p < .05) in the antioxidant activity at the end of 8 weeks, which was indicative of the decreasing functional properties of the beverage. The physicochemical properties indicated increased acidity and turbidity, which might decrease consumer appeal of the fermented beverage. Further studies are necessary to test the accumulation of organic acids, nucleic acids, and toxicity of kombucha on human organs following the extended period of fermentation.
Intrinsic motivation as a mediator of the relationship between organizational support and quantitative workload and work‐related fatigue
Authors: Liu Hongwei , Fan Jingyan , Fu Yujin , Liu Fangyu 
Published: February 2018

AbstractThe aim of this study is to explore how organizational support and quantitative workload influence work‐related fatigue. We collected 688 questionnaires from product line workers in 6 Chinese iron and steel factories. Confirmatory factor analysis and bootstrapping were used in the data analysis, and structural equation modeling was adopted to test the hypothetical model. The results showed that intrinsic motivation fully mediates the relationship between organizational support and work‐related fatigue, while partly mediating the relationship between quantitative workload and work‐related fatigue. The results of this study indicate the potential benefit of improving motivation to alleviate work‐related fatigue. Finally, this study puts forward suggestions for future studies.
Incorporating spatially heterogeneous infiltration capacity into hydrologic models with applications for simulating post‐wildfire debris flow initiation
Authors: McGuire Luke A. , Rengers Francis K. , Kean Jason W. , Staley Dennis M. , Mirus Benjamin B. 
Published: February 2018

AbstractSoils in post‐wildfire environments are often characterized by a low infiltration capacity with a high degree of spatial heterogeneity relative to unburned areas. Debris flows are frequently initiated by run‐off in recently burned steeplands, making it critical to develop and test methods for incorporating spatial variability in infiltration capacity into hydrologic models. We use Monte Carlo simulations of run‐off generation over a soil with a spatially heterogenous saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) to derive an expression for an aerially averaged saturated hydraulic conductivity (
) that depends on the rainfall rate, the statistical properties of Ks, and the spatial correlation length scale associated with Ks. The proposed method for determining
is tested by simulating run‐off on synthetic topography over a wide range of spatial scales. Results provide a simplified expression for an effective saturated hydraulic conductivity that can be used to relate a distribution of small‐scale Ks measurements to infiltration and run‐off generation over larger spatial scales. Finally, we use a hydrologic model based on
to simulate run‐off and debris flow initiation at a recently burned catchment in the Santa Ana Mountains, CA, USA, and compare results to those obtained using an infiltration model based on the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number.
Challenges for the next level of digital divide in rural Indonesian communities
Authors: Onitsuka Kenichiro , Hidayat AR Rohman Taufiq , Huang Wanhui 
Published: February 2018

AbstractIn recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) has rapidly spread across the globe, along with increased market penetration and easy availability of economical smartphones and cellphones with both wired and nonwired connections to access the Internet; this leapfrogging in the Internet access is true even in the rural areas of the world's developing countries. Indonesia has the largest population of Internet users even though the Internet penetration rate is still under the regional average among Southeast Asian countries. To date, however, scholarly discourse on ICT use in rural communities in developing countries has, for the most part, been limited to the conventional discussion regarding the gap that exists between the “haves” and the “have nots,” often referred to as the digital divide. The current study applies a contemporary conceptualization of digital divide to the case of a rural village in Indonesia with a growing young population to arrive at policy recommendations for using ICT to improve this village as a possible model for other rural communities in developing countries. Semistructured interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted targeting digital natives, identifying a gap in Internet use between younger and older residents within the digital natives. The study then applied a model that examined a succession of 4 types of access—motivational access, material access, skills access, and usage access—for respondents who were grouped by age and level of Internet use. This analysis combined with an examination of the Internet paradox revealed the positive effects of Internet use on community participation and networking. Analysis also indicated distinctive challenges for each group at multiple stages of the digital divide, leading to policy recommendations for each group to take advantage of Internet technology for future rural development in the case study village and for possible use as a model for other rural areas of developing countries around the world.