bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Exogenous Testosterone Does Not Influence 11-Oxygenated C19 Steroid Concentrations in Healthy Postmenopausal Women
Authors: Davis Susan R , Turcu Adina F , Robinson Penelope J , Bell Robin J 
Published: February 2019

Abstract

Context
11β-Hydroxyandrostenedione (11OHA4), 11β-hydroxytestosterone (11OHT), and their respective peripheral derivatives, 11-ketoandrostenedione (11KA4) and 11-ketotesosterone (11KT), have been implicated in androgen-related physiopathology. Little is known of these steroids in postmenopausal women or whether exogenous testosterone therapy influences their levels.

Objective
The impact of exogenous testosterone on serum levels of 11-oxygenated steroids was determined in healthy postmenopausal women.

Participants and Methods
Levels of 19-carbon (C19) steroids were measured by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry in serum obtained at baseline and at 12 and 26 weeks from 73 healthy postmenopausal women, aged 55 to 65 years, who participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial assessing the effects of transdermal testosterone on cognitive performance.

Results
Of the 11-oxygenated androgens, 11OHA4 was the most abundant (median, 6.46 nmol/L; range, 1.51 to 23.82 nmol/L), with concentrations several fold greater than its precursor androstenedione (median, 1.38 nmol/L; range, 0.52 to 2.92 nmol/L). Baseline median (range) testosterone and 11KT levels were similar [0.56 (0.23 to 1.48) nmol/L; 0.85 (0.25 to 2.86) nmol/L, respectively). 11OHT was closely correlated with 11KT (Spearman rank correlation coefficient, 0.79; P &lt; 0.001) and 11OHA4 correlated with 11KA4 (Spearman rank correlation coefficient, 0.73; P &lt; 0.001). Testosterone therapy resulted in an increase in serum testosterone level, whereas all 11-oxygenated androgens remained unchanged throughout the 26 weeks of treatment.

Conclusion
After menopause, the adrenal production of 11-oxygenated derivatives of androstenedione and testosterone contributes importantly to the total circulating androgen pool. Exogenous testosterone does not influence the circulating levels 11-oxygenated C19 steroids.
Effect of Body Mass Index Category on Body Surface Area Calculation in Children Undergoing Cardiac Procedures
Authors: Nafiu Olubukola O. , Owusu-Bediako Kwaku , Chiravuri S. Devi 
Published: February 2019

BACKGROUND:
Many of the common equations used for body surface area determination were either introduced before the widespread prevalence of childhood obesity, contained very few children in their sample, or have not been assessed in overweight/obese children. Therefore, we compared 6 body surface area formulae to determine their performance across body mass index categories using cross-sectional anthropometric data of children who underwent elective cardiac procedures.

METHODS:
We selected 6 formulae from the literature that included data from pediatric subjects in their derivation. We then substituted measured height and weight into each equation to compute body surface area data for the study subjects. The average values of the 6 formulae were calculated for each patient and used as reference for comparison. Comparisons between each formula and the reference standard were made with the 1-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient (measure of precision), the Lin concordance correlation coefficient (measure of bias and precision), and the Bland-Altman limit-of-agreement. All comparisons were made across age, sex, and body mass index categories.

RESULTS:
Among the 1000 (mostly Caucasian: 76.1%) subjects, 16.7% were overweight, while 14.1% were obese and 51.2% were girls. All calculated body surface area data showed a strong positive correlation with each other and the derived reference body surface area values (0.99–1.00; P < .001). Calculated body surface area values for all the formulae were significantly higher in overweight and obese children across every age group.

CONCLUSIONS:
Obesity status is a critical factor in the determination of body surface area values in children undergoing elective cardiac procedures. We caution that indexed hemodynamic and other therapeutic interventions may be inappropriate if limitations of body surface area formulae and the effect of obesity are not taken into consideration when caring for overweight and obese children. Body surface area studies utilizing accurate contemporary techniques that include sufficient number of overweight and obese children of various races are urgently needed.
Ena orchestrates remodelling within the actin cytoskeleton to drive robust Drosophila macrophage chemotaxis
Authors: Davidson Andrew J. , Millard Tom H. , Evans Iwan R. , Wood Will 
Published: February 2019

The actin cytoskeleton is the engine that powers the inflammatory chemotaxis of immune cells to sites of tissue damage or infection. Here we combine genetics with live, in vivo imaging to investigate how cytoskeletal rearrangements drive macrophage recruitment to wounds in Drosophila. We find that the actin-regulatory protein Ena is a master regulator of lamellipodial dynamics in migrating macrophages where it remodels the cytoskeleton to form linear filaments that can then be bundled together by the cross-linker Fascin. In contrast, the formin Dia generates rare, probing filopods for specialised functions that are not required for migration.
Ena's role in lamellipodial bundling is so fundamental that its over-expression increases bundling even in the absence of Fascin by marshalling the remaining cross-linking proteins to compensate. This reorganisation of the lamellipod generates cytoskeletal struts that push against the membrane to drive leading edge advancement and boost cell speed. Thus, Ena-mediated remodeling extracts the most from the cytoskeleton to power robust macrophage chemotaxis during their inflammatory recruitment to wounds.
Development of Thermoelectric Conversion Materials Using Carbon Nanotube Sheets
Authors: Fujigaya Tsuyohiko 
Published: February 2019

Abstract
Recently, thermoelectric (TE) conversion has attracted strong interests toward converting waste heat to electrical potential for applications such as portable and wearable electronic devices. Among a number of different candidates including inorganic and polymeric materials, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are particularly attractive due to their non-toxicity, material abundance, solution processability, remarkable electrical conductivity and so on. Here, progress in TE research based on SWCNT sheets is reviewed mainly for air stabilization of n-type SWCNT sheets and the TE properties of semiconducting SWCNT sheets.
Synthesis, Structure, and Electrochemical Properties of [Na(SO3)2(RPO3)4MoV4MoVI14O49]5− (R = Propyl or t-Butyl)
Authors: Fujibayashi Masaru , Shiga Misaki , Tsunashima Ryo , Nakamura Takayoshi 
Published: February 2019

Abstract
New mixed-valence polyoxometalate (POM)-organic hybrids, i.e., [Na(SO3)2(PrPO3)4MoV4MoVI14O49]5− and [Na(SO3)2(t-BuPO3)4MoV4MoVI14O49]5−, were synthesised and studied using crystallography, solution-phase 31P NMR, and electrochemistry. These species comprise four organic phosphonates bonded to a metal oxide cage. Derivatization was achieved by considering the pKa of the organic phosphonates and sulfite anions that acted as templates for the self-assembly of molybdate with POM. All the clusters were prepared in a water-acetonitrile mixed solvent system by a one-pot procedure and showed multi-step redox cycles, revealing that [Na(SO3)2(RPO3)4MoV4MoVI14O49]5− comprised a unique set of covalently grafted POM-organic hybrids with high redox activity.
Elicitation of Crystallinity in Cyclodextrin Electrospinning
Authors: Yoshida Hiroaki , Sakuragi Kenta 
Published: February 2019

Abstract
Cyclodextrin (CD) electrospinning is a unique technique for fabricating functional fiber materials without polymer additives. Here, we present separate fabrication of amorphous and crystalline CD nonwovens by precisely controlling solvent evaporation during electrospinning. This method would allow large-scale production of CD fibers with tuned crystallinity.
A tactical analgesic option for Durham and Cleveland police firearms medics: the journey
Authors: Carr Gavin , Kyle Tony , Wheatley PC Sean , Mellor Adrian 
Published: February 2019

Background: With an ever-increasing exposure to clinical situations, predominantly trauma, firearms medics at Durham and Cleveland police forces began to consider whether an increase in their scope of practice was needed; specifically, whether they could add analgesia administration to their clinical protocols. Considerations: The request was directed to the Tactical Medical Advisory Group (TMAG). This faculty comprises a clinical lead, emergency medicine doctors, military and civilian paramedics and tactical team medic (TTM) trainers. Analgesia in general was discussed, then potential analgesic agents were considered. The faculty agreed that the analgesic agent would have: to be available to all tactical team medics at all times, so should be highly portable); a minimal regulatory and training burden; a rapid effect with minimal side effects; and no conflict with prehospital medicine practice. Implementation: A 6-hour training course in methoxyflurane (Penthrox®) with summative assessments was designed and delivered by TMAG to all TTMs over a 4-week period. The chair of the TMAG agreed to be the signatory for the prescription-only medicine document and a standard operating procedure was drawn up. Sufficient stocks of methoxyflurane were then purchased and distributed across both police forces' armed response units, together with updated patient report forms, administration documents and feedback forms completed by TTMs after incidents.
NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF INSULATED FRP-STRENGTHENED REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS IN FIRE
Authors: El-Mahdy Osama , Hamdy Gehan , Abdullah Moustafa 
Published: February 2019

Fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) have been widely used in retrofitting and strengthening of deteriorated or deficient reinforced concrete (RC) elements. A major concern about those systems is their performance under elevated temperature which limits the application of FRP for strengthening requirements. Fire protection of the strengthening FRP system can be made by applying an external coating layer of a thermal resisting material. In order to predict the fire performance of such insulated FRP-strengthened members and their efficiency, experimental investigations are required to be carried out for such elements under realistic fire conditions, which requires time and cost.
This paper presents numerical modelling of RC beams strengthened with externally bonded FRP and insulated by a fire protection layer under elevated temperature specified by standard fire tests. The nonlinear time domain transient thermal-stress finite element analysis is performed using the general purpose software ANSYS 12.1 in order to study the heat transfer mechanism and deformation within the beam for fire conditions initiating at the bottom side of the beam. The finite element model accounts for the variation in thermal and mechanical parameters of the constituent materials such as concrete, steel reinforcement bars, FRP and insulation material with temperature. Application is made on an FRP-strengthened and insulated RC T-beam which has been experimentally tested in the published literature in order to verify the adopted modelling procedure. The obtained numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results regarding the temperature distribution across the beam and mid-span deflection. The presented procedure thus provides an economical and effective tool to investigate the effectiveness of fire insulation layers when subjected to high temperatures and to design thermal protection layers for FRP strengthening systems that satisfy fire resistance requirements specified in building codes and standards.
A new education of women. Denis Diderot’s anatomy course project for young noble women
Authors: Forycki Maciej 
Published: February 2019

A new education of women. Denis Diderot’s anatomy course project for young noble women.Denis Diderot (1713–1784) explained how women’s education should be different than before. A woman should be considered a citizen, Diderot demanded placing primary social importance on her domestic activity. An interesting feature of this new approach to education of women was to include an anatomy course in their personal development. Denis Diderot did not devote a separate tractate to the issue of women’s education, nor did he write a concise curriculum in anatomy. However, the remarks scattered among various texts by the philosopher concerning that innovative concept allow us not only to reconstruct a fairly cohesive draft of an anatomy course for girls, but also superbly illustrate Diderot’s commitment to realization of his own ideas. Secondly, we need to consider the activities of one Ms. Biheron – the organizer of public anatomy courses – which exerted, as we will see, a huge influence on Diderot’s conviction of the need to incorporate such courses in women’s education. In the last part of the discourse, the involvement of the French philosopher in the educational reforms of Catherine II should be noted. The analysis of Diderot’s texts on education clearly indicates that the philosopher put a strong emphasis on changes in the methods of teaching women. As the director of St. Petersburg facility for girls he managed to partially put his project into effect. Of course, for French philosophers – blind to Russian realities – the unquestionable success of Diderot’s anatomy course might be another argument for the proclamation of the view that Catherine II realized in her country the postulates of the Enlightenment.
Chasing similarity
Authors: Liu Feilong , Salmasi Ario , Blanas Spyros , Sidiropoulos Anastasios 
Published: February 2019

Parallel aggregation is a ubiquitous operation in data analytics that is expressed as GROUP BY in SQL, reduce in Hadoop, or segment in TensorFlow. Parallel aggregation starts with an optional local pre-aggregation step and then repartitions the intermediate result across the network. While local pre-aggregation works well for low-cardinality aggregations, the network communication cost remains significant for high-cardinality aggregations even after local pre-aggregation. The problem is that the repartition-based algorithm for high-cardinality aggregation does not fully utilize the network.
In this work, we first formulate a mathematical model that captures the performance of parallel aggregation. We prove that finding optimal aggregation plans from a known data distribution is NP-hard, assuming the Small Set Expansion conjecture. We propose GRASP, a GReedy Aggregation Scheduling Protocol that decomposes parallel aggregation into phases. GRASP is distribution-aware as it aggregates the most similar partitions in each phase to reduce the transmitted data size in subsequent phases. In addition, GRASP takes the available network bandwidth into account when scheduling aggregations in each phase to maximize network utilization. The experimental evaluation on real data shows that GRASP outperforms repartition-based aggregation by 3.5x and LOOM by 2.0x.
TÜRKİYE’DE SOSYAL MEDYA ÜZERİNDEN SİYASAL PROPAGANDA YAPMAK: 2018 CUMHURBAŞKANI SEÇİMİ ÖRNEĞİ
Authors: TOSYALI Hikmet , SÜTCÜ Cem Sefa 
Published: February 2019

Siyasal propaganda, seçmenlerin tutum ve davranışlarını etkilemeyi amaçlayan iletişim ve etkileşim faaliyetleridir. Sosyal medya, çift yönlü iletişim ve etkileşime imkân sağlayan bir ortam olması nedeniyle son yıllarda siyasal propaganda için yeni fırsatlar sunmaktadır. Özellikle zamanının büyük bölümünü internette geçiren ve “dijital yerli” şeklinde isimlendirilen seçmen grubuna ulaşmaya imkân sağlayan sosyal medya yaklaşık son on yıldır siyasal partiler ve siyasetçiler tarafından propaganda amaçlı kullanılmaktadır. Türkiye’de ise siyasetçilerin sosyal medyaya olan ilgilerinin giderek arttığı bir süreçte seçilme yaşının da 18’e indirilmesiyle birlikte sosyal medyanın siyasal propaganda için kullanılacak temel araçlardan biri olacağı söylenebilir. Bu çalışmada, 24 Haziran 2018 tarihinde gerçekleştirilen Cumhurbaşkanı seçiminde aday olan siyasetçilerin Twitter hesapları ve paylaşımları içerik analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Adayların, yaptıkları paylaşımlar sonucunda takipçi sayılarının üzerinde oldukça yüksek etkileşim sayılarına ulaşmış olmaları, kendi seçmenlerinden çok daha geniş kitlelere mesajlarını iletebildiklerini göstermektedir. Bu bakımdan, doğrudan oy verme şeklinde olmasa da sempati kazanma, itibar ve algı yönetimi konularında Twitter’ın adaylara avantaj sağladığını söylemek mümkündür. Twitter kullanım oranının artmasına ve Twitter kullanıcılarının demografik özelliklerinin tüm Türkiye’yi temsil edecek bir yapıya ulaşmasına bağlı olarak, ilerleyen yıllarda yapılacak
seçimlerde Twitter’ın gerek seçmen tutumları gerekse oy verme davranışları üzerinde çok daha etkili olabileceği değerlendirilmektedir.
Socioeconomic status of the population – a prime determinant in evaluating iodine nutritional status even in a post salt iodization scenario
Authors: Bhattacharya Udayan , Chandra Amar K. 
Published: February 2019

Abstract

Background
To compare the state of iodine nutrition among school age children (SAC) in high- (HSGs) and low-socioeconomic groups (LSGs) during a post iodation scenario in Kolkata.

Methods
Clinical examinations of the goiter, median urinary iodine (MUI), mean urinary thiocyanate (MUSCN) in SAC (6–12 years) from both sexes in the different socioeconomic groups were carried out and the iodine content of edible salt was measured.

Results
A total of 5315 SAC, of which 2875 SAC were from a HSG and another 2440 SAC from an LSG were clinically examined for goiter. In the HSGs the total goiter prevalence (TGP) was 3.2% and in the LSGs the TGP was 9.1% and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The MUI of the HSGs was 242 μg/L as compared to 155 μg/L in the LSGs (p<0.001). MUSCN of the HSGs was 0.77±0.45 mg/dL while in the LSGs it was 0.94±0.44 mg/dL and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.01). In the HSGs 19.4% salt samples had 15–30 ppm iodine and 80.6% salt samples were above 30 ppm as compared to 26.3% salt samples which were below 15 ppm, 37.1% salt samples which were between 15 and 30 ppm and 36.6% salt samples which were above 30 ppm in the LSGs.

Conclusions
The population of the LSGs was clinically mildly iodine deficient having no biochemical iodine deficiency while in the HSGs it was more than the adequate requirement and the HSG children are possibly at risk of excess iodine induced thyroid diseases. Existing goiter prevalence in the LSGs was from their relatively high consumption of dietary goitrogens. Therefore, socioeconomic status plays a pivotal role in the management of iodine nutrition even in a post salt iodation scenario.
Distribution of Proteins at the Inner Nuclear Membrane Is Regulated by the Asi1 E3 Ligase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Smoyer Christine J , Smith Sarah E , Gardner Jennifer M , McCroskey Scott , Unruh Jay R , Jaspersen Sue L 
Published: February 2019

Abstract
Inner nuclear membrane (INM) protein composition regulates nuclear function, affecting processes such as gene expression, chromosome organization, nuclear shape, and stability. Mechanisms that drive changes in the INM proteome are poorly understood, in part because it is difficult to definitively assay INM composition rigorously and systematically. Using a split-GFP complementation system to detect INM access, we examined the distribution of all C-terminally tagged Saccharomyces cerevisiae membrane proteins in wild-type cells and in mutants affecting protein quality control pathways, such as INM-associated degradation (INMAD), ER-associated degradation, and vacuolar proteolysis. Deletion of the E3 ligase Asi1 had the most specific effect on the INM compared to mutants in vacuolar or ER-associated degradation pathways, consistent with a role for Asi1 in the INMAD pathway. Our data suggest that Asi1 not only removes mistargeted proteins at the INM, but also controls the levels and distribution of native INM components, such as the membrane nucleoporin Pom33. Interestingly, loss of Asi1 does not affect Pom33 protein levels but instead alters Pom33 distribution in the nuclear envelope through Pom33 ubiquitination, which drives INM redistribution. Taken together, our data demonstrate that the Asi1 E3 ligase has a novel function in INM protein regulation in addition to protein turnover.
Clinical success of cryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation in patients with atrial fibrillation
Authors: Chichkova T. Y. , Mamchur S. E. , Khomenko E. A. 
Published: February 2019

Aim. To estimate the clinical success of cryoballoon pulmonary vein isolation (PVI).Methods.230 patients (males: 49.6%, mean age 57 (53; 62) with symptomatic paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) resistant to antiarrhythmic therapy were included in a single-center prospective study. The patients were randomized into 2 groups to undergo either cryoballoon ablation (n = 122) or radiofrequency (RF) (n = 108) ablation. Both groups were comparable in baseline parameters. The follow-up period was 12 months. Clinical outcomes were estimated with the use of a three-stage scale. The rates of cardiovascular rehospitalizations, direct-current cardioversions and repeated ablations during were estimated within the follow-up. The quality of life (QoL) in the cryoablation group was measured using the AFEQT scale.Results.77% (n = 94) of patients in the cryoballoon ablation group and 71.3% (n = 77) of patients in the RF group (р = 0.71) demonstrated reported the optimal clinical effects. Both groups, cryo ablation and RF ablation, had similar rates of cardiovascular hospitalizations (23.8 vs 28.7%, OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.4–1.4; р = 0.39), direct-current cardioversions (12.3 vs 17.6%, OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.3–1.4; р = 0.26) and repeated ablations (9.8–11.1%, OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.4–2.0; р = 0.75). The patients treated with cryoballoon as opposed to RF ablation had significantly more successful usage of “pill-in-pocket” strategy – 14.8 vs 6.5% (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.01–6.2; р = 0.04). Significant improvements of the QoL parameters with strong size effect have been found in the cryoablation group, i.e. global score (GS) increased by 8.9±6.9 (95% CI 6.6–10.1; dCohen 1.2; р<0.001), symptoms (S) – by 8.3±7.9 (95% CI 4.2–8.8; dCohen 1.5; р<0.001), daily activities (DA) – by 10.0±6.9 (95% CI = 6.4–10.6; dCohen 0.9; р<0.001), treatment concerns (TC) – by 5.5±6.0 (95% CI 6.3–9.2; dCohen 1.2; р<0.001) and treatment satisfaction (TS) – by 5.5±6.0 (95% CI 5.4–9.8; dCohen 0.9; р<0.001).Conclusion.The both catheter-based technologies had comparable clinical success. Cryoablation was characterized by improvement in all QoL parameters based on the AFEQT score.