bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of atorvastatin on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy through suppressing MURC induced by volume overload and cyclic stretch
Authors: Cheng Wen‐Pin , Lo Huey‐Ming , Wang Bao‐Wei , Chua Su‐Kiat , Shyu Kou‐Gi 
Published: December 2018

AbstractMURC (muscle‐restricted coiled‐coil protein) is a hypertrophy‐related gene. Hypertrophy can be induced by mechanical stress. The purpose of this research was to investigate the hypothesis that MURC mediates hypertrophy in cardiomyocytes under mechanical stress. We used the in vivo model of an aortocaval shunt (AV shunt) in adult Wistar rats to induce myocardial hypertrophy. We also used the in vitro model of cyclic stretch in rat neonatal cardiomyocytes to clarify MURC expression and the molecular regulation mechanism. The flexible membrane culture plate seeding with cardiomyocytes Cardiomyocytes seeded on a flexible membrane culture plate were stretched by vacuum pressure to 20% of maximum elongation at 60 cycles/min. AV shunt induction enhanced MURC protein expression in the left ventricular myocardium. Treatment with atorvastatin inhibited the hypertrophy induced by the AV shunt. Cyclic stretch markedly enhanced MURC protein and mRNA expression in cardiomyocytes. Addition of extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) inhibitor PD98059, ERK small interfering RNA (siRNA), angiotensin II (Ang II) antibody and atorvastatin before stretch, abolished the induction of MURC protein. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed that stretch enhanced the DNA binding activity of serum response factor. Stretch increased but MURC mutant plasmid, ERK siRNA, Ang II antibody and atorvastatin reversed the transcriptional activity of MURC induced by stretch. Adding Ang II to the cardiomyocytes also induced MURC protein expression. MURC siRNA and atorvastatin inhibited the hypertrophic marker and protein synthesis induced by stretch. Treatment with atorvastatin reversed MURC expression and hypertrophy under volume overload and cyclic stretch.
Quality of clinical practice guidelines about red blood cell transfusion
Authors: Simancas‐Racines Daniel , Montero‐Oleas Nadia , Vernooij Robin W.M. , Arevalo‐Rodriguez Ingrid , Fuentes Paulina , Gich Ignasi , Hidalgo Ricardo , Martinez‐Zapata Maria José , Bonfill Xavier , Alonso‐Coello Pablo 
Published: December 2018

AbstractBackgroundRed blood cell (RBC) transfusions are essential in health care. The quality of recommendations included in clinical practice guidelines (CPG), regarding this intervention, has not been systematically evaluated. This paper systematically assessed CPGs for RBC‐transfusion, to appraise their methodological quality, to explore changes in quality over time, and to assess the consistency of the hemoglobin threshold (HT) recommendations.MethodsWe searched for CPGs that included recommendations of RBC‐transfusion in generic databases, compiler entities, registries, clearinghouses and guideline developers. Three reviewers extracted data on CPGs characteristics and HT recommendations, independently appraised the quality of the studies using AGREE II and resolved disagreements by consensus.ResultsWe examined 16 CPGs. Mean scores (mean ± SD) were: scope and purpose (59.4% ± 19.8%), stakeholder involvement (43.2% ± 22.6%), rigor of development (50% ± 25%), clarity of presentation (74.4% ± 12.6%), applicability (19.4% ± 18.8%), and editorial independence (41% ± 30%). Seven CPGs recommended a restrictive strategy for RBC transfusion; four CPGs gave a guarded statement considering an HT of 7 g/dL, as safe to prescribe an RBC transfusion. Eight CPGs did not provide an HT stating that RBC transfusions should not be prescribed by HT alone.ConclusionsOnly 3 out of the 16 evaluated CPGs were “recommended” by the independent evaluators. Four domains “stakeholder involvement,” “rigor of development,” applicability,” and “editorial independence” had serious shortcomings. Recommendations about the use of an HT for RBC‐transfusion were heterogeneous among guidelines. Greater efforts are needed to provide high‐quality CPGs in the RBC‐transfusion practice.
We see the orange not the lemon: typicality effects in ultra‐rapid categorization in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Carmo Joana C. , Martins Fábio , Pinho Sandra , Barahona‐Correa Bernardo , Ventura Paulo , Filipe Carlos N. 
Published: December 2018

Semantic meaning can be extracted from pictures presented very briefly, in the order of tens of milliseconds. This ultra‐rapid categorization processing appears to respect a coarse‐to‐fine path where lower level representations of concepts, or more detailed information, need additional time. We question whether variations in the levels of typicality of the target‐item would implicate additional processing for correct classification, both in neurotypical (NT) individuals and with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research in ASD points out that atypical exemplars of a category might be abnormally processed (e.g., longer times in identifying a penguin as a bird), an observation that we further tested with a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. In this study, we applied a RSVP task, with four different presentation times (13, 27, 50, and 80 ms) and with typical and atypical exemplars to a group of NT individuals and a sample of individuals with ASD. We found, overall, a strong effect of typicality with a higher detection rate for typical items. In addition, we observed a group × typicality × duration interaction. We interpret these findings in the light of the competences of the feedforward sweep of information through our visual system.
Warburg effect in Gynecologic cancers
Authors: Kobayashi Yusuke , Banno Kouji , Kunitomi Haruko , Takahashi Takayuki , Takeda Takashi , Nakamura Kanako , Tsuji Kosuke , Tominaga Eiichiro , Aoki Daisuke 
Published: December 2018

AbstractMammalian cells produce energy by oxidative phosphorylation under aerobic conditions. However, in the 1920s, Otto Warburg reported the so‐called “Warburg effect” in which cancer cells produce ATP that is biased toward glycolysis rather than mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation not only in anaerobic environment but also in aerobic environment. Glucose is converted into lactate without going into mitochondria after being metabolized in glycolysis. Compared with oxidative phosphorylation, the glycolysis has a faster ATP production rate but it is very inefficient, resulting in cancer cells consuming a large amount of glucose. Increased glucose metabolism has become a biomarker for cancer cells and has led to the development of positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose. Till date, the Warburg effect has been an inefficient system for cancer cells with regard to efficient energy production, but since the consumption of oxygen can be suppressed as the tumor grows in mass, it is thought that the Warburg effect is advantageous in this situation wherein the tumor can increase despite the lack of vessels. In addition, an increased lactate by the glycolysis causes acidosis in the microenvironment of tissues, which is thought to damage the surrounding normal tissues and favor the invasion and metastasis of cancer. Thus, Warburg effect is one of the key mechanisms for cancer development and will be the next promising target. In this review, we introduce key players that can be targeted in the Warburg effect and outline the prospects of treatment, targeting the Warburg effect in gynecological cancer.
Papaya extract upregulates the immune and antioxidants‐related genes, and proteins expression in milk somatic cells of Friesian dairy cows
Authors: Abouzed Tarek K. , Sadek Kadry M. , Ayoub Mousa M. , Saleh Ebeed A. , Nasr Sherif M. , El‐Sayed Yasser S. , Shoukry Moustafa 
Published: December 2018

AbstractCarica papaya is a perennial plant containing bioactive constituents with free radical‐scavenging and immune‐modulating activities. In contrast, the immune suppression is predominant in the periparturient period, where oxidative stress has a substantial impact on the mammary gland health. The aim of the experiment reported here was to determine the potential effect of C. papaya aqueous extract (CPE) on milk production traits, and expression of genes and proteins related to immune and antioxidant status in dairy milk somatic cells (MSCs). Forty Friesian dairy cows were divided equally between a control and CPE‐treated groups (orally drenched 250 µg/kg bwt, once weekly a month before expected parturition and continued until 5 months post‐partum). CPE did not affect milk yield or composition but upregulated the expression of β13‐defensin (DEFB13), cathelicidin 2 (CATHL2), cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CATHL3), hepcidin (HAMP), lysozyme (LYZ), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) in MSCs. The environmental micro‐organisms did not influence the levels of the transcripts. The DEFB13, CATHL2, CATHL3, HAMP and LYZ, but not β1‐defensin (DEFB1) transcripts and proteins were constitutively expressed in MSCs obtained from pathogen‐free udders. It could be concluded that CPE has immunostimulant and antioxidant activities; thereby, it could be utilized to minimize the occurrence of mastitis.
Gnostic Anxieties: Jewish Intellectuals and Weimar Neo‐Marcionism
Authors: Mendes‐Flohr Paul 
Published: December 2018

AbstractIn the wake of World War I and Imperial Germany’s ignominious defeat, a “neo‐gnostic spirit” swept through the intellectual landscape of the fledgling Weimar Republic, threatening to undermine its commitment to liberal democracy. Jews were particularly alarmed by what they perceived to be the political implications of the burgeoning fascination with Gnosticism.
Regulation of intestinal growth in response to variations in energy supply and demand
Authors: Nilaweera K. N. , Speakman J. R. 
Published: December 2018

SummaryThe growth of the intestine requires energy, which is known to be met by catabolism of ingested nutrients. Paradoxically, during whole body energy deficit including calorie restriction, the intestine grows in size. To understand how and why this happens, we reviewed data from several animal models of energetic challenge. These were bariatric surgery, cold exposure, lactation, dietary whey protein intake and calorie restriction. Notably, these challenges all reduced the adipose tissue mass, altered hypothalamic neuropeptide expression and increased intestinal size. Based on these data, we propose that the loss of energy in the adipose tissue promotes the growth of the intestine via a signalling mechanism involving the hypothalamus. We discuss possible candidates in this pathway including data showing a correlative change in intestinal (ileal) expression of the cyclin D1 gene with adipose tissue mass, adipose derived‐hormone leptin and hypothalamic expression of leptin receptor and the pro‐opiomelanocortin gene. The ability of the intestine to grow in size during depletion of energy stores provides a mechanism to maximize assimilation of ingested energy and in turn sustain critical functions of tissues important for survival.
Loose Howe; A North Yorkshire Log Coffin Boat Burial(s) Revisited
Authors: Jones Andy M. , Brunning Richard , Wilkin Neil 
Published: December 2018

SummaryIn 1937 a large barrow in north‐east Yorkshire was excavated by Mrs H. W. and Dr F. Elgee. A primary deposit comprising a ‘canoe’‐shaped log coffin and what were described as two ‘log boats’ or ‘canoes’ was uncovered beneath the mound. The burial did not survive; however, the ‘canoe’‐shaped coffin was found to contain an Early Bronze Age Merthyr Mawr‐type dagger, flints and some hazelnuts. Subsequently, a cremation was inserted into the top of the mound. This was accompanied by a Camerton‐Snowshill‐type dagger, a stone battle axe, a copper alloy pin, an accessory vessel and fragments from a Collared Urn.As part of a log coffin radiocarbon‐dating project, one of the hazelnuts was radiocarbon‐dated to 2008–1772 cal BC (95.4%) and a fragment of cremated bone from the secondary burial was dated to 1890–1741 cal BC (93.2%). This paper discusses the dating results and reconsiders the interpretation of the log coffin as a boat.
At the birth of pediatric anesthesia in Mexico: An interview with Dr. Estela Melman, a pioneering woman in medicine
Authors: Ahmed Zulfiqar , Mai Christine , Skinner Katherine G. , Yaster Myron 
Published: December 2018

SummaryDr. Estela Melman (1939‐present), Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, the American British Cowdray Medical Center, Mexico, is an influential pioneer who has shaped the scope and practice of pediatric anesthesia in Mexico and throughout the world. Her early work to reintroduce neural blockade into routine pediatric anesthetic care, particularly the caudal approach to the epidural space, helped to transform current anesthesia practice. Based on a series of interviews held with Dr. Melman between 2016 and 2017, this article reviews the remarkable career of a pioneering pediatric anesthesiologist.
Beyond isohydricity: The role of environmental variability in determining plant drought responses
Authors: Feng Xue , Ackerly David D. , Dawson Todd E. , Manzoni Stefano , McLaughlin Blair , Skelton Robert P. , Vico Giulia , Weitz Andrew P. , Thompson Sally E. 
Published: December 2018

AbstractDespite the appeal of the iso/anisohydric framework for classifying plant drought responses, recent studies have shown that such classifications can be strongly affected by a plant's environment. Here, we present measured in situ drought responses to demonstrate that apparent isohydricity can be conflated with environmental conditions that vary over space and time. In particular, we (a) use data from an oak species (Quercus douglasii) during the 2012–2015 extreme drought in California to demonstrate how temporal and spatial variability in the environment can influence plant water potential dynamics, masking the role of traits; (b) explain how these environmental variations might arise from climatic, topographic, and edaphic variability; (c) illustrate, through a “common garden” thought experiment, how existing trait‐based or response‐based isohydricity metrics can be confounded by these environmental variations, leading to Type‐1 (false positive) and Type‐2 (false negative) errors; and (d) advocate for the use of model‐based approaches for formulating alternate classification schemes. Building on recent insights from greenhouse and vineyard studies, we offer additional evidence across multiple field sites to demonstrate the importance of spatial and temporal drivers of plants' apparent isohydricity. This evidence challenges the use of isohydricity indices, per se, to characterize plant water relations at the global scale.
Sudden-onset severe presyncope in a 67-year-old man
Authors: Sanders Katie Hannah , Martin Claire A , Virdee Munmohan 
Published: December 2018

A 67-year-old man presented to the emergency department with sudden onset of severe presyncope. He reported that he had a permanent pacemaker implanted in 2006 following atrioventricular node ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). After suffering increasing shortness of breath, he underwent upgrade to cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) in 2016. He denied any recent falls, interventions or changes in medication. ECG monitoring showed AF with a broad ventricular escape rhythm at around 25 bpm with pauses of up to 3 s. Placement of a magnet over the device resulted in pacing (figure 1A). The implanted device (Medtronic Syncra C2TR01) was interrogated (figure 1B), and a chest radiograph was obtained (figure 2).
Figure 1(A) Twelve-lead ECG demonstrating intrinsic rhythm and pacing after application of magnet. (B) Device interrogation with right ventricular threshold test.Figure 2(C) Anteroposterior chest radiograph demonstrating lead position on admission.QuestionWhat was the cause of this presentation?Noise oversensing on the right ventricular (RV) lead due to lead fracture.The RV septal lead has displaced into the right atrial (RA).RA and RV leads were switched in the can during the CRT upgrade.Increase in threshold of RV and left ventricular (LV) leads resulting in loss of capture.
Multiorgan accelerated silicosis misdiagnosed as sarcoidosis in two workers exposed to quartz conglomerate dust
Authors: Guarnieri Gabriella , Bizzotto Rosana , Gottardo Ottorino , Velo Emanuela , Cassaro Mauro , Vio Stefania , Putzu Maria Grazia , Rossi Federica , Zuliani Paolo , Liviero Filippo , Mason Paola , Maestrelli Piero 
Published: December 2018

IntroductionClusters of silicosis cases have been reported in the fabrication of quartz conglomerate, a new high-silica-content artificial stone for kitchen and bathroom benchtops (countertops).AimWe describe two cases of accelerated-type silicosis with hepatic granulomas arising in workers exposed to artificial quartz conglomerates.MethodsA confident diagnosis of multiorgan silicosis was based on high level of respirable silica in the workplace, typical radiological alterations in chest high-resolution CT, histological findings in the lung and liver, and detection of silica crystals in both tissues by phase-contrast polarising light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy.ResultsThe development of the disease <10 years after the first exposure is consistent with an accelerated-type of silicosis. Compared with other studies related to quartz conglomerate exposure, we determined that the levels of airborne crystalline silica during activity in the finishing area were between 0.260 and 0.744 mg/m3, that is, much higher than the threshold limit value according to American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (0.025 mg/m3). Moreover, liver granulomas were associated with accumulation of crystalline silica particles in the hepatic tissue.ConclusionsQuartz conglomerate fabrication is a potentially dangerous occupation. General practitioners and physicians should have awareness of this newly described occupational hazard. Accurate occupational history is critical in avoiding misdiagnosis, as silicosis caused by inhalation of dust from artificial quartz conglomerates may exhibit atypical presentation. These features seem to be related to the extremely high level of silica exposure and, possibly, to an increased toxicity of the dust generated in this process.
Performance Characterization of NVMe-over-Fabrics Storage Disaggregation
Authors: Guz Zvika , Li Harry (Huan) , Shayesteh Anahita , Balakrishnan Vijay 
Published: December 2018

Storage disaggregation separates compute and storage to different nodes to allow for independent resource scaling and, thus, better hardware resource utilization. While disaggregation of hard-drives storage is a common practice, NVMe-SSD (i.e., PCIe-based SSD) disaggregation is considered more challenging. This is because SSDs are significantly faster than hard drives, so the latency overheads (due to both network and CPU processing) as well as the extra compute cycles needed for the offloading stack become much more pronounced.
In this work, we characterize the overheads of NVMe-SSD disaggregation. We show that NVMe-over-Fabrics (NVMe-oF)—a recently released remote storage protocol specification—reduces the overheads of remote access to a bare minimum, thus greatly increasing the cost-efficiency of Flash disaggregation. Specifically, while recent work showed that SSD storage disaggregation via iSCSI degrades application-level throughput by 20%, we report on negligible performance degradation with NVMe-oF—both when using stress-tests as well as with a more-realistic KV-store workload.
Crellvm: verified credible compilation for LLVM
Authors: Kang Jeehoon , Kim Yoonseung , Song Youngju , Lee Juneyoung , Park Sanghoon , Shin Mark Dongyeon , Kim Yonghyun , Cho Sungkeun , Choi Joonwon , Hur Chung-Kil , Yi Kwangkeun 
Published: December 2018

Production compilers such as GCC and LLVM are large complex software systems, for which achieving a high level of reliability is hard. Although testing is an effective method for finding bugs, it alone cannot guarantee a high level of reliability. To provide a higher level of reliability, many approaches that examine compilers' internal logics have been proposed. However, none of them have been successfully applied to major optimizations of production compilers.This paper presents Crellvm: a verified credible compilation framework for LLVM, which can be used as a systematic way of providing a high level of reliability for major optimizations in LLVM. Specifically, we augment an LLVM optimizer to generate translation results together with their correctness proofs, which can then be checked by a proof checker formally verified in Coq. As case studies, we applied our approach to two major optimizations of LLVM: register promotion mem2reg and global value numbering gvn, having found four new miscompilation bugs (two in each).
Spatial: a language and compiler for application accelerators
Authors: Koeplinger David , Feldman Matthew , Prabhakar Raghu , Zhang Yaqi , Hadjis Stefan , Fiszel Ruben , Zhao Tian , Nardi Luigi , Pedram Ardavan , Kozyrakis Christos , Olukotun Kunle 
Published: December 2018

Industry is increasingly turning to reconfigurable architectures like FPGAs and CGRAs for improved performance and energy efficiency. Unfortunately, adoption of these architectures has been limited by their programming models. HDLs lack abstractions for productivity and are difficult to target from higher level languages. HLS tools are more productive, but offer an ad-hoc mix of software and hardware abstractions which make performance optimizations difficult.
In this work, we describe a new domain-specific language and compiler called Spatial for higher level descriptions of application accelerators. We describe Spatial's hardware-centric abstractions for both programmer productivity and design performance, and summarize the compiler passes required to support these abstractions, including pipeline scheduling, automatic memory banking, and automated design tuning driven by active machine learning. We demonstrate the language's ability to target FPGAs and CGRAs from common source code. We show that applications written in Spatial are, on average, 42% shorter and achieve a mean speedup of 2.9x over SDAccel HLS when targeting a Xilinx UltraScale+ VU9P FPGA on an Amazon EC2 F1 instance.