bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Interpretation of results from the competitive Biacore procedure for characterizing immunochemical interactions in solution
Authors: Winzor Donald J. 
Published: February 2018

AbstractRigorous consideration of the consequences of antibody bivalence in the published competitive kinetic procedure for quantifying the solution characteristics of an antigen‐antibody interaction in solution has rendered redundant the practice of substituting the Fab fragment for the antibody to ensure validity of the analysis of results in terms of theory developed for a univalent analyte. Although the quantitative expressions differ for univalent and bivalent analytes, the additional contribution arising from bivalence is likely to be well within the limits of experimental uncertainty in the measured binding constant.
Raman spectroscopy coupled to chemometrics to discriminate provenance and geological age of amber
Authors: Peris‐Díaz Manuel David , Łydżba‐Kopczyńska Barbara , Sentandreu Enrique 
Published: February 2018

AbstractRaman spectroscopy coupled to partial least squares (PLS) was used for the classification of amber samples according to their provenance and geological age. Spectral data were from samples from Czech Republic, Baltic region, and objects dated back from Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic ages. Intensity ratio of two wavenumbers has been used as indicator of both geological age and provenance amber so far.In this work, an alternative chemometric approach was proposed to select additional intervals of the spectra where discrimination relies. Several metrics (number of misclassifications and permutation test) evaluated the capability of the alternative PLS models to predict future measurements.Results achieved indicated the possibility to assess the geological age and provenance of amber considering an interval of wavenumbers instead of single wavenumbers that could be disturbed by physical effects. Furthermore, differences in the Raman spectra were highlighted by using Variable Importance Projection methodology over PLS model. The proposed methodology clearly distinguished Baltic from Czech Republic amber and resins from Cenozoic period and Upper Cretaceous. This research could represent a breakthrough for amber cultural heritage studies.
Chlortetracycline and related tetracyclines: detection in wheat and rye grain
Authors: Schwake‐Anduschus Christine , Langenkämper Georg 
Published: February 2018

AbstractBACKGROUNDAntibiotic drugs are excreted to a large proportion by livestock. Thus, antibiotics are distributed on fields with slurry and can be taken up by plants. In the present study, hydroponic experiments were performed to reveal whether the widely administered chlortetracycline is taken up into wheat grain in a concentration‐dependent manner. A further goal was to determine (chlor)tetracyclines in wheat and rye grain from agricultural practice.RESULTSIncreasing chlortetracycline deposition in wheat grain was observed with a rising chlortetracycline spiking level in the hydroponic solution. In 371 selected wheat and rye samples from three growing years of agricultural practice, the overall detection frequency was 21% for tetracyclines. In the most highly contaminated sample, tetracyclines occurred at 18.2 μg kg–1. Tetracycline residues were also found in rye grain. Conversion and degradation products of (chlor)tetracycline such as tetracycline, doxycycline and demeclocycline were detected in grains from hydroponic experiments and from agricultural practice.CONCLUSIONConcentrations of tetracyclines found in wheat and rye grains were of no concern with respect to toxicity regarding human consumption. However, antibiotic concentrations below the minimum inhibitory concentration can select for antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Thus, low levels of different tetracycline residues contained in food should be taken into account regarding risk assessment. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Development and prospective validation of a model estimating risk of readmission in cancer patients
Authors: Schmidt Carl R. , Hefner Jennifer , McAlearney Ann S. , Graham Lisa , Johnson Kristen , Moffatt‐Bruce Susan , Huerta Timothy , Pawlik Timothy M. , White Susan 
Published: February 2018

IntroductionHospital readmissions among cancer patients are common. While several models estimating readmission risk exist, models specific for cancer patients are lacking.MethodsA logistic regression model estimating risk of unplanned 30‐day readmission was developed using inpatient admission data from a 2‐year period (n = 18 782) at a tertiary cancer hospital. Readmission risk estimates derived from the model were then calculated prospectively over a 10‐month period (n = 8616 admissions) and compared with actual incidence of readmission.ResultsThere were 2478 (13.2%) unplanned readmissions. Model factors associated with readmission included: emergency department visit within 30 days, >1 admission within 60 days, non‐surgical admission, solid malignancy, gastrointestinal cancer, emergency admission, length of stay >5 days, abnormal sodium, hemoglobin, or white blood cell count. The c‐statistic for the model was 0.70. During the 10‐month prospective evaluation, estimates of readmission from the model were associated with higher actual readmission incidence from 20.7% for the highest risk category to 9.6% for the lowest.ConclusionsAn unplanned readmission risk model developed specifically for cancer patients performs well when validated prospectively. The specificity of the model for cancer patients, EMR incorporation, and prospective validation justify use of the model in future studies designed to reduce and prevent readmissions.
Hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion, preoperative radiotherapy, and surgery (PRS) a new limb saving treatment strategy for locally advanced sarcomas
Authors: Stevenson Marc G. , Seinen Jojanneke M. , Pras Elisabeth , Brouwers Adrienne H. , van Ginkel Robbert J. , van Leeuwen Barbara L. , Suurmeijer Albert J. H. , Been Lukas B. , Hoekstra Harald J. 
Published: February 2018

BackgroundThis feasibility study presents the results of a new intensive treatment regimen for locally advanced extremity soft tissue sarcomas (ESTS), consisting of hyperthermic isolated limb perfusion (HILP), preoperative external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), and surgical resection.MethodsFrom 2011 to 2016, 11 high grade locally advanced ESTS patients underwent this treatment regimen. Preoperative EBRT (12 × 3 Gy) started <4 weeks following the HILP (TNF‐α and melphalan) and the surgical resection was planned to take place <2 weeks following the end of the EBRT.ResultsAll patients completed the treatment. After a median follow‐up of 32 (23‐50) months, the limb was saved in 10 patients (91%), 1 patient (9%) developed a local recurrence, 5 patients (45%) developed distant metastases, and 3 patients (27%) died of their disease. During follow‐up two patients (18%) developed a pathologic fracture of the treated limb and three patients (27%) developed a major wound complication requiring surgical intervention. The median overall treatment time (OTT) was 56 (49‐69) days.ConclusionsThis intensive treatment regimen is feasible and safe in locally advanced ESTS, and it achieves oncological results that are comparable with conventional HILP treatment. In addition, the major wound complication risk is comparable and the OTT is reduced.
Nasolabial propeller perforator flap: Anatomical study and case series
Authors: Posso Carolina , Delgado Anaya David , Aguilar Henao Jeison , Velasquez Gaviria Juan M. 
Published: February 2018

PurposeThe previous cadaveric studies of facial artery perforators have frequently reported high variability, and those results remain to be validated in the Colombian population. Thus, we aimed to describe the vascular anatomy of the lateral nasal artery cutaneous branches and their clinical applications using Colombian cadavers.Materials and MethodsNine hemifaces from six fresh cadavers were included in the study. Terminal branches of the facial artery and cutaneous perforators of the lateral nasal artery were dissected. The quality, number, and distribution of the perforators were assessed. In addition, we present results of seven clinical cases for nasal alar reconstruction.ResultsCutaneous perforators were found in all hemifaces, and zone 2 was the most common location. In our clinical case series, all flaps used to reconstruct the nasal alar defects survived. There were two cases of venous congestion but no additional procedures were needed.ConclusionsAlthough nasal alar reconstruction continues to be a challenging plastic surgery procedure, the nasolabial propeller perforator flap is an excellent choice for such because it allows a precise skin island design, is less bulky, has a wide arc of rotation, and facilitates one‐staged reconstruction without increasing the rate of complications.
Considering the cost of a simultaneous versus staged approach to resection of colorectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases in a publicly funded healthcare model
Authors: Le Souder Emily B. , Azin Arash , Hirpara Dhruvin H. , Walker Richard , Cleary Sean , Quereshy Fayez 
Published: February 2018

BackgroundSimultaneous resection for colorectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases is an established alternative to a staged approach. This study aimed to compare these approaches with regards to economic parameters and short‐term outcomes.MethodsA retrospective cohort analysis was conducted between 2005 and 2016. The primary outcome was cost per episode of care. Secondary measures included 30‐day clinical outcomes. A multivariate analysis was performed to determine the adjusted effect of a simultaneous surgical approach on total cost of care.ResultsFifty‐three cases were identified; 27 in the staged approach, and 26 in the simultaneous group. Age (P = 0.49), sex (P = 0.20), BMI (P = 0.74), and ASA class (P = 0.44) were comparable between groups. Total cost ($20297 vs $27522), OR ($6830 vs $10376), PACU ($675 vs $1182), ward ($7586 vs $11603) and pharmacy costs ($728 vs $1075) were significantly less for the simultaneous group (P < 0.05). The adjusted rate ratio for total cost of care in the staged group compared to simultaneous group was 1.51 (95%CI: 1.16‐1.97, P < 0.05). The groups had comparable Clavien‐Dindo scores (P = 0.89), 30‐day readmissions (P = 0.44), morbidity (P = 0.50) and mortality (P = 1.00).ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that a simultaneous approach is associated with a significantly lower total cost while maintaining comparable short‐term outcomes.
Application of response surface methodology to vortex‐assisted dispersive liquid–liquid extraction for the determination of nicotine and cotinine in urine by gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry
Authors: Yuan Yue , Wang Yan , Yang Mingqi , Xu Yicong , Chen Weina , Zou Xiaoli , Zheng Bo 
Published: February 2018

AbstractA method of vortex‐assisted dispersive liquid–liquid extraction coupled with gas chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of nicotine and cotinine in urine was developed. Response surface methodology was applied to obtain the optimum extraction conditions. In this method, Plackett–Burman design was utilized to evaluate the impact of five selected factors on pretreatment procedure. Then, three main factors were optimized using a Box–Behnken design. The optimized method showed good linearities at 1–2000 μg/L with correlation coefficients of 0.9998 for nicotine and 0.9986 for cotinine. Recovery was 91.4–106 and 91.7–108% for nicotine and cotinine, respectively. The intraday relative standard derivations of determination were 1.47–4.06% for nicotine and 0.41–3.16% for cotinine, and interday relative standard derivations were 3.03–6.70% for nicotine and 1.64–6.38% for cotinine. The method detection limits for nicotine and cotinine were 0.33 and 0.34 μg/L, respectively. A total of 87 urine samples from smokers and nonsmokers were tested with the proposed method. Urinary nicotine and cotinine were 23.0–6.67 × 103 and 18.4–4.17 × 103 μg/(g·cr) for smokers and 1.31–286 and 1.39–131 μg/(g·cr) for nonsmokers, respectively. The method is sensitive, suitable and reliable for the determination of nicotine and cotinine in urine and meets the requirements for evaluating short‐term tobacco exposure.
Development of a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous determination of five isoflavonoids and seven neurochemicals in rat brain dialysate and its application to a pharmacological study
Authors: Xiao Bingxin , Dong Jie , Yan Mingzhu , Liu Yun , Li Yanli , Yang Guangsheng , Sun Zengxian 
Published: February 2018

AbstractPueraria lobata is a medicinal plant widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. The total pueraria isoflavones have demonstrated positive effect against neurological disorders. In the present study, we first develop an ultra high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry method to quantify the multiple active pueraria isoflavonoids and neurochemical markers in brain dialysate to provide tools for further exploring the functional mechanism of pueraria isoflavones for neuroactivities. A phenomenex Luna C18 column (50 × 2.0 mm, 5 μm) was employed with acetonitrile/0.05% formic acid in water as the mobile phase for the separation of analytes. A mass spectrometer with electrospray ionization source in positive/negative ion switching mode was used for multiple reaction monitoring of the detected compounds. The method was validated and proved acceptable. The intra‐ and interday precision across quality control levels was within 13.87 for all analytes, whereas the deviation of assay accuracies ranged between 0.03 and 11.53%. The method was successfully applied to a pharmacological study of pueraria isoflavones in rat brain.
Korovkin‐type results for multivariate functions which are periodic with respect to one variable
Authors: Popa Dumitru 
Published: February 2018

AbstractLet K be a compact metric space and let denote the real Banach space of all continuous functions which are 2π‐periodic with respect to the second variable. We prove the following Korovkin‐type result: Let be a continuous algebraic separating function such that for all , and let be a sequence of positive linear operators. If uniformly with respect to and uniformly on for all , then uniformly on for every .
As a corollary we deduce: If , then uniformly on for every if and only if uniformly on for every , where and .
Microbial dynamics during harmful dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata growth: Bacterial succession and viral abundance pattern
Authors: Guidi Flavio , Pezzolesi Laura , Vanucci Silvana 
Published: February 2018

AbstractAlgal–bacterial interactions play a major role in shaping diversity of algal associated bacterial communities. Temporal variation in bacterial phylogenetic composition reflects changes of these complex interactions which occur during the algal growth cycle as well as throughout the lifetime of algal blooms. Viruses are also known to cause shifts in bacterial community diversity which could affect algal bloom phases. This study investigated on changes of bacterial and viral abundances, bacterial physiological status, and on bacterial successional pattern associated with the harmful benthic dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata in batch cultures over the algal growth cycle. Bacterial community phylogenetic structure was assessed by 16S rRNA gene ION torrent sequencing. A comparison between bacterial community retrieved in cultures and that one co‐occurring in situ during the development of the O. cf. ovata bloom from where the algal strain was isolated was also reported. Bacterial community growth was characterized by a biphasic pattern with the highest contributions (~60%) of highly active bacteria found at the two bacterial exponential growth steps. An alphaproteobacterial consortium composed by the Rhodobacteraceae Dinoroseobacter (22.2%–35.4%) and Roseovarius (5.7%–18.3%), together with Oceanicaulis (14.2‐40.3%), was strongly associated with O. cf. ovata over the algal growth. The Rhodobacteraceae members encompassed phylotypes with an assessed mutualistic‐pathogenic bimodal behavior. Fabibacter (0.7%–25.2%), Labrenzia (5.6%–24.3%), and Dietzia (0.04%–1.7%) were relevant at the stationary phase. Overall, the successional pattern and the metabolic and functional traits of the bacterial community retrieved in culture mirror those ones underpinning O. cf. ovata bloom dynamics in field. Viral abundances increased synoptically with bacterial abundances during the first bacterial exponential growth step while being stationary during the second step. Microbial trends also suggest that viruses induced some shifts in bacterial community composition.
Interspecific Interactions May Influence Reef Fish Management Strategies in the Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Masi M. D. , Ainsworth C. H. , Kaplan I. C. , Schirripa M. J. 
Published: February 2018

Abstract
This study highlights the importance of interspecific interactions among marine organisms and the effect that these trophic interactions have on the development of effective, adaptive management strategies for reef fishes in the Gulf of Mexico. To represent the spatially and temporally constrained, interspecific interactions among reef fishes we employ Atlantis (a spatially explicit, biogeochemical ecosystem model) as our simulation tool. Within Atlantis, we evaluate the performance of a two-point harvest control rule (HCR) that adaptively increases fishing mortality linearly between upper and lower biomass thresholds based on the available biomass of the stocks. This example demonstrated the use of a “blanket” two-point HCR that assessed the available biomass of several reef fish species (often co-caught in fishing gear) both simultaneously and objectively. To estimate the impact of reef fish fishing on species abundance and biodiversity in the ecosystem, we examined four “low” and four “high” fishing mortality (F) scaler scenarios. All model projections are forward looking, representing a 50-year time horizon (2010 to 2060). We evaluated the performance of the two-point HCRs under the eight fishing mortality scenarios using ecosystem metrics that were previously found to robustly track changes in ecosystem function caused by fishing. We found that the lower F scenarios produced an ecologically distinct ecosystem state compared with the higher F scenarios, where relatively higher levels of fishing mortality (particularly on predators such as the deep Serranidae group) resulted in an increase in prey availability in later years of the simulation. This led to an increase in the overall productivity of the ecosystem over time and higher catch and biomass of most other reef fish groups at equilibrium (year 50). Our results suggest that a better understanding of interspecific interactions among targeted reef fishes and their prey is critical to developing ecosystem-based management strategies for the Gulf of Mexico.
Assisting Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management Efforts Using a Comprehensive Survey Database, a Large Environmental Database, and Generalized Additive Models
Authors: Grüss Arnaud , Chagaris David D. , Babcock Elizabeth A. , Tarnecki Joseph H. 
Published: February 2018

Abstract
Statistical habitat models, such as generalized additive models (GAMs), are key tools for assisting ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) efforts. Predictions from GAMs can be used, for example, to produce preference functions for the ecosystem-modeling platform Ecospace; preference functions permit a flexible representation of spatial distribution patterns in Ecospace by defining the preferences of marine organisms for certain environmental parameter values. Generalized additive model predictions can also be used to map species distributions for assisting marine protected area (MPA) planning. In this study, we applied a recently proposed methodology to produce preference functions for the fish and invertebrates represented in an Ecospace model of the West Florida Shelf (WFS) and to map the hotspots of juveniles and adults of three economically important species for informing future MPA planning in the WFS region. This proposed methodology consists of (1) compiling a comprehensive survey database blending all of the encounter and nonencounter data of the study ecosystem collected by the fisheries-independent and fisheries-dependent surveys that employ random sampling schemes, (2) developing a large environmental database to store all of the environmental parameters influencing the spatial distribution patterns of the marine organisms of the study ecosystem, (3) using the comprehensive survey database and the large environmental database to fit binomial GAMs that integrate the confounding effects of survey and year, and (4) making predictions with fitted GAMs to define preference functions for marine organisms and produce distribution and hotspot maps. All the GAMs we fitted were able to predict probabilities of encounter with reasonable or excellent discrimination and had a median adjusted coefficient of determination larger than the 0.1 threshold required for validation. The preference functions and hotspot maps produced using the fitted GAMs were generally in concordance with the literature. The methodology demonstrated in this study is timely, given the increasing interest in advancing EBFM worldwide.
Effect of Bait Type and Bait Size on Catch Efficiency in the European Hake Merluccius merluccius Longline Fishery
Authors: Sistiaga Manu , Herrmann Bent , Rindahl Lasse , Tatone Ivan 
Published: February 2018

Abstract
We investigated the effect of bait type and bait size on the catch efficiency of a demersal longline fishery targeting European Hake Merluccius merluccius in the North Sea. Automation of the labor-intensive processes onboard fishing vessels requires finding alternatives to the traditional bait used in the fishery (i.e., whole European Pilchard Sardina pilchardus). Of the six alternative baits investigated, four resulted in significant reductions in catch efficiency ranging from 32% to 90%. Only chopped Atlantic Herring Clupea harengus was a reasonable alternative bait, with an estimated non-significant loss of only 2.12% in European Hake catch efficiency. Our results demonstrated that choice of bait type and size can affect the catch efficiency of different sizes of European Hake. Thus, the choice of bait may also affect the size distribution of the catch. The latter highlights the importance of considering fish size when inferring the effect of bait choice on the catch efficiency of longline fisheries.