bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Uncaria tomentosa improves insulin sensitivity and inflammation in experimental NAFLD
Authors: Araujo Layanne C. C. , Feitosa Karla B. , Murata Gilson M. , Furigo Isadora C. , Teixeira Simone A. , Lucena Camila F. , Ribeiro Luciene M. , Muscará Marcelo N. , Costa Soraia K. P. , Donato José , Bordin Silvana , Curi Rui , Carvalho Carla R. O. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractWe investigated the effect of the crude herbal extract from Uncaria tomentosa (UT) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in two models of obesity: high fat diet (HFD) and genetically obese (ob/ob) mice. Both obese mouse models were insulin resistant and exhibited an abundance of lipid droplets in the hepatocytes and inflammatory cell infiltration in the liver, while only the HFD group had collagen deposition in the perivascular space of the liver. UT treatment significantly reduced liver steatosis and inflammation in both obese mouse models. Furthermore, serine phosphorylation of IRS-1 was reduced by 25% in the HFD mice treated with UT. Overall, UT treated animals exhibited higher insulin sensitivity as compared to vehicle administration. In conclusion, Uncaria tomentosa extract improved glucose homeostasis and reverted NAFLD to a benign hepatic steatosis condition and these effects were associated with the attenuation of liver inflammation in obese mice.
Discrete, high-latitude foraging areas are important to energy budgets and population dynamics of migratory leatherback turtles
Authors: Wallace Bryan P. , Zolkewitz Michael , James Michael C. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractMany broadly distributed migratory species exhibit fidelity to fine-scale areas that support vital life history requirements (e.g., resource acquisition, reproduction). Thus, such areas are critical for population dynamics and are of high conservation priority. Leatherback sea turtles are among the world’s most widely distributed species, and their breeding and feeding areas are typically separated by thousands of kilometres. In this study, we analysed turtle-borne video data on daytime feeding rates and energy acquisition in Nova Scotia, Canada, to quantify the importance of this discrete, seasonal foraging area for leatherback energy requirements. Based on daytime foraging only, we estimate that a single foraging season in Nova Scotia could support 59% of a non-breeding leatherback’s annual energy budget, and 29% of energetic requirements for a female on a typical 2-year reproductive cycle. However, maximum energy intake rates for leatherbacks are nearly four times lower than those of mammals and birds due the low energy content of leatherbacks’ gelatinous zooplankton prey. These results illustrate that high quality, local-scale foraging areas such as Nova Scotia are critically important to the stability and future growth of the leatherback population in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Thus, as with other migratory species, efforts to reduce threats and maintain habitat quality in such areas should be high conservation priorities.
A simple strategy for retargeting lentiviral vectors to desired cell types via a disulfide-bond-forming protein-peptide pair
Authors: Kasaraneni Nagarjun , Chamoun-Emanuelli Ana M. , Wright Gus A. , Chen Zhilei 
Published: July 2018

AbstractDespite recent improvements in the engineering of viral envelope proteins, it remains a significant challenge to create lentiviral vectors that allow targeted transduction to specific cell populations of interest. In this study, we developed a simple ‘plug and play’ strategy to retarget lentiviral vectors to any desired cell types through in vitro covalent modification of the virions with specific cell-targeting proteins (CTPs). This strategy exploits a disulfide bond-forming protein-peptide pair PDZ1 and its pentapeptide ligand (ThrGluPheCysAla, TEFCA). PDZ1 was incorporated into an engineered Sindbis virus envelope protein (Sind-PDZ1) and displayed on lentiviral particles while the TEFCA pentapeptide ligand was genetically linked to the CTP. Her2/neu-binding designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPin) were used as our model CTPs. DARPin-functionalized unconcentrated lentiviral vectors harboring Sind-PDZ1 envelope protein (Sind-PDZ1-pp) exhibited >800-fold higher infectious titer in HER2+ cells than the unfunctionalized virions (8.5 × 106 vs. <104 IU/mL). Moreover, by virtue of the covalent disulfide bond interaction between PDZ1 and TEFCA, the association of the CTP with the virions is nonreversible under non-reducing conditions (e.g. serum), making these functionalized virions potentially stable in an in vivo setting.
Temporal analysis of Arabidopsis genes activated by Eucalyptus grandis NAC transcription factors associated with xylem fibre and vessel development
Authors: Laubscher M. , Brown K. , Tonfack L. B. , Myburg A. A. , Mizrachi E. , Hussey S. G. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractSecondary cell wall (SCW) deposition in Arabidopsis is regulated among others by NAC transcription factors, where SND1 chiefly initiates xylem fibre differentiation while VND6 controls metaxylem vessel SCW development, especially programmed cell death and wall patterning. The translational relevance of Arabidopsis SCW regulation theory and the utility of characterized transcription factors as modular synthetic biology tools for improving commercial fibre crops is unclear. We investigated inter-lineage gene activation dynamics for potential fibre and vessel differentiation regulators from the widely grown hardwood Eucalyptus grandis (Myrtales). EgrNAC26, a VND6 homolog, and EgrNAC61, an SND1 homolog, were transiently expressed in Arabidopsis mesophyll protoplasts in parallel to determine early and late (i.e. 7 and 14 hours post-transfection) gene targets. Surprisingly, across the time series EgrNAC26 activated only a subset of SCW-related transcription factors and biosynthetic genes activated by EgrNAC61, specializing instead in targeting vessel-specific wall pit and programmed cell death markers. Promoters of EgrNAC26 and EgrNAC61 both induced reporter gene expression in vessels of young Arabidopsis plants, with EgrNAC61 also conferring xylem- and cork cambium-preferential expression in Populus. Our results demonstrate partial conservation, with notable exceptions, of SND1 and VND6 homologs in Eucalyptus and a first report of cork cambium expression for EgrNAC61.
Orbital Frontal Cortex Projections to Secondary Motor Cortex Mediate Exploitation of Learned Rules
Authors: Schreiner Drew C. , Gremel Christina M. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractAnimals face the dilemma between exploiting known opportunities and exploring new ones, a decision-making process supported by cortical circuits. While different types of learning may bias exploration, the circumstances and the degree to which bias occurs is unclear. We used an instrumental lever press task in mice to examine whether learned rules generalize to exploratory situations and the cortical circuits involved. We first trained mice to press one lever for food and subsequently assessed how that learning influenced pressing of a second novel lever. Using outcome devaluation procedures we found that novel lever exploration was not dependent on the food value associated with the trained lever. Further, changes in the temporal uncertainty of when a lever press would produce food did not affect exploration. Instead, accrued experience with the instrumental contingency was strongly predictive of test lever pressing with a positive correlation between experience and trained lever exploitation, but not novel lever exploration. Chemogenetic attenuation of orbital frontal cortex (OFC) projection into secondary motor cortex (M2) biased novel lever exploration, suggesting that experience increases OFC-M2 dependent exploitation of learned associations but leaves exploration constant. Our data suggests exploitation and exploration are parallel decision-making systems that do not necessarily compete.
Nitric oxide dependent signaling via cyclic GMP in dendritic cells regulates migration and T-cell polarization
Authors: Gnipp Stefanie , Mergia Evanthia , Puschkarow Michelle , Bufe Albrecht , Koesling Doris , Peters Marcus 
Published: July 2018

AbstractAllergic airway inflammation is accompanied by excessive generation of nitric oxide (NO). Beside its detrimental activity due to the generation of reactive nitrogen species, NO was found to modulate immune responses by activating the NO-sensitive Guanylyl Cyclases (NO-GCs) thereby mediating the formation of the second messenger cyclic GMP (cGMP). To investigate the contribution of the key-enzyme NO-GC on the development of Th2 immunityin vivo, we sensitized knock-out (KO) mice of the major isoform NO-GC1 to the model allergen ovalbumin (OVA). The loss of NO-GC1 attenuates the Th2 response leading to a reduction of airway inflammation and IgE production. Further,in vitro-generated OVA-presenting DCs of the KO induce only a weak Th2 response in the WT recipient mice upon re-exposure to OVA.In vitro, these NO-GC1 KO BMDCs develop a Th1-polarizing phenotype and display increased cyclic AMP (cAMP) formation, which is known to induce Th1-bias. According to our hypothesis of a NO-GC1/cGMP-dependent regulation of cAMP-levels we further demonstrate activity of the cGMP-activated cAMP-degrading phosphodiesterase 2 in DCs. Herewith, we show that activity of NO-GC1 in DCs is important for the magnitude and bias of the Th response in allergic airway disease most likely by counteracting intracellular cAMP.
Library screening of cell-penetrating peptide for BY-2 cells, leaves of Arabidopsis, tobacco, tomato, poplar, and rice callus
Authors: Numata Keiji , Horii Yoko , Oikawa Kazusato , Miyagi Yu , Demura Taku , Ohtani Misato 
Published: July 2018

AbstractCell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are used for various applications, especially in the biomedical field. Recently, CPPs have been used as a part of carrier to deliver proteins and/or genes into plant cells and tissues; hence, these peptides are attractive tools for plant biotechnological and agricultural applications, but require more efficient delivery rates and optimization by species before wide-scale use can be achieved. Here, we developed a library containing 55 CPPs to determine the optimal CPP characteristics for penetration of BY-2 cells and leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana, Arabidopsis thaliana, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), poplar (hybrid aspen Populus tremula × tremuloides line T89), and rice (Oryza sativa). By investigating the cell penetration efficiency of CPPs in the library, we identified several efficient CPPs for all the plants studied except rice leaf. In the case of rice, several CPPs showed efficient penetration into rice callus. Furthermore, we examined the relationship between cell penetration efficiency and CPP secondary structural characteristics. The cell penetration efficiency of Lys-containing CPPs was relatively greater in plant than in animal cells, which could be due to differences in lipid composition and surface charge of the cell membranes. The variation in optimal CPPs across the plants studied here suggests that CPPs must be optimized for each plant species and target tissues of interest.
Spotlight on the New Natural Surfactant Flooding in Carbonate Rock Samples in Low Salinity Condition
Authors: Ahmadi Mohammad Ali , Shadizadeh Seyed Reza 
Published: July 2018

AbstractRecently, utilization of surfactant for EOR purposes in carbonate petroleum reservoirs has received the attention of many researchers. Surfactants generally appear to improve oil production through wettability alteration and reduction of interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water phases. Loss of surfactant due to adsorption process is considered as an unfavorable phenomenon in surfactant flooding while conducting an EOR operation. In this study, a new plant-derived surfactant, called Zyziphus Spina Christi (ZSC), with various magnitudes of salinity is employed. The adsorption behavior of this surfactant is investigated using the conductivity approach to explore the impacts of salt concentration on adsorption rate through batch tests. Core flooding tests are also conducted to study the effects of surfactant/salinity on recovery factor and relative permeability. Employing the kinetics and isotherm models, MgCl2 and KCl exhibit the greatest and lowest influence on the adsorption phenomenon, respectively. It is also concluded that the pseudo-second order kinetics and Freundlich isotherm model can satisfactorily describe the adsorption behavior of the surfactant onto carbonates in the presence of salt for the kinetics and equilibrium tests conditions, respectively. According to the production history, it is found that increasing surfactant concentration leads to a considerable increase in oil relative permeability and consequently improvement of oil recovery.
Intact glycosphingolipidomic analysis of the cell membrane during differentiation yields extensive glycan and lipid changes
Authors: Wong Maurice , Xu Gege , Park Dayoung , Barboza Mariana , Lebrilla Carlito B. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractGlycosphingolipids (GSLs) are found in cellular membranes of most organisms and play important roles in cell-cell recognition, signaling, growth, and adhesion, among others. A method based on nanoflow high performance liquid chromatography-chip-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (nanoHPLC Chip-Q-TOF MS) was applied towards identifying and quantifying intact GSLs from a variety of samples, including cultured cell lines and animal tissue. The method provides the composition and sequence of the glycan, as well as variations in the ceramide portion of the GSL. It was used to profile the changes in the glycolipidome of Caco-2 cells as they undergo differentiation. A total of 226 unique GSLs were found among Caco-2 samples from five differentiation time-points. The method provided a comprehensive glycolipidomic profile of a cell during differentiation to yield the dynamic variation of intact GSL structures.
The role of the baroreflex and parasympathetic nervous system in fructose-induced cardiac and metabolic alterations
Authors: dos Santos Fernando , Moraes-Silva Ivana C. , Moreira Edson D. , Irigoyen Maria-Claudia 
Published: July 2018

AbstractIt is well-established that baroreflex sensitivity is essential for blood pressure control, and also plays a key role in the modulation of disease-induced metabolic alterations. In order to investigate the role of the baroreflex in the cardiometabolic and inflammatory derangements promoted by fructose overload, Wistar rats underwent sinoaortic denervation (SAD) or sham surgery and were studied 90 days after receiving tap water (Den and Ctrl) or a 10% fructose solution (Fruc and Den-Fruc). All experimental groups showed marked and similar degree of baroreflex impairment compared to Ctrl. As expected, fructose overload effectively induced metabolic syndrome; however, when it was associated with SAD, several alterations were attenuated. While Fruc rats displayed increased sympathetic modulation and tone and reduced vagal modulation compared to Ctrl animals, Den-Fruc rats showed greater vagal tone and modulation when compared to the Fruc group. Moreover, the Den-Fruc group showed augmented expression of β1 adrenergic receptors and TNF/IL-10 ratio and reduction of β2 in the left ventricle. The increase in vagal function was correlated with improved insulin sensitivity (r2 = 0.76), and decreased abdominal fat (r2 = −0.78) and β2 receptors (r2 = −0.85). Our results showed that: (1) chronic fructose overload induced severe baroreflex impairment, i.e. in a similar magnitude to that observed in SAD rats, which is accompanied by cardiometabolic dysfunctions; (2) the compensatory enhancement in parasympathetic function in SAD rats submitted to fructose intake may point out the possibility of use of approaches that improve vagal function as therapeutic target to attenuate fructose-induced cardiometabolic dysfunctions.
Interaction between porous silica gel microcarriers and peptides for oral administration of functional peptides
Authors: Imai Kento , Shimizu Kazunori , Kamimura Mitsuhiro , Honda Hiroyuki 
Published: July 2018

AbstractFunctional peptides, peptides that have biological activities, have attracted attention as active ingredients of functional foods and health foods. In particular, for food applications, because orally ingested peptides are degraded by digestive enzymes in the stomach, novel oral administration methods that can prevent peptide degradation and successfully deliver them intestinally are desired. In the present study, we focused on porous silica gel, which has many useful characteristics, such as large surface area, pH responsive functional groups, size controllable pores, and approval as food additives. We investigated the possibility of using porous silica gel as a peptide degradation protective microcarrier. As a result, we found that heat treatment of the silica gel at 600 °C for 2 h remarkably enhanced the adsorbed amount of many peptides under acidic conditions, and negatively charged and highly hydrophobic peptides had suitable characteristics for oral intestinal delivery with silica gel. Finally, we demonstrated the degree of protection from pepsin degradation and found that the protection of DFELEDD peptide was 57.1 ± 3.9% when DFELEDD was mixed with the heat-treated silica gel. These results indicated that the heat-treated silica gel is promising for efficient oral intestinal delivery of hydrophobic negatively charged peptides.
Ultrafast Imaging of Laser Driven Shock Waves using Betatron X-rays from a Laser Wakefield Accelerator
Authors: Wood J. C. , Chapman D. J. , Poder K. , Lopes N. C. , Rutherford M. E. , White T. G. , Albert F. , Behm K. T. , Booth N. , Bryant J. S. J. , Foster P. S. , Glenzer S. , Hill E. , Krushelnick K. , Najmudin Z. , Pollock B. B. , Rose S. , Schumaker W. , Scott R. H. H. , Sherlock M. , Thomas A. G. R. , Zhao Z. , Eakins D. E. , Mangles S. P. D. 
Published: July 2018

AbstractBetatron radiation from laser wakefield accelerators is an ultrashort pulsed source of hard, synchrotron-like x-ray radiation. It emanates from a centimetre scale plasma accelerator producing GeV level electron beams. In recent years betatron radiation has been developed as a unique source capable of producing high resolution x-ray images in compact geometries. However, until now, the short pulse nature of this radiation has not been exploited. This report details the first experiment to utilize betatron radiation to image a rapidly evolving phenomenon by using it to radiograph a laser driven shock wave in a silicon target. The spatial resolution of the image is comparable to what has been achieved in similar experiments at conventional synchrotron light sources. The intrinsic temporal resolution of betatron radiation is below 100 fs, indicating that significantly faster processes could be probed in future without compromising spatial resolution. Quantitative measurements of the shock velocity and material density were made from the radiographs recorded during shock compression and were consistent with the established shock response of silicon, as determined with traditional velocimetry approaches. This suggests that future compact betatron imaging beamlines could be useful in the imaging and diagnosis of high-energy-density physics experiments.
CYP2C9 and OATP1B1 genetic polymorphisms affect the metabolism and transport of glimepiride and gliclazide
Authors: Yang Fayou , Xiong Xiaomin , Liu Yonghua , Zhang Hong , Huang Shibo , Xiong Yuqing , Hu Xiao , Xia Chunhua 
Published: July 2018

AbstractThe therapeutic use of glimepiride and gliclazide shows substantial inter-individual variation in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in human populations, which might be caused by genetic differences among individuals. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of CYP2C9 and OATP1B1 genetic polymorphisms on the metabolism and transport of glimepiride and gliclazide. The uptake of glimepiride and gliclazide was measured in OATP1B1*1a, *5 and *15-HEK293T cells, and their metabolism was measured using CYP2C9*1, *2 and *3 recombinase by LC-MS. Glimepiride in OATP1B1*1a, *5 and *15-HEK293T cells had Vmax values of 155 ± 18.7, 80 ± 9.6, and 84.5 ± 8.2 pmol/min/mg, while gliclazide had Vmax values of 15.7 ± 4.6, 7.2 ± 2.5, and 8.7 ± 2.4 pmol/min/mg, respectively. The clearance of glimepiride and gliclazide in OATP1B1*5 and *15 was significantly reduced compared to the wild-type. Glimepiride in the presence of CYP2C9*1, *2 and *3 recombinase had Vmax values of 21.58 ± 7.78, 15.69 ± 5.59, and 9.17 ± 3.03 nmol/min/mg protein, while gliclazide had Vmax values of 15.73 ± 3.11, 10.53 ± 4.06, and 6.21 ± 2.94 nmol/min/mg protein, respectively. The clearance of glimepiride and gliclazide in CYP2C9*2 and *3 was significantly reduced compared to the wild-type. These findings collectively indicate that OATP1B1*5 and *15 and CYP2C9*2 and *3 have a significant effect on the transport and metabolism of glimepiride and gliclazide.
Circ2Disease: a manually curated database of experimentally validated circRNAs in human disease
Authors: Yao Dongxia , Zhang Lei , Zheng Mengyue , Sun Xiwei , Lu Yan , Liu Pengyuan 
Published: July 2018

AbstractCircular RNAs (circRNAs), a new class of regulatory noncoding RNAs, play important roles in human diseases. While a growing number of circRNAs have been characterized with biological functions, it is necessary to integrate all the information to facilitate studies on circRNA functions and regulatory networks in human diseases. Circ2Disease database contains 273 manually curated associations between 237 circRNAs and 54 human diseases with strong experimental evidence from 120 studies. Each association includes circRNA name, disease name, expression pattern, experimental method, a brief functional description of the circRNA-disease relationship, and other detailed information. The experimentally validated miRNAs that may be ‘sponged up’ by these circRNAs and their validated targets were also integrated to form a comprehensive regulatory network. Circ2Disease provides a user-friendly interface to browse, search, analyze regulatory network and download data. With the rapidly increasing interest in circRNAs, Circ2Disease will significantly improve our understanding of circRNA deregulation in diseases and is a useful resource for studying posttranscriptional regulatory roles of circRNAs in human diseases.
Slippage of degenerate primers can cause variation in amplicon length
Authors: Elbrecht Vasco , Hebert Paul D. N. , Steinke Dirk 
Published: July 2018

AbstractIt is well understood that homopolymer regions should be avoided for primer binding to prevent off-target amplification. However, in metabarcoding, it is often difficult to avoid primer degeneracy in order to maximize taxa detection. We here investigate primer binding specificity using different primer sets from several invertebrate metabarcoding studies. Our results indicate that primers frequently bound 1-2 bp upstream in taxa where a homopolymer region was present in the amplification direction. Primer binding 1 bp downstream was observed less frequently. This primer slippage leads to taxon-specific length variation in amplicons and subsequent length variation in recovered sequences. Some widely used primer sets were severely affected by this bias, while others were not. While this variation will only have small impacts on the designation of Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) by clustering algorithms that ignore terminal gaps, primer sets employed in metabarcoding projects should be evaluated for their sensitivity to slippage. Moreover, steps should be taken to reduce slippage by improving protocols for primer design. For example, the flanking region adjacent to the 3′ end of the primer is not considered by current primer development software although GC clamps in this position could mitigate slippage.