bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Block copolymer prodrugs: Synthesis, self‐assembly, and applications for cancer therapy
Authors: Dutta Debabrata , Ke Wendong , Xi Longchang , Yin Wei , Zhou Min , Ge Zhishen 
Published: August 2019

AbstractBlock copolymer prodrugs (BCPs) have emerged as one of the most promising anticancer drug delivery strategies, which can self‐assemble into nanoparticles with optimal physicochemical properties including sizes, morphologies, surface properties, and integration of multifunction for improved in vivo applications. Moreover, the utility of stimuli‐responsive linkages to conjugate drugs onto the polymer backbones can achieve efficient and targeting drug release. Several BCP micellar delivery systems have been pushed ahead into the clinical trials, which showed great promising potentials for cancer therapy. In recent years, various novel and more efficient BCP systems have been developed for better in vivo performance. In this focus article, we focus on the recent advances of BCPs including the synthesis, self‐assembly, and applications for cancer therapy. The synthetic methods are first introduced, and the self‐assembly of BCPs for in vivo anticancer applications is discussed along the line of varying endogenous stimuli‐responsive linkages including amide or ester bonds, pH, reduction, and oxidation‐responsive linkages. Finally, conclusions along with the brief future perspectives are presented.This article is categorized under:
Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease
Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology
Assessment of polymer flooding effects on the recovery of heterogeneous thick reservoirs with dominant channel
Authors: Wang Jiulong , Zhu Weiyao , Shi Chengfang , Wang Jiqiang , Liu Yunfeng 
Published: August 2019

AbstractThe formation of dominant channel has restricted the improvement in oil recovery in heterogeneous thick reservoirs greatly. How to effectively solve the problem has become a key issue in the development process. In this paper, firstly, the plugging effect of polymer flooding on the dominant channel is studied by visual microscopic-model displacement experiment. And then, we established a flow resistance model and simulated the effect of polymer flooding on improving dominant channel. The result shows that the present model matches the oilfield testing data greatly. And the higher the concentration, the more effective the plugging. When the polymer concentration is 2.0 g/L, the water content can reduce by 21.24% and the enhanced oil recovery can reach 13.69%. Besides, the efficiency of the reverse rhythm is higher than the positive rhythm under the same condition. This study has provided a quick and accurate assessment of the polymer flooding for the dominant channel in the heterogeneous thick reservoir.
Falls in Synucleinopathies
Authors: Joza Stephen , Camicioli Richard , Ba Fang 
Published: August 2019

ABSTRACT:Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies, namely dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and multiple system atrophy (MSA), are common degenerative neurological disorders that share synuclein pathology. Although certain cardinal features of parkinsonism, including bradykinesia and rigidity, respond well to levodopa, axial features, such as gait and balance impairment, are less reliably responsive to dopaminergic therapy and surgical interventions. Consequently, falls are common in PD and other synucleinopathies and are a major contributor toward injury and loss of independence. This underscores the need for appropriate fall risk assessment and implementation of preventative measures in all patients with parkinsonism. The aim of this review is therefore to explore modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for falls in synucleinopathies. We next review and evaluate the evidence for pharmacological, nonpharmacological, and surgical approaches for fall prevention, and emphasize individualized and multifaceted approaches.
Forecasting Internally Displaced Population Migration Patterns in Syria and Yemen
Authors: Huynh Benjamin Q. , Basu Sanjay 
Published: August 2019

ABSTRACTObjectives:Armed conflict has contributed to an unprecedented number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), individuals who are forced out of their homes but remain within their country. IDPs often urgently require shelter, food, and healthcare, yet prediction of when IDPs will migrate to an area remains a major challenge for aid delivery organizations. We sought to develop an IDP migration forecasting framework that could empower humanitarian aid groups to more effectively allocate resources during conflicts.Methods:We modeled monthly IDP migration between provinces within Syria and within Yemen using data on food prices, fuel prices, wages, location, time, and conflict reports. We compared machine learning methods with baseline persistence methods of forecasting.Results:We found a machine learning approach that more accurately forecast migration trends than baseline persistence methods. A random forest model outperformed the best persistence model in terms of root mean square error of log migration by 26% and 17% for the Syria and Yemen datasets, respectively.Conclusions:Integrating diverse data sources into a machine learning model appears to improve IDP migration prediction. Further work should examine whether implementation of such models can enable proactive aid allocation for IDPs in anticipation of forecast arrivals.
Common features between the Newtonian laminar–turbulent transition and the viscoelastic drag-reducing turbulence
Authors: Pereira Anselmo S. , Thompson Roney L. , Mompean Gilmar 
Published: August 2019

The transition from laminar to turbulent flows has challenged the scientific community since the seminal work of Reynolds (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, vol. 174, 1883, pp. 935–982). Recently, experimental and numerical investigations on this matter have demonstrated that the spatio-temporal dynamics that are associated with transitional flows belong to the directed percolation class. In the present work, we explore the analysis of laminar–turbulent transition from the perspective of the recent theoretical development that concerns viscoelastic turbulence, i.e. the drag-reducing turbulent flow obtained from adding polymers to a Newtonian fluid. We found remarkable fingerprints of the variety of states that are present in both types of flows, as captured by a series of features that are known to be present in drag-reducing viscoelastic turbulence. In particular, when compared to a Newtonian fully turbulent flow, the universal nature of these flows includes: (i) the statistical dynamics of the alternation between active and hibernating turbulence; (ii) the weakening of elliptical and hyperbolic structures; (iii) the existence of high and low drag reduction regimes with the same boundary; (iv) the relative enhancement of the streamwise-normal stress; and (v) the slope of the energy spectrum decay with respect to the wavenumber. The maximum drag reduction profile was attained in a Newtonian flow with a Reynolds number near the boundary of the laminar regime and in a hibernating state. It is generally conjectured that, as the Reynolds number increases, the dynamics of the intermittency that characterises transitional flows migrate from a situation where heteroclinic connections between the upper and the lower branches of solutions are more frequent to another where homoclinic orbits around the upper solution become the general rule.
Flow over natural or engineered surfaces: an adjoint homogenization perspective
Authors: Bottaro Alessandro 
Published: August 2019

Natural and engineered surfaces are never smooth, but irregular, rough at different scales, compliant, possibly porous, liquid impregnated or superhydrophobic. The correct numerical modelling of fluid flowing through and around them is important but poses problems. For media characterized by a periodic or quasi-periodic microstructure of characteristic dimensions smaller than the relevant scales of the flow, multiscale homogenization can be used to study the effect of the surface, avoiding the numerical resolution of small details. Here, we revisit the homogenization strategy using adjoint variables to model the interaction between a fluid in motion and regularly micro-textured, permeable or impermeable walls. The approach described allows for the easy derivation of auxiliary/adjoint systems of equations which, after averaging, yield macroscopic tensorial properties, such as permeability, elasticity, slip, transpiration, etc. When the fluid in the neighbourhood of the microstructure is in the Stokes regime, classical results are recovered. Adjoint homogenization, however, permits simple extension of the analysis to the case in which the flow displays nonlinear effects. Then, the properties extracted from the auxiliary systems take the name of effective properties and do not depend only on the geometrical details of the medium, but also on the microscopic characteristics of the fluid motion. Examples are shown to demonstrate the usefulness of adjoint homogenization to extract effective tensor properties without the need forad hocparameters. In particular, notable results reported herein include:(i)an original formulation to describe filtration in porous media in the presence of inertial effects;(ii)the microscopic and macroscopic equations needed to characterize flows through poroelastic media;(iii)an extended Navier’s condition to be employed at the boundary between a fluid and an impermeable rough wall, with roughness elements which can be either rigid or linearly elastic;(iv)the microscopic problems needed to define the relevant parameters for a Saffman-like condition at the interface between a fluid and a porous substrate; and(v)the macroscopic equations which hold at the dividing surface between a free-fluid region and a fluid-saturated poroelastic domain.
Phase transitions on partially contaminated surface under the influence of thermocapillary flow
Authors: Shmyrov A. V. , Mizev A. I. , Demin V. A. , Petukhov M. I. , Bratsun D. A. 
Published: August 2019

We study, both experimentally and theoretically, the fluid flow driven by a thermocapillary effect applied to a partially contaminated interface in a two-dimensional slot of finite extent. The contamination is due to the presence of an insoluble surfactant which is convected by the flow forming a stagnant zone by the colder edge of the interface. The thermocapillary surface stress is produced by a special optocapillary system, which makes it possible, first, to get an almost linear temperature profile along the interface and, second, to apply a surface pressure large enough to force the surfactant to experience a phase transition to a more condensed state. This enabled us for the first time since the release of the paper by Carpenter & Homsy (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 155, 1985, pp. 429–439) to test experimentally their theoretical predictions and obtain new results for the case when the contamination exists simultaneously in two phase states within the interface. We show that one part of the surface is free of surfactant and subject to vigorous thermocapillary flow, while another part is stagnant and subject to creeping flow with a surface velocity which is approximately two orders of magnitude smaller. We found that the extent of the stagnant zone theoretically predicted earlier does not coincide with the newly obtained experimental data. In this paper, we suggest analytical and numerical solutions for the position of the edge of the stagnation zone, which are in perfect agreement with the experimental data.
Investigating satirical discourse processing and comprehension: the role of cognitive, demographic, and pragmatic features
Authors: SKALICKY STEPHEN 
Published: August 2019

abstractSatire is a subtle type of figurative discourse and is still relatively under-studied from the perspective of figurative language researchers. The purpose of this study is to investigate cognitive, demographic, and pragmatic factors previously suggested to influence satire processing and comprehension but which have yet to be studied using behavioral methods. Specifically, this study examines Need for Cognition (NFC; the desire to engage in cognitively difficult tasks), general knowledge, demographic measures such as language background, and affective perceptions of humor, sincerity, and positivity. Sixty-one participants (32 non-native English speakers) read satirical and non-satirical news reports taken from The Onion and Science Daily, respectively, both published in the United States. Perceptions of sincerity, humor, and positivity, reading times, and written interpretations of the intended meaning for each text were recorded. Results from statistical analyses suggested NFC significantly influenced satirical text reading times. Moreover, language background and perceptions of sincerity significantly influenced satire comprehension. These results highlight an interplay between individual differences during satire processing and comprehension, and work to validate some, but not all, theoretical predictions for satire processing and comprehension.
Trends in Public Support for Welfare Spending: How the Economy Matters
Authors: Wlezien Christopher , Soroka Stuart 
Published: August 2019

AbstractAs spending on welfare in the United States has increased over time, preferences for more spending have remained fairly stationary. Given that previous research shows that the public adjusts its welfare spending preference thermostatically in response to welfare spending, the over-time pattern of preferences implies that something must be producing an increase in public support, but what? We address this question, focusing on individuals' demographics and a set of aggregate economic variables, both macroeconomic and distributional. Results reveal that individual-level factors matter little to the temporal variation and aggregate economics matter a lot: there are pro-cyclical and counter-cyclical elements in spending preferences and a dampening effect of income inequality over time. The combination of these variables accounts for the underlying trend in welfare spending preferences in the US, and the method used to reveal these dynamics can be used to analyze preference evolution in other spending domains and countries.
Chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of alternative feed resources for ruminants in Mediterranean climates: olive cake and cactus cladodes
Authors: El Otmani S. , Chentouf M. , Hornick J. L. , Cabaraux J. F. 
Published: August 2019

AbstractOlive cake (OC) and cactus cladodes (CCs) are two alternative feed resources widely available in Mediterranean areas. Their use in ruminant diets was assessed according to their chemical composition, secondary compound levels and digestibility. The effects of the olive oil extraction period and process, and CCs age and sampling period were evaluated. OC was collected monthly, from November to January, from mills using either a mechanical press or 2-phase or 3-phase centrifugation processes. CCs were collected fortnightly according to age (young and mature) from April to June. Two-phase OC had the lowest content of dry matter (DM), the highest nitrogen-free extract (NFE) and total and hydrolysable tannins and was more rapidly fermentable. Mechanical press OC was the least digestible. OC DM, protein and NFE were affected linearly by the extraction period. Gas production (GP),in vitrodigestibility parameters and dry and organic enzymatic digestibility changed with the extraction period. Therefore, OC chemical composition andin vitrodigestibility depended mainly on the extraction process and period. Compared to mature CCs , young CCs contained more water, protein, ether-extract and phenolic compounds, but less ash and fibre. GP and digestibility parameters were not affected by age, butin vitroorganic matter digestibility and microbial biomass production were higher in young cladodes. CCs chemical composition, GP and digestibility parameters were influenced by the collection period. Due to its limited nutritional quality, OC should be enriched in nitrogen, while CCs could be considered as highly valuable forage in ruminant diet.
Diversity profiling of xenic cultures of Dientamoeba fragilis following systematic antibiotic treatment and prospects for genome sequencing
Authors: Gough Rory , Barratt Joel , Stark Damien , Ellis John 
Published: August 2019

AbstractThe presence of bacterial DNA in Dientamoeba fragilis DNA extracts from culture poses a substantial challenge to sequencing the D. fragilis genome. However, elimination of bacteria from D. fragilis cultures has proven difficult in the past, presumably due to its dependence on some unknown prokaryote/s. This study explored options for removal of bacteria from D. fragilis cultures and for the generation of genome sequence data from D. fragilis. DNA was extracted from human faecal samples and xenic D. fragilis cultures. Extracts were subjected to 16S ribosomal DNA bacterial diversity profiling. Xenic D. fragilis cultures were then subject to antibiotic treatment regimens that systematically removed bacterial species depending on their membrane structure (Gram-positive or Gram-negative) and aerobic requirements. The impact of these treatments on cultures was assessed by 16S amplicon sequencing. Prior to antibiotic treatment, the cultures were dominated by Gram-negative bacteria. Addition of meropenem to cultures eliminated anaerobic Gram-negative bacteria, but it also led to protozoan death after 5 days incubation. The seeding of meropenem resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strain KPC-2 into cultures before treatment by meropenem prevented death of D. fragilis cells beyond this 5 day period, suggesting that one or more species of Gram-negative bacteria may be an essential nutritional requirement for D. fragilis. Gram-positive cells were completely eliminated using vancomycin without affecting trophozoite growth. Finally, this study shows that genome sequencing of D. fragilis is feasible following bacterial elimination from cultures as the result of the major advances occurring in bioinformatics. We provide evidence on this fact by successfully sequencing the D. fragilis 28S large ribosomal DNA subunit gene using culture-derived DNA.
First record of natural Baylisascaris transfuga (Ascaridoidea, Nematoda) infection in wild rodents
Authors: Bugmyrin Sergey V. , Spiridonov Sergey E. 
Published: August 2019

AbstractThe intestinal parasitic nematode, Baylisascaris transfuga, was recorded in wild rodents for the first time. Representatives of four murid species (15 Myodes rufocanus, 10 M. rutilus, 3 M. glareolus and 27 Microtus oeconomus) were collected in the White Sea coastal habitats in the south of the Kola Peninsula, Russia in July 2015 and examined for parasites. Encapsulated nematode larvae were detected in the mesentery and the large intestine wall of one grey-sided vole (M. rufocanus) and one tundra vole (M. oeconomus). Based on morphology, the larvae were identified as belonging to the genus Baylisascaris Sprent 1968. The partial 18S rDNA sequence of the larvae from the voles was obtained and fully corresponded to the sequence of Baylisascaris transfuga in the NCBI GenBank. The ITS rDNA and CoxI mtDNA sequences these larvae were also similar to the respective B. transfuga sequences in GenBank. The presence of B. transfuga in wild rodents suggests that rodents can participate in the B. transfuga life cycle.
Effect of behavior therapy for Tourette's disorder on psychiatric symptoms and functioning in adults
Authors: McGuire Joseph F. , Ricketts Emily J. , Scahill Lawrence , Wilhelm Sabine , Woods Douglas W. , Piacentini John , Walkup John T. , Peterson Alan L. 
Published: August 2019

AbstractBackgroundAlthough behavior therapy reduces tic severity, it is unknown whether it improves co-occurring psychiatric symptoms and functional outcomes for adults with Tourette's disorder (TD). This information is essential for effective treatment planning. This study examined the effects of behavior therapy on psychiatric symptoms and functional outcomes in older adolescents and adults with TD.MethodA total of 122 individuals with TD or a chronic tic disorder participated in a clinical trial comparing behavior therapy to psychoeducation and supportive therapy. At baseline, posttreatment, and follow-up visits, participants completed assessments of tic severity, co-occurring symptoms (inattention, impulsiveness, hyperactivity, anger, anxiety, depression, obsessions, and compulsions), and psychosocial functioning. We compared changes in tic severity, psychiatric symptoms, and functional outcomes using repeated measure and one-way analysis of variance.ResultsAt posttreatment, participants receiving behavior therapy reported greater reductions in obsessions compared to participants in supportive therapy ($\eta _p^2 $ = 0.04, p = 0.04). Across treatments, a positive treatment response on the Clinical Global Impression of Improvement scale was associated with a reduced disruption in family life ($\eta _p^2 $ = 0.05, p = 0.02) and improved functioning in a parental role ($\eta _p^2 $ = 0.37, p = 0.02). Participants who responded positively to eight sessions of behavior therapy had an improvement in tic severity ($\eta _p^2 $ = 0.75, p < 0.001), inattention ($\eta _p^2 $ = 0.48, p < 0.02), and functioning ($\eta _p^2 $ = 0.39–0.42, p < 0.03–0.04) at the 6-month follow-up.ConclusionBehavior therapy has a therapeutic benefit for co-occurring obsessive symptoms in the short-term, and reduces tic severity and disability in adults with TD over time. Additional treatments may be necessary to address co-occurring symptoms and improve functional outcomes.
Poor functional recovery is better predicted than conversion in studies of outcomes of clinical high risk of psychosis: insight from SHARP
Authors: Zhang TianHong , Yang ShuWen , Xu LiHua , Tang XiaoChen , Wei YanYan , Cui HuiRu , Li HuiJun , Tang YingYing , Hui Li , Li ChunBo , Chen XingShi , Wang JiJun 
Published: August 2019

AbstractBackgroundFew of the previous studies of clinical high risk of psychosis (CHR) have explored whether outcomes other than conversion, such as poor functioning or treatment responses, are better predicted when using risk calculators. To answer this question, we compared the predictive accuracy between the outcome of conversion and poor functioning by using the NAPLS-2 risk calculator.MethodsThree hundred CHR individuals were identified using the Chinese version of the Structured Interview for Prodromal Symptoms. Of these, 228 (76.0%) completed neurocognitive assessments at baseline and 199 (66.3%) had at least a 1-year follow-up assessment. The latter group was used in the NAPLS-2 risk calculator.ResultsWe divided the sample into two broad categories based on different outcome definitions, conversion (n = 46) v. non-conversion (n = 153) or recovery (n = 138) v. poor functioning (n = 61). Interestingly, the NAPLS-2 risk calculator showed moderate discrimination of subsequent conversion to psychosis in this sample with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.631 (p = 0.007). However, for discriminating poor functioning, the AUC of the model increased to 0.754 (p < 0.001).ConclusionsOur results suggest that the current risk calculator was a better fit for predicting a poor functional outcome and treatment response than it was in the prediction of conversion to psychosis.