bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The immunomodulatory functions and molecular mechanism of a new bursal heptapeptide (BP7) in immune responses and immature B cells
Authors: Feng Xiu Li , Zheng Yang , Zong Man Man , Hao Shan Shan , Zhou Guang Fang , Cao Rui Bing , Chen Pu Yan , Liu Qing Tao 
Published: September 2019

AbstractThe bursa of Fabricius (BF) is the acknowledged central humoural immune organ unique to birds and plays a vital role in B lymphocyte development. In addition, the unique molecular immune features of bursal-derived biological peptides involved in B cell development are rarely reported. In this paper, a novel bursal heptapeptide (BP7) with the sequence GGCDGAA was isolated from the BF and was shown to enhance the monoclonal antibody production of a hybridoma. A mouse immunization experiment showed that mice immunized with an AIV antigen and BP7 produced strong antibody responses and cell-mediated immune responses. Additionally, BP7 stimulated increased mRNA levels of sIgM in immature mouse WEHI-231 B cells. Gene microarray results confirmed that BP7 regulated 2465 differentially expressed genes in BP7-treated WEHI-231 cells and induced 13 signalling pathways and various immune-related functional processes. Furthermore, we found that BP7 stimulated WEHI-231 cell autophagy and AMPK-ULK1 phosphorylation and regulated Bcl-2 protein expression. Finally, chicken immunization showed that BP7 enhanced the potential antibody and cytokine responses to the AIV antigen. These results suggested that BP7 might be an active biological factor that functions as a potential immunopotentiator, which provided some novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of the effects of bursal peptides on immune functions and B cell differentiation.
Construction and characterization of immunoliposomes targeting fibroblast growth factor receptor 3
Authors: Zheng Zhong , Ji Haotian , Zong Wenbo , Ran Qiuju , Wang Xinxin , Yang Xi , Zhao Zhuo , Yang Chengjun , Xiao Yechen 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) plays an important regulatory role in tumor cell proliferation and drug resistance. FGFR3 is often constitutively active in many tumors. To deliver drugs into tumor cells by targeting FGFR3 will be a promising and potential strategy for cancer therapy. In this study, a novel fusion protein, ScFv-Cys containing a single chain variable fragment (ScFv) and an additional C-terminal cysteine residue, was generated at a rate of 10 mg/L of bacterial culture and purified at 95% by Ni-NTA chromatography. Subsequently, the recombinant ScFv-Cys was coupled with malPEG2000-DSPE and incorporated into liposomes to generate the immunoliposomes. The results indicated that immunoliposomes can specifically deliver the fluorescent molecules, Dio into bladder cancer cells highly expressing FGFR3. In conclusion, we successfully generated FGFR3-specific immunoliposomes, and proved its targeting effect and delivering ability.
BabaoDan attenuates high-fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease via activation of AMPK signaling
Authors: Sheng Dandan , Zhao Shanmin , Gao Lu , Zheng Huifei , Liu Wenting , Hou Jing , Jin Yuxiang , Ye Fei , Zhao Qiudong , Li Rong , Zhao Naping , Zhang Li , Han Zhipeng , Wei Lixin 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Babaodan (BBD), a traditional Chinese medicine, has been shown to have protective effects during liver injury and ameliorate liver disease progression, but little is known about its effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of BBD on obesity-induced NAFLD.

Methods
C57BL/6 J mice were fed with normal diet, high fat diet (HFD) or HFD + BBD for 8 weeks. Weights of all mice were recorded every 3 days. At the end of the experiments, the level of livers, kidneys and adipose tissues of each animal was weighed. Blood serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), glucose and leptin were detected with appropriate test kits. Haematoxylin–eosin (HE), Masson trichrome and Oil Red O staining of the liver were performed. We applied immunohistochemical analysis to investigate the expression of TNF-α, IL-6 and leptin in liver tissue. The expression of genes related lipid anabolism (SREBP1-c, ACC, SCD-1, LXRα and CD36) and ß-oxidation (CPT-1 and PPARα) in liver and adipose tissues was determined by RT-PCR. The expression of AMPK and p-AMPK was determined by western blot analysis.

Results
We found the weight of bodies and tissues (retroperitoneal fat pads, kidneys and livers) of mice fed with HFD + BBD were significantly lower than that of HFD-fed mice. And liver injury induced by HFD was relieved in mice treated with BBD, accompanied with significant reduction were observed in serum ALT/AST activities and alleviated pathological damage. The levels of glucose, TG, TC, HDL-C and LDL-C in the liver or serum were significantly decreased on HFD + BBD group compared with HFD group. Furthermore, BBD treatment reduced the level of TNF-α and IL-6 induced by HFD. The level of leptin in the liver and serum were reduced in mice fed with HFD + BBD than that of HFD-fed mice. Several lipid synthesis genes (SREBP1-c, ACC, SCD-1, LXRα and CD36) were down-regulated and that of ß-oxidation (CPT-1 and PPARα) up-regulated in HFD + BBD group compared with HFD group. In addition, BBD increased the expression of p-AMPK compared with untreated HFD group, which suggested BBD improved the activation of AMPK pathway.

Conclusion
In summary, our results indicate that BBD has potential applications in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD, which may be closely related to its effect on lipid metabolism via activation of AMPK signaling.
SMYD2 promotes cervical cancer growth by stimulating cell proliferation
Authors: Sun Jun-Jie , Li Hong-Lin , Ma Hui , Shi Yang , Yin Li-Rong , Guo Su-Jie 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
Cervical cancer is the most common gynecological malignancy with low terminal cure rate, and therefore new therapeutic targets are urgently needed to combat this disease. SMYD2, as an oncogene, is abnormal highly expressed in multiple types of tumors and further affects the occurrence and development, but the potential correlations between SMYD2 expression and cervical cancer progression is still unclear.

Methods
We first used the bioinformatics website to screen the data of cervical cancer in (The Cancer Genome Atlas) TCGA and survival analysis was used to find the different survival rates in the SMYD2 high expression group and low expression group. Through immunohistochemistry, the association between SMYD2 expression and clinical-pathological features of cervical cancer patients was further evaluated. Quantitative PCR and Immunoblot were applied to investigate the relative mRNA and protein expression levels, respectively. In vivo and in vitro experiments were performed to explore the function of SMYD2 in cancer progression.

Results
We first found a high expression of SMYD2 in cervical cancer, and survival analysis found that the poorer survival rate in the SMYD2 high expression group than that in the low expression group. Herein, our study demonstrated that the expression of SMYD2 in patients with cervical cancer was associated with FIGO stage, tumor size and further correlated with poor prognosis. Our data further showed that the inhibition of SMYD2 expression in cervical cancer cell line Caski and Siha could dramatically block the proliferation of cervical cancer cells. Additionally, SMYD2-shRNA lentivirus infected remarkably inhibited tumorigenesis in mice compared with the scramble group.

Conclusions
Taken together, this study provides strong evidence of the involvement of SMYD2 in cervical cancer growth and indicates that it could have high potential as a therapeutic target of cervical cancer.
Identification and authentication for wireless transmission security based on RF-DNA fingerprint
Authors: Wang Xueli , Zhang Yufeng , Zhang Hongxin , Wei Xiaofeng , Wang Guangyuan 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
For wireless transmission, radio-frequency device anti-cloning has become a major security issue. Radio-frequency distinct native attribute (RF-DNA) fingerprint is a developing technology to find the difference among RF devices and identify them. Comparing with previous research, (1) this paper proposed that mean (μ) feature should be added into RF-DNA fingerprint. Thus, totally four statistics (mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) were calculated on instantaneous amplitude, phase, and frequency generated by Hilbert transform. (2) We first proposed using the logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM) to recognize such extracted fingerprint at different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environment. We compared their performance with traditional multiple discriminant analysis (MDA). (3) In addition, this paper also proposed to extract three sub-features (amplitude, phase, and frequency) separately to recognize extracted fingerprint under MDA. In order to make our results more universal, additive white Gaussian noise was adopted to simulate the real environment. The results show that (1) mean feature conducts an improvement in the classification accuracy, especially in low SNR environment. (2) MDA and SVM could successfully identify these RF devices, and the classification accuracy could reach 94%. Although the classification accuracy of LR is 89.2%, it could get the probability of each class. After adding a different noise, the recognition accuracy is more than 80% when SNR≥5 dB using MDA or SVM. (3) Frequency feature has more discriminant information. Phase and amplitude play an auxiliary but also pivotal role in classification recognition.
A conjugate gradient algorithm and its application in large-scale optimization problems and image restoration
Authors: Yuan Gonglin , Li Tingting , Hu Wujie 
Published: September 2019

AbstractTo solve large-scale unconstrained optimization problems, a modified PRP conjugate gradient algorithm is proposed and is found to be interesting because it combines the steepest descent algorithm with the conjugate gradient method and successfully fully utilizes their excellent properties. For smooth functions, the objective algorithm sufficiently utilizes information about the gradient function and the previous direction to determine the next search direction. For nonsmooth functions, a Moreau–Yosida regularization is introduced into the proposed algorithm, which simplifies the process in addressing complex problems. The proposed algorithm has the following characteristics: (i) a sufficient descent feature as well as a trust region trait; (ii) the ability to achieve global convergence; (iii) numerical results for large-scale smooth/nonsmooth functions prove that the proposed algorithm is outstanding compared to other similar optimization methods; (iv) image restoration problems are done to turn out that the given algorithm is successful.
On classical solutions of Rayleigh–Taylor instability in inhomogeneous viscoelastic fluids
Authors: Tan Zhidan , Wang Weiwei 
Published: September 2019

AbstractWe study the nonlinear Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability of an inhomogeneous incompressible viscoelastic fluid in a bounded domain. It is well known that there exist strong solutions of RT instability in$H^{2}$H2-norm in inhomogeneous incompressible viscoelastic fluids, when the elasticity coefficientκis less than some threshold$\kappa _{\mathrm{C}}$κC. In this paper, we prove the existence of classical solutions of RT instability in$L^{1}$L1-norm in Lagrangian coordinates based on a bootstrap instability method with finer analysis, if$\kappa <\kappa _{\mathrm{C}}$κ<κC. Moreover, we also get classical solutions of RT instability in$L^{1}$L1-norm in Eulerian coordinates by further applying an inverse transformation of Lagrangian coordinates.
A stabilized coupled method and its optimal error estimates for elliptic interface problems
Authors: Yu Jiaping , Shi Feng , Zhao Jianping 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
In this paper, we present a stabilized coupled algorithm for solving elliptic interface problems, mainly by introducing the jump of the solutions along the interface. A framework of theoretical proofs is provided to show the optimal error estimates of this stabilized method. Several numerical experiments are carried out to demonstrate the computational stability and effectiveness of the method.
A recurrent and transesophageal echocardiography–associated outbreak of extended-spectrum β-lactamase–producing Enterobacter cloacae complex in cardiac surgery patients
Authors: Van Maerken Tom , De Brabandere Els , Noël Audrey , Coorevits Liselotte , De Waegemaeker Pascal , Ablorh Raina , Bouchez Stefaan , Herck Ingrid , Peperstraete Harlinde , Bogaerts Pierre , Verhasselt Bruno , Glupczynski Youri , Boelens Jerina , Leroux-Roels Isabel 
Published: September 2019

Abstract

Background
We report a recurrent outbreak of postoperative infections with extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)–producing E. cloacae complex in cardiac surgery patients, describe the outbreak investigation and highlight the infection control measures.

Methods
Cases were defined as cardiac surgery patients in Ghent University Hospital who were not known preoperatively to carry ESBL-producing E. cloacae complex and who postoperatively had a positive culture for this multiresistant organism between May 2017 and January 2018. An epidemiological investigation, including a case-control study, and environmental investigation were conducted to identify the source of the outbreak. Clonal relatedness of ESBL-producing E. cloacae complex isolates collected from case patients was assessed using whole-genome sequencing–based studies.

Results
Three separate outbreak episodes occurred over the course of 9 months. A total of 8, 4 and 6 patients met the case definition, respectively. All but one patients developed a clinical infection with ESBL-producing E. cloacae complex, most typically postoperative pneumonia. Overall mortality was 22% (4/18). Environmental cultures were negative, but epidemiological investigation pointed to transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) as the outbreak source. Of note, four TEE probes showed a similar pattern of damage, which very likely impeded adequate disinfection. The first and second outbreak episode were caused by the same clone, whereas a different strain was responsible for the third episode.

Conclusions
Health professionals caring for cardiac surgery patients and infection control specialists should be aware of TEE as possible infection source. Caution must be exercised to prevent and detect damage of TEE probes.
Developing financial competence about mortgage loans by informal learning using banks’ online calculators
Authors: Fürstenau Bärbel , Hommel Mandy 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackground and aimFinancial literacy (or financial competence) has become an internationally relevant and highly regarded topic. Since people often lack sufficient financial competence, in many countries efforts have been made to foster formal financial education. Less attention, however, has been paid to whether informal learning using information available on the Internet can also support the development of financial competence. However, this seems to be an important question because the Internet has expanded the opportunities for informal learning. In addition, people need to acquire financial competence on their own because not every financial topic relevant in one’s lifetime is covered in formal education syllabi. Against this background, in this study we tested whether people are able to develop financial competence by learning informally using information available on the Internet. We focused on mortgage loans, as they are comparatively complex financial products. Mortgage loans have the potential to significantly influence an individual’s financial situation. In addition, society might carry the burdens of risky and uninformed decisions about mortgage loans—as the financial and real estate crisis has shown.Method45 students of economics and business studies in their final undergraduate year participated. They were randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group. The experimental group explored information about mortgage loans using the loan calculator of a German bank. The control group did not explore webpages. Before the intervention, students from both groups completed knowledge tests and self-assessed their financial knowledge and behaviour. After the intervention, students had to work on a case and to decide whether a small family should take out a mortgage loan for financing a house. The decision had to be justified. In addition, students were administered an immediate and delayed knowledge test.Results and conclusionsStudents of both groups did not differ in knowledge acquisition, decision making about taking a mortgage loan and argumentation quality. However, prior knowledge can be referred to in order to explain the results. Therefore, informal learning using the Internet did not seem to be effective if people did not have sufficient prior knowledge. This result underlines, on the one hand, the necessity of financial education—be it prior to informal learning or in the course of informal learning. On the other hand, the results can be interpreted as a hint to consider how to improve informal learning activities, e.g. by supporting self-regulation or by improving information material.
Personalized adaptive learning: an emerging pedagogical approach enabled by a smart learning environment
Authors: Peng Hongchao , Ma Shanshan , Spector Jonathan Michael 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Smart devices and intelligent technologies are enabling a smart learning environment to effectively promote the development of personalized learning and adaptive learning, in line with the trend of accelerating the integration of both. In this regard, we introduce a new teaching method enabled by a smart learning environment, which is a form of personalized adaptive learning. In order to clearly explain this approach, we have deeply analyzed its two pillars: personalized learning and adaptive learning. The core elements of personalized adaptive learning and its core concept are explored as well. The elements are four: individual characteristics, individual performance, personal development, and adaptive adjustment. And the core concept is referred to a technology-empowered effective pedagogy which can adaptively adjust teaching strategies timely based on real-time monitoring (enabled by smart technology) learners’ differences and changes in individual characteristics, individual performance, and personal development. On this basis, A framework of personalized adaptive learning is also constructed. Besides, we further explored a recommendation model of the personalized learning path. To be specific, personalized adaptive learning could be constructed from the following four aspects, namely, learner profiles, competency-based progression, personal learning, and flexible learning environments. Last, we explored a form of learning profiles model and a generative paths recommendation pattern of personal learning. This paper provides a clear understanding of personalized adaptive learning and serves as an endeavor to contribute to future studies and practices.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Estimation of the source process and forward simulation of long-period ground motion of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi, Japan, earthquake
Authors: Kubo Hisahiko , Iwaki Asako , Suzuki Wataru , Aoi Shin , Sekiguchi Haruko 
Published: September 2019

AbstractIn this study, we investigate the source rupture process of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake in Japan (MJMA6.7) and how the ground motion can be reproduced using available source and velocity models. First, we conduct a multiple-time-window kinematic waveform inversion using strong-motion waveforms, which indicates that a large-slip area located at a depth of 25–30 km in the up-dip direction from the hypocenter was caused by a rupture propagating upward 6–12 s after its initiation. Moreover, the high-seismicity area of aftershocks did not overlap with the large-slip area. Subsequently, using the obtained source model and a three-dimensional velocity structure model, we conduct a forward long-period (< 0.5 Hz) ground-motion simulation. The simulation was able to reproduce the overall ground-motion characteristics in the sedimentary layers of the Ishikari Lowland.
Respiratory and metabolic acidosis correction with the ADVanced Organ Support system
Authors: Perez Ruiz de Garibay Aritz , Kellum John A. , Honigschnabel Johannes , Kreymann Bernhard 
Published: September 2019

AbstractBackgroundThe lung, the kidney, and the liver are major regulators of acid-base balance. Acidosis due to the dysfunction of one or more organs can increase mortality, especially in critically ill patients. Supporting compensation by increasing ventilation or infusing bicarbonate is often ineffective. Therefore, direct removal of acid may represent a novel therapeutic approach. This can be achieved with the ADVanced Organ Support (ADVOS) system, an enhanced renal support therapy based on albumin dialysis. Here, we demonstrate proof of concept for this technology.MethodsAn ex vivo model of either hypercapnic (i.e., continuous CO2supply) or lactic acidosis (i.e., lactic acid infusion) using porcine blood was subjected to hemodialysis with ADVOS. A variety of operational parameters including blood and dialysate flows, different dialysate pH settings, and acid and base concentrate compositions were tested. Comparisons with standard continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) using high bicarbonate substitution fluid and continuous veno-venous hemodialysis (CVVHD) were also performed.ResultsSixty-one milliliters per minute (2.7 mmol/min) of CO2was removed using a blood flow of 400 ml/min and a dialysate pH of 10 without altering blood pCO2and HCO3−(36 mmHg and 20 mmol/l, respectively). Up to 142 ml/min (6.3 mmol/min) of CO2was eliminated if elevated pCO2(117 mmHg) and HCO3−(63 mmol/l) were allowed. During continuous lactic acid infusion, an acid load of up to 3 mmol/min was compensated. When acidosis was triggered, ADVOS multi normalized pH and bicarbonate levels within 1 h, while neither CVVH nor CVVHD could. The major determinants to correct blood pH were blood flow, dialysate composition, and initial acid-base status.ConclusionsIn conclusion, ADVOS was able to remove more than 50% of the amount of CO2typically produced by an adult human. Blood pH was maintained stable within the physiological range through compensation of a metabolic acid load by albumin dialysate. These in vitro results will require confirmation in patients.