bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Quick Look Method to Assess the Dependencies of Rock Physical Sediment Properties on the Saturation With Pore‐Filling Hydrate
Authors: Spangenberg Erik , Seyberth Karl , Heeschen Katja U. , Priegnitz Mike , Schicks Judith M. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractWithin the framework of the national German hydrate project Submarine Gas Hydrate Reservoirs (SUGAR) we promised to deliver dependencies of compressional‐wave velocity and electrical resistivity on hydrate saturation within sand sediments of the paleo Danube channel‐levee system in the Black Sea. These data supported starting models for joint inversion of seismic and electromagnetic geophysics data for that area. Because hydrate formation in sediment samples under laboratory conditions is a complex and particularly time‐consuming procedure, we developed a quick look experimental methodology. We used ice as an analogue for methane hydrate to simplify the experimental procedure for laboratory studies. The difference from existing approaches is the way the ice and water saturation of the porous sediment is determined. To verify this approach, we compared the new data measured on ice‐bearing sand with measurements on hydrate‐bearing sediments, where methane hydrate was produced from methane dissolved in water. The main result from this study is that ice forming from a salt solution in the pore space of sand forms like methane hydrate as a noncementing solid pore fill. The method does not require a pore pressure system and produces a homogeneous ice distribution, as long as homogeneous temperature distribution throughout the sample can be guaranteed. For compressional‐wave velocity measurements we demonstrate that ice can be used as an analogue for noncementing methane hydrate. Therefore, the complete dependence of velocity on ice saturation, depending on the saturation increment, can easily be measured in 1 to 2 weeks.
Earthquake Lights: Mechanism of Electrical Coupling of Earth's Crust to the Lower Atmosphere
Authors: Jánský Jaroslav , Pasko Victor P. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractEarthquake lights are an atmospheric luminous phenomenon occurring before, during, and occasionally after earthquakes. In the present work we assume that strong electric currents are produced inside the Earth during earthquakes and model the current and field distribution inside and above the Earth to find the conditions where electrical discharges can appear. The simulation results quantify the effects of various configurations of current dipoles inside the Earth. The results are supported by approximate formulations allowing effective solution of the same problems using an analytical theory. It is shown that a large‐scale dipole with poles located in Earth's crust at 5 and 15 km beneath the Earth's surface requires energy significantly higher than the total seismic wave energy in major earthquakes. The more likely setup to produce earthquake lights is found to be when the upper pole of the source current dipole is shifted close to the Earth's surface, in particular, when locations of current dipoles are tens of meters beneath Earth's surface.
Near infrared fluorescent peptide nanoparticles for enhancing esophageal cancer therapeutic efficacy
Authors: Fan Zhen , Chang Yan , Cui Chaochu , Sun Leming , Wang David H. , Pan Zui , Zhang Mingjun 
Published: June 2018

AbstractVarious types of nanoparticles have been proposed for targeted drug delivering, imaging, and tracking of therapeutic agents. However, highly biocompatible nanoparticles with structure-induced fluorescence and capability to conjugate with biomarkers and drugs remain lacking. This research proposes and synthesizes fluorescent nanoparticles (f-PNPs) assembled by cyclic peptides to combine imaging and drug delivering for esophageal cancer (EC). To achieve tumor targeting, f-PNPs are first conjugated with RGD moieties to selectively target EC cells via αvβ3 integrin; the nanoparticles are then embedded with epirubicin (EPI). Cell viability assays and analysis of tissue histology reveal that EPI-loaded RGD-f-PNPs (RGD-f-PNPs/EPI) led to significantly reduced cardiotoxicity and improved anti-tumor activity compared to EPI alone. Moreover, the drug delivery to tumor sites and therapeutic responses could be monitored with near-infrared fluorescence using RGD-f-PNPs/EPI. This unique nanoparticle system may lead to potential approaches for bioorganic fluorescence-based delivering, imaging, and drug release tracking.
Highly stable QLEDs with improved hole injection via quantum dot structure tailoring
Authors: Cao Weiran , Xiang Chaoyu , Yang Yixing , Chen Qi , Chen Liwei , Yan Xiaolin , Qian Lei 
Published: June 2018

AbstractFor the state-of-the-art quantum dot light-emitting diodes, while the ZnO nanoparticle layers can provide effective electron injections into quantum dots layers, the hole transporting materials usually cannot guarantee sufficient hole injection owing to the deep valence band of quantum dots. Developing proper hole transporting materials to match energy levels with quantum dots remains a great challenge to further improve the device efficiency and operation lifetime. Here we demonstrate high-performance quantum dot light-emitting diodes with much extended operation lifetime using quantum dots with tailored energy band structures that are favorable for hole injections. These devices show a T95 operation lifetime of more than 2300 h with an initial brightness of 1000 cd m−2, and an equivalent T50 lifetime at 100 cd m−2 of more than 2,200,000 h, which meets the industrial requirement for display applications.
FerriTag is a new genetically-encoded inducible tag for correlative light-electron microscopy
Authors: Clarke Nicholas I. , Royle Stephen J. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractA current challenge is to develop tags to precisely visualize proteins in cells by light and electron microscopy. Here, we introduce FerriTag, a genetically-encoded chemically-inducible tag for correlative light-electron microscopy. FerriTag is a fluorescent recombinant electron-dense ferritin particle that can be attached to a protein-of-interest using rapamycin-induced heterodimerization. We demonstrate the utility of FerriTag for correlative light-electron microscopy by labeling proteins associated with various intracellular structures including mitochondria, plasma membrane, and clathrin-coated pits and vesicles. FerriTagging has a good signal-to-noise ratio and a labeling resolution of approximately 10 nm. We demonstrate how FerriTagging allows nanoscale mapping of protein location relative to a subcellular structure, and use it to detail the distribution and conformation of huntingtin-interacting protein 1 related (HIP1R) in and around clathrin-coated pits.
microRNA-122 amplifies hepatitis C virus translation by shaping the structure of the internal ribosomal entry site
Authors: Schult Philipp , Roth Hanna , Adams Rebecca L. , Mas Caroline , Imbert Lionel , Orlik Christian , Ruggieri Alessia , Pyle Anna M. , Lohmann Volker 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe liver-specific microRNA-122 (miR-122) recognizes two conserved sites at the 5′ end of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome and contributes to stability, translation, and replication of the viral RNA. We show that stimulation of the HCV internal ribosome entry site (IRES) by miR-122 is essential for efficient viral replication. The mechanism relies on a dual function of the 5′ terminal sequence in the complementary positive (translation) and negative strand (replication), requiring different secondary structures. Predictions and experimental evidence argue for several alternative folds involving the miR-binding region (MBR) adjacent to the IRES and interfering with its function. Mutations in the MBR, designed to suppress these dysfunctional structures indeed stimulate translation independently of miR-122. Conversely, MBR mutants favoring alternative folds show impaired IRES activity. Our results therefore suggest that miR-122 binding assists the folding of a functional IRES in an RNA chaperone-like manner by suppressing energetically favorable alternative secondary structures.
MiR-99b-5p and miR-203a-3p Function as Tumor Suppressors by Targeting IGF-1R in Gastric Cancer
Authors: Wang Zhenzhen , Zhao Zhenghao , Yang Yang , Luo Mai , Zhang Min , Wang Xiaofei , Liu Liying , Hou Ni , Guo Qingqing , Song Tusheng , Guo Bo , Huang Chen 
Published: June 2018

AbstractMicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been explored in many critical cellular processes, including proliferation and apoptosis. The purpose of this study was to detect the biological function and regulation of miR-99b-5p and miR-203a-3p in gastric cancer (GC). Here, we demonstrated that miR-99b-5p/203a-3p were downregulated in both GC tissues and cell lines. MiR-99b-5p/203a-3p overexpression reduced GC cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in vitro. Notably, we combined bioinformatics tools with biological validation assays to demonstrate that insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) is a direct co-target and functional mediator of miR-99b-5p/203a-3p in GC cells. Mechanistically, the AKT pathway, which is downstream of IGF-1R, is essential for the functional roles of miR-99b-5p/203a-3p in GC cells. Taken together, our data revealed that IGF-1R is a direct co-target of miR-99b-5p/203a-3p, and miR-99b-5p/203a-3p may function as tumor suppressive miRNAs by negatively regulating IGF-1R expression in GC cells.
Down-regulation of circPVRL3 promotes the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer cells
Authors: Sun Han-Dong , Xu Zhi-Peng , Sun Zhi-Qiang , Zhu Bin , Wang Qian , Zhou Jian , Jin Hui , Zhao Andi , Tang Wei-Wei , Cao Xiu-Feng 
Published: June 2018

AbstractCircular RNA (circRNA) is a key regulator in the development and progression of various types of carcinomas. However, its role in gastric cancer (GC) tumorigenesis is not well understood. The present study aimed to investigate the expression profile and potential modulation of circRNAs on GC carcinogenesis. Human circRNA microarray was performed to screen for abnormally expressed circRNA in GC tissue. Results showed that a decrease in the circPVRL3 expression level was associated with the presence of GC, and also with higher TNM stage and lower overall survival rates compared with that in adjacent noncancerous tissues. In vitro assays of the GC cell lines MKN-45 and MGC-803 demonstrated that knockdown of circPVRL3 promoted cell proliferation significantly. Prediction and annotation revealed circPVRL3 was able to sponge to 9 miRNAs and may be also able to have a binding with AGO2, FUS, LIN28A, PTB, and EIF4A3. In addition, based on the structure of internal ribosomal entry sites, open reading frame, and m6A modification, circPVRL3 may have the potential ability to encode proteins. Taken together, our study indicated that down-regulation of circPVRL3 could promote the proliferation in gastric carcinoma and have potential to encode protein.
Neural signatures of reinforcement learning correlate with strategy adoption during spatial navigation
Authors: Anggraini Dian , Glasauer Stefan , Wunderlich Klaus 
Published: June 2018

AbstractHuman navigation is generally believed to rely on two types of strategy adoption, route-based and map-based strategies. Both types of navigation require making spatial decisions along the traversed way although formal computational and neural links between navigational strategies and mechanisms of value-based decision making have so far been underexplored in humans. Here we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while subjects located different objects in a virtual environment. We then modelled their paths using reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms, which successfully explained decision behavior and its neural correlates. Our results show that subjects used a mixture of route and map-based navigation and their paths could be well explained by the model-free and model-based RL algorithms. Furthermore, the value signals of model-free choices during route-based navigation modulated the BOLD signals in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), whereas the BOLD signals in parahippocampal and hippocampal regions pertained to model-based value signals during map-based navigation. Our findings suggest that the brain might share computational mechanisms and neural substrates for navigation and value-based decisions such that model-free choice guides route-based navigation and model-based choice directs map-based navigation. These findings open new avenues for computational modelling of wayfinding by directing attention to value-based decision, differing from common direction and distances approaches.
Evaluation of surface charge shift of collagen fibrils exposed to glutaraldehyde
Authors: Mesquida Patrick , Kohl Dominik , Andriotis Orestis G. , Thurner Philipp J. , Duer Melinda , Bansode Sneha , Schitter Georg 
Published: June 2018

AbstractCollagen fibrils are a major component of the extracellular matrix. They form nanometer-scale “cables” acting as a scaffold for cells in animal tissues and are widely used in tissue-engineering. Besides controlling their structure and mechanical properties, it is crucial to have information of their surface charge, as this affects how cells attach to the scaffold. Here, we employed Kelvin-probe Force Microscopy to determine the electrostatic surface potential at the single-fibril level and investigated how glutaraldehyde, a well-established protein cross-linking agent, shifts the surface charge to more negative values without disrupting the fibrils themselves. This shift can be interpreted as the result of the reaction between the carbonyl groups of glutaraldehyde and the amine groups of collagen. It reduces the overall density of positively charged amine groups on the collagen fibril surface and, ultimately, results in the observed negative shift of the surface potential measured. Reactions between carbonyl-containing compounds and proteins are considered the first step in glycation, the non-enzymatic reaction between sugars and proteins. It is conceivable that similar charge shifts happen in vivo caused by sugars, which could have serious implications on age-related diseases such as diabetes and which has been hypothesised for many years.
Enzootic frog pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in Asian tropics reveals high ITS haplotype diversity and low prevalence
Authors: Mutnale Milind C. , Anand Sachin , Eluvathingal Lilly M. , Roy Jayanta K. , Reddy Gundlapally S. , Vasudevan Karthikeyan 
Published: June 2018

AbstractEmerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) are a major threat to wildlife and a key player in the declining amphibian populations worldwide. One such EID is chytridiomycosis caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen. Aetiology of Bd infection is poorly known from tropical frogs in Asian biodiversity hotspots. Surveys were carried out in four biodiversity hotspots to ascertain the status of Bd fungus. We collected a total of 1870 swab samples from frogs representing 32 genera and 111 species. Nested PCRs revealed low prevalence (8.4%) and high Bd haplotype richness was revealed after sequencing. We document 57 Bd Internal Transcribed Spacer region (ITS) haplotypes, of which 46 were unique to the global database. Bd ITS region showed indels at the Taqman binding site and qPCR reverse primer binding site, suggesting qPCR is unsuitable for diagnosis in Asian Bd coldspots. Our median-joining network and Bayesian tree analyses reveal that the Asian haplotypes, with the exception of Korea, formed a separate clade along with pandemic BdGPL (Bd Global Panzootic Lineage) haplotype. We hypothesise that the frog populations in Asian tropics might harbour several endemic strains of Bd, and the high levels of diversity and uniqueness of Bd haplotypes in the region, probably resulted from historical host-pathogen co-evolution.
Altered cortical functional network during behavioral inhibition in individuals with childhood trauma
Authors: Kim Sungkean , Kim Ji Sun , Shim Miseon , Im Chang-Hwan , Lee Seung-Hwan 
Published: June 2018

AbstractIndividuals who have prior history of childhood traumatic experiences are at a high risk for a variety of psychological and behavioral problems throughout their lifetime. This study aimed to investigate whether such individuals exhibit altered cortical functional networks during a behavioral inhibition task. One hundred fifty-three non-clinical individuals were recruited and instructed to perform a Go/NoGo task during an electroencephalograph. Source-level weighted functional networks based on the graph theory were analyzed for NoGo-P3 processing. Based on their total scores on the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) participants were divided into three groups: low CTQ, middle CTQ, and high CTQ. Results at the global level indicated decreased strength, clustering coefficient, and efficiency for the low and gamma bands in the high CTQ group. In addition, the path length of the low beta band was observed to be longer in the high CTQ group than the low CTQ group. At the nodal level, the nodal clustering coefficient of high CTQ group was decreased in left primary somatosensory cortex and middle occipital gyrus for the low beta band, and in left superior temporal gyrus for the gamma band. The nodal clustering coefficient of the left primary somatosensory cortex showed a significant negative correlation with the total CTQ score for the low beta band. In addition, the nodal clustering coefficient of the left middle occipital gyrus for the low beta band and superior temporal gyrus for the gamma band showed significant negative correlations with the emotional neglect score. Our results demonstrate an altered cortical functional network in individuals who experienced childhood trauma. In particular, the left primary somatosensory cortex, middle occipital gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus were found to be vulnerable in individuals who experienced childhood trauma, especially emotional neglect.
Measuring shared knowledge with group false memory
Authors: Arima Yoshiko , Yukihiro Ryoji , Hattori Yosuke 
Published: June 2018

AbstractWe conducted two experiments to investigate the effects of word list consistency and group collaboration on false memory. Using the DRM (Deese-Roediger-McDermott) paradigm, the first experiment (n = 121) examined false memory in a group; participants collaborated to select keywords using a between-subject condition of a consistent or randomized word list. The proportion of false responses was larger than that of error responses, especially for the consistent word list condition (p < 0.001), and group collaboration increased false recognition for both word lists (p < 0.001). Using an applied within-subject word list condition, the second experiment (n = 119) confirmed the results of Experiment 1. Furthermore, individual differences Euclidean distance model analysis revealed a difference in the shared cognitive dimension related to group false memory.
Dosage compensation and DNA methylation landscape of the X chromosome in mouse liver
Authors: Duncan Christopher G. , Grimm Sara A. , Morgan Daniel L. , Bushel Pierre R. , Bennett Brian D. ,   NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Barnabas Beatrice B. , Bouffard Gerard G. , Brooks Shelise Y. , Coleman Holly , Dekhtyar Lyudmila , Guan Xiaobin , Han Joel , Ho Shi-ling , Legaspi Richelle , Maduro Quino L. , Masiello Catherine A. , McDowell Jennifer C. , Montemayor Casandra , Mullikin James C. , Park Morgan , Riebow Nancy L. , Schandler Karen , Schmidt Brian , Sison Christina , Smith Raymond , Stantripop Sirintorn , Thomas James W. , Thomas Pamela J. , Vemulapalli Meghana , Young Alice C. , Roberts John D. , Tyson Frederick L. , Merrick B. Alex , Wade Paul A. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractDNA methylation plays a key role in X-chromosome inactivation (XCI), a process that achieves dosage compensation for X-encoded gene products between mammalian female and male cells. However, differential sex chromosome dosage complicates genome-wide epigenomic assessments, and the X chromosome is frequently excluded from female-to-male comparative analyses. Using the X chromosome in the sexually dimorphic mouse liver as a model, we provide a general framework for comparing base-resolution DNA methylation patterns across samples that have different chromosome numbers and ask at a systematic level if predictions by historical analyses of X-linked DNA methylation hold true at a base-resolution chromosome-wide level. We demonstrate that sex-specific methylation patterns on the X chromosome largely reflect the effects of XCI. While our observations concur with longstanding observations of XCI at promoter-proximal CpG islands, we provide evidence that sex-specific DNA methylation differences are not limited to CpG island boundaries. Moreover, these data support a model in which maintenance of CpG islands in the inactive state does not require complete regional methylation. Further, we validate an intragenic non-CpG methylation signature in genes escaping XCI in mouse liver. Our analyses provide insight into underlying methylation patterns that should be considered when assessing sex differences in genome-wide methylation analyses.
Motivational goal-priming with or without awareness produces faster and stronger force exertion
Authors: Takarada Yudai , Nozaki Daichi 
Published: June 2018

AbstractPrevious research has demonstrated that barely visible (subliminal) goal-priming with motivational reward can alter the state of the motor system and enhance motor output. Research shows that these affective-motivational effects result from associations between goal representations and positive affect without conscious awareness. Here, we tested whether motivational priming can increase motor output even if the priming is fully visible (supraliminal), and whether the priming effect occurs through increased cortical excitability. Groups of participants were primed with either barely visible or fully visible words related to effort and control sequences of random letters that were each followed by fully visible positively reinforcing words. The priming effect was measured behaviourally by handgrip force and reaction time to the grip cue after the priming was complete. Physiologically, the effects were measured by pupil dilation and motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in response to transcranial magnetic stimulation during the priming task. Analysis showed that for both the supraliminal and subliminal conditions, reaction time decreased and total force, MEP magnitude, and pupil dilation increased. None of the priming-induced changes in behaviour or physiology differed significantly between the supraliminal and the subliminal groups, indicating that implicit motivation towards motor goals might not require conscious perception of the goals.