bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Carabid beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) differentially respond to soil management practices in feed and forage systems in transition to organic management
Authors: Pisani Gareau Tara , Voortman Christina , Barbercheck Mary 
Published: August 2019

AbstractWe conducted a 3-yr cropping systems experiment in central Pennsylvania, USA, to determine the effects of initial cover crop species, tillage and resulting environmental variables on the activity–density (A–D), species richness, community composition and guild composition of carabid beetles (Carabidae: Coleoptera) during the transition from conventional to organic production. We compared four systems in a factorial combination of a mixed perennial sod (timothy,Phleum pratenseL.) and legumes (red clover,Trifolium pratenseL.) or annual cereal grain (cereal rye,Secale cerealeL.) followed by a legume (hairy vetch,Vicia villosaRoth) as initial cover crops, and soil management using full tillage (moldboard plow) or reduced tillage (chisel plow) implemented in soybeans followed by maize in the subsequent year. The experiment was established twice, first in autumn 2003 (S1) and again in autumn 2004 (S2) in an adjacent field, in a randomized complete-block design with four replicates in each Start. We collected a total of 2181 adult carabid beetles. Approximately 65% of the carabid beetles collected were from six species. Indicator Species Analysis showed that several carabid species were indicative of treatment, e.g.,Poecilus chalciteswas a strong indicator for treatments with an initial cereal rye cover crop. Eleven environmental variables explained variation in carabid A–D, richness and the A–D of species categorized by size class and dominant trophic behavior, respectively, but varied in significance and direction among guilds. Soil moisture was a significant effect for total carabid A–D in both S1 and S2. Redundancy analyses revealed some similar and some idiosyncratic responses among informative species for the cover crop×tillage treatments through the 3-yr rotation. The most consistent factors that distinguished species assemblages among years and treatments were the number and intensity of soil disturbances and perennial weed density. The consistent occurrence of soil disturbance indicators in multivariate analyses suggests that future studies that aim to compare the effects of nominal soil management treatments on carabid beetles and other soil-associated arthropods should quantify frequency and intensity of disturbance associated with crop management practices.
The Necessity of Indonesia's Measures to Sink Vessels for IUU Fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone
Authors: LILIANSA Dita 
Published: August 2019

AbstractIndonesia has been burning or sinking foreign vessels in its efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in its exclusive economic zone. Opinions on how much longer this measure should continue are manifold. While political issues may easily mask the situation, the underlying legal question remains: whether burning or sinking foreign vessels is a legal and necessary enforcement measure for Indonesia. Even though Article 73(1) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea does not make any reference to this type of measure, it allows coastal states to take measures that are “necessary to ensure compliance with their laws and regulations”. This paper examines the meaning of the term “necessary” within the ambit of Article 73(1) to evaluate whether Indonesia's measure to burn or sink foreign vessels is necessary.
Impact of integrated district level mental health care on clinical and social outcomes of people with severe mental illness in rural Ethiopia: an intervention cohort study
Authors: Hanlon C. , Medhin G. , Selamu M. , Birhane R. , Dewey M. , Tirfessa K. , Garman E. , Asher L. , Thornicroft G. , Patel V. , Lund C. , Prince M. , Fekadu A. 
Published: August 2019

Abstract

Aim
There is limited evidence of the safety and impact of task-shared care for people with severe mental illnesses (SMI; psychotic disorders and bipolar disorder) in low-income countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and impact of a district-level plan for task-shared mental health care on 6 and 12-month clinical and social outcomes of people with SMI in rural southern Ethiopia.

Methods
In the Programme for Improving Mental health carE, we conducted an intervention cohort study. Trained primary healthcare (PHC) workers assessed community referrals, diagnosed SMI and initiated treatment, with independent research diagnostic assessments by psychiatric nurses. Primary outcomes were symptom severity and disability. Secondary outcomes included discrimination and restraint.

Results
Almost all (94.5%) PHC worker diagnoses of SMI were verified by psychiatric nurses. All prescribing was within recommended dose limits. A total of 245 (81.7%) people with SMI were re-assessed at 12 months. Minimally adequate treatment was received by 29.8%. All clinical and social outcomes improved significantly. The impact on disability (standardised mean difference 0.50; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35–0.65) was greater than impact on symptom severity (standardised mean difference 0.28; 95% CI 0.13–0.44). Being restrained in the previous 12 months reduced from 25.3 to 10.6%, and discrimination scores reduced significantly.

Conclusions
An integrated district level mental health care plan employing task-sharing safely addressed the large treatment gap for people with SMI in a rural, low-income country setting. Randomised controlled trials of differing models of task-shared care for people with SMI are warranted.
Sustainable development: in space as on Earth?
Authors: Wallacher Johannes , Einsiedel Stefan , Gösele Andreas 
Published: August 2019

Non-technical abstractAlthough the concept of sustainable development is widely used as a guiding principle, there is much less consensus on its normative foundation and ethical implications. Since the 1880s, when social tensions threatened to tear apart European societies during the Industrial Revolution, Catholic social teaching (CST) has served as a sound basis for dialogue for many political leaders regardless of national or religious affiliation. This article examines how Pope Francis’ present-day CST might foster a cross-cultural debate on the ethics of economic growth, social and ecological justice and civil participation on Planet Earth as well as in outer space.
mTORC2 activation protects retinal ganglion cells via Akt signaling after autophagy induction in traumatic optic nerve injury
Authors: Wen Yao-Tseng , Zhang Jia-Rong , Kapupara Kishan , Tsai Rong-Kung 
Published: August 2019

AbstractTraumatic optic neuropathy is an injury to the optic nerve that leads to vision loss. Autophagy is vital for cell survival and cell death in central nervous system injury, but the role of autophagy in traumatic optic nerve injury remains uncertain. Optic nerve crush is a robust model of traumatic optic nerve injury. p62 siRNA and rapamycin are autophagy inducers and have different neuroprotective effects in the central nervous system. In this study, p62 and rapamycin induced autophagy, but only p62 siRNA treatment provided a favorable protective effect in visual function and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival. Moreover, the number of macrophages at the optic nerve lesion site was lower in the p62-siRNA-treated group than in the other groups. p62 siRNA induced more M2 macrophage polarization than rapamycin did. Rapamycin inhibited both mTORC1 and mTORC2 activation, whereas p62 siRNA inhibited only mTORC1 activation and maintained mTORC2 and Akt activation. Inhibition of mTORC2-induced Akt activation resulted in blood–optic nerve barrier disruption. Combined treatment with rapamycin and the mTORC2 activator SC79 improved RGC survival. Overall, our findings suggest that mTORC2 activation after autophagy induction is necessary for the neuroprotection of RGCs in traumatic optic nerve injury and may lead to new clinical applications.
Role of TGFβ3-Smads-Sp1 axis in DcR3-mediated immune escape of hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Zhu Hui-fang , Liu Yan-ping , Liu Ding-li , Ma Yi-dan , Hu Zhi-yan , Wang Xiao-yan , Gu Chuan-sha , Zhong Yan , Long Ting , Kan He-ping , Li Zu-guo 
Published: August 2019

AbstractHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of tumour-associated mortality worldwide, but no significant improvement in treating HCC has been reported with currently available systemic therapies. Immunotherapy represents a new frontier in tumour therapy. Therefore, the immunobiology of hepatocarcinoma has been under intensive investigation. Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), a member of the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily, is an immune suppressor associated with tumourigenesis and cancer metastasis. However, little is known about the role of DcR3 in the immunobiology of hepatocarcinoma. In this study, we found that overexpression of DcR3 in HCC is mediated by the TGFβ3-Smad-Sp1 signalling pathway, which directly targets DcR3 promoter regions. Moreover, overexpression of DcR3 in HCC tissues is associated with tumour invasion and metastasis and significantly promotes the differentiation and secretion of Th2 and Treg cells while inhibiting the differentiation and secretion of Th1 cells. Conversely, knockdown of DcR3 expression in HCC significantly restored the immunity of CD4+ T cells. Inhibition of DcR3 expression may provide a novel immunotherapeutic approach to restoring immunity in HCC patients.
Sirtuin 3-mediated pyruvate dehydrogenase activity determines brown adipocytes phenotype under high-salt conditions
Authors: Wei Tong , Huang Gaojian , Liu Penghao , Gao Jing , Huang Chenglin , Sun Mengwei , Shen Weili 
Published: August 2019

AbstractPrevious study indicated that Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is a central regulator of adaptive thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Here we investigate the role of SIRT3 in the modulation of cellular phenotype in BAT under high salt intake (HS). HS downregulated SIRT3 level in BAT, accompanied by decreased oxygen consumption rate, and caused a severe loss of BAT characteristics. Mechanically, SIRT3 interacted with pyruvate dehydrogenase E1α (PDHA1) and deacetylated Lys-83 both in vitro and in vivo under HS. In parallel, HS suppressed salt-induced kinase (Sik) 2 phosphorylation. Silencing Sik2 further diminished SIRT3 activity and enhanced acetylation of PDHA1 K83 level. Reconstruction of SIRT3 restored PDH activity and thermogenic markers expression in differentiated brown adipocytes from SIRT3 knockout (KO) mice. In addition, loss of SIRT3 induced selective remodelling of phospholipids and glycerolipids in BAT exposure to HS. These data indicate that SIRT3 is an essential enzymatic switch that controls brown adipose cell phenotype.
Characterization of TNF-induced cell death in Drosophila reveals caspase- and JNK-dependent necrosis and its role in tumor suppression
Authors: Li Mingli , Sun Shiyao , Priest Jessica , Bi Xiaolin , Fan Yun 
Published: August 2019

AbstractTumor-necrosis factor (TNF) and its superfamily members are pleiotropic cytokines. Activation of TNF can lead to distinct cellular outcomes including inflammation, cell survival, and different forms of cell death, such as apoptosis and necrosis in a context-dependent manner. However, our understanding of what determines the versatile functions of TNF is far from complete. Here, we examined the molecular mechanisms that distinguish the forms of cell death induced by Eiger (Egr), the sole homolog of TNF in Drosophila. We show that expression of Egr in the developing Drosophila eye simultaneously induces apoptosis and apoptosis-independent developmental defects indicated by cellular disorganization, both of which rely on the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling activity. Intriguingly, when effector caspases DrICE and Dcp-1 are defective or inhibited, expression of Egr triggers necrosis which is characterized by loss of cell membrane integrity, translucent cytoplasm, and aggregation of cellular organelles. Moreover, such Egr-induced necrosis depends on the catalytic activity of the initiator caspase Dronc and the input from JNK signaling but is independent of their roles in apoptosis. Further mosaic analysis with mutants of scribble (scrib), an evolutionarily conserved tumor suppressor gene regulating cell polarity, suggests that Egr/JNK-mediated apoptosis and necrosis establish a two-layered defense system to inhibit the oncogenic growth of scrib mutant cells. Together, we have identified caspase- and JNK-dependent mechanisms underlying Egr-induced apoptosis versus necrosis and their fail-safe roles in tumor suppression in an intact organism in vivo.
Mul1 restrains Parkin-mediated mitophagy in mature neurons by maintaining ER-mitochondrial contacts
Authors: Puri Rajat , Cheng Xiu-Tang , Lin Mei-Yao , Huang Ning , Sheng Zu-Hang 
Published: August 2019

AbstractChronic mitochondrial stress associates with major neurodegenerative diseases. Recovering stressed mitochondria constitutes a critical step of mitochondrial quality control and thus energy maintenance in early stages of neurodegeneration. Here, we reveal Mul1-Mfn2 pathway that maintains neuronal mitochondrial integrity under stress conditions. Mul1 deficiency increases Mfn2 activity that triggers the first phasic mitochondrial hyperfusion and also acts as an ER-Mito tethering antagonist. Reduced ER-Mito coupling leads to increased cytoplasmic Ca2+load that activates calcineurin and induces the second phasic Drp1-dependent mitochondrial fragmentation and mitophagy. Overexpressing Mfn2, but not Mfn1, mimics Mul1-deficient phenotypes, while expressing PTPIP51, an ER-Mito anchoring protein, suppresses Parkin-mediated mitophagy. Thus, by regulating mitochondrial morphology and ER-Mito contacts, Mul1-Mfn2 pathway plays an early checkpoint role in maintaining mitochondrial integrity. Our study provides new mechanistic insights into neuronal mitochondrial maintenance under stress conditions, which is relevant to several major neurodegenerative diseases associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and altered ER-Mito interplay.
Studying nucleic envelope and plasma membrane mechanics of eukaryotic cells using confocal reflectance interferometric microscopy
Authors: Singh Vijay Raj , Yang Yi An , Yu Hanry , Kamm Roger D. , Yaqoob Zahid , So Peter T. C. 
Published: August 2019

AbstractMechanical stress on eukaryotic nucleus has been implicated in a diverse range of diseases including muscular dystrophy and cancer metastasis. Today, there are very few non-perturbative methods to quantify nuclear mechanical properties. Interferometric microscopy, also known as quantitative phase microscopy (QPM), is a powerful tool for studying red blood cell biomechanics. The existing QPM tools, however, have not been utilized to study biomechanics of complex eukaryotic cells either due to lack of depth sectioning, limited phase measurement sensitivity, or both. Here, we present depth-resolved confocal reflectance interferometric microscopy as the next generation QPM to study nuclear and plasma membrane biomechanics. The proposed system features multiple confocal scanning foci, affording 1.5 micron depth-resolution and millisecond frame rate. Furthermore, a near common-path interferometer enables quantifying nanometer-scale membrane fluctuations with better than 200 picometers sensitivity. Our results present accurate quantification of nucleic envelope and plasma membrane fluctuations in embryonic stem cells.
DRAMP 2.0, an updated data repository of antimicrobial peptides
Authors: Kang Xinyue , Dong Fanyi , Shi Cheng , Liu Shicai , Sun Jian , Chen Jiaxin , Li Haiqi , Xu Hanmei , Lao Xingzhen , Zheng Heng 
Published: August 2019

AbstractData Repository of Antimicrobial Peptides (DRAMP, http://dramp.cpu-bioinfor.org/) is an open-access comprehensive database containing general, patent and clinical antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Currently DRAMP has been updated to version 2.0, it contains a total of 19,899 entries (newly added 2,550 entries), including 5,084 general entries, 14,739 patent entries, and 76 clinical entries. The update covers new entries, structures, annotations, classifications and downloads. Compared with APD and CAMP, DRAMP contains 14,040 (70.56% in DRAMP) non-overlapping sequences. In order to facilitate users to trace original references, PubMed_ID of references have been contained in activity information. The data of DRAMP can be downloaded by dataset and activity, and the website source code is also available on dedicatedly designed download webpage. Although thousands of AMPs have been reported, only a few parts have entered clinical stage. In the paper, we described several AMPs in clinical trials, including their properties, indications and clinicaltrials.gov identifiers. Finally, we provide the applications of DRAMP in the development of AMPs.
Electrochemical Determination of Dexamethasone by Graphene Modified Electrode: Experimental and Theoretical Investigations
Authors: Alimohammadi Somayeh , Kiani Mohammad Ali , Imani Mohammad , Rafii-Tabar Hashem , Sasanpour Pezhman 
Published: August 2019

AbstractWe report on a combined experimental and theoretical study concerning the electrochemical behavior of the dexamethasone (DEX) on a graphene modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE). A good agreement between experiments and density functional theory (DFT)-based calculations is observed for the DEX reduction. The electrochemical behavior of the DEX was investigated on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with different type of graphenes, including graphene quantum dot (GQD), graphene oxide (GO), electrochemically synthesized graphene (EG), graphene synthesized by the Hummer method (HG) and graphene nanoplate (GNP) using voltammetric techniques (CV, DPV and SWV). The results exhibited a significant increase in the reduction of the peak current of the DEX in the GNP modified GCE (GNP/GCE) in comparison to other modified electrodes and bare GCE. The unique morphology, size and electro catalytic properties of the GNP cause a sensitive response of the DEX in a novel sensor. Under the optimized experimental condition, the GNP/ GCE showed two linear dynamic ranges of 0.1–50 μM and 50–5000 μM with a low detection limit of 15 nM for determination of the DEX. The novel sensor is successfully applied to the sensitive determination of the DEX in human plasma samples with satisfactory recoveries. Energy of the LUMO and HUMO orbitals and energy calculations for the DEX molecule interacting with graphene were performed using the density functional B3LYP/6–31G. The theoretical results allied to significant charge transfer took place due to the interaction of the DEX with the applied graphene.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mass–Energy Equivalence Extension onto a Superfluid Quantum Vacuum
Authors: Šorli Amrit Srečko 
Published: August 2019

AbstractIn contemporary physics, the model of space–time as the fundamental arena of the universe is replaced by some authors with the superfluid quantum vacuum. In a vacuum, time is not a fourth dimension of space, it is merely the duration of the physical changes, i.e. motion in a vacuum. Mass–energy equivalence has its origin in the variable density of the vacuum. Inertial mass and gravitational mass are equal and both originate in the vacuum fluctuations from intergalactic space towards stellar objects.
Oscillometry in Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: In vitro and in vivo evaluation of the impulse oscillometry and tremoflo devices
Authors: Lundblad Lennart K. A. , Miletic Ruzica , Piitulainen Eeva , Wollmer Per 
Published: August 2019

AbstractImpedance, or oscillometry, measurements of the respiratory system can generate information about the function of the respiratory system not possible with traditional spirometry. There are currently several instruments on the market using different perturbations. We have compared a new respiratory oscillometry instrument, the tremoflo, with Impulse Oscillometry (IOS). Patients with a physician’s diagnosis of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD) and healthy subjects were recruited. They underwent assessment of respiratory function with oscillometry using the IOS and tremoflo devices and the resulting impedance data from the two methods were compared. The two devices were also tested against a reference respiratory phantom with variable resistances. Whereas both devices detected impairments in the patients’ lung function commensurate with small airways pathology, the tremoflo appeared to be more sensitive than the IOS. We found systematic differences between the two instruments especially for reactance measurements where the area over the reactance curve (AX) was significantly lower with the IOS compared with the tremoflo (p < 0.001). Moreover, the agreement between the two devices was reduced with increasing severity of the disease as determined with a Bland-Altman test. Testing both instruments against a respiratory phantom unit confirmed that the resistance measured by the tremoflo compares closely with the known resistance of test loads, whereas the IOS’ resistance correlated with a test load of 0.19, kPa.s.L−1 at higher loads it deviated significantly from the known resistance (p < 0.0028). We conclude that the absolute values measured with the two devices may not be directly comparable and suggest that differences in the calibration procedures might account for the differences.
UV random laser emission from flexible ZnO-Ag-enriched electrospun cellulose acetate fiber matrix
Authors: da Silva-Neto Manoel L. , de Oliveira Mário C. A. , Dominguez Christian T. , Lins Raquel E. M. , Rakov Nikifor , de Araújo Cid B. , Menezes Leonardo de Souza , de Oliveira Helinando P. , Gomes Anderson S. L. 
Published: August 2019

AbstractWe report an alternative random laser (RL) architecture based on a flexible and ZnO-enriched cellulose acetate (CA) fiber matrix prepared by electrospinning. The electrospun fibers, mechanically reinforced by polyethylene oxide and impregnated with zinc oxide powder, were applied as an adsorbent surface to incorporate plasmonic centers (silver nanoprisms). The resulting structures – prepared in the absence (CA-ZnO) and in the presence of silver nanoparticles (CA-ZnO-Ag) - were developed to support light excitation, guiding and scattering prototypes of a RL. Both materials were excited by a pulsed (5 Hz, 5 ns) source at 355 nm and their fluorescence emission monitored at 387 nm. The results suggest that the addition of silver nanoprisms to the ZnO- enriched fiber matrix allows large improvement of the RL performance due to the plasmon resonance of the silver nanoprisms, with ~80% reduction in threshold energy. Besides the intensity and spectral analysis, the RL characterization included its spectral and intensity angular dependences. Bending the flexible RL did not affect the spectral characteristics of the device. No degradation was observed in the random laser emission for more than 10,000 shots of the pump laser.
Cerumenogram: a new frontier in cancer diagnosis in humans
Authors: Barbosa João Marcos Gonçalves , Pereira Naiara Zedes , David Lurian Caetano , de Oliveira Camilla Gabriela , Soares Marina Ferraz Gontijo , Avelino Melissa Ameloti Gomes , de Oliveira Anselmo Elcana , Shokry Engy , Filho Nelson Roberto Antoniosi 
Published: August 2019

AbstractCancer is the deadliest human disease and the development of new diagnosis methods is important to increase the chances of a cure. In this work it was developed a new method, named here for the first time as cerumenogram, using cerumen (earwax) as a new biomatrix for diagnosis. Earwax samples collected from cancer patients (cancer group) and cancer-free patients (control group) were analyzed by Headspace/Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS/GC-MS), following with multivariate analysis steps to process the raw data generated. In total, 158 volatile organic metabolites (VOMs) were identified in the cerumen samples. The 27 selected as potential VOMs biomarkers for cancer provided 100% discrimination between the cancer and control groups. This new test can thus be routinely employed for cancer diagnoses that is non-invasive, fast, cheap, and highly accurate.