bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Depression Symptoms Among Older Adults With and Without Subacute Low Back Pain
Authors: Lobo César Calvo , Vilar-Fernández Juan Manuel , Losa-Iglesias Marta Elena , López-López Daniel , Rodríguez-Sanz David , Palomo-López Patricia , Becerro-de Bengoa-Vallejo Ricardo 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Purpose
Lumbago, or low back pain (LBP), is a common musculoskeletal complaint among older adults that may also be associated with depression. The study objective was to investigate differences in Beck Depression Inventory depression symptoms scores among older adult patients with and without LBP.

Design
This was a case–control study.

Methods
A total of 152 older adult patients, recruited at an outpatient healthcare clinic (47 men, 105 women; 74.81 ± 6.9 years), were classified as having subacute LBP (n = 76) or non-LBP (n = 76) according to clinic records.

Findings
Beck Depression Inventory scores (mean ± SD) among LBP patients (10.93 ± 6.18) were significantly higher compared to the non-LBP group (7.62 ± 5.70; p = .000085), whose scores indicated no depression symptoms.

Conclusion
Subacute LBP may represent a potential risk for increased depression among older adults.

Clinical Relevance
Early detection of depression will assist rehabilitation nurses in prescribing the beneficial physical rehabilitation and exercise programs or provide the information and treatment recommendations to older adults with subacute LBP and their families. Also, it should be part of a nursing staff prevention strategy for patients who suffer this common musculoskeletal disorder.
Replicating the complexity of natural surfaces: technique validation and applications for biomimetics, ecology and evolution
Authors: Kumar Charchit , Palacios Alejandro , Surapaneni Venkata A. , Bold Georg , Thielen Marc , Licht Erik , Higham Timothy E. , Speck Thomas , Le Houérou Vincent 
Published: December 2018

The surfaces of animals, plants and abiotic structures are not only important for organismal survival, but they have also inspired countless biomimetic and industrial applications. Additionally, the surfaces of animals and plants exhibit an unprecedented level of diversity, and animals often move on the surface of plants. Replicating these surfaces offers a number of advantages, such as preserving a surface that is likely to degrade over time, controlling for non-structural aspects of surfaces, such as compliance and chemistry, and being able to produce large areas of a small surface. In this paper, we compare three replication techniques among a number of species of plants, a technical surface and a rock. We then use two model parameters (cross-covariance function ratio and relative topography difference) to develop a unique method for quantitatively evaluating the quality of the replication. Finally, we outline future directions that can employ highly accurate surface replications, including ecological and evolutionary studies, biomechanical experiments, industrial applications and improving haptic properties of bioinspired surfaces. The recent advances associated with surface replication and imaging technology have formed a foundation on which to incorporate surface information into biological sciences and to improve industrial and biomimetic applications.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Design of surfaces for controlling hard and soft fouling
Authors: Halvey Alex Kate , Macdonald Brian , Dhyani Abhishek , Tuteja Anish 
Published: December 2018

In this review, we present a framework to guide the design of surfaces which are resistant to solid fouling, based on the modulus and length scale of the fouling material. Solid fouling is defined as the undesired attachment of solid contaminants including ice, clathrates, waxes, inorganic scale, polymers, proteins, dust and biological materials. We first provide an overview of the surface design approaches typically applied across the scope of solid fouling and explain how these disparate research efforts can be united to an extent under a single framework. We discuss how the elastic modulus and the operating length scale of a foulant determine its ability or inability to elastically deform surfaces. When surface deformation occurs, minimization of the substrate elastic modulus is critical for the facile de-bonding of a solid contaminant. Foulants with low modulus or small deposition sizes cannot deform an elastic bulk material and instead de-bond more readily from surfaces with chemistries that minimize their interfacial free energy or induce a particular repellant interaction with the foulant. Overall, we review reported surface design strategies for the reduction in solid fouling, and provide perspective regarding how our framework, together with the modulus and length scale of a foulant, can guide future antifouling surface designs.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Transparency in the eye region of an ostracod carapace (Macrocypridina castanea, Myodocopida)
Authors: Parker A. R. , Palka B. P. , Purslow C. , Holden S. , Lewis P. N. , Meek K. M. 
Published: December 2018

Many myodocopid ostracods are unusual in that they have well-developed compound eyes yet must view their environment through a shell. The cypridinidMacrocypridina castaneais relatively large among ostracods (about 5–10 mm) and is a pelagic predator. This species possess highly pigmented shells with a transparent region lying just above the eye. Here we examine the ultrastructure and transparency of this window using electron microscopy, serial-block face scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis and optical modelling. An internal, laminar stack was identified within the window region of the shell that formed a more regular half-wave reflector than in non-window regions, and where the distance between molecules in the chitin–protein fibrils decreases as compared to the non-window area. This results in excellent transmission properties—at around 99% transmission—for wavelengths between 350 and 630 nm due to its half-wave reflector organization. Therefore, blue light, common in the mid and deep sea, where this species inhabits, would be near-optimally transmitted as a consequence of the sub-micrometre structuring of the shell, thus optimizing the ostracod's vision. Further, pore canals were identified in the shell that may secrete substances to prevent microbial growth, and subsequently maintain transparency, on the shell surface.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Re-designing materials for biomedical applications: from biomimicry to nature-inspired chemical engineering
Authors: Perera Ayomi S. , Coppens Marc-Olivier 
Published: December 2018

Gathering inspiration from nature for the design of new materials, products and processes is a topic gaining rapid interest among scientists and engineers. In this review, we introduce the concept of nature-inspired chemical engineering (NICE). We critically examine how this approach offers advantages over straightforward biomimicry and distinguishes itself from bio-integrated design, as a systematic methodology to present innovative solutions to challenging problems. The scope of application of the nature-inspired approach is demonstrated via examples from the field of biomedicine, where much of the inspiration is still more narrowly focused on imitation or bio-integration. We conclude with an outlook on prospective future applications, offered by the more systematic and mechanistically based NICE approach, complemented by rapid progress in manufacturing, computation and robotics.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Designing bioinspired surfaces for water collection from fog
Authors: Gurera Dev , Bhushan Bharat 
Published: December 2018

A systematic study is presented on various water collectors, bioinspired by desert beetles, desert grass and cacti. Three water collecting mechanisms including heterogeneous wettability, grooved surfaces, and Laplace pressure gradient, were investigated on flat, cylindrical, conical surfaces, and conical array. It is found that higher water repellency in flat surfaces results in higher water collection rate and inclination angle (with respect to the vertical axis) has little effect. Surfaces with heterogeneous wettability have higher water collection rate than surfaces with homogeneous wettability. Both cylindrical and conical surfaces resulted in comparable water collection rate. However, only the cone transported the water droplets to its base. Heterogeneity, higher inclination and grooves increased the water collection rate. A cone has a higher collection rate per unit area than a flat surface with the same wettability. An array of cones has higher collection rate per unit area than a single cone, because droplets in a conical array coalesce, leading to higher frequency of droplets falling. Adding heterogeneity further increases the difference. Based on the findings, scaled-up designs of beetle-, grass- and cactus-inspired surfaces and nets are presented.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Facile approach to develop anti-corrosive superhydrophobic aluminium with high mechanical, chemical and thermal durability
Authors: Tudu Balraj Krishnan , Kumar Aditya , Bhushan Bharat 
Published: December 2018

Durable, superhydrophobic and self-cleaning aluminium surfaces with high corrosion resistance are desirable in many industrial applications. In this study, a facile approach is used to produce aluminium surfaces with superhydrophobicity with a low tilt angle by creating desired roughness structure by immersing in NaOH solution followed by lowering the surface energy by immersing in hexadecyltrimethoxysilane solution. The coated samples show water contact angle of 164 ± 7° and tilt angle of 5 ± 1°. Droplet dynamics of the coated surfaces was investigated. Surfaces exhibited self-cleaning properties. In addition, mechanical, chemical and thermal stability tests were performed. Electrochemical tests of coated surfaces demonstrated anti-corrosion properties with low corrosion current density and high corrosion potential.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Fabrication of bioinspired, self-cleaning, anti-icing, superliquiphilic/phobic titanium using different pathways
Authors: Gurera Dev , Bhushan Bharat 
Published: December 2018

Titanium is an important material having a high tensile strength-to-density ratio and high corrosion resistance. It has found applications in the aerospace, marine, automotive and biomedical industries. In some of the applications, it is important to have it as a highly liquid repellent, anti-icing and self-cleaning. There have been several attempts to make titanium superliquiphobic. The common pathways include chemical etching and anodizing. However, important characteristics such as self-cleaning, anti-icing and durability have not been investigated. If any durability data were reported, it was poor. In the current study, various superliquiphilic/phobic surfaces were fabricated using three pathways which include chemical etching, anodizing and nanoparticle-binder coating. Each surface was characterized for wettability, self-cleaning, anti-icing, self-cleaning properties and durability.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology’.
Optical imaging of single protein size, charge, mobility, binding and conformational change
Authors: Ma Guanzhong , Zhu Hao , Wan Zijian , Yang Yunze , Wang Shaopeng , Tao Nongjian 
Published: December 2018

AbstractProtein analysis has relied on electrophoresis, mass spectroscopy and immunoassay, which separate, detect and identify proteins based on the size, charge, mobility and binding to antibodies. However, measuring these quantities at the single molecule level has not been possible. We tether a protein to a surface with a flexible polymer, drive the protein into mechanical oscillation with an alternating electric field, and image the protein oscillation with a near field imaging method, from which we determine the size, charge, mobility of the protein. We also measure binding of antibodies to single proteins and ligand binding-induced conformational changes in single proteins. This work provides new capabilities for protein analysis and disease biomarker detection at the single molecule level.
Revealing Hi-C subcompartments by imputing high-resolution inter-chromosomal chromatin interactions
Authors: Xiong Kyle , Ma Jian 
Published: December 2018

AbstractThe higher-order genome organization and its variation in different cellular conditions remains poorly understood. Recent high-resolution genome-wide mapping of chromatin interactions using Hi-C has revealed that chromosomes in the human genome are spatially segregated into distinct subcompartments. However, due to the requirement on sequencing coverage of the Hi-C data to define subcompartments, to date subcompartment annotation is only available in the GM12878 cell line, making it impractical to compare Hi-C subcompartment patterns across multiple cell types. Here we develop a new computational approach, named Sniper, based on an autoencoder and multilayer perceptron classifier to infer subcompartments using typical Hi-C datasets with moderate coverage. We demonstrated that Sniper can accurately reveal subcompartments based on Hi-C datasets with moderate coverage and can significantly outperform an existing method that uses numerous epigenomic datasets as input features in GM12878. We applied Sniper to eight additional cell lines to identify the variation of Hi-C subcompartments across different cell types. Sniper revealed that chromosomal regions with conserved and more dynamic subcompartment annotations across cell types have different patterns of functional genomic features. This work demonstrates that Sniper is effective in identifying subcompartments without the need of high-coverage Hi-C data and has the potential to provide new insights into the spatial genome organization variation across different cell types.
Honey bee parasitic mite contains the sensory organ expressing ionotropic receptors with conserved functions
Authors: Lei Jing , Liu Qiushi , Kadowaki Tatsuhiko 
Published: December 2018

AbstractHoney bee parasitic mites (Tropilaelaps mercedesaeandVarroa destructor) detect temperature, humidity, and odor but the underlying sensory mechanisms are poorly understood. To uncover howT. mercedesaeresponds to environmental stimuli inside a hive, we identified the sensilla-rich sensory organ on the foreleg tarsus. The organ contained four types of sensilla, which may respond to different stimuli based on their morphology. We found the forelegs were enriched with mRNAs encoding sensory proteins such as ionotropic receptors (IRs) and gustatory receptors (GRs), as well as proteins involved in ciliary transport. We also found thatT. mercedesaeandDrosophila melanogasterIR25a and IR93a are functionally equivalent. These results demonstrate that the structures and physiological functions of ancient IRs have been conserved during arthropod evolution. Our study provides insight into the sensory mechanisms of honey bee parasitic mites, as well as potential targets for methods to control the most serious honey bee pest.
Identifying Context-specific Network Features for CRISPR-Cas9 Targeting Efficiency Using Accurate and Interpretable Deep Neural Network
Authors: Liu Qiao , He Di , Xie Lei 
Published: December 2018

AbstractCRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful genome editing tool, whose efficiency and safety depends on the selection of single-guide RNA (sgRNA). Machine learning has been applied to optimize sgRNA selection, but several challenges remain. The performance of predictive model is limited by the amount of available data in many cell lines, ignorance of gene network function and its variable effect on phenotype, and elusive biological interpretation of computational models. We develop an accurate and interpretable deep learning model SeqCrispr to address these problems. In benchmark studies, SeqCrispr outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms and improves the prediction accuracy when applied to small sample size cell lines. Furthermore, we find that gene context-specific network properties are critical for the prediction accuracy in addition to the last three nucleotides in sgRNA 3’end. Our findings will bolster developing more accurate predictive models of CRISPR-Cas9 across wide spectrum of biological conditions as well as efficient and safe gene therapy.
Contrasting patterns of plant and microbial diversity during long‐term ecosystem development
Authors: Turner Benjamin L. , Zemunik Graham , Laliberté Etienne , Drake Jeremy J. , Jones F. Andrew , Saltonstall Kristin 
Published: December 2018

Abstract

Long‐term ecosystem development involves changes in plant community composition and diversity associated with pedogenesis and nutrient availability, but comparable changes in soil microbial communities remain poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether the diversity of plants and microbes respond to similar abiotic drivers, or become decoupled as resources change over long time‐scales.

We characterized communities of archaea, bacteria and fungi in soils along a 2‐million‐year chronosequence of coastal dunes in a biodiversity hot spot in Western Australia. The chronosequence involves marked changes in soil pH and nutrient availability that drive major shifts in plant community composition and diversity as soils age.

Patterns of α‐diversity for microbial groups differed along the chronosequence. Bacterial α‐diversity was greatest in intermediate‐aged soils; archaeal diversity was greater in young alkaline or intermediate‐aged soils, while fungal α‐diversity—like plant diversity—was greatest in old, strongly weathered soils where phosphorus is the limiting nutrient.

Changes in microbial community composition along the chronosequence were explained primarily by the long‐term decline in soil pH, with a smaller influence of the relative abundance of plant nutrient‐acquisition strategies. However, changes between the prokaryote and fungal communities, and between fungal and plant communities, became increasingly decoupled along the chronosequence, demonstrating that the coordination of change in biological communities by abiotic drivers becomes weaker during long‐term ecosystem development.

Several bacterial taxa, including DA101 (Verrucomicrobia), “Candidatus Solibacter” (Acidobacteria) and Gaiella (Actinobacteria), were particularly abundant on the oldest dunes, indicating that they are adapted to acquire phosphorus from extremely infertile soils. However, we cannot disentangle the influence of phosphorus from the long‐term decline in soil pH along the chronosequence.

Synthesis. These results provide evidence for contrasting patterns of plant and microbial community composition and α‐diversity in response to acidification and nutrient depletion during long‐term pedogenesis.
Urea Fluctuations in Stream Baseflow across Land Cover Gradients and Seasons in a Coastal Plain River System
Authors: Tzilkowski Sarah S. , Buda Anthony R. , Boyer Elizabeth W. , Bryant Ray B. , Kleinman Peter J.A. , Kennedy Casey D. , Allen Arthur L. , Folmar Gordon J. , May Eric B. 
Published: December 2018

AbstractUrea‐N is a component of bioavailable dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) that contributes to coastal eutrophication. In this study, we assessed urea‐N in baseflow across land cover gradients and seasons in the Manokin River Basin on the Delmarva Peninsula. From March 2010 to June 2011, we conducted monthly sampling of 11 streams (4 tidal and 7 nontidal), 2 wastewater treatment plants, an agricultural drainage ditch, and groundwater underlying a cropped field. At each site, we measured urea‐N, DON, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), NO3−‐N, and NH4+‐N. In general, urea‐N comprised between 1% and 6% of TDN, with the highest urea‐N levels in drainage ditches (0.054 mg N/L) and wetland‐dominated streams (0.035–0.045 mg N/L). While urea‐N did not vary seasonally in tidal rivers, nontidal streams saw distinct urea‐N peaks in summer (0.038 mg N/L) that occurred several months after cropland fertilization in spring. Notably, the proportion of wetlands explained 78% of the variance in baseflow urea‐N levels across the Manokin watershed. In wetland‐dominated basins, we found urea‐N was positively related to water temperature and negatively related to DOC:DON ratios, indicating short‐term urea‐N dynamics at baseflow were more likely influenced by instream and wetland‐driven processes than by recent agricultural urea‐N inputs. Findings demonstrate important controls of wetlands on baseflow urea‐N concentrations in mixed land‐use basins.
Does dual‐energy computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) have improved image quality over routine single‐energy CTPA?
Authors: Chen Tony , Xiao Hao 
Published: December 2018

AbstractIntroductionThe aim of this study is to compare the diagnostic sensitivity between dual‐energy computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) studies and routine single‐energy CTPA studies.MethodsA total of 117 patients with clinically suspected pulmonary embolism were examined with dual‐energy CTPA (DECT) and reformatted single‐energy multidetector CTPA (MDCT) studies. Two independent radiologists assessed the image quality of the CTPAs with objective and subjective parameters, including by assigning an image quality score out of 10 for each study. Dose length product and effective dose were also calculated and compared.ResultsThe subjective image quality score for DECT and MDCT studies was 9.19 and 7.88, respectively; however, the increased level of detail in DECT may not be clinically applicable. Pulmonary artery filling defects were found in 12 patients, with no subjective diagnostic differences between dual‐energy or single‐energy studies with either radiologist. The effective dose for DECT ranged from 1.8 to 7.8 mSv. The effective dose for MDCT ranged from 1.2 to 6.4 mSv.ConclusionsRadiologists are trained to look at routine MDCTs with high specificity and sensitivity. DECTs do not appear to offer trained radiologists improved detection of clinically relevant pulmonary emboli.