bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Growth Hormone Secretagogue (A233) Improves Growth and Changes the Tissue Fatty Acid Profile in Juvenile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)
Authors: Martínez Rebeca , Morales Carmen , Arenal Amilcar , Morales Antonio , Herrera Fidel , González Víctor , Estrada Mario Pablo 
Published: April 2018

AbstractGrowth hormone (GH) release is a process that is well regulated by several factors, including GH secretagogues. GH can mediate the regulation of the fatty acid level and composition. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a synthetic GH secretagogue peptide (A233) on the growth and fatty acid composition in tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). To address this objective, we administrated a diet supplemented with A233 to juvenile tilapia for 60 days. The group fed with a diet supplemented with 600 μg of A233 per kg of feed increased in weight (4.81 ± 0.09 g) and specific growth rate (2.49 ± 0.03%/day) compared to the control diet group (3.63 ± 0.08 g, 2.07 ± 0.04%/day; respectively) (p < 0.001). In the muscle, the total lipids for the control diet group were higher than that in the group fed with 600 μg of A233 per kg feed; however, no differences were detected in the liver. In both tissues, the patterns of fatty acid composition and content were generally similar, with some exceptions. Tilapia fed with 600 μg of A233 per kg of feed showed, in liver and muscle, a significantly higher composition and content of n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (such as 20:5n‐3, 22:5n‐3, 22:6n‐3) and n‐3/n‐6 PUFA than animals fed with the control diet. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the the effects of natural or synthetic GH secretagogues (GHS) on fatty acid composition, implying an increase in the nutritional quality of the tilapia.
Noncontiguous finished genome sequence and description of Intestinimonas massiliensis sp. nov strain GD2T, the second Intestinimonas species cultured from the human gut
Authors: Afouda Pamela , Durand Guillaume A. , Lagier Jean‐Christophe , Labas Noémie , Cadoret Fréderic , Armstrong Nicholas , Raoult Didier , Dubourg Grégory 
Published: April 2018

AbstractIntestinimonas massiliensis sp. nov strain GD2T is a new species of the genus Intestinimonas (the second, following Intestinimonas butyriciproducens gen. nov., sp. nov). First isolated from the gut microbiota of a healthy subject of French origin using a culturomics approach combined with taxono‐genomics, it is strictly anaerobic, nonspore‐forming, rod‐shaped, with catalase‐ and oxidase‐negative reactions. Its growth was observed after preincubation in an anaerobic blood culture enriched with sheep blood (5%) and rumen fluid (5%), incubated at 37°C. Its phenotypic and genotypic descriptions are presented in this paper with a full annotation of its genome sequence. This genome consists of 3,104,261 bp in length and contains 3,074 predicted genes, including 3,012 protein‐coding genes and 62 RNA‐coding genes. Strain GD2T significantly produces butyrate and is frequently found among available 16S rRNA gene amplicon datasets, which leads consideration of Intestinimonas massiliensis as an important human gut commensal.
Identification of four TMC1 variations in different Chinese families with hereditary hearing loss
Authors: Wang Hongyang , Wu Kaiwen , Guan Jing , Yang Ju , Xie Linyi , Xiong Fen , Lan Lan , Wang Dayong , Wang Qiuju 
Published: April 2018

AbstractBackgroundVariants in TMC1 (transmembrane channel‐like 1) can cause both autosomal dominant and recessive hearing loss in human population. Mice with Tmc1 variants have been shown to be ideal animal models for gene therapy. In this article, we report four TMC1 variants in four different Chinese families and the follow‐up auditory phenotype of a previously reported family.MethodsFour families with TMC1 variants, as well as a previously described family with TMC1 variant orthologous to the Beethoven mouse, were recruited in this study. A comprehensive auditory evaluation was performed on all ascertained family members. High‐throughput sequencing was conducted using genomic DNA from the probands and other family members to identify probable deafness genes.ResultsWe identified four TMC1 (NM_138691.2) variations, including two pathogenic variants, c.1714G>A, and c.1253T>A, one likely pathogenic variant, c.[797T>C];[797T>C], and one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), c.2276G>A. Among these variants, c.[797T>C];[797T>C] is a novel likely pathogenic variant, and c.1714G>A and c.1253T>A are known pathogenic variants at the DFNB7/11 (DFNA36) locus. Phenotype‐genotype correlation analysis of TMC1 variants showed that the TMC1 dominant variation‐related phenotype was late‐onset, progressive, high frequency to all frequency sensorineural hearing loss, while the TMC1 recessive variant was related to congenital all frequency sensorineural hearing impairment.ConclusionsTwo pathogenic, one likely pathogenic variants and one SNP of TMC1 were identified in four Chinese families with hereditary hearing loss, indicating that TMC1 may be a more frequent cause of hearing loss than expected. TMC1 variants related to hearing loss result in specific phenotypes. The TMC1 c.1253T>A (p.M418K) variation, homologous to the Tmc1 c. 1235 T> A (p.M412K) variant in Beethoven mice, was the second report of this variant in human patients with hearing loss, suggesting the possibility to translational gene therapy from Beethoven mice to human patients.
Computational continua for linear elastic heterogeneous solids on unstructured finite element meshes
Authors: Fafalis Dimitrios , Fish Jacob 
Published: April 2018

SummaryThe computational continua framework, which is a variant of higher‐order computational homogenization theories that is free of scale separation, does not require higher‐order finite element continuity, and is free of higher‐order boundary conditions, has been generalized to unstructured meshes. The salient features of the proposed generalization are (i) a nonlocal quadrature scheme for distorted elements that accounts for unit cell distortion in the parent element domain and (ii) an approximate variant of the nonlocal quadrature that eliminates the cost of computing positions of the quadrature points in the preprocessing stage. The performance of the computational continua framework on unstructured meshes has been compared to the first‐order homogenization theory and the direct numerical simulation.
How do Tanzanian hospital nurses perceive their professional role? A qualitative study
Authors: Tjoflåt Ingrid , John Melissa Theodotha , Mduma Estomih , Hansen Britt S. , Karlsen Bjørg , Søreide Eldar 
Published: April 2018

AbstractAimTo describe the experiences of Tanzanian nurses, how they perceive their role as a professional nurse and their experience with nursing care in a general hospital.DesignThis study is explorative, descriptive and qualitative.MethodsThe data were collected in 2015 by means of 10 semi‐structured interviews and was analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe data analysis revealed two themes with corresponding sub‐themes related to Tanzanian nurses' perception with their professional role and experiences with nursing care: (1) Feeling professional pride; (2) Experiencing limitations and inadequacy. The findings indicate that the Tanzanian nurses possess a strong professional pride and commitment to serve and care for their patients. The nurses do their best to provide high ‐quality nursing care but are faced with staffing shortages and limited materials that are beyond their control. Such limitations leave them feeling unable to fulfil their role and responsibilities.
Infant and childhood diet at the passage tomb of Alto de la Huesera (north‐central Iberia) from bone collagen and sequential dentine isotope composition
Authors: Fernández‐Crespo T. , Czermak A. , Lee‐Thorp J. A. , Schulting R. J. 
Published: April 2018

AbstractDuring the Late Neolithic (ca. 3500–2900 cal BC), the Rioja Alavesa region of north‐central Spain witnessed great demographic pressure and social unrest, manifested as widespread violent conflict. Drawing upon the ethnographic literature, it is possible that this situation impacted upon child‐rearing practices, both through food shortages and differential parental investment, favouring male infants. Here, carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope measurements from bone collagen of 17 juveniles and from 163 serial microsamples of dentine from first and second molars of seven adults from the site of Alto de la Huesera are used to examine breastfeeding, weaning, and childhood diets. Bone and dentine collagen δ13C and δ15N isotope values both decrease from infancy to early childhood and increase slightly towards adolescence, but dentine provides a more time‐sensitive means of monitoring dietary changes. High δ13C and δ15N values compatible with exclusive breastfeeding are detected up to ca. 1 year, with a significantly shorter duration among males, suggesting differential sex‐related parental strategies from infancy. This is tentative given the small number of individuals being compared, but does suggest that further work would be worthwhile. A gradual decline in both δ13C and δ15N, compatible with the weaning process, is then observed up to ca. 4 years in both sexes. This delayed cessation of nursing is interpreted as a possible response to food shortage. With regard to postweaning patterns, shifts to lower δ13C and δ15N values in females at around age 9–11, and a general progressive increase in both isotope values from childhood to adolescence, are detected. These could be linked either with differential protein intake due to social age‐related nutritional practices or to physiological demand. The comparison between bone and dentine values shows differences between survivors and nonsurvivors in both isotopes, so that assessments based on deceased children may be biased by their potentially compromised health status.
H∞ model reduction for T‐S fuzzy systems over finite frequency ranges
Authors: El‐Amrani Abderrahim , Boukili Bensalem , El Hajjaji Ahmed , Hmamed Abdelaziz 
Published: April 2018

SummaryThis paper investigates the H∞ model reduction problem over finite frequency ranges for continuous time Takagi‐Sugeno (T‐S) fuzzy systems. Given an asymptotically stable system, our aim is to find a stable reduced‐order system in such a way that the error of the transfer function between the original system and the reduced‐order one is bounded over a finite frequency range. By using the Finsler's lemma, new sufficient conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities are derived in different frequency ranges. These conditions provide extra degrees of freedom in the optimization of the H∞ performance when the frequency range of noises is known beforehand. Finally, we demonstrate via numerical examples that our method can achieve much smaller approximation error than existing approaches.
Four‐Color Laser Engine for Efficient Confocal Microscopy
Authors: Paasch‐Colberg Tim , Birngruber Konstantin 
Published: April 2018

AbstractFrequency‐doubled diode laser technology (FDDL) enables direct modulation of 561 nm lasers with unprecedented speeds. It also reaches an ultimate high on/off contrast with zero photons in the off state, which is favorable for laser scanning microscopes and multicolor microscopy techniques.
Virtual Prototyping of High‐Power Fiber Lasers
Authors: Schüttler Jens 
Published: April 2018

AbstractLasers used in industrial environment do not only have to be powerful, reliable and economic, but are also expected to work properly and within the specified range over hundreds of thousands of hours. Regarding a short time‐to‐market, the time‐consuming lifetime testing of early prototypes and components is a major drawback in the development of new products. In this article we demonstrate a way to reduce the testing effort dramatically by use of simulations.
Unseen Possibilities of F‐Theta Lenses
Authors: Ozga Cornelia 
Published: April 2018

AbstractF‐theta lenses are important components of machines for laser material processing. They are the part which enables cutting steel by focusing the laser beam. For even machining surfaces, a couple of lenses are necessary, because the curved image plane of a single lens would create a high unwanted field curvature. The field curvature decreases the homogeneity of the spot size depending on its position which is necessary for high precision laser material processing.
Balancing Cost and Specifications
Authors: Adams Daniel 
Published: April 2018

AbstractWhen specifying an optic, even something as simple as a single spherical lens, it is very important to have a clear understanding of what each specification is and how it could affect your system. At high precision, there is usually a cost‐benefit trade‐off and the goal should be to try to optimize that. This article will look at the key specifications in a spherical lens system and explore the cost‐benefit considerations when working at high levels of precision.
Monolithic Micro‐Optics for Single Mode Diode Bars
Authors: Hambücker Stefan 
Published: April 2018

AbstractDiode lasers are characterized by their compact design, high efficiency, long maintenance intervals and a long service life. However, their brightness and beam quality are not yet sufficient for some applications – for example in material processing or medical technology. Thanks to their large number of single emitters, single‐mode diode bars have the potential to generate high levels of output power, but they are not yet widely used. Micro‐optics allow the brightness of diode lasers to be significantly increased by collimation of the emitted light. This opens up new applications, while at the same time providing laser manufacturers with benefits in terms of cost.
More Powerful Than Ever
Authors: Stroh‐Vasenev Olga 
Published: April 2018

AbstractIndustrial use of UV radiation requires powerful artificial sources. More than 15 years ago, the introduction of UV LED technology presented an alternative solution to high‐pressure mercury‐vapor lamps, which had been the main source for almost a century. With their many obvious advantages, they soon led to new applications – most of them in the low‐power sector. Innovations in chip technology now allow for a new generation of high‐power UVC diodes.
Machine Vision in France
Authors: Breyer Andreas 
Published: April 2018

AbstractThroughout Europe, the national machine vision markets are far from being homogenous and show their own characteristics depending on factors such as the economic structure in the given country, the domestic customer industries for machine vision technology and the research intensity on machine vision and computer vision. In its latest market report “Machine Vision in France” the European Machine Vision Association identified the market players in France and investigated the characteristics of the French machine vision market.
Noninvasive fetal sex determination by analysis of cell‐free fetal DNA in maternal capillary blood obtained by fingertip puncture
Authors: Santa Rita Ticiane Henriques , Nobre Camila Santos , Jácomo Rafael Henriques , Nery Lídia Freire Abdalla , Barra Gustavo Barcelos 
Published: April 2018

What's already known about this topic?

Noninvasive fetal sex determination searches for Y‐chromosome sequences in maternal plasma isolated from venous blood drawn by venipuncture to indicate fetal sex in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Capillary blood collection is much less invasive than venipuncture, thereby offering the possibility of sampling in geographical areas where there is no phlebotomist present.
What does this study add?

Fetal DNA is present in maternal capillary blood allowing for noninvasive fetal sex determination.
Exogenous male DNA may be present, and detectable, on the fingertips of pregnant women.
The elimination of the exogenous male DNA is critical for a reliable fetal sex determination using maternal capillary blood.
A diluted buffered sodium hypochlorite (0.5%‐1%) can be used to eliminate exogenous male DNA from the fingertips of pregnant women.
Short‐term effects of heat and cold on respiratory drug use. A time‐series epidemiological study in A Coruña, Spain
Authors: Royé Dominic , Figueiras Adolfo , Taracido Margarita 
Published: April 2018

AbstractThe consumption of medication, especially over‐the‐counter drugs, can reflect environmental exposure with a lesser degree of severity in terms of morbidity. The non‐linear effects of maximum and minimum apparent temperature on respiratory drug sales in A Coruña from 2006 to 2010 were examined using a distributed lag nonlinear model. In particular, low apparent temperatures proved to be associated with increased sales of respiratory drugs. The strongest consistent risk estimates were found for minimum apparent temperatures in respiratory drug sales with an increase of 33.4% (95% CI, 12.5%‐58.0%) when the temperature changed from 2.8°C to −1.4 °C. These findings may serve to guide the planning of public health interventions to predict and manage the health effects of exposure to the thermal environment for lower degrees of morbidity. More precisely, significant increases in the use of measured over‐the‐counter medication could be used to identify and anticipate influenza outbreaks due to a more sensitive degree of the data source.
Classifying medical histories in US Medicare beneficiaries using fixed vs all‐available look‐back approaches
Authors: Conover Mitchell M. , Stürmer Til , Poole Charles , Glynn Robert J. , Simpson Ross J. , Pate Virginia , Jonsson Funk Michele 
Published: April 2018

AbstractPurposeEvaluate use of fixed and all‐available look‐backs to identify eligibility criteria and confounders among Medicare beneficiaries.MethodsWe identified outpatient visits (2007‐2012) with recently documented (≤180 days) cardiovascular risk and classified patients according to whether the exposure (statin) was initiated within 14 days. We selected each beneficiary's first eligible visit (in each treatment group) that met criteria during the respective look‐backs: continuous enrollment (1 or 3 years for fixed look‐back; 180 days for all‐available), no cancer history, and no statin claims. We estimated crude and standardized mortality ratio weighted hazard ratios (HRs) for the effect of statin initiation on incident 6‐month cancer (a known null effect) and 2‐year mortality, separately, adjusting for covariates assessed by using each look‐back.ResultsAnalyzing short‐term cancer, the estimated HR from the all‐available approach (HR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83, 0.98) was less biased than the 1‐year look‐back (HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.84), which included beneficiaries with prevalent cancer. The 3‐year look‐back (HR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.21) was somewhat less biased than the all‐available estimate but less precise due the exclusion of a large proportion of observations without sufficient continuous enrollment (62.0% and 59.9% of initiators and non‐initiators, respectively). All approaches produced similar estimates of the effect on all‐cause mortality. Alternative look‐backs did not differ in their ability to control confounding.ConclusionsThe all‐available look‐back performed nearly as well as the 3‐year fixed, which produced the least biased point estimate. If 3‐year look‐backs are infeasible (eg, due to power/sample), all‐available look‐backs may be preferable to short (1‐year) fixed look‐backs.
Cardiovascular safety signals with dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitors: A disproportionality analysis among high‐risk patients
Authors: Baksh Sheriza N. , McAdams‐DeMarco Mara , Segal Jodi B. , Alexander G. Caleb 
Published: April 2018

AbstractPurposeIn 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued Draft Guidance on investigating cardiovascular risk with oral diabetic drugs, including dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitors (DPP‐4i). In 2014, underpowered, post hoc analyses of clinical trials suggested an increased risk of heart failure with the use of these products. As such, we assessed disproportionate reporting of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) among reports for DPP‐4i submitted to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) from 2006 to 2015.MethodsWe assessed the empirical Bayes geometric mean (EBGM) and its lower bound (EB05) of the relative reporting ratio for MACE among DPP‐4i reports in the full FAERS database and in a subset of reports limited to cardiovascular and diabetic drugs. We then compared the EB05 in these 2 analyses and calculated the percent positive agreement for signals of disproportional reporting (SDRs) involving MACE.ResultsOf 180.3 million adverse event reports, 13.4 million were for diabetic and cardiovascular drugs. In the cardiovascular subset, there was an SDR for heart failure with linagliptin (EB05 = 2782.47) and saxagliptin (EB05 = 2.40), myocardial infarction with alogliptin (EB05 = 290.11), and cerebral infarction with sitagliptin (EB05 = 2.80). Of the 14 MACE, 8 had a percent positive agreement ≥50% for an SDR in both analyses. Overall, the cardiovascular subset elicited 11 more SDRs for DPP‐4i than the full dataset.ConclusionsPostmarketing surveillance of DPP‐4i through FAERS suggest increased reporting of MACE, supporting the current FDA warning of heart failure risk. This suggests the need for additional longitudinal, observational research into the association of DPP‐4i and other MACE.
Disordered epitopes as peptide vaccines
Authors: MacRaild Christopher A. , Seow Jeffrey , Das Sreedam C. , Norton Raymond S. 
Published: April 2018

AbstractThe development of clinically useful peptide‐based vaccines remains a long‐standing goal. This review highlights that intrinsically disordered protein antigens, which lack an ordered three‐dimensional structure, represent excellent starting points for the development of such vaccines. Disordered proteins represent an important class of antigen in a wide range of human pathogens, and, contrary to widespread belief, they are frequently targets of protective antibody responses. Importantly, disordered epitopes appear invariably to be linear epitopes, rendering them ideally suited to incorporation into a peptide vaccine. Nonetheless, the conformational properties of disordered antigens, and hence their recognition by antibodies, frequently depend on the interactions they make and the context in which they are presented to the immune system. These effects must be considered in the design of an effective vaccine. Here we discuss these issues and propose design principles that may facilitate the development of peptide vaccines targeting disordered antigens.
Peptides as probes for food authentication
Authors: Tedeschi Tullia , Prandi Barbara , Buhler Sofie , Caligiani Augusta , Galaverna Gianni , Sforza Stefano 
Published: April 2018

AbstractThe aim of this review is to provide a brief summary of the recent applications of peptide molecules in the food area. Since, in the last few years, there has been growing interest in food authenticity, the role of peptides in this area has assumed greater importance. A fundamental part, as discussed in the article, was played by the growth of innovative analytical techniques, based on mass spectrometry (MS), which allows identifying and quantifying protein fragments in complex mixtures of different components. These procedures have been successfully applied for the identification of peptide markers in food authenticity. Because food‐derived proteins have high variability in chemical and physical properties, it is obvious that an exhaustive proteomic analysis cannot be applied by using a single technique for all objectives. The report shows some examples of various methodologies applied to different food matrices and some trivial aspects are also critically described.