bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Virulence-inhibitory activity of the degradation product 3-hydroxybutyrate explains the protective effect of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate against the major aquaculture pathogen Vibrio campbellii
Authors: Defoirdt Tom , Mai Anh Nguyen Thi , De Schryver Peter 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe bacterial storage compound poly-β-hydroxybutyrate, a polymer of the short-chain fatty acid 3-hydroxybutyrate, has been reported to protect various aquatic animals from bacterial disease. In order to obtain a better mechanistic insight, we aimed to (1) investigate whether 3-hydroxybutyrate is released from poly-β-hydroxybutyrate within sterile brine shrimp larvae, (2) determine the impact of 3-hydroxybutyrate on the virulence of Vibrio campbellii to brine shrimp larvae and on its cell density in the shrimp, and (3) determine the impact of this compound on virulence factor production in the pathogen. We detected 3-hydroxybutyrate in poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-fed brine shrimp, resulting in 24 mM 3-hydroxybutyrate in the intestinal tract of shrimp reared in the presence of 1000 mg l−1 poly-β-hydroxybutyrate. We further demonstrate that this concentration of 3-hydroxybutyrate does not affect the growth of V. campbellii, whereas it decreases the production of different virulence factors, including hemolysin, phospholipase and protease activities, and swimming motility. We hypothesize that by affecting all these virulence factors at once, 3-hydroxybutyrate (and thus also poly-β-hydroxybutyrate) can exert a significant impact on the virulence of V. campbellii. This hypothesis was confirmed in a challenge test showing that 3-hydroxybutyrate protected gnotobiotic brine shrimp from pathogenic V. campbellii, without affecting the number of host-associated vibrios.
The effect of high fat diet and metformin treatment on liver lipids accumulation and their impact on insulin action
Authors: Zabielski Piotr , Hady Hady Razak , Chacinska Marta , Roszczyc Kamila , Gorski Jan , Blachnio-Zabielska Agnieszka U. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractWe sought to determine whether metformin treatment reverses a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hepatic insulin resistance (IRes) and to identify lipid intermediates involved in induction of liver IRes. The experiments were conducted on male Wistar rats divided into three groups: 1. Control, 2. fed HFD and 3. fed HFD and treated with metformin. The animals were infused with a [U-13C]palmitate to measure fractional lipid synthesis rate. This allowed for the calculation of fractional synthesis rate of signaling lipids (FSR) through the estimation of their isotopic enrichment. Liver ceramide (Cer), diacylglycerol (DAG) and acyl-carnitine concentration and enrichment were analyzed by LC/MS/MS. The content of proteins involved in lipid metabolism and insulin signaling were analyzed by Western Blot. HFD treatment increased the content and FSR of DAG and Cer in the liver which was accompanied by systemic insulin resistance and inhibition of hepatic insulin signaling pathway under insulin stimulation. Metformin treatment ameliorated systemic insulin resistance and augmented the hepatic insulin signaling cascade. It reduced both the concentration and FSR of Cer, DAG, and increased acyl-carnitine content and the expression of mitochondrial markers. We postulate, that in liver, the insulin sensitizing effect of metformin depends on augmentation of mitochondrial β-oxidation, which protects from hepatic accumulation of both the Cer and DAG and preserves insulin sensitivity under HFD consumption. Moreover, we showed that hepatic content of Cer and DAG corresponds with their respective FSR.
The role of pH on the biological struvite production in digested sludge dewatering liquors
Authors: Simoes Francisco , Vale Peter , Stephenson Tom , Soares Ana 
Published: May 2018

AbstractStruvite production mediated by bacteria has opened up a new route for phosphorus recovery from wastewater streams but its application to digested sludge dewatering liquors is not yet well understood. This study investigates the growth and biological struvite production of selected bacteria in wastewater liquors with pHs between 5.7 to 9.1. The bacterial growth was assessed through flow cytometry.Bacillus pumilus, Halobacterium salinarumandBrevibacterium antiquumremained viable at pHs between 5.7 to 9.1 butB. antiquumwas able to grow at pHs between 7.3 to 7.8. Further analysis allowed the identification of crystals as struvite in tests between pH 7.3 to 8.3. All strains were capable of producing struvite at a range of pHs, but the highest production of 135–198 mg/L was observed for pHs between 7.3 to 8.3. At pHs > 8.3, precipitation of struvite and calcium compounds was observed in inoculated and non-inoculated tests. This study demonstrates that biological struvite production can occur at a wide range of pHs, hence significantly different from chemical struvite precipitation that occurs at pH > 8.3, making it a potentially viable process for phosphorus recovery as struvite from wastewater streams and sludge liquors without strict pH control.
Molecular targets of Chinese herbs: a clinical study of metastatic colorectal cancer based on network pharmacology
Authors: Zhu Hongxu , Hao Jian , Niu Yangyang , Liu Dan , Chen Dan , Wu Xiongzhi 
Published: May 2018

AbstractIncreasing evidence has shown that Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has promising therapeutic effects in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, the active ingredients and potential targets remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relative molecular targets of the Chinese herbs that have been found effective in treating metastatic CRC (mCRC) based on clinical data and network pharmacology. In multivariate analysis CHM resulted an independent prognostic factor. The hazard ratio was 0.103 (95% confidence interval = 0.064–0.164; P < 0.001). Compared with the non-CHM group, the median survival time of the CHM group was also improved (40 versus 12 months; P < 0.001). Eighteen out of 295 herbs showed significant correlation with survival results (P < 0.05). Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the 18 herbs realize anti-CRC activity mainly through suppressing the proliferative activity of ERBB2, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, and retinoid X receptor, suppressing angiogenesis via inhibition of VEGFR and VEGFA expression, inhibiting the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/AKT1 signaling pathway directly through SRC and AKT1, and reducing tumor necrosis factor-induced inflammation.
Efficient and surface site-selective ion desorption by positron annihilation
Authors: Tachibana Takayuki , Yamashita Takashi , Nagira Masaru , Yabuki Hisakuni , Nagashima Yasuyuki 
Published: May 2018

AbstractWe compared positron- and electron-stimulated desorption (e+SD and ESD) of positive ions from a TiO2(110) surface. Although desorption of O+ ions was observed in both experiments, the desorption efficiency caused by positron bombardment was larger by one order of magnitude than that caused by electron bombardment at an incident energy of 500 eV. e+SD of O+ ions remained highly efficient with incident positron energies between 10 eV and 600 eV. The results indicate that e+SD of O+ ions is predominantly caused by pair annihilation of surface-trapped positrons with inner-shell electrons. We also tested e+SD from water chemisorbed on the TiO2 surface and found that the desorption of specific ions was enhanced by positron annihilation, above the ion yield with electron bombardment. This finding corroborates our conclusion that annihilation-site selectivity of positrons results in site-selective ion desorption from a bombarded surface.
Active solution of homography for pavement crack recovery with four laser lines
Authors: Xu Guan , Chen Fang , Wu Guangwei , Li Xiaotao 
Published: May 2018

AbstractAn active solution method of the homography, which is derived from four laser lines, is proposed to recover the pavement cracks captured by the camera to the real-dimension cracks in the pavement plane. The measurement system, including a camera and four laser projectors, captures the projection laser points on the 2D reference in different positions. The projection laser points are reconstructed in the camera coordinate system. Then, the laser lines are initialized and optimized by the projection laser points. Moreover, the plane-indicated Plücker matrices of the optimized laser lines are employed to model the laser projection points of the laser lines on the pavement. The image-pavement homography is actively determined by the solutions of the perpendicular feet of the projection laser points. The pavement cracks are recovered by the active solution of homography in the experiments. The recovery accuracy of the active solution method is verified by the 2D dimension-known reference. The test case with the measurement distance of 700 mm and the relative angle of 8° achieves the smallest recovery error of 0.78 mm in the experimental investigations, which indicates the application potentials in the vision-based pavement inspection.
Synergistic combination of two antimicrobial agents closing each other’s mutant selection windows to prevent antimicrobial resistance
Authors: Xu Xuejie , Xu Li , Yuan Ganjun , Wang Yimin , Qu Yunqiu , Zhou Meijing 
Published: May 2018

AbstractAntimicrobial resistance seriously threatened human health. Combination therapy is generally an effective strategy to fight resistance, while some data on its effects are conflicting. To explore the reasons, the fractional inhibitory concentration indexes (FICIs) of three designed combinations against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were determined using checkerboard method, and their minimal concentrations inhibiting colony formation by 99% (MIC99%s) and mutant prevention concentrations (MPCs) alone or in combinations including different proportions were first determined using agar plates. The results indicated that different proportions of a combination had presented different MPCs and mutant selection window (MSWs), and also showed that the smaller the FICIs of two agents in combinations were, the more probable their MSWs were to close each other. As two agents of a combination had different pharmacokinetic characters, the ratios of two agents in blood and infectious sites were likely different even though a specific proportion was administrated, which would lead to different effects preventing resistance. Thereby, these experimental results theoretically indicated that synergistic combination closing each other’s MSWs had a great potency to prevent resistance according to the hypotheses of MSW and MPC, and deduced that in vivo synergistic validity of a combination was likely a key to prevent resistance. Moreover, a synergistic combination of roxithromycin/doxycycline with the FICIs of 0.26–0.50 and 0.28–0.38 respectively against MRSA 01 and 02 was obtained, and the MSWs of these two agents could be simultaneously closed each other in a certain range of proportions, but for others. Meanwhile, its effect preventing resistance needs to be further verified.
Novel sequences, structural variations and gene presence variations of Asian cultivated rice
Authors: Hu Zhiqiang , Wang Wensheng , Wu Zhichao , Sun Chen , Li Min , Lu Jinyuan , Fu Binying , Shi Jianxin , Xu Jianlong , Ruan Jue , Wei Chaochun , Li Zhikang 
Published: May 2018

AbstractGenomic diversity within a species genome is the genetic basis of its phenotypic diversity essential for its adaptation to environments. The big picture of the total genetic diversity within Asian cultivated rice has been uncovered since the sequencing of 3,000 rice genomes, including the SNP data publicly available in the SNP-Seek database. Here we report other aspects of the genetic diversity, including rice sequences assembled from over 3,000 accessions but absent in the Nipponbare reference genome, structural variations (SVs) and gene presence/absence variations (PAVs) in 453 accessions with sequencing depth over 20x. Using either SVs or gene PAVs, we were able to reconstruct the population structure of O. sativa, which was consistent with previous result based on SNPs. Moreover, we demonstrated the usefulness of the new data sets by successfully detecting the strong association of the “Green Revolution gene”, sd1, with plant height. Our data provide a more comprehensive view of the genetic diversity within rice, as well as additional genomic resources for research in rice breeding and plant biology.
Sicherheit der Blutdrucksenkung bei Hämodialysepatienten
Authors: van der Giet Markus 
Published: May 2018

ZusammenfassungDas optimale Blutdruckziel für Patienten mit Hämodialyse ist nicht bekannt. 126 hypertensive Patienten unter Hämodialysetherapie wurden standardisiert mit einem prädialytischen systolischen Blutdruck von 110–140 mmHg (intensiver Arm) oder von 155–165 mmHg (Standardarm) eingeteilt. Das primäre Ziel war es, sowohl die Machbarkeit als auch die Sicherheit für eine komplette Studie zu etablieren. Ein sekundäres Ziel war, die Veränderung der linksventrikulären Hypertrophie zu messen. Die mediane Nachbeobachtungsphase war 365 Tage.
Evaluation of Multimedia Medication Reconciliation Software: A Randomized Controlled, Single-Blind Trial to Measure Diagnostic Accuracy for Discrepancy Detection
Authors: Lesselroth Blake , Adams Kathleen , Church Victoria , Tallett Stephanie , Russ Yelizaveta , Wiedrick Jack , Forsberg Christopher , Dorr David 
Published: May 2018

Background The Veterans Affairs Portland Healthcare System developed a medication history collection software that displays prescription names and medication images.
Objective This article measures the frequency of medication discrepancy reporting using the medication history collection software and compares with the frequency of reporting using a paper-based process. This article also determines the accuracy of each method by comparing both strategies to a best possible medication history.
Study Design Randomized, controlled, single-blind trial.
Setting Three community-based primary care clinics associated with the Veterans Affairs Portland Healthcare System: a 300-bed teaching facility and ambulatory care network serving Veteran soldiers in the Pacific Northwest United States.
Participants Of 212 patients with primary care appointments, 209 patients fulfilled the study requirements.
Intervention Patients randomized to a software-directed medication history or a paper-based medication history. Randomization and allocation to treatment groups were performed using a computer-based random number generator. Assignments were placed in a sealed envelope and opened after participant consent. The research coordinator did not know or have access to the treatment assignment until the time of presentation.
Main Outcome Measures The primary analysis compared the discrepancy detection rates between groups with respect to the health record and a best possible medication history.
Results Of 3,500 medications reviewed, we detected 1,435 discrepancies. Forty-six percent of those discrepancies were potentially high risk for causing an adverse drug event. There was no difference in detection rates between treatment arms. Software sensitivity was 83% and specificity was 91%; paper sensitivity was 81% and specificity was 94%. No participants were lost to follow-up.
Conclusion The medication history collection software is an efficient and scalable method for gathering a medication history and detecting high-risk discrepancies. Although it included medication images, the technology did not improve accuracy over a paper list when compared with a best possible medication history.
Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02135731.
Lineare IgA-Dermatose mit hormonell bedingter Verschlechterung
Authors: Alhmali N. , Bahla R. , Heronimus K. 
Published: May 2018

ZusammenfassungWir berichten über eine 17-jährige Patientin, die sich mit seit ca. 2 Jahren bestehenden Hautveränderungen vorstellte. Histologisch konnte die Diagnose einer linearen IgA-Dermatose gesichert werden, die Antikörper zeigten sich jedoch negativ. Die Erkrankung tritt typischerweise in der Kindheit auf, aber auch ältere Patienten können betroffen sein. Die meisten Formen treten idiopathisch auf, aber auch Medikamente wie Vancomycin können ursächlich sein.Dapson stellt die etablierte Therapieform dar. Auffällig war bei unserer Patientin die deutliche und auch bilddokumentierte Verschlechterung während der Menstruation.
NGScloud: RNA-seq analysis of non-model species using cloud computing
Authors: Mora-Márquez Fernando , Vázquez-Poletti José Luis , López de Heredia Unai 
Published: May 2018

Abstract

Summary
RNA-seq analysis usually requires large computing infrastructures. NGScloud is a bioinformatic system developed to analyze RNA-seq data using the cloud computing services of Amazon that permit the access to ad hoc computing infrastructure scaled according to the complexity of the experiment, so its costs and times can be optimized. The application provides a user-friendly front-end to operate Amazon’s hardware resources, and to control a workflow of RNA-seq analysis oriented to non-model species, incorporating the cluster concept, which allows parallel runs of common RNA-seq analysis programs in several virtual machines for faster analysis.

Availability and implementation
NGScloud is freely available at https://github.com/GGFHF/NGScloud/. A manual detailing installation and how-to-use instructions is available with the distribution.
Oversight and Ethical Regulation of Conflicts of Interest in Neurosurgery in the United States
Authors: DiRisio Aislyn C , Muskens Ivo S , Cote David J , Babu Maya , Gormley William B , Smith Timothy R , Moojen Wouter A , Broekman Marike L 
Published: May 2018

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Developmental incentives are fundamental to surgical progress, yet financial and professional incentives inherently create conflicts of interest (COI). Understanding how to manage COI held by neurosurgeons, industry, hospitals, and journal editors, without thwarting progress and innovation is critical.

OBJECTIVE
To present an overview of COI associated with innovation in neurosurgery, and review ways to manage these in an ethically sound manner.

METHODS
A review of the literature was performed to assess conflicts of interest that affect neurosurgical innovation, and review ways to manage COI of various parties while adhering to ethical standards.

RESULTS
COI are inherent to collaboration and innovation, and are therefore an unavoidable component of neurosurgery. The lack of a clear distinction between clinical practice and innovation, ability to use devices off-label, and unstandardized disclosure requirements create inconsistencies in the way that conflicts of interest are handled. Additionally, lack of requirements to compare innovation to the standard of care and inherent bias that affects study design and interpretation can have profound effects on the medical literature. Conflicts of interest can have both direct and downstream effects on neurosurgical practice, and it is possible to manage them while improving the quality of research and innovation.

CONCLUSION
Conflicts of interest are inherent to surgical innovation, and can be handled in an ethically sound manner. Neurosurgeons, device companies, hospitals, and medical journals can take steps to proactively confront bias and ensure patient autonomy and safety. These steps can preserve public trust and ultimately improve evidence-based neurosurgical practice.
Redefining Prevention and Care: A Status-Neutral Approach to HIV
Authors: Myers Julie E , Braunstein Sarah L , Xia Qiang , Scanlin Kathleen , Edelstein Zoe , Harriman Graham , Tsoi Benjamin , Andaluz Adriana , Yu Estella , Daskalakis Demetre 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
Recent biomedical advances inspire hope that an end to the epidemic of HIV is in sight. Adopting new approaches and paradigms for treatment and prevention in terms of both messaging and programming is a priority to accelerate progress. Defining the key sequential steps that comprise engagement in HIV care has provided a useful framework for clinical programs and motivated quality improvement initiatives. Recently, the same approach has been applied to use of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention. Building on the various prevention and care continua previously proposed, we present a novel schematic that incorporates both people living with HIV and people at risk, making it effectively “status-neutral” in that it proposes the same approach for engagement, regardless of one’s HIV status. This multidirectional continuum begins with an HIV test and offers 2 divergent paths depending on the results; these paths end at a common final state. To illustrate how this continuum can be utilized for program planning as well as for monitoring, we provide an example using data for New York City men who have sex with men, a population with high HIV incidence and prevalence.
The robustness and generalizability of findings on spontaneous false belief sensitivity: a replication attempt
Authors: Schuwerk Tobias , Priewasser Beate , Sodian Beate , Perner Josef 
Published: May 2018

Influential studies showed that 25-month-olds and neurotypical adults take an agent's false belief into account in their anticipatory looking patterns (Southgate
et al.
2007
Psychol. Sci.
18
, 587–592 (
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01944.x
); Senju
et al.
2009
Science
325
, 883–885 (
doi:10.1126/science.1176170
)). These findings constitute central pillars of current accounts distinguishing between implicit and explicit Theory of Mind. In our first experiment, which initially included a replication as well as two manipulations, we failed to replicate the original finding in 2- to 3-year-olds (
N
= 48). Therefore, we ran a second experiment with the sole purpose of seeing whether the effect can be found in an independent, tightly controlled, sufficiently powered and preregistered replication study. This replication attempt failed again in a sample of 25-month-olds (
N
= 78), but was successful in a sample of adults (
N
= 115). In all samples, a surprisingly high number of participants did not correctly anticipate the agent's action during the familiarization phase. This led to massive exclusion rates when adhering to the criteria of the original studies and strongly limits the interpretability of findings from the test phase. We discuss both the reliability of our replication attempts as well as the replicability of non-verbal anticipatory looking paradigms of implicit false belief sensitivity, in general.