bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The influence of top‐down modulation on the processing of direct gaze
Authors: Burra Nicolas , Mares Ines , Senju Atsushi 
Published: March 2019

Gaze or eye contact is one of the most important nonverbal social cues, which is fundamental to human social interactions. To achieve real time and dynamic face‐to‐face communication, our brain needs to process another person's gaze direction rapidly and without explicit instruction. In order to explain the fast and spontaneous processing of direct gaze, the fast‐track modulator model was proposed. Here, we review recent developments in gaze processing research in the last decade to extend the fast‐track modulator model. In particular, we propose that task demand or top‐down modulation could play a more crucial role at gaze processing than formerly assumed. We suggest that under different task demands, top‐down modulation can facilitate or interfere with the direct gaze effects for early visual processing. The proposed modification of the model extends the role of task demand and its implication on the direct gaze effect, as well as the need to better control for top‐down processing in order to better disentangle the role of top‐down and bottom‐up processing on the direct gaze effect.This article is categorized under:

Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition
Psychology > Perception and Psychophysics
Neuroscience > Cognition
Heterotopic formaldehyde biodegradation through UV/H2O2 system with biosynthetic H2O2
Authors: Zhao Qian , An Jingkun , Wang Shu , Wang Cong , Liu Jia , Li Nan 
Published: March 2019

AbstractBiodegradation was regarded an environmentally benign and cost‐effective technology for formaldehyde (CH2O) removal. However, the biotoxicity of CH2O inhibited microbial activity and decreased removal performance. We developed a novel heterotopic CH2O biodegradation process that combined bioelectrochemical system (BES) and UV/H2O2. Instead of exogenous addition, H2O2 was biosynthesized with electron transferred from electrochemically active bacteria. Heterotopic biodegradation of CH2O was more efficient and faster than in situ biodegradation, as confirmed by 69%–308% higher removal efficiency and 98% shorter degradation time. Operated under optimal conditions for 30 min, which are optical distance of 2 cm, initial H2O2 concentration of 102 mg/L, and pH 3, heterotopic biodegradation removed 78%, 73%, 49%, and 30% of CH2O with 6, 8, 10, and 20 mg/L initial concentration. Mild formation of hydroxyl radicals from UV/H2O2 is beneficial to sustainable CH2O degradation and efficient H2O2 utilization. Heterotopic biodegradation is a promising technology for efficient degradation of other organic compounds with biological toxicity.Practitioner points

H2O2 biosynthesis through electrochemically active bacteria (EAB) served as source of ·OH for CH2O removal in UV/H2O2.

Heterotopic CH2O biodegradation avoided the biotoxicity of CH2O.

Heterotopic biodegradation of CH2O saved 98% time than in‐situ biodegradation.

Heterotopic CH2O biodegradation improved 69%–308% efficiency than in‐situ.
Domestic Expansion in the Iberian Kingdoms
Authors: Yun-Casalilla Bartolomé 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis chapter explains sixteenth-century growth in Iberia. It argues against the idea of technological and economic backwardness and shows the notable dynamism of both the agrarian sector and the cities of the interior. Also against those common places, this chapter argues that interregional connectivity, old property rights only apparently inefficient (by the standards of the new institutional economics), led to increasing productivity and even economic development. Moderate fiscal and seigniorial pressure—in part thanks to the advantages offered by the empires—also facilitated expansion. Though there was not an integrated interregional market or an evolution towards capitalism, this economy does not fit the backward and primitive image often depicted by historians.
The Luso-Spanish Composite Global Empire, 1598–1640
Authors: Yun-Casalilla Bartolomé 
Published: March 2019

AbstractBreaking with a tradition of studying the Spanish and the Portuguese empires separately, this chapter adopts a global perspective to analyse imperial networks and the way family and personal relations and informal institutions articulated them. The asymmetries in information and agency at a local level also elucidate the terms of negotiations between the metropolis and the colonies, the difficulties in controlling the different imperial nodes and the problems of regulation and arbitration from Madrid and Lisbon.Though these empires had been agents of globalization, this chapter argues that globalization became their main enemy. It enhanced the negotiational power of local elites and created new routes of trade escaping the metropolis’ control and weakening the states. The study of the European wars (1621–1648/59) from a global perspective shows that tensions in the periphery of the empires were at the base of the Hapsburgs’ difficulties and in the increasing conflict between Lisbon and Madrid, thus viewed from a new perspective. Contrary to the traditional image, the chapter demonstrates the relevant contribution to warfare by non-Castilian territories and that the mobilization of military and financial resources kept working as a decentralized apparatus, thus enhancing the power of local elites, particularly in the case of America, which kept an increasing proportion of its fiscal output.
How common are vascular injuries in open tibial fractures? A prospective longitudinal cohort study
Authors: O’Malley O. , Trompeter A. J. , Krishnanandan S. , Vesely M. , Holt P. , Goh G. , Papadakos N. , Bhatia V. , Hing C. B. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractBackgroundTibial fractures have an incidence of 15% of all adult fractures. They have been shown to have the highest incidence of non-union in long bone fractures and the highest incidence of vascular injury. Evidence from the literature suggests that a good vascular supply is important to ensure bone union. The aim of our study was to prospectively assess the incidence of vascular injuries in open tibial fractures and determine whether they were associated with an increased risk of non-union.MethodsWe performed a prospective study to investigate the incidence of arterial injuries with computed tomography angiography (CTA) in patients with Gustilo–Anderson grade I–III open tibial fractures between 2013 and 2015. CTA was performed with the trauma series at acute admission and reported by two independent musculoskeletal radiologists. Patients were followed up with clinical and radiographic assessment for 1 year.ResultsWe recruited 77 patients into the study, and 56 patients (47 males, 9 females) were available for the final analysis, between 16 and 90 years of age. At the initial assessment, 29% had signs of arterial injury with active extravasation in 5%. The most common site of injury was in the diaphysis (87.5%), and the commonest mechanism was a road traffic accident. We found no significant relation between occult vascular injury and non-union (p > 0.05).ConclusionThe incidence of vascular injury in open tibial fractures is 29%, and CTA is therefore a useful test in identifying vascular injuries that may require vascular intervention.
The C-word, the P-word, and realism in epidemiology
Authors: Broadbent Alex 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis paper considers an important recent (May 2018) contribution by Miguel Hernán to the ongoing debate about causal inference in epidemiology. Hernán rejects the idea that there is an in-principle epistemic distinction between the results of randomized controlled trials and observational studies: both produce associations which we may be more or less confident interpreting as causal. However, Hernán maintains that trials have a semantic advantage. Observational studies that seek to estimate causal effect risk issuing meaningless statements instead. The POA proposes a solution to this problem: improved restrictions on the meaningful use of causal language, in particular “causal effect”. This paper argues that new restrictions in fact fail their own standards of meaningfulness. The paper portrays the desire for a restrictive definition of causal language as positivistic, and argues that contemporary epidemiology should be more realistic in its approach to causation. In a realist context, restrictions on meaningfulness based on precision of definition are neither helpful nor necessary. Hernán’s favoured approach to causal language is saved from meaninglessness, along with the approaches he rejects.
To exclude or not to exclude, that is the question. Developments regarding bases for exclusion from refugee status in the EU
Authors: Simentić Janja 
Published: March 2019

AbstractIn this Article, the author presents and explains the current normative framework in EU law about the exclusion from refugee status based on the premise that a person is not deserving of refugee status. This article is directed at clarifying the present content of the legislation in force and the caselaw of the Court of Justice of the European Union that further elaborates on this issue. The Commission’s recent proposal for new legislation is also scrutinized, in order to present a possible evolution of the exclusion provision.
High-brightness all-fiber Raman lasers directly pumped by multimode laser diodes
Authors: Babin S. A. 
Published: March 2019

High-brightness fiber laser sources usually utilize active rare-earth-doped fibers cladding-pumped by multimode laser diodes (LDs), but they operate in limited wavelength ranges. Singlemode-passive-fiber based Raman lasers are able to operate at almost any wavelength being pumped by high-power fiber lasers. One of the interesting possibilities is to directly pump graded-index (GRIN) multimode passive fibers by available high-power multimode LDs at 915–940 nm, thus achieving high-power Raman lasing in the wavelength range of 950–1000 nm, which is problematic for rare-earth-doped fiber lasers. Here we review the latest results on the development of all-fiber high-brightness LD-pumped sources based on GRIN fiber with in-fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). The mode-selection properties of FBGs inscribed by fs pulses supported by the Raman clean-up effect result in efficient conversion of multimode pump into a high-quality output beam at 9xx nm. GRIN fibers with core diameters 62.5, 85 and $100~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ are compared. Further scaling capabilities and potential applications of such sources are discussed.
Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? Could cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) deficiency be the answer?
Authors: Fraser D. R. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractPalaeontological deductions from the fossil remnants of extinct dinosaurs tell us much about their classification into species as well as about their physiological and behavioural characteristics. Geological evidence indicates that dinosaurs became extinct at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene eras, about 66 million years ago, at a time when there was worldwide environmental change resulting from the impact of a large celestial object with the Earth and/or from vast volcanic eruptions. However, apart from the presumption that climate change and interference with food supply contributed to their extinction, no biological mechanism has been suggested to explain why such a diverse range of terrestrial vertebrates ceased to exist. One of perhaps several contributing mechanisms comes by extrapolating from the physiology of the avian descendants of dinosaurs. This raises the possibility that cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) deficiency of developing embryos in dinosaur eggs could have caused their death before hatching, thus extinguishing the entire family of dinosaurs through failure to reproduce.
Decomposing Graphs into Edges and Triangles
Authors: KRÁL' DANIEL , LIDICKÝ BERNARD , MARTINS TAÍSA L. , PEHOVA YANITSA 
Published: March 2019

We prove the following 30 year-old conjecture of Győri and Tuza: the edges of every n-vertex graph G can be decomposed into complete graphs C1,. . .,Cℓ of orders two and three such that |C1|+···+|Cℓ| ≤ (1/2+o(1))n2. This result implies the asymptotic version of the old result of Erdős, Goodman and Pósa that asserts the existence of such a decomposition with ℓ ≤ n2/4.
Flow Prediction in Ungauged Catchments Using Probabilistic Random Forests Regionalization and New Statistical Adequacy Tests
Authors: Prieto Cristina , Le Vine Nataliya , Kavetski Dmitri , García Eduardo , Medina Raúl 
Published: March 2019

AbstractFlow prediction in ungauged catchments is a major unresolved challenge in scientific and engineering hydrology. This study attacks the prediction in ungauged catchment problem by exploiting advances in flow index selection and regionalization in Bayesian inference and by developing new statistical tests of model performance in ungauged catchments. First, an extensive set of available flow indices is reduced using principal component (PC) analysis to a compact orthogonal set of “flow index PCs.” These flow index PCs are regionalized under minimal assumptions using random forests regression augmented with a residual error model and used to condition hydrological model parameters using a Bayesian scheme. Second, “adequacy” tests are proposed to evaluate a priori the hydrological and regionalization model performance in the space of flow index PCs. The proposed regionalization approach is applied to 92 northern Spain catchments, with 16 catchments treated as ungauged. It is shown that (1) a small number of PCs capture approximately 87% of variability in the flow indices and (2) adequacy tests with respect to regionalized information are indicative of (but do not guarantee) the ability of a hydrological model to predict flow time series and are hence proposed as a prerequisite for flow prediction in ungauged catchments. The adequacy tests identify the regionalization of flow index PCs as adequate in 12 of 16 catchments but the hydrological model as adequate in only 1 of 16 catchments. Hence, a focus on improving hydrological model structure and input data (the effects of which are not disaggregated in this work) is recommended.
Direct current remote cloak for arbitrary objects
Authors: Chen Tianhang , Zheng Bin , Yang Yihao , Shen Lian , Wang Zuojia , Gao Fei , Li Erping , Luo Yu , Cui Tie Jun , Chen Hongsheng 
Published: March 2019

AbstractHiding an arbitrary object with a cloak at a distance from an object is of great significance in scientific research, but remains unrealized as a practical device. In this paper, we propose the first experimental realization of a remote cloaking device that makes any object located at a certain distance invisible at direct current (DC) frequency. A negative resistor network with active elements is used to achieve the remote function of the DC cloak. Based on this network, the cloak can remotely generate a hidden region without distorting the currents far from the cloaked region. The experimental results show that any object in the hidden region is invisible to a DC detector. Our cloak does not require any knowledge of the hidden object. The experimental demonstration shows the superiority of this remote cloaking device, which may find potential applications in medical or geologic research.
Optical force-induced nonlinearity and self-guiding of light in human red blood cell suspensions
Authors: Gautam Rekha , Xiang Yinxiao , Lamstein Josh , Liang Yi , Bezryadina Anna , Liang Guo , Hansson Tobias , Wetzel Benjamin , Preece Daryl , White Adam , Silverman Matthew , Kazarian Susan , Xu Jingjun , Morandotti Roberto , Chen Zhigang 
Published: March 2019

AbstractOsmotic conditions play an important role in the cell properties of human red blood cells (RBCs), which are crucial for the pathological analysis of some blood diseases such as malaria. Over the past decades, numerous efforts have mainly focused on the study of the RBC biomechanical properties that arise from the unique deformability of erythrocytes. Here, we demonstrate nonlinear optical effects from human RBCs suspended in different osmotic solutions. Specifically, we observe self-trapping and scattering-resistant nonlinear propagation of a laser beam through RBC suspensions under all three osmotic conditions, where the strength of the optical nonlinearity increases with osmotic pressure on the cells. This tunable nonlinearity is attributed to optical forces, particularly the forward-scattering and gradient forces. Interestingly, in aged blood samples (with lysed cells), a notably different nonlinear behavior is observed due to the presence of free hemoglobin. We use a theoretical model with an optical force-mediated nonlocal nonlinearity to explain the experimental observations. Our work on light self-guiding through scattering bio-soft-matter may introduce new photonic tools for noninvasive biomedical imaging and medical diagnosis.
Dietary fatty acids fine-tune Piezo1 mechanical response
Authors: Romero Luis O. , Massey Andrew E. , Mata-Daboin Alejandro D. , Sierra-Valdez Francisco J. , Chauhan Subhash C. , Cordero-Morales Julio F. , Vásquez Valeria 
Published: March 2019

AbstractMechanosensitive ion channels rely on membrane composition to transduce physical stimuli into electrical signals. The Piezo1 channel mediates mechanoelectrical transduction and regulates crucial physiological processes, including vascular architecture and remodeling, cell migration, and erythrocyte volume. The identity of the membrane components that modulate Piezo1 function remain largely unknown. Using lipid profiling analyses, we here identify dietary fatty acids that tune Piezo1 mechanical response. We find that margaric acid, a saturated fatty acid present in dairy products and fish, inhibits Piezo1 activation and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), present in fish oils, modulate channel inactivation. Force measurements reveal that margaric acid increases membrane bending stiffness, whereas PUFAs decrease it. We use fatty acid supplementation to abrogate the phenotype of gain-of-function Piezo1 mutations causing human dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis. Beyond Piezo1, our findings demonstrate that cell-intrinsic lipid profile and changes in the fatty acid metabolism can dictate the cell’s response to mechanical cues.
Facile syntheses of conjugated polymers for photothermal tumour therapy
Authors: Chen Peiyao , Ma Yinchu , Zheng Zhen , Wu Chengfan , Wang Yucai , Liang Gaolin 
Published: March 2019

AbstractDevelopment of photothermal materials which are able to harness sunlight and convert it to thermal energy seems attractive. Besides carbon-based nanomaterials, conjugated polymers are emerging promising photothermal materials but their facile syntheses remain challenging. In this work, by modification of a CBT-Cys click condensation reaction and rational design of the starting materials, we facilely synthesize conjugated polymers poly-2-phenyl-benzobisthiazole (PPBBT) and its dihexyl derivative with good photothermal properties. Under the irradiation of either sunlight-mimicking Xe light or near-infrared laser, we verify that PPBBT has comparable photothermal heating-up speed to that of star material single-wall carbon nanotube. Moreover, PPBBT is used to fabricate water-soluble NPPPBBT nanoparticles which maintain excellent photothermal properties in vitro and photothermal therapy effect on the tumours exposed to laser irradiation. We envision that our synthetic method provides a facile approach to fabricate conjugated polymers for more promising applications in biomedicine or photovoltaics in the near future.
Widespread PERK-dependent repression of ER targets in response to ER stress
Authors: Gonen Nir , Sabath Niv , Burge Christopher B. , Shalgi Reut 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe UPR (Unfolded Protein Response) is a well-orchestrated response to ER protein folding and processing overload, integrating both transcriptional and translational outputs. Its three arms in mammalian cells, the PERK translational response arm, together with the ATF6 and IRE1-XBP1-mediated transcriptional arms, have been thoroughly investigated. Using ribosome footprint profiling, we performed a deep characterization of gene expression programs involved in the early and late ER stress responses, within WT or PERK −/− Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs). We found that both repression and activation gene expression programs, affecting hundreds of genes, are significantly hampered in the absence of PERK. Specifically, PERK −/− cells do not show global translational inhibition, nor do they specifically activate early gene expression programs upon short exposure to ER stress. Furthermore, while PERK −/− cells do activate/repress late ER-stress response genes, the response is substantially weaker. Importantly, we highlight a widespread PERK-dependent repression program, consisting of ER targeted proteins, including transmembrane proteins, glycoproteins, and proteins with disulfide bonds. This phenomenon occurs in various different cell types, and has a major translational regulatory component. Moreover, we revealed a novel interplay between PERK and the XBP1-ATF6 arms of the UPR, whereby PERK attenuates the expression of a specific subset of XBP1-ATF6 targets, further illuminating the complexity of the integrated ER stress response.
Small-molecule inhibitor of HlyU attenuates virulence of Vibrio species
Authors: Lee Zee-Won , Kim Byoung Sik , Jang Kyung Ku , Bang Ye-Ji , Kim Suhyeon , Ha Nam-Chul , Jung Young Hyun , Lee Hyun Jik , Han Ho Jae , Kim Jong-Seo , Kim Jeesoo , Sahu Pramod K. , Jeong Lak Shin , Kim Myung Hee , Choi Sang Ho 
Published: March 2019

AbstractIncreasing antibiotic resistance has led to the development of new strategies to combat bacterial infection. Anti-virulence strategies that impair virulence of bacterial pathogens are one of the novel approaches with less selective pressure for developing resistance than traditional strategies that impede viability. In this study, a small molecule CM14 [N-(4-oxo-4H-thieno[3,4-c]chromen-3-yl)-3-phenylprop-2-ynamide] that inhibits the activity of HlyU, a transcriptional regulator essential for the virulence of the fulminating human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus, has been identified. Without affecting bacterial growth or triggering the host cell death, CM14 reduces HlyU-dependent expression of virulence genes in V. vulnificus. In addition to the decreased hemolysis of human erythrocytes, CM14 impedes host cell rounding and lysis caused by V. vulnificus. Notably, CM14 significantly enhances survival of mice infected with V. vulnificus by alleviating hepatic and renal dysfunction and systemic inflammation. Biochemical, mass spectrometric, and mutational analyses revealed that CM14 inhibits HlyU from binding to target DNA by covalently modifying Cys30. Remarkably, CM14 decreases the expression of various virulence genes of other Vibrio species and thus attenuates their virulence phenotypes. Together, this molecule could be an anti-virulence agent against HlyU-harboring Vibrio species with a low selective pressure for the emergence of resistance.