bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intravesical administration of blebbistatin prevents cyclophosphamide‐induced toxicity of the urinary bladder in female Wistar rats
Authors: Wróbel Andrzej , Serefko Anna , Bańczerowska‐Górska Małgorzata , Szopa Aleksandra , Dudka Jarosław , Poleszak Ewa 
Published: March 2019

AbstractAimsThe main goal of our study was to investigate whether blebbistatin would prevent the cyclophosphamide (CYP)‐induced changes in cystometric and inflammatory parameters indicating the development of bladder inflammation and bladder overactivity. As the nature of CYP‐induced urotoxicity is inflammatory, we assume that agents presenting an anti‐inflammatory potential, such as blebbistatin, are worth special attention.Materials and MethodsThe experiments were carried out in female Wistar rats. Surgical procedures, cystometric investigations, measurements of bladder edema and urothelium thickness as well as biochemical analyses were performed according to the published literature.ResultsAs expected, an acute administration of CYP (200 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) induced changes in the cystometric parameters and the levels of the tested biomarkers (ie, interleukin 1‐β, interleukin 6, interleukin 10, tumor necrosis factor‐α, nerve growth factor, brain‐derived neurotrophic factor, heparin‐binding epidermal growth factor‐like growth factor, insulin‐like growth factor‐binding protein 3, C‐X‐C motif chemokine 10, orosomucoid‐1, Tamm‐Horsfall protein, hemopexin, and occludin), indicating the development of bladder overactivity and bladder inflammation, respectively. These changes were accompanied by bladder edema and increased urothelium thickness. Intravesical infusion of blebbistatin for 7 days (125 nmol/day) prevented all symptoms of the CYP‐induced urotoxicity.ConclusionsBlebbistatin might be a promising novel agent for the treatment of bladder dysfunctions, like CYP‐induced hemorrhage cystitis or bladder overactivity, since it diminished the increased urinary bladder levels of proinflammatory markers and normalized the concentrations of the anti‐inflammatory ones. This effect was accompanied by amelioration of bladder edema and permeability, and normalization of both urothelium thickness and values of the cystometric parameters.
Anisotropy in nanocellular polymers promoted by the addition of needle‐like sepiolites
Authors: Bernardo Victoria , Martin‐de Leon Judith , Rodriguez‐Perez Miguel Angel 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis work presents a new strategy for obtaining nanocellular materials with high anisotropy ratios by means of the addition of needle‐like nanoparticles. Nanocellular polymers are of great interest due to their outstanding properties, whereas anisotropic structures allow the realization of improved thermal and mechanical properties in certain directions. Nanocomposites based on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with nanometric sepiolites are generated by extrusion. From the extruded filaments, cellular materials are produced using a two‐step gas dissolution foaming method. The effect of adding various types and contents of sepiolites is investigated. As a result of the extrusion process, the needle‐like sepiolites are aligned in the machine direction in the solid nanocomposites. Regarding the cellular materials, the addition of sepiolites allows one to obtain anisotropic nanocellular polymers with cell sizes of 150 to 420 nm and cell nucleation densities of 1013–1014 nuclei cm−3 and presenting anisotropy ratios ranging from 1.38 to 2.15, the extrusion direction being the direction of the anisotropy. To explain the appearance of anisotropy, a mechanism based on cell coalescence is proposed and discussed. In addition, it is shown that it is possible to control the anisotropy ratio of the PMMA/sepiolite nanocellular polymers by changing the amount of well‐dispersed sepiolites in the solid nanocomposites. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry
Protecting activity of desiccated enzymes
Authors: Piszkiewicz Samantha , Gunn Kathryn H. , Warmuth Owen , Propst Ashlee , Mehta Aakash , Nguyen Kenny H. , Kuhlman Elizabeth , Guseman Alex J. , Stadmiller Samantha S. , Boothby Thomas C. , Neher Saskia B. , Pielak Gary J. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractProtein‐based biological drugs and many industrial enzymes are unstable, making them prohibitively expensive. Some can be stabilized by formulation with excipients, but most still require low temperature storage. In search of new, more robust excipients, we turned to the tardigrade, a microscopic animal that synthesizes cytosolic abundant heat soluble (CAHS) proteins to protect its cellular components during desiccation. We find that CAHS proteins protect the test enzymes lactate dehydrogenase and lipoprotein lipase against desiccation‐, freezing‐, and lyophilization‐induced deactivation. Our data also show that a variety of globular and disordered protein controls, with no known link to desiccation tolerance, protect our test enzymes. Protection of lactate dehydrogenase correlates, albeit imperfectly, with the charge density of the protein additive, suggesting an approach to tune protection by modifying charge. Our results support the potential use of CAHS proteins as stabilizing excipients in formulations and suggest that other proteins may have similar potential.
Automated text scoring and real‐time adjustable feedback: Supporting revision of scientific arguments involving uncertainty
Authors: Lee Hee‐Sun , Pallant Amy , Pryputniewicz Sarah , Lord Trudi , Mulholland Matthew , Liu Ou Lydia 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis paper describes HASbot, an automated text scoring and real‐time feedback system designed to support student revision of scientific arguments. Students submit open‐ended text responses to explain how their data support claims and how the limitations of their data affect the uncertainty of their explanations. HASbot automatically scores these text responses and returns the scores with feedback to students. Data were collected from 343 middle‐ and high‐school students taught by nine teachers across seven states in the United States. A mixed methods design was applied to investigate (a) how students’ utilization of HASbot impacted their development of uncertainty‐infused scientific arguments; (b) how students used feedback to revise their arguments, and (c) how the current design of HASbot supported or hindered students’ revisions. Paired sample t tests indicate that students made significant gains from pretest to posttest in uncertainty‐infused scientific argumentation, ES = 1.52 SD, p < 0.001. Linear regression analysis results indicate that students' HASbot use significantly contributed to their posttest performance on uncertainty‐infused scientific argumentation while gender, English language learner status, and prior computer experience did not. From the analysis of videos, we identified several affordances and limitations of HASbot.
Fast Charging Lithium Batteries: Recent Progress and Future Prospects
Authors: Zhu Gao‐Long , Zhao Chen‐Zi , Huang Jia‐Qi , He Chuanxin , Zhang Jian , Chen Shaohai , Xu Lei , Yuan Hong , Zhang Qiang 
Published: March 2019

AbstractFast charging enables electronic devices to be charged in a very short time, which is essential for next‐generation energy storage systems. However, the increase of safety risks and low coulombic efficiency resulting from fast charging severely hamper the practical applications of this technology. This Review summarizes the challenges and recent progress of lithium batteries for fast charging. First, it describes the definition of fast charging and proposes a critical value of ionic and electrical conductivity of electrodes for fast charging in a working battery. Then based on this definition, the requirements and optimization strategies of the electrode, electrolyte, and electrode/electrolyte interface for fast charging are proposed. Finally, a general conclusion and perspectives on the better understanding of lithium batteries with fast charging capability are presented.
Preparative separation of bioactive polyphenol resveratrol from Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. et Zucc. by pH‐zone‐refining countercurrent chromatography
Authors: Yang Lijiao , Wang Chaoyue , Tong Shengqiang 
Published: March 2019

AbstractpH‐zone‐refining countercurrent chromatography has been well explored for separation of organic acids and bases from natural products. However, it has not been investigated in separation of polyphenol compounds so far. In the present work, pH‐zone‐refining countercurrent chromatography was successfully applied in preparative separation of a polyphenol bioactive component resveratrol along with a hydroxyanthraquinone emodin, from traditional Chinese medicinal herb Polygonum cuspidatum using a self‐made type‐J countercurrent chromatographic apparatus. Resveratrol is a polyphenol component with a wide arrange of bioactivities. A biphasic solvent system composed of n‐hexane/ethyl acetate/ethanol/water (3:5:2:6, v/v) was selected, in which 10 mmol L−1 of trifluoroacetic acid was added in the organic phase as the retainer while 10 mmol L−1 of ammonia was added in the aqueous phase as the eluter. The loading sample could reach 300 mg in a single run, in which 35 mg of resveratrol and 156 mg of emodin could be obtained with a high purity of 96.0 and 93.2%, respectively, as determined by HPLC. Meanwhile, an interesting elution sequence for resveratrol and emodin by pH‐zone‐refining countercurrent chromatography was found and discussed compared with conventional countercurrent chromatography. The results showed that pH‐zone‐refining countercurrent chromatography could be used in preparative separation of polyphenol component. An efficient alternative method for preparative separation of resveratrol from Polygonum cuspidatum was established.
The evaluation of large cycling infrastructure investments in Glasgow using crowdsourced cycle data
Authors: Hong Jinhyun , McArthur David Philip , Livingston Mark 
Published: March 2019

Abstract
The benefits of cycling have been well established for several decades. It can improve public health and make cities more active and environmentally friendly. Due to the significant net benefits, many local governments in Scotland have promoted cycling. Glasgow City Council constructed four significant pieces of cycling infrastructure between 2013 and 2015, partly in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and partly to encourage cycling more generally. This required substantial capital investment. However, the effectiveness of these big new infrastructure investments has not been well examined, mostly due to data limitations. In this study, we utilised data from the activity tracking app Strava for the years 2013–2016 and fixed effects panel data regression models to examine whether the new cycling infrastructure has increased cycling volumes on these routes. Our results show that three of the infrastructure projects have a positive effect on the monthly total volume of cycling trips made by users of the app, with flows up by around 12% to 18%. Although this result is promising, it needs to be interpreted with care due to the characteristics of the data.
DEFINABLE MINIMAL COLLAPSE FUNCTIONS AT ARBITRARY PROJECTIVE LEVELS
Authors: KANOVEI VLADIMIR , LYUBETSKY VASSILY 
Published: March 2019

AbstractUsing a nonLaver modification of Uri Abraham’s minimal $\Delta _3^1$ collapse function, we define a generic extension $L[a]$ by a real a, in which, for a given $n \ge 3$, $\left\{ a \right\}$ is a lightface $\Pi _n^1 $ singleton, a effectively codes a cofinal map $\omega \to \omega _1^L $ minimal over L, while every $\Sigma _n^1 $ set $X \subseteq \omega $ is still constructible.
Bureaucratic Activism: Pursuing Environmentalism Inside the Brazilian State
Authors: Abers Rebecca Neaera 
Published: March 2019

ABSTRACTThis study explores the evolution of the Green Grants program, run by Brazil’s Ministry of Environment, as a means for developing the concept of bureaucratic activism. When the Workers’ Party first took office in 2003, many social movement actors joined the government, especially in that agency. After 2007, however, most of these activists left the government. At the same time, the ministry substituted thousands of temporary employees for permanent civil servants. Surprisingly, this study finds that these public employees carried forward the environmentalist cause, even when this required contesting the priorities of superiors. Examining their attitudes and practices leads to a definition of activism as the proactive pursuit of opportunities to defend contentious causes. The case study helps to develop this concept and to demonstrate that workers inside bureaucracies can engage in activist behavior. It also explores the effects of bureaucratic activism on environmental policymaking in Brazil.
Participation as a Safety Valve: Police Reform Through Participatory Security in Latin America
Authors: González Yanilda María 
Published: March 2019

ABSTRACTThe institutionalization of community participation in the context of policing has become increasingly common in Latin America as a means of addressing the seemingly intractable increase in crime and insecurity. The creation of formal spaces for community participation in security differs markedly from how police forces have historically operated. Moreover, opening spaces for citizen input and oversight could potentially limit an executive’s control over the police, an important political tool. Why, then, do politicians sometimes turn to “participatory security” when reforming the police? This article argues that politicians choose participation as a safety valve to disaggregate societal discontent, particularly when police-society relations are fractious and police capacity and resources are low. Drawing on qualitative evidence from Buenos Aires Province, São Paulo State, and Colombia, this study demonstrates that participation can serve a range of strategic purposes, which, in turn, shape the institutional design of the participatory mechanism.
Wave propagation for a class of non-local dispersal non-cooperative systems
Authors: Yang Fei-Ying , Li Wan-Tong , Wang Jia-Bing 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis paper is concerned with the travelling waves for a class of non-local dispersal non-cooperative system, which can model the prey-predator and disease-transmission mechanism. By the Schauder's fixed-point theorem, we first establish the existence of travelling waves connecting the semi-trivial equilibrium to non-trivial leftover concentrations, whose bounds are deduced from a precise analysis. Further, we characterize the minimal wave speed of travelling waves and obtain the non-existence of travelling waves with slow speed. Finally, we apply the general results to an epidemic model with bilinear incidence for its propagation dynamics.
Integrating cultural and biological perspectives on long-term human-walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) interactions across the North Atlantic
Authors: Keighley Xénia , Tange Olsen Morten , Jordan Peter 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe hunting of marine mammals as a source of subsistence, trade, and commercial revenue has formed an important part of human cultures across the North Atlantic. One important prey species has been the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), sought after for meat, skin, blubber, ivory, and bone. Unfortunately, biological studies of current walrus populations and studies across the humanities and social sciences into past use and hunting of walruses, have been poorly integrated. Disciplinary boundaries have left a gap in understanding the reciprocal effects of human-walrus interactions. Emerging interdisciplinary methods offer new opportunities to write the historical ecology of Atlantic walruses. The integration of methods such as ancient DNA, isotopes, past population modelling, zooarchaeological assemblages, and ethnographic interviews can now be used to answer previously intractable questions. For example, how has walrus hunting shaped and been influenced by changes in human settlement and trade, what have been the cumulative impacts on walrus populations, the extent of anthropogenic selective pressures or the effect of changing hunting regimes on particular populations of walruses? New, collaborative research approaches applied to the wealth of Arctic archaeological faunal remains already housed in museum collections offer a unique chance to explore the past dynamics of human-animal interactions.
DOES SIZE MATTER? A CRITICAL REVIEW OF META-ANALYSIS IN AGRONOMY
Authors: KRUPNIK TIMOTHY J. , ANDERSSON JENS A. , RUSINAMHODZI LEONARD , CORBEELS MARC , SHENNAN CAROL , GÉRARD BRUNO 
Published: March 2019

SUMMARYIntended to test broad hypotheses and arrive at unifying conclusions, meta-analysis is the process of extracting, assembling, and analyzing large quantities of data from multiple publications to increase statistical power and uncover explanatory patterns. This paper describes the ways in which meta-analysis has been applied to support claims and counter-claims regarding two topics widely debated in agricultural research, namely organic agriculture (OA) and conservation agriculture (CA). We describe the origins of debate for each topic and assess prominent meta-analyses considering data-selection criteria, research question framing, and the interpretation and extrapolation of meta-analytical results. Meta-analyses of OA and CA are also examined in the context of the political economy of development-oriented agricultural research. Does size matter? We suggest that it does, although somewhat ironically. While meta-analysis aims to pool all relevant studies and generate comprehensive databases from which broad insights can be drawn, our case studies suggest that the organization of many meta-analyses may affect the generalizability and usefulness of research results. The politicized nature of debates over OA and CA also appear to affect the divergent ways in which meta-analytical results may be interpreted and extrapolated in struggles over the legitimacy of both practices. Rather than resolving scientific contestation, these factors appear to contribute to the ongoing debate. Meta-analysis is nonetheless becoming increasingly popular with agricultural researchers attracted by the power for the statistical inference offered by large datasets. This paper consequently offers three suggestions for how scientists and readers of scientific literature can more carefully evaluate meta-analyses. First, the ways in which papers and data are collected should be critically assessed. Second, the justification of research questions, framing of farming systems, and the scales at which research results are extrapolated and discussed should be carefully evaluated. Third, when applied to strongly politicized topics situated in an arena of scientific debate, as is the case with OA and CA, more conservative interpretations of meta-analytical results that recognize the socially and politically embedded nature of agricultural research is are needed.
Role of Electron Microscopy in Early Detection of Altered Epithelium During Experimental Oral Carcinogenesis
Authors: Sawant Sharada , Dongre Harsh , Kanojia Deepak , Jamghare Sayli , Borges Anita , Vaidya Milind 
Published: March 2019

AbstractEarly detection of altered epithelium can help in controlling the further progression by timely intervention. Alterations in cellular adhesion are one of the hallmarks of cancer progression, which can be detected at the intracellular level using high-resolution electron microscopy. This study aimed to evaluate the role of electron microscopy in the establishment of ultrastructural markers for early detection of altered epithelium using tissues from 4-Nitroquinoline-1-Oxide (4NQO) induced rat tongue carcinogenesis. Our previous study using light microscopy displayed no histopathological alterations in 4NQO treated tissues until 40 days of treatment, while dysplasia, papilloma and carcinoma were detected at 80/120, 160 and 200 days, respectively. However, electron microscopy detected alterations such as detachment of desmosomes from cell membranes and their clustering in the cytoplasm, increased tonofilaments, keratohyaline granules and thickened corneum in 40 days treated corresponding tissues. These alterations are apparent with hyperkeratosis/hyperplasia but remained undetected using light microscopy. Further, in dysplasia, papilloma and carcinoma, gradual and significant loss of desmosomes, leading to the significant widening of intercellular spaces, was observed using iTEM software. These parameters may serve as indicators for progression of oral cancer. Our results highlight the importance of electron microscopy in the early detection of subcellular changes in the altered epithelium.
Control of Atrazine-Resistant Palmer Amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) in Double-Crop Grain Sorghum
Authors: Hay Marshall M. , Albers Jeffrey J. , Dille J. Anita , Peterson Dallas E. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractDouble-crop grain sorghum after winter wheat harvest is a common cropping system in the southern plains region. Palmer amaranth is a troublesome weed in double-crop grain sorghum in Kansas. Populations resistant to various herbicides (e.g., atrazine, glyphosate, metsulfuron, pyrasulfotole) have made Palmer amaranth management even more difficult for producers. To evaluate control of atrazine-resistant and atrazine-susceptible Palmer amaranth in double-crop grain sorghum, we assessed 14 herbicide programs, of which 8 were PRE only and 6 were PRE followed by (fb) POST applications. Visible ratings of Palmer amaranth control were taken at 3 and 8 wk after planting (WAP) grain sorghum. PRE treatments containing very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA)–inhibiting herbicides provided 91% control of atrazine-resistant Palmer amaranth 3 WAP, and reduced weed density 8 WAP compared to atrazine-only PRE treatments. PRE fb POST treatments, especially those that included VLCFA-inhibiting herbicides, provided greater control (71% to 93%) of both atrazine-resistant and atrazine-susceptible Palmer amaranth, respectively, at 8 WAP compared to PRE treatments alone (59% to 79%). These results demonstrated the utility of VLCFA-inhibiting herbicides applied PRE and in a layered PRE fb POST approach in controlling atrazine-resistant Palmer amaranth, as well as the importance of an effective POST application following residual PRE herbicides for controlling both atrazine-resistant and atrazine-susceptible Palmer amaranth in double-crop grain sorghum.