bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Rhein lysinate improves motor function in rats with spinal cord injury via inhibiting p38 MAPK pathway
Authors: Hao Jian , Wang Ping , Pei Dai‐Ping , Jia Bin , Hu Qun‐Sheng 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThe current study aims to investigate the effect of rhein lysinate (RHL) on neuromotor function in rats with spinal cord injury (SCI) and to explore the underlying mechanism. A total of 63 adult male SD rats were randomly divided into the sham group, SCI group and RHL group (SCI‐RHL group), with 21 rats in each group. Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) scoring and the inclined plate test were used to evaluate the changes in motor function after SCI. Then, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were quantified. Caspase‐3‐positive cells in spinal cord tissue were detected by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, and protein expression was detected by Western blots. Here, our data showed that compared with the SCI group, the BBB score and inclined plate test score of the SCI‐RHL group were significantly higher than those of the SCI group 7 days after the RHL intervention. After 7 days of RHL treatment, the activities of SOD and GSH‐Px in the spinal cord increased significantly. At the same time, RHL reduced the MDA content in spinal cord tissue of SCI rats. Moreover, cleaved‐caspase‐3‐positive cells and apoptotic cells were significantly lower in the SCI‐RHL group than in the SCI group. More importantly, p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) was significantly decreased in the SCI‐RHL group compared with the SCI group. In summary, RHL can inhibit the activation of the p38 MAPK pathway after SCI, thereby reducing the apoptosis of spinal cord neurons and improving the neuromotor function of SCI rats.
Evaluation of restoration approaches on the Inner Mongolian Steppe based on criteria of the Society for Ecological Restoration
Authors: Zhang Feng , Nilsson Christer , Xu Zhenzhu , Zhou Guangsheng 
Published: September 2019

AbstractEcological restoration is becoming an increasingly common management tool worldwide. However, a challenge still exists on how to effectively monitor restoration outcomes and evaluate restoration success for ecological restoration managers. In this review, the goal is to evaluate whether the research in a degraded area has been sufficient for fostering efficient restoration measures and follow‐up of restoration success based on the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) criteria. We selected the Inner Mongolian Steppe (IMS) in China as a model system. This area has been the subject of substantial research over the most recent years to understand degradation processes and restoration outcomes. We put together the variables used to assess degradation and restoration needs in the IMS and analyzed restoration results based on SER's nine criteria for evaluating restoration success. We found that the accomplished research in the IMS only partially supplied the data needed for evaluation of restoration success. The available results were sufficient for a proper evaluation of species composition and tentatively supported assessments of another seven criteria but not self‐sustainability. Grazing exclusion led to the fastest and most successful recovery of degraded steppe, but landscape‐scale processes during restoration in the IMS are still incompletely known. Our review supports large‐scale restoration of the IMS and emphasizes the need for long‐time monitoring for a more complete evaluation of the outcome of the IMS restoration following all SER's criteria.
Desertification vulnerability and risk assessment for Turkey via an analytical hierarchy process model
Authors: Türkeş Murat , Öztaş Taşkın , Tercan Erhan , Erpul Günay , Karagöz Alptekin , Dengiz Orhan , Doğan Orhan , Şahin Kenan , Avcıoğlu Burak 
Published: September 2019

AbstractProducing a scientific desertification risk map has become one of the national primary tasks in order to effectively combat desertification in Turkey. In this respect, General Directorate of Combating Desertification and Erosion in cooperation with TÜBİTAK BİLGEM, generated the Desertification Model of Turkey (DMT), an original geographical and mathematical country‐specific model under the umbrella project called the “Watershed Monitoring and Evaluation System” (HIDS). The DMT is a tool used for estimating land degradation, assessing desertification vulnerability and risk, preparing watershed scale risk maps, and monitoring desertification hot spots of the country. The DMT has been designed to consist of 48 indicators and 37 subindicators under seven main criteria defined by an expertise group and using the analytical hierarchy process. Percentage distribution of desertification risk among watersheds was calculated in nine classes based on the Desertification Risk Map of Turkey and revised in accordance with field surveys carried out in 2016–2017 within the scope of the DMT Verification and Calibration Project. Results for major watersheds of Turkey revealed that at least 15% of lands of all river basins are under moderate–high desertification risk, with the exception of Aras, Western Black Sea, Konya Closed, Marmara, and Meriç–Ergene watersheds. In addition, it was identified that the DMT and the Desertification Risk Map of Turkey present results at an accuracy rate of 84% and with 90% level of confidence at microwatershed scale.
Seashore dune rehabilitation using an inland legume species
Authors: Yang Hongxiao , Chu Jianmin 
Published: September 2019

AbstractDunes along seashores are vulnerable ecosystems that contain special resources and provide important services. Most of them today suffer from trampling due to human recreational use, and rehabilitating them is urgent for the sake of coast safety and human welfare. We examine whether sowing an inland legume species is a feasible, effective method for fast rehabilitating degraded backshore dunes. The rehabilitation experiment was conducted from 2012 in the Shandong Peninsula, China, where Astragalus adsurgens, an inland legume species, was intensively sown within degraded dune systems. We surveyed the recovering plant communities in 2016 by 100 quadrats of 1 m2. We measured coverage‐weighted height of each species in these quadrats, and evaluated potential role of A. adsurgens in restoring such backshore dune systems. We found that A. adsurgens established and grew successfully, thus contributing much to dune rehabilitation, and that it exerted no significant negative effects on native plants. This species did not overgrow to achieve a too large niche width, presumably limited by its innate intolerance to seawater inundation. Sowing this inland legume species is believed to be feasible and effective for backshore dune rehabilitation, and the sowing in the long run cannot overturn distinctiveness of the original backshore vegetation.
Soil denudation rates in an old‐growth mountain temperate forest driven by tree uprooting dynamics, Central Europe
Authors: Šamonil Pavel , Egli Markus , Steinert Teresa , Norton Kevin , Abiven Samuel , Daněk Pavel , Hort Libor , Brandová Dagmar , Christl Marcus , Tikhomirov Dmitry 
Published: September 2019

AbstractTree uprooting may distinctly affect landscape dynamics and slope denudation. Little is known, however, about the corresponding soil redistribution rates (erosion and accumulation) on either a long‐term (millennia;10Be) or a short‐term (decades;239+240Pu) scale. We determined these rates in a well‐investigated forest reserve (Zofinsky primeval forest, Czech Republic) using complementary techniques: nuclides in soils and tors to derive short‐ to long‐term rates and monitoring data (43 years) of repeated tree censuses using tree uprooting data. Temporal trends of soil erosion rates were obtained by dating the timing of exhumation (10Be) of tors. The average long‐term denudation rates were about 30–40 t km−2yr−1. It seems that these rates varied over time with probably a maximum during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (58–91 t km−2yr−1).239+240Pu activities in the soils identified soil redistribution rates of 50 to >100 t km−2yr−1for the last decades and agree with results from the tree uprooting monitoring (<92 t km−2yr−1). In‐situ10Be in soils gave similar denudation rates (58–76 t km−2yr−1). Meteoric10Be provided a mean residence time of a soil particle of 33–100 ka supporting the measured average long‐term erosion rates. Soil aggregates indicated stable physical conditions meaning that soil mass redistribution occurs only sporadically. It seems that the main driving factors of denudation changed over time. An erosion peak at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (climate change) seems likely but needs further proof. Over the last few millennia, tree uprooting seems the main driver of soil erosion.
Planet‐Like Nanostructures Formed by an ABC Triblock Terpolymer
Authors: Gil Haenelt Taida , Meyer Andreas , Abetz Clarissa , Abetz Volker 
Published: September 2019

AbstractA novel planet‐like nanostructure formed by an asymmetric polystyrene‐block‐polyisoprene‐block‐poly(methyl methacrylate) (SIM) triblock terpolymer is presented, where polystyrene (PS) forms spherical microdomains, covered by polyisoprene (PI) rings/helices/polar caps and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) forms the matrix. The new nanostructure is the result of a thermally induced morphological transition of a kinetically trapped helical nanostructure by thermal annealing above its glass transition temperature. This new nanostructure is observed when the triblock terpolymer solution is cast from chloroform (CHCl3). When cast from tetrahydrofuran (THF) or toluene, mainly cylindrical and to a lesser extent spherical microdomains are observed. This is caused by a selectivity of the CHCl3 for the PS and PMMA microdomains. The SIM triblock terpolymer is synthesized by anionic polymerization, and the morphology is characterized by transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and small angle X‐ray scattering.
Poly(vinyl alcohol)–Carbon Nanodots Fluorescent Hydrogel with Superior Mechanical Properties and Sensitive to Detection of Iron(III) Ions
Authors: Shao Jia , Yu Qijian , Wang Sui , Hu Yufang , Guo Zhiyong , Kang Kai , Ji Xueping 
Published: September 2019

AbstractA high‐strength fluorescent hydrogel is prepared by physical cross‐linking of carbon nanodots (CNDs) with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The stretching and compression of the PVA hydrogel are improved with CNDs by 176% and 64%, respectively. It still has excellent self‐healing behaviors without adding other healing agents. In addition, the search for rapid detection of heavy metals is still a huge challenge. The resulting hydrogel exhibits fluorescence quenching in the presence of Fe3+ by the fluorescence characteristics of CNDs, which has high selectivity and sensitivity. The PVA‐CNDs fluorescent hydrogel can be used as a solid detection platform for Fe3+, where the detection limit is found to be 10 µm for Fe3+ by fluorescence studies.
Conditions for boundedness into Hardy spaces
Authors: Grafakos Loukas , Nakamura Shohei , Van Nguyen Hanh , Sawano Yoshihiro 
Published: September 2019

AbstractWe obtain the boundedness from a product of Lebesgue or Hardy spaces into Hardy spaces under suitable cancellation conditions for a large class of multilinear operators that includes the Coifman–Meyer class, sums of products of linear Calderón–Zygmund operators and combinations of these two types.
Interleaved deep brain stimulation for dyskinesia management in Parkinson's disease
Authors: Aquino Camila C. , Duffley Gordon , Hedges David M. , Vorwerk Johannes , House Paul A. , Ferraz Henrique B. , Rolston John D. , Butson Christopher R. , Schrock Lauren E. 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundIn patients with Parkinson's disease, stimulation above the subthalamic nucleus (STN) may engage the pallidofugal fibers and directly suppress dyskinesia.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of interleaving stimulation through a dorsal deep brain stimulation contact above the STN in a cohort of PD patients and to define the volume of tissue activated with antidyskinesia effects.MethodsWe analyzed the Core Assessment Program for Surgical Interventional Therapies dyskinesia scale, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale parts III and IV, and other endpoints in 20 patients with interleaving stimulation for management of dyskinesia. Individual models of volume of tissue activated and heat maps were used to identify stimulation sites with antidyskinesia effects.ResultsThe Core Assessment Program for Surgical Interventional Therapies dyskinesia score in the on medication phase improved 70.9 ± 20.6% from baseline with noninterleaved settings (P < 0.003). With interleaved settings, dyskinesia improved 82.0 ± 27.3% from baseline (P < 0.001) and 61.6 ± 39.3% from the noninterleaved phase (P = 0.006). The heat map showed a concentration of volume of tissue activated dorsally to the STN during the interleaved setting with an antidyskinesia effect.ConclusionInterleaved deep brain stimulation using the dorsal contacts can directly suppress dyskinesia, probably because of the involvement of the pallidofugal tract, allowing more conservative medication reduction. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Omics Insights into Metabolic Stress and Resilience of Rats in Response to Short‐term Fructose Overfeeding
Authors: Li Kun‐Ping , Yuan Min , He Zhuo‐Ru , Wu Qi , Zhang Chu‐Mei , Lei Zhi‐Li , Rong Xiang‐Lu , Huang Zebo , Turnbull Jeremy E. , Guo Jiao 
Published: September 2019

ScopeConsiderable evidence supports the view that high‐fructose intake is associated with increased and early incidence of obesity and dyslipidemia. However, knowledge on physiopathological alterations introduced by fructose overconsumption is lacking. Therefore, an integrated omics analysis is carried out to investigate the consequences of short‐term fructose overfeeding (SFO) and identify the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods and resultsSFO of rats demonstrates obvious histopathological hepatic lipid accumulation and significant elevation in adiposity, total cholesterol, and fasting plasma glucose levels. Integrated omics analysis demonstrates that SFO disturbed metabolic homeostasis and initiated metabolic stress. Hepatic lipogenesis pathways are also negatively impacted by SFO. Analysis of molecular networks generated by ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) implicates involvement of the extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway in SFO and its consequences. Moreover, it is identified that an inherent negative feedback regulation of hepatic sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1) plays an active role in regulating hepatic de novo lipogenesis.ConclusionThe findings indicate that SFO disturbs metabolic homeostasis and that endogenous small molecules positively mediate SFO‐induced metabolic adaption. The results also underline that an inherent regulatory mechanism of resilience occurs in response to fructose overconsumption, suggesting that efforts to maintain resilience can be a promising target to prevent and treat metabolic disorder‐like conditions.
Radiation performance measurement of an antenna operating in lossy media
Authors: Lee Kwang‐Jae , Kim Nam , Son Seong‐Ho 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThis study presents the radiation performance measurements of an antenna operating in a lossy medium with a complex dielectric constant. The proposed measurement setup provides antenna peak gains and radiation patterns under a tissue equivalent liquid environment for a biomedical application. The antenna gain is calculated by the modified Friis transmission formula for the lossy medium consideration. A liquid thermostat is implemented to maintain a constant temperature of the liquid to achieve precise measurements. Overall, this article deals with the designs, experimental results, and validation of the proposed measurement setup.
Technical Note: Using linear and polynomial approximations to correct IEC CTDI measurements for a wide‐beam CT scanner
Authors: Weir Victor J. , Zhang Jie 
Published: September 2019

PurposeTo investigate a feasible correction to align the international electrotechnical commission (IEC) computed tomography dose index (CTDI) measurement with other approaches for an accurate measure of radiation output.MethodsRadiation dose measurements were performed in a GE 256‐slice CT scanner using three methods. The first method used a 0.6 cc Farmer chamber to measure peak dose and then to calculate dose length integral (DLI). The second method integrated dose profiles with a pencil chamber over 600 mm for both body and head phantoms. Both methods achieved scatter equilibrium using a 600 mm long body and head phantom. The third method followed IEC recommendations by adjusting traditional CTDI with beam width. We performed measurements using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) 32 cm diameter body and 16 cm diameter head phantoms, combining with various available bowtie filters and at different kV settings. Correction factors using linear or polynomial functions were developed based on these measurements.ResultsCTDI measurements using the DLI method and direct integration (DLP) method align with each other with an error of <6.7% for the body phantom, and 6.9% for head phantom respectively. The IEC method underestimates radiation dose for body and head phantoms relative to the DLI, with an error range from 8.9% to 19.4%, depending on the phantom and bowtie filter. A correction factor of 0.15 (15%) could be used for body and head phantom measurements with large body, head and pediatric head bowtie filters. While for body phantom with medium filter and head phantom with small body filter which are not routinely used for CTDI measurements, a correction factor of 0.30 (30%) could be used. The proposed correction factors are validated using various kV and filter combinations. Compared to a linear approximation, a polynomial correction is better at adjusting the IEC measurements, with an error of 5.2%. We found that thea1coefficient of the polynomial correction is approximately equal to Aeqobtained from DLI measurements for all cases studied, with an average percent difference of 6.7%.ConclusionBoth linear and polynomial approximations can be used to correct the IEC measurements, aligning them with the direct integration of dose profiles or the point detector method of CT dosimetry on a 256 slice GE Revolution scanner. Using a polynomial correction may potentially bypass the need for an elongated phantom in the DLI method since thea1coefficients are approximately equal to Aeqobtained from the DLI method.
Transceive phase mapping using the PLANET method and its application for conductivity mapping in the brain
Authors: Gavazzi Soraya , Shcherbakova Yulia , Bartels Lambertus W. , Stalpers Lukas J. A. , Lagendijk Jan J. W. , Crezee Hans , van den Berg Cornelis A. T. , van Lier Astrid L. H. M. W. 
Published: September 2019

PurposeTo demonstrate feasibility of transceive phase mapping with the PLANET method and its application for conductivity reconstruction in the brain.MethodsAccuracy and precision of transceive phase (ϕ±) estimation with PLANET, an ellipse fitting approach to phase‐cycled balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) data, were assessed with simulations and measurements and compared to standard bSSFP. Measurements were conducted on a homogeneous phantom and in the brain of healthy volunteers at 3 tesla. Conductivity maps were reconstructed with Helmholtz‐based electrical properties tomography. In measurements, PLANET was also compared to a reference technique for transceive phase mapping, i.e., spin echo.ResultsAccuracy and precision of ϕ± estimated with PLANET depended on the chosen flip angle and TR. PLANET‐based ϕ± was less sensitive to perturbations induced by off‐resonance effects and partial volume (e.g., white matter + myelin) than bSSFP‐based ϕ±. For flip angle = 25° and TR = 4.6 ms, PLANET showed an accuracy comparable to that of reference spin echo but a higher precision than bSSFP and spin echo (factor of 2 and 3, respectively). The acquisition time for PLANET was ~5 min; 2 min faster than spin echo and 8 times slower than bSSFP. However, PLANET simultaneously reconstructed T1, T2, B0 maps besides mapping ϕ±. In the phantom, PLANET‐based conductivity matched the true value and had the smallest spread of the three methods. In vivo, PLANET‐based conductivity was similar to spin echo‐based conductivity.ConclusionProvided that appropriate sequence parameters are used, PLANET delivers accurate and precise ϕ± maps, which can be used to reconstruct brain tissue conductivity while simultaneously recovering T1, T2, and B0 maps.
A method for smoothing multiple yield functions
Authors: Wilkins Andy , Spencer Benjamin W. , Jain Amit , Gencturk Bora 
Published: September 2019

SummaryMany models of plasticity are built using multiple, simple yield surfaces. Examples include geomechanical models and crystal plasticity. This leads to numerical difficulties, most particularly during the stress update procedure, because the combined yield surface is nondifferentiable, and when employing implicit time stepping to solve numerical models, because the Jacobian is often poorly conditioned.A method is presented that produces a single C2 differentiable and convex yield function from a plastic model that contains multiple yield surfaces that are individually C2 differentiable and convex. C2 differentiability ensures quadratic convergence of implicit stress‐update procedures; convexity ensures a unique solution to the stress update problem, whereas smoothness means the Jacobian is much better conditioned. The method contains just one free parameter, and the error incurred through the smoothing procedure is quantified in terms of this parameter.The method is illustrated through three different constitutive models. The method's performance is quantified in terms of the number of iterations required during stress update as a function of the smoothing parameter. Two simple finite‐element models are also solved to compare this method with existing approaches.The method has been added to the open‐source “MOOSE” framework, for perfect, nonperfect, associated, and nonassociated plasticity.
High accuracy error estimates of a Galerkin finite element method for nonlinear time fractional diffusion equation
Authors: Ren Jincheng , Shi Dongyang , Vong Seakweng 
Published: September 2019

AbstractIn this work, an effective and fast finite element numerical method with high‐order accuracy is discussed for solving a nonlinear time fractional diffusion equation. A two‐level linearized finite element scheme is constructed and a temporal–spatial error splitting argument is established to split the error into two parts, that is, the temporal error and the spatial error. Based on the regularity of the time discrete system, the temporal error estimate is derived. Using the property of the Ritz projection operator, the spatial error is deduced. Unconditional superclose result in H1‐norm is obtained, with no additional regularity assumption about the exact solution of the problem considered. Then the global superconvergence error estimate is obtained through the interpolated postprocessing technique. In order to reduce storage and computation time, a fast finite element method evaluation scheme for solving the nonlinear time fractional diffusion equation is developed. To confirm the theoretical error analysis, some numerical results are provided.