bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Successful outdoor cultivation of a photosensitive wild strain of edible Pleurotus ostreatus (Fr.) Kummel (Oyster mushroom) from the Western Ghats region of Goa
Authors: Kamat Nandkumar , Desilva N. , Phadte K. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThere is considerable interest in identifying wild tropical strains of oyster mushroomsuseful for cultivation, strain improvement and systematic breeding programme. Duringroutine surveys to identify such strains from Goa’s western ghats, an interesting wild form of Pleurotus ostreatus was found growing on logs of wild Mangifera indica L a novel habitat for the species reported for the first time. After obtaining and screening several pure isolates, a fertile strain BA-50/GUOMS was selected for cultivation under natural outdoor conditions. Spawn prepared on wheat grains was produced within 11 days and was used to ramify sterilized paddy straw as substrate using standard polybag technique. Spawn run was initially slow and took 52 days. Mushroom fruitbodies identical to the original wild type were produced in eight flushes at intervals of 8 to 13 days for each flush over a period of four months. These had pleasant odour, better shelf life, tougher texture, resistance to insects, fungi and bacteria, exhibited photosensitivity by producing brownish pigment in direct sunlight and responded well to outdoor conditions for fruit body initiation with ambient temperature ranging from 23-35° C.
Diamagnetic levitation enhances growth of liquid bacterial cultures by increasing oxygen availability
Authors: Dijkstra Camelia , Larkin Oliver , Anthony Paul , Davey Michael , Eaves Laurence , Rees Catherine , Hill Richard 
Published: July 2019

AbstractDiamagnetic levitation is a technique that uses a strong, spatially-varying magnetic field to reproduce aspects of weightlessness, on the Earth. We used a superconducting magnet to levitate growing bacterial cultures for up to 18 hours, to determine the effect of diamagnetic levitation on all phases of the bacterial growth cycle. We find that diamagnetic levitation increases the rate of population growth in a liquid culture and reduces the sedimentation rate of the cells. Further experiments and microarray gene analysis show that the increase in growth rate is due to enhanced oxygen availability. We also demonstrate that the magnetic field that levitates the cells also induces convective stirring in the liquid. We present a simple theoretical model, showing how the paramagnetic force on dissolved oxygen can cause convection during the aerobic phases of bacterial growth. We propose that this convection enhances oxygen availability by transporting oxygen around the liquid culture. Since this process results from the strong magnetic field, it is not present in other weightless environments, e.g. in Earth orbit. Hence, these results are of significance and timeliness to researchers considering the use of diamagnetic levitation to explore effects of weightlessness on living organisms and on physical phenomena.
Clonal origin of Epstein-Barr virus-infected T/NK-cell subpopulations in chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection
Authors: Ohga Shouichi , Ishimura Masataka , Toshimoto Goichi , Miyamoto Toshihiro , Takada Hidetoshi , Tanaka Tamami , Ohshima Koichi , Imadome Ken-Ichi , Abe Yasunobu , Akashi Koichi , Hara Toshiro 
Published: July 2019

AbstractClonal expansion of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infected B-cells occasionally occurs in immunocompromized subjects. EBV-infected T/natural killer (NK)-cells proliferate in patients with chronic active EBV infection (CAEBV) that is a rare mononucleosis syndrome. It is classified into either T-cell type or NK-cell type according to the primary target of infection, while the pathogenesis remains unclear. To search the clonal origin of EBV-infected T/NK-cells, virus distribution and clonotype were assessed by using highly purified cell fractions obtained from 6 patients. Patient 1 had a monoclonal proliferation of EBV-infected T-cell receptor V&x03B4;2/V&x03B3;9-expressing cells, and carried lower copy number of EBV in &x03B1;&x03B2;T-cells. Patients 2 and 3 had a clonal expansion of EBV-infected CD4+T-cells, and lower EBV load in CD56+cells. Patients 4, 5 and 6 had an expansion of CD56+cells with higher EBV load than CD3+cells. EBV-terminal repeats were determined as clonal bands in the minor targeted populations of 5 patients. The size of terminal repeats indicated the same clonotype in minor subsets as in major subsets of 4 patients. However, EBV was not detected in bone marrow-derived lineage negative CD34+cells of patients. These results suggested that EBV could infect T/NK-cells at differentiation stage, but spared bone marrow CD34+hematopoietic stem cells in CAEBV patients.
Visual computation of surface lightness: Local contrast vs. frames of reference
Authors: Gilchrist Alan , Radonjic Ana 
Published: July 2019

AbstractSeeing black, white and gray surfaces, called lightness perception, might seem simple because white surfaces reflect 90% of the light they receive while black surfaces reflect only 3%, and the human retina is composed of light sensitive cells. The problem is that, because illumination varies from time to time and from place to place, any amount of light can be reflected from any shade of gray. Thus the amount of light reflected by an object, called luminance, says nothing about its lightness. Experts agree that the lightness of a surface can be computed only by using the surrounding context, but they disagree about how the context is used. We have tested an image in which two major classes of theory, contrast theories and frame-of-reference theories, make very different predictions regarding what gray shades will be seen by human observers. We show that when frame-of-reference is varied while contrast is held constant, lightness varies strongly. But when contrast is varied but frame-of-reference is held constant, little or no variation is seen. These results suggest that efforts to discover the exact algorithm by which the human visual system segments the image received by the retina into frames of reference should be given high priority.
The Correlation between Sleep and Creativity
Authors: Drago Valeria , Aricò Debora , Heilman Kenneth , Foster Paul , Williamson John , Montagna Pasquale , Ferri Raffaele 
Published: July 2019

AbstractFredrich August von Kekule, a famous German chemist, was attempting to determine the shape of the benzene molecule, which was known to have six carbon atoms. In 1865, reflecting upon his discovery of the hexagonal-ring like structure, he asserted that the solution came to him in a dream1; however, it is not clear if he was in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep dreaming or if he was in non-REM (NREM) sleep imagery. It is possible to think of this type of discoveries as an expression of creativity, i.e. the ability to use existing pieces of information and combine them in novel patterns leading to greater understanding and new solutions. Preliminary support of the role of sleep in creative thinking comes from a recent study by Wagner et al.2; these authors asked normal participants to perform a cognitive task, the Number Reduction Task. In this task, participants are required to understand a set of stimulus-response sequences and supply a single representative numerical answer. Improvement in task performance may be gradual (i.e., by slowly increasing response speed), or abrupt (after insight into an abstract rule underlying all sequences). They found that 59% of the participants that were allowed to sleep were able to perform the task in a time that was 70% shorter than the other group that did not sleep and suggested that sleep may facilitate insight-related problem solving. Here we report the results of the first study showing a direct complex correlation between sleep architecture or microstructure and creativity in normal controls.
Stop-and-go kinetics in amyloid fibrillation
Authors: Ferkinghoff-Borg Jesper , Fonslet Jesper , Andersen Christian , Krishna Sandeep , Pigolotti Simone , Yagi Hisashi , Goto Yuji , Otzen Daniel Erik , Jensen Mogens 
Published: July 2019

AbstractMany human diseases are associated with protein aggregation and fibrillation. Using glucagon as a model system for protein fibrillation we show that fibrils grow in an intermittent fashion, with periods of growth followed by long pauses. Remarkably, even if the intrinsic transition rates vary considerably in each experiment, the probability of being in the growing (stopping) state is very close to 1/4 (3/4), suggesting the presence of 4 independent conformations of the fibril tip. We discuss this possibility in terms of existing structural knowledge.
Words make people think, ... but pictures make people feel: The effect negative vs. positive images on charitable behavior
Authors: Perez Dueñas Carolina , Rivas Maria Fernanda , Oyediran Olusegun A. , Acosta Alberto , Brañas Garza Pablo 
Published: July 2019

AbstractWe ran an experiment where the subjects initially played a four-round dictator game, after which each subject was shown either a set of positive images or a set of negative images. Finally the subjects played another four-round dictator game.The effect of the sign of images shown is clear on the players’ behaviors: positive images have moderate effects on charitable behavior while negative images dramatically increase charity.We could therefore infer from our experimental results that showing negative images of the Haitian and Chilean catastrophes to the international public would have significant positive impacts on international donations to the victims and the rebuilding programs in both countries.
A Note on Measures of Single Timeseries Activity in Resting-State fMRI Studies
Authors: Zuo Xi-Nian 
Published: July 2019

AbstractIn statistics, signal processing and mathematical finance, a time series is a sequence of data points, measured typically at successive times spaced at uniform time intervals. Here, I only focus on the discrete time series. The motivation of writing this methodology note is to clarify the relationship between the measures to quantify activity of an observed timeseries. Particularly, focus one several measures used in recently emerged field of resting-state fMRI studies. Although all these measures have been extensively developed in EEG or other timeseries studies, many researchers focusing on various applications in or new comers to this new field need to know existed measures and the relationships among these measures.
Modeling Resting-State Brain Functional Integration
Authors: Zuo Xi-Nian 
Published: July 2019

AbstractDuring the past 15 years, resting state fMRI has rapidly emerged as a powerful and reliable approach to explore the human brain architecture. There are two concepts of human brain working mechanism: functional segregation and integration. In this report, I mainly focused on functional integration. Relevant mathematics and statistics in this field are reviewed including both seed-based and independent component analysis (ICA) resting state functional connectivity. Moreover, ICA was applied to study the abnormalities of a fronto-striatal-insular network in ADHD. First, mathematical methods to investigate the functional integration by using rs-fMRI were reviewed as well as more details on ICA. Two topics have been addressed: ranking components and applying ICA to reveal the dysfunctional fronto-striatal-insular network (FSIN) in ADHD. All methods referred in the report have been implemented by Linux shell scripts.
Formation of Plant Battery from Xerophytic Plants
Authors: Charan R.V.K. 
Published: July 2019

AbstractNature has supplied abundant energy to plants in form of electricity and among them the xerophytics and specially the Opuntias have got the maximum due to adaptness of dry condition. Several researchers have already found voltage across their cells but the present endeavour to harness the total electrical energy conserved in plants in form of a Plant Battery, however of low potential, but is a step forward towards non-conventional energy.
New discovery of the oldest maize weevils in the world from Jomon potteries, Japan
Authors: Obata Hiroki , Manabe Aya , Nakamura Naoko , Onishi Tomokazu , Senba Yasuko 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThe maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) and rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) are two of the most damaging insects for stored grains, and are characteristic species of ancient Japan. Both species and the granary weevil (Sitophilus granarius) are common elsewhere in the world, but the natural distribution of maize and rice weevils is restricted to the Old World^1^. Japanese archaeological records contain a few maize weevil fossils after the Middle Yayoi period (ca. 2000 aBP)^2^. However, since evidence of weevils was discovered as impressions in Jomon potsherds in 2004^3^, many weevil impressions have been found. The oldest is from the Late Jomon (ca. 4000 to 3200 aBP). These findings and other archaeological evidence suggest that the maize weevil invaded Japan from Korea, accompanying the spread of rice cultivation^4^. However, in 2010 we discovered older weevil impressions dating to ca. 9000 aBP. These specimens are the oldest harmful insects discovered from archaeological sites around the world. The new discovery is valuable for future entomological research because such specimens are absent from the fossil record. It is also archaeologically and culturally interesting because this provides evidence of harmful insects living in Jomon villages. However, the new discovery raises the question of what these weevils infested: did cereal cultivation exist 9000 years ago? We have no persuasive answer, but hope one will be provided by future interdisciplinary collaborations among geneticists, entomologists, and archaeologists.
Improved prediction of protein interaction from microarray data using asymmetric correlation
Authors: Yano Kojiro 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
Background:
Detection of correlated gene expression is a fundamental process in the characterization of gene functions using microarray data. Commonly used methods such as the Pearson correlation can detect only a fraction of interactions between genes or their products. However, the performance of correlation analysis can be significantly improved either by providing additional biological information or by combining correlation with other techniques that can extract various mathematical or statistical properties of gene expression from microarray data. In this article, I will test the performance of three correlation methods-the Pearson correlation, the rank (Spearman) correlation, and the Mutual Information approach-in detection of protein-protein interactions, and I will further examine the properties of these techniques when they are used together. I will also develop a new correlation measure which can be used with other measures to improve predictive power. Results:Using data from 5,896 microarray hybridizations, the three measures were obtained for 30,499 known protein-interacting pairs in the Human Protein Reference Database (HPRD). Pearson correlation showed the best sensitivity (0.305) but the three measures showed similar specificity (0.240 - 0.257). When the three measures were compared, it was found that better specificity could be obtained at a high Pearson coefficient combined with a low Spearman coefficient or Mutual Information. Using a toy model of two gene interactions, I found that such measure combinations were most likely to exist at stronger curvature. I therefore introduced a new measure, termed asymmetric correlation (AC), which directly quantifies the degree of curvature in the expression levels of two genes as a degree of asymmetry. I found that AC performed better than the other measures, particularly when high specificity was required. Moreover, a combination of AC with other measures significantly improved specificity and sensitivity, by up to 50%.

Conclusions:
A combination of correlation measures, particularly AC and Pearson correlation, can improve prediction of protein-protein interactions. Further studies are required to assess the biological significance of asymmetry in expression patterns of gene pairs.
The water clock of Proteus mirabilis paces colony periodic and synchronous swarming
Authors: Lahaye Elodie , Jamme Frederic , Sire Olivier 
Published: July 2019

AbstractFor decades, the origin of the concentric ring pattern of bacterial swarming colonies has puzzled microbiologists. Thanks to _in situ_ and real time infrared microspectroscopy and the brilliance of the infrared beam at SOLEIL synchrotron, we demonstrate here that Proteus mirabilis swarming is paced by a periodic variation of the water activity at colony's edge. This periodic variation originates a phase transition within the extracellular matrix water H bond network which switches on and off the exopolysaccharides viscoelasticity and, consequently, the ability of bacterial cells to swarm. A dynamic behaviour emerges from the global properties of the multicellular entity which here relies on the ability of the bacterial cells to tune exoproducts synthesis in order to undergo sharp transitions above/below a given water activity threshold.
Multidrug resistance of non-adherent cancer cells
Authors: Singh Navneet , Chakrabarty Subhas , Liu Guangming 
Published: July 2019

AbstractMetastases are the cause of 90% of human cancer deaths. Cancer in situ can usually be effectively removed by surgery. Once cancer cells disseminate from the original site and start to circulate in blood, lymph, or other body fluids, the disease becomes almost incurable. Here we show that cancer cells in a non-adherent, 3-dimentional growth pattern are highly drug resistant compared to their adherent counterparts that grow in monolayer, attaching to the wall of tissue culture plates. The non-adherent cancer cells retain the adhering potential and can attach to an appropriate surface to reacquire adherent phenotype. Once the non-adherent cancer cells become attached, they regain drug response, similar to the original adherent cells. A significant increase in the expression of CD133, CD44, Nanog, survivin, and thymidylate synthase was observed in the non-adherent cancer cells compared to their adherent counterparts, which may underlie the mechanisms of multidrug resistance of the cells. Since the non-adherent cancer cells cultured in vitro resemble the circulating metastatic cells in vivo in that both cells exhibit suspended non-adherent phenotype, possess re-attaching potential, and are highly drug resistant, we suggest that circulating metastatic cells can attach to an appropriate surface to gain adherent phenotype and subsequently acquire drug sensitivity. We propose that devices coated with cell attachment materials or small particles of extracellular matrix and collagen that mimic the structural framework of real human tissues to which cells can attach and grow may be able to stabilize the circulating metastatic cells. Once the metastatic cells undergo attachment and become adherent, they gain drug sensitivity and can be killed by anticancer drugs that are either administered to the blood or conjugated to the devices.
Fractal geometry of nature (bone) may inspire medical devices shape
Authors: Longoni Salvatore , Sartori Matteo 
Published: July 2019

AbstractMedical devices, as orthopaedics prostheses and dental implants, have been designed over years on the strength of mechanical, clinical and biological indications. This sequence is the commonly accepted cognitive and research process: adapting the device to the surrounding environment (host tissue). Inverting this traditional logical approach, we started from bone microarchitecture analysis. Here we show that a unique geometric rule seems to underlie different morphologic and functional aspects of human jaw bone tissue: fractal properties of white trabeculae in low quality bone are similar to fractal properties of black spaces in high quality bone and vice versa. These data inspired the fractal bone quality classification and they were the starting point for reverse engineering to design specific dental implants threads. We introduce a new philosophy: bone decoding and with these data devices encoding. In the future, the method will be implemented for the analysis of other human or animal tissues in order to project medical devices and biomaterials with a microarchitecture driven by nature.
Asynchronous Rhythm of Steroidogenic Factor 1 and Period Homolog 2 mRNA Expression in Mouse Y1 Adrenocorticol Tumor Cells
Authors: Ohe Kenji , Sonoda Kouichirou , Akashi Makoto , Oba Koichi , Nomura Masatoshi , Okabe Taijiro , Node Koichi , Takayanagi Ryoichi , Nawata Hajime , Yanase Toshihiko 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThe relationship between the expression of Steroidogenic factor 1 (Sf1) and the circadian-related gene, period homolog 2 (Per2), in the adrenal cortex is still unknown. We show here that in Y1 adrenocortical tumor cells, expression of steroidogenic-related genes such as P450scc mRNA and Sf1 mRNA were asynchronous with Per2 mRNA. SF1 promoter analyses showed that the E-box element functions in a rhythmic pattern. Rhythmic expression of Upstream factor 1 mRNA, correlated well with Sf1 mRNA expression. We propose that tumorigenesis of adrenocortical lesions cause disruption of synchronous expression of steroidogenic-related and circadian-related genes.
New Equations for Atomic Mass, Mass per Nucleon and Mass defects of Elements in Terms of Rest Mass Based Neutron Numbers
Authors: Heyrovska Raji 
Published: July 2019

AbstractConventional neutron numbers are based on the approximations that the mass of the electron is zero and that those of the proton and neutron are each equal to unity. It was shown, by using the exact rest masses, that the neutron numbers are actually one or two less than the conventional ones for atomic masses greater than 108. Presented here are new equations for the atomic mass, mass per nucleon and mass defects for the most abundant stable isotope (or the one with the longest half life) of each of the 118 elements of the Periodic Table.
Effect of Escherichia coli endotoxin on Archachatina marginata haemolymph coagulation system
Authors: Salawu Musa , Oloyede Oyelola , Oladiji Adenike , Muhammad Nasiru , Yakubu Musa 
Published: July 2019

AbstractThe effect of E. coli endotoxin on the heamolymph coagulation response of Archachatina marginata was studied. Heamocyte Lysate(HL), Haemocyte Lysate Supernatant(HLS) and Haemocyte Lysate Debris (HLD) were exposed to Escherichia coli endotoxin. Controls were prepared with endotoxin-free water(&lt;0.025 EU/ml). The differential protein coagulation was estimated in each mixture. Fractions of the haemolymph exposed to endotoxin produced higher protein coagulates than endotoxin-free fractions when incubated at 37 °C for 1 h (p&lt;0.05). The results showed significantly higher (p&lt;0.05) concentrations of protein coagulated when HL/plasma mixture were used than when either fraction was used. At a ratio 1:1 of HL:Plasma, highest protein coagulation was recorded. This study revealed that maximum protein coagulation in response to endotoxin was elicited by a synergy between plasma and haemocyte lysate(HL). From this research haemolymph fractions of Archachatina marginata may provide an alternative test material for endotoxin in medical preparations in the future.