bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Consumption of transglycosylated starch down-regulates expression of mucosal innate immune response genes in the large intestine using a pig model
Authors: Metzler-Zebeli Barbara U. , Newman Monica A. , Grüll Dietmar , Zebeli Qendrim 
Published: May 2018

AbstractBenefits of resistant starch (RS) consumption on host physiology encompass microbial activity-derived attenuation of intestinal inflammation. However, little is known about anti-inflammatory properties of RS of type 4. This study compared the effects of transglycosylated starch (TGS) consumption on the jejunal barrier function and expression of genes related to inflammation, barrier function and the mucosal defence in jejunum, ileum, caecum and colon of pigs. Moreover, interactions of TGS-induced alterations in bacterial metabolites and composition with host mucosal responses were assessed using sparse partial least squares regression and relevance network analysis. Intestinal samples were collected after pigs (n8/diet; 4 months of age) were fed the experimental diets for 10 d. Consumption of TGS did not modify jejunal barrier function and gene expression. By contrast, TGS down-regulated the caecal expression of zonula occludens-1 and mucin 2 and of genes within the toll-like receptor 4 and NF-κB pro-inflammatory signalling cascade. Relevance networks revealed a microbiome signature on ileal, caecal and colonic mucosal signalling as TGS-derived changes in bacterial genera and fermentation acids, such as propionic acid, correlated with the differently expressed genes in ileum, caecum and colon of pigs. In conclusion, the present findings suggest certain anti-inflammatory capabilities of TGS by down-regulating the expression of pro-inflammatory pathways in the caecal mucosa, which seems to be mediated, at least in part, by TGS-induced changes in microbial action in the large intestine.
The gender distribution of real property ownership in late medieval Brussels (1356–1460)
Authors: BARDYN ANDREA 
Published: May 2018

AbstractAlthough ownership of real property was crucial to the economic opportunities of medieval urban women, few studies systematically investigate the gender distribution of medieval real property over time. Usingcensiers(rarely used sources), this article approaches this question through a socio-geographical analysis of Brussels. The study finds that, despite the region's egalitarian inheritance laws, female ownership of real property was relatively limited, and it declined during the late Middle Ages. This decrease accelerated during economic crises, and especially affected the property of non-elite women. Further research on the changing economic opportunities of medieval women would benefit from a more explicit discussion of non-labour income sources and social status.
Trends and internal dynamics of illegitimacy in north-west Spain: rural Galicia, 1570–1899
Authors: DUBERT ISIDRO 
Published: May 2018

AbstractGalicia is a region located in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, where, historically, illegitimacy was often high compared with levels elsewhere in Europe. At the same time, Galicia's coastal and inland areas have always differed greatly in terms of farming structure, population growth, migration patterns, family types and inheritance systems. The aim of this article is to establish to what extent the trends in and levels of illegitimacy between 1570 and 1899 were influenced by these different historical contexts. It also offers an in-depth examination of unmarried mothers, showing that the trend towards bearing more than one illegitimate child rose over time. Ultimately, the article argues that illegitimacy is best studied at a local or regional level, rather than at the macro level that historians have often employed elsewhere in Europe.
Why did medieval villagers buy earthenware? Pottery and consumer behaviour in the Valencian countryside (1280–1450)
Authors: ALMENAR FERNÁNDEZ LUIS 
Published: May 2018

AbstractRecent scholarship has suggested that villagers participated in the general proliferation of goods that seems to have occurred in late medieval Europe. How and why they did so is far from clear. This article addresses this issue through a case study of pottery consumption (with particular attention to earthenware) in late medieval rural Valencia. A quantitative analysis of 251 probate inventories (1280s–1450s) supports the argument that not only did medieval villagers acquire more of these goods, but also that the reasons behind such a process challenge many of the traditional interpretations of changes in consumption patterns.
‘Not that of mere accident, but of humane treatment’: natural increase and ‘amelioration’ on Grand Sable Estate, St Vincent
Authors: SMITH S. D. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThis article investigates the demographic history of the Grand Sable sugar estate on nineteenth-century St Vincent. Exceptionally for a Caribbean plantation, Grand Sable's enslaved population achieved natural increase (a surplus of births over deaths). Pro-slavery campaigners seized on this achievement to support the cause of gradualist amelioration and to oppose metropolitan regulation of slavery, especially emancipation. Explanations of demographic success advanced by opponents of abolition are found wanting and alternatives proposed that are more consistent with the surviving evidence. The role played by anomalies in shaping discourse on both sides of the slavery debate is highlighted.
Introduction to generic rectangular floor plans
Authors: Shekhawat Krishnendra , Duarte José P. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractAn important task in the initial stages of most architectural design processes is the design of planar floor plans, that are composed of non-overlapping rooms divided from each other by walls while satisfying given topological and dimensional constraints. The work described in this paper is part of a larger research aimed at developing the mathematical theory for examining the feasibility of given topological constraints and providing a generic floor plan solution for all possible design briefs.In this paper, we mathematically describe universal (or generic) rectangular floor plans with n rooms, that is, the floor plans that topologically contain all possible rectangular floor plans with n rooms. Then, we present a graph-theoretical approach for enumerating generic rectangular floor plans upto nine rooms. At the end, we demonstrate the transformation of generic floor plans into a floor plan corresponding to a given graph.
Trends in proportion of older HIV-infected people in care in Latin America and the Caribbean: a growing challenge
Authors: Caro-Vega Y. , Belaunzarán-Zamudio P. F. , Crabtree-Ramírez B. , Shepherd B. E. , Mejia F. , Giganti M. J. , Patterson P. , Grinsztejn B. , Wolff M. , Pape J. W. , Padgett D. , Castilho J. L. , McGowan C. , Sierra-Madero J. G. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractWe aimed to quantify the proportion of people receiving care for HIV-infection that are 50 years or older (older HIV patients) in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2000 and 2015 and to estimate the contribution to the growth of this population of people enrolled before (<50yo) and after 50 years old (yo) (⩾50yo). We used a series of repeated, cross-sectional measurements over time in the Caribbean, Central and South American network (CCASAnet) cohort. We estimated the percentage of patients retained in care each year that were older HIV patients. For every calendar year, we divided patients into two groups: those who enrolled before age 50 and after age 50. We used logistic regression models to estimate the change in the proportion of older HIV patients between 2000 and 2015. The percentage of CCASAnet HIV patients over 50 years had a threefold increase (8% to 24%) between 2000 and 2015. Most of the growth of this population can be explained by the increasing proportion of people that enrolled before 50 years and aged in care. These changes will impact needs of care for people living with HIV, due to multiple comorbidities and high risk of disability associated with aging.
Serological survey on Leptospira infection in slaughtered swine in North-Central Italy
Authors: Bertelloni F. , Turchi B. , Vattiata E. , Viola P. , Pardini S. , Cerri D. , Fratini F. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractSwine can act as asymptomatic carriers of some Leptospira serovars. In this study, 1194 sera from 61 farms located in five different Regions of North-West Italy were collected from slaughtered healthy pigs. Presence of antibody against four Leptospira serovars was evaluated. Overall, 52.5% of analysed farms presented at least one positive animal and 34.4% presented at least one positive swine with titre ⩾1:400. A percentage of 16.6% sera was positive and 5.9% samples presented a positive titre ⩾1:400. Tuscany and Lombardy showed the highest percentage of positive farms (64.3% and 54.6%, respectively) and sera (28.5% and 13.3%, respectively), probably due to environmental conditions and potential risk factors, which promote maintenance and spreading of Leptospira in these areas. The main represented serogroups were Australis (21.3% positive farms, 8.2% positive sera) and Pomona (18.0% positive farms, 8.1% positive sera). In swine, these serogroups are the most detected worldwide; however, our results seem to highlight a reemerging of serogroup Pomona in pigs in investigated areas. A low percentage of sera (0.6%) scored positive to Canicola, leaving an open question on the role of pigs in the epidemiology of this serovar. Higher antibody titres were detected for serogroups Australis and Pomona. Swine leptospirosis is probably underestimated in Italy and could represent a potential risk for animal and human health.
Applying the zero-inflated Poisson model with random effects to detect abnormal rises in school absenteeism indicating infectious diseases outbreak
Authors: Song X. X. , Zhao Q. , Tao T. , Zhou C. M. , Diwan V. K. , Xu B. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractRecords of absenteeism from primary schools are valuable data for infectious diseases surveillance. However, the analysis of the absenteeism is complicated by the data features of clustering at zero, non-independence and overdispersion. This study aimed to generate an appropriate model to handle the absenteeism data collected in a European Commission granted project for infectious disease surveillance in rural China and to evaluate the validity and timeliness of the resulting model for early warnings of infectious disease outbreak. Four steps were taken: (1) building a ‘well-fitting’ model by the zero-inflated Poisson model with random effects (ZIP-RE) using the absenteeism data from the first implementation year; (2) applying the resulting model to predict the ‘expected’ number of absenteeism events in the second implementation year; (3) computing the differences between the observations and the expected values (O–E values) to generate an alternative series of data; (4) evaluating the early warning validity and timeliness of the observational data and model-based O–E values via the EARS-3C algorithms with regard to the detection of real cluster events. The results indicate that ZIP-RE and its corresponding O–E values could improve the detection of aberrations, reduce the false-positive signals and are applicable to the zero-inflated data.
Childhood infectious diseases and risk of multiple myeloma: an analysis of the Italian multicentre case-control study
Authors: Stagnaro E. , Parodi S. , Costantini A. Seniori , Crosignani P. , Miligi L. , Nanni O. , Piro S. , Ramazzotti V. , Rodella S. , Tumino R. , Vindigni C. , Vineis P. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractCommon childhood infectious diseases have been associated with a reduced risk of following haematopoietic malignancies, but investigations on multiple myeloma (MM) are scarce. Information about 213 MM cases and 1128 healthy controls were obtained from a multicentre population-based Italian case-control study. The association between chickenpox, measles, mumps, pertussis and rubella and the MM risk was estimated by unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for age, gender and residence area. No association was found between MM risk and any considered infectious disease. The number of infections was slightly inversely associated with the risk of MM, but statistical significance was not reached (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.55–1.4 for 1-2 diseasesvs.none and OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.41–1.1 for 3-5 diseases, respectively,P= 0.131). We did not find a clear evidence that common infections during childhood are associated with the subsequent risk of developing MM.
Warming‐Induced Earlier Greenup Leads to Reduced Stream Discharge in a Temperate Mixed Forest Catchment
Authors: Kim Ji Hyun , Hwang Taehee , Yang Yun , Schaaf Crystal L. , Boose Emery , Munger J. William 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe phenological response of vegetation to ongoing climate change may have great implications for hydrological regimes in the eastern United States. However, there have been few studies that analyze its resultant effect on catchment discharge dynamics, separating from dominant climatic controls. In this study, we examined the net effect of phenological variations on the long‐term and interannual gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes in a temperate deciduous forest, as well as on the catchment discharge behavior in a mixed deciduous‐conifer forest catchment. First, we calibrated the spring and autumn leaf phenology models for the Harvard Forest in the northeastern United States, where the onsets of greenup and senescence have been significantly advanced and delayed, 10.3 and 6.0 days respectively, over the past two decades (1992–2011). We then integrated the phenology models into a mechanistic watershed ecohydrological model (RHESSys), which improved the interannual and long‐term simulations of both the plot‐scale daily GPP and ET fluxes and the catchment discharge dynamics. We found that the phenological changes amplified the long‐term increases in GPP and ET driven by the climatic controls. In particular, the earlier greenup onsets resulted in increases in annual ET significantly, while the delayed senescence onsets had less influence. Consequently, the earlier greenup onsets reduced stream discharge not only during the growing season but also during the following dormant season due to soil water depletion. This study highlights the importance of understanding vegetation response to ongoing climate change in order to predict the future hydrological nonstationarity in this region.
Quantitative analysis of focal adhesion dynamics using photonic resonator outcoupler microscopy (PROM)
Authors: Zhuo Yue , Choi Ji Sun , Marin Thibault , Yu Hojeong , Harley Brendan A. , Cunningham Brian T. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractFocal adhesions are critical cell membrane components that regulate adhesion and migration and have cluster dimensions that correlate closely with adhesion engagement and migration speed. We utilized a label-free approach for dynamic, long-term, quantitative imaging of cell–surface interactions called photonic resonator outcoupler microscopy (PROM) in which membrane-associated protein aggregates outcoupled photons from the resonant evanescent field of a photonic crystal biosensor, resulting in a highly localized reduction of the reflected light intensity. By mapping the changes in the resonant reflected peak intensity from the biosensor surface, we demonstrate the ability of PROM to detect focal adhesion dimensions. Similar spatial distributions can be observed between PROM images and fluorescence-labeled images of focal adhesion areas in dental epithelial stem cells. In particular, we demonstrate that cell–surface contacts and focal adhesion formation can be imaged by two orthogonal label-free modalities in PROM simultaneously, providing a general-purpose tool for kinetic, high axial-resolution monitoring of cell interactions with basement membranes.
Vapor transport deposition of antimony selenide thin film solar cells with 7.6% efficiency
Authors: Wen Xixing , Chen Chao , Lu Shuaicheng , Li Kanghua , Kondrotas Rokas , Zhao Yang , Chen Wenhao , Gao Liang , Wang Chong , Zhang Jun , Niu Guangda , Tang Jiang 
Published: May 2018

AbstractAntimony selenide is an emerging promising thin film photovoltaic material thanks to its binary composition, suitable bandgap, high absorption coefficient, inert grain boundaries and earth-abundant constituents. However, current devices produced from rapid thermal evaporation strategy suffer from low-quality film and unsatisfactory performance. Herein, we develop a vapor transport deposition technique to fabricate antimony selenide films, a technique that enables continuous and low-cost manufacturing of cadmium telluride solar cells. We improve the crystallinity of antimony selenide films and then successfully produce superstrate cadmium sulfide/antimony selenide solar cells with a certified power conversion efficiency of 7.6%, a net 2% improvement over previous 5.6% record of the same device configuration. We analyze the deep defects in antimony selenide solar cells, and find that the density of the dominant deep defects is reduced by one order of magnitude using vapor transport deposition process.
Quantifying birefringence in the bovine model of early osteoarthritis using polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography and mechanical indentation
Authors: Goodwin Matthew , Bräuer Bastian , Lewis Stephen , Thambyah Ashvin , Vanholsbeeck Frédérique 
Published: May 2018

AbstractRecent studies have shown potential for using polarisation sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) to study cartilage morphology, and to be potentially used as an in vivo, non-invasive tool for detecting osteoarthritic changes. However, there has been relatively limited ability of this method to quantify the subtle changes that occur in the early stages of cartilage degeneration. An established mechanical indenting technique that has previously been used to examine the microstructural response of articular cartilage was employed to fix the bovine samples in an indented state. The samples were subject to creep loading with a constant compressive stress of 4.5 MPa and, when imaged using PS-OCT, enabled birefringent banding patterns to be observed. The magnitude of the birefringence was quantified using the birefringence coefficient (BRC) and statistical analysis revealed that PS-OCT is able to detect and quantify significant changes between healthy and early osteoarthritic cartilage (p < 0.001). This presents a novel utilization of PS-OCT for future development as an in vivo assessment tool.
Use of Hemagglutinin Stem Probes Demonstrate Prevalence of Broadly Reactive Group 1 Influenza Antibodies in Human Sera
Authors: Yassine Hadi M. , McTamney Patrick M. , Boyington Jeffery C. , Ruckwardt Tracy J. , Crank Michelle C. , Smatti Maria K. , Ledgerwood Julie E. , Graham Barney S. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractA better understanding of the seroprevalence and specificity of influenza HA stem-directed broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) in the human population could significantly inform influenza vaccine design efforts. Here, we utilized probes comprising headless, HA stabilized stem (SS) to determine the prevalence, binding and neutralization breadth of antibodies directed to HA stem-epitope in a cross-sectional analysis of the general population. Five group-1 HA SS probes, representing five subtypes, were chosen for this analyses. Eighty-four percent of samples analyzed had specific reactivity to at least one probe, with approximately 60% of the samples reactive to H1 probes, and up to 45% reactive to each of the non-circulating subtypes. Thirty percent of analyzed sera had cross-reactivity to at least four of five probes and this reactivity could be blocked by competing with F10 bNAb. Binding cross-reactivity in sera samples significantly correlated with frequency of H1+H5+ cross-reactive B cells. Interestingly, only 33% of the cross-reactive sera neutralized both H1N1 and H5N1 pseudoviruses. Cross-reactive and neutralizing antibodies were more prevalent in individuals >50 years of age. Our data demonstrate the need to use multiple HA-stem probes to assess for broadly reactive antibodies. Further, a universal vaccine could be designed to boost pre-existing B-cells expressing stem-directed bNAbs.
A novel regulation mechanism of the T7 RNA polymerase based expression system improves overproduction and folding of membrane proteins
Authors: Angius Federica , Ilioaia Oana , Amrani Amira , Suisse Annabelle , Rosset Lindsay , Legrand Amélie , Abou-Hamdan Abbas , Uzan Marc , Zito Francesca , Miroux Bruno 
Published: May 2018

AbstractMembrane protein (MP) overproduction is one of the major bottlenecks in structural genomics and biotechnology. Despite the emergence of eukaryotic expression systems, bacteria remain a cost effective and powerful tool for protein production. The T7 RNA polymerase (T7RNAP)-based expression system is a successful and efficient expression system, which achieves high-level production of proteins. However some foreign MPs require a fine-tuning of their expression to minimize the toxicity associated with their production. Here we report a novel regulation mechanism for the T7 expression system. We have isolated two bacterial hosts, namely C44(DE3) and C45(DE3), harboring a stop codon in the T7RNAP gene, whose translation is under the control of the basal nonsense suppressive activity of the BL21(DE3) host. Evaluation of hosts with superfolder green fluorescent protein (sfGFP) revealed an unprecedented tighter control of transgene expression with a marked accumulation of the recombinant protein during stationary phase. Analysis of a collection of twenty MP fused to GFP showed an improved production yield and quality of several bacterial MPsand of one human monotopic MP. These mutant hosts are complementary to the other existing T7 hosts and will increase the versatility of the T7 expression system.
Substoichiometric Silicon Nitride – An Anode Material for Li-ion Batteries Promising High Stability and High Capacity
Authors: Ulvestad Asbjørn , Andersen Hanne F. , Jensen Ingvild J. T. , Mongstad Trygve T. , Mæhlen Jan Petter , Prytz Øystein , Kirkengen Martin 
Published: May 2018

AbstractSilicon is often regarded as a likely candidate to replace graphite as the main active anode material in next-generation lithium ion batteries; however, a number of problems impacting its cycle stability have limited its commercial relevance. One approach to solving these issues involves the use of convertible silicon sub-oxides. In this work we have investigated amorphous silicon sub-nitride as an alternative convertible silicon compound by comparing the electrochemical performance of a-SiNx thin films with compositions ranging from pure Si to SiN0.89. We have found that increasing the nitrogen content gradually reduces the reversible capacity of the material, but also drastically increases its cycling stability, e.g. 40 nm a-SiN0.79 thin films exhibited a stable capacity of more than 1,500 mAh/g for 2,000 cycles. Consequently, by controlling the nitrogen content, this material has the exceptional ability to be tuned to satisfy a large range of different requirements for capacity and stability.