bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Laparoscopic uterine graft procurement and surgical autotransplantation in ovine model
Authors: Sánchez-Margallo Francisco Miguel , Moreno-Naranjo Belén , Pérez-López María del Mar , Abellán Elena , Domínguez-Arroyo José Antonio , Mijares José , Álvarez Ignacio Santiago 
Published: May 2019

AbstractCurrently, uterus transplantation (UTx) is a clinical option for infertile women. Over the past three decades, treating benign or malignant gynecological diseases with minimally invasive gynecological surgery has improved, providing significant advantages over conventional open surgery. This study addresses the method used for laparoscopic live-donor ovariohysterectomy and graft harvest from a sheep model. Using a microsurgical practice, ten grafts were autotransplanted after uterine perfusion. End-to-end anastomosis techniques were used to approximate veins and arteries. Follow-ups were carried out 2-months after surgery and postoperative studies included ultrasound scan, diagnostic hysteroscopy, vascular angiography, and exploratory laparoscopy. All transplants were completed without complications. After vascular anastomosis, total reperfusion of the tissue was accomplished in all animals without confirmation of arterial or venous thrombosis. Angiographic explorations did not show any statistically significant dissimilarity in the arterial diameters between the different examination times. 3-months after uterine transplantation all animals underwent assisted reproduction techniques. Patent uterine arteries were observed 4, 8 and 12 months after the transplant. 6-months after transplantation, six sheep (60%) became pregnant with assisted reproduction practices. We noticed an increase in the degree of fibrosis of the cervix samples in non-pregnant animals of the transplant group. Laparoscopic surgery can be an advantageous approach for the uterus retrieval procedure during uterine transplantation. However, larger sample sized reports are needed in order to accomplish validation, standardization and wider use of this route.
Visual modelling supports the potential for prey detection by means of diurnal active photolocation in a small cryptobenthic fish
Authors: Bitton Pierre-Paul , Yun Christmann Sebastian Alejandro , Santon Matteo , Harant Ulrike K. , Michiels Nico K. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractActive sensing has been well documented in animals that use echolocation and electrolocation. Active photolocation, or active sensing using light, has received much less attention, and only in bioluminescent nocturnal species. However, evidence has suggested the diurnal triplefin Tripterygion delaisi uses controlled iris radiance, termed ocular sparks, for prey detection. While this form of diurnal active photolocation was behaviourally described, a study exploring the physical process would provide compelling support for this mechanism. In this paper, we investigate the conditions under which diurnal active photolocation could assist T. delaisi in detecting potential prey. In the field, we sampled gammarids (genus Cheirocratus) and characterized the spectral properties of their eyes, which possess strong directional reflectors. In the laboratory, we quantified ocular sparks size and their angle-dependent radiance. Combined with environmental light measurements and known properties of the visual system of T. delaisi, we modeled diurnal active photolocation under various scenarios. Our results corroborate that diurnal active photolocation should help T. delaisi detect gammarids at distances relevant to foraging, 4.5 cm under favourable conditions and up to 2.5 cm under average conditions. To determine the prevalence of diurnal active photolocation for micro-prey, we encourage further theoretical and empirical work.
Real-Time Observation of Carbon Oxidation by Driven Motion of Catalytic Ceria Nanoparticles within Low Pressure Oxygen
Authors: Li Boyu , Sediako Anton D. , Zhao Pei , Li Jingde , Croiset Eric , Thomson Murray J. , Wen John Z. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractCarbon particulate matter (PM) is an undesirable aerosol pollutant formed from combustors such as power plants, refineries, and engines. The most common and effective method of mitigating PM emission is the capture of particulates using a filter, before particles are released into the atmosphere. In order to develop and improve advanced filtering materials, a better understanding is required of their chemical and mechanical behavior. We report on a novel phenomenon on the mobility and oxidation behavior of catalytic iron doped ceria nanoparticles in contact with mobile carbon black nanoparticles. The process is recorded by real time imaging within an environmental transmission electron microscope. In contrast to observations in previous studies, the separated ceria nanoparticles are found to actively move on the substrate and consume the connecting carbon particles one-by-one. The velocity of particle motion is correlated to the reaction temperature and oxygen pressure, both determining the reaction rate. Modeling using the Density Functional Theory suggests this motion is driven by the chemical bonding between the surface oxygen of the catalyst and the graphite layers of carbon black, initiated through the Van der Waals force between two types of nanoparticles.
Annual Thermal Stress Increases a Soft Coral’s Susceptibility to Bleaching
Authors: Slattery Marc , Pankey M. Sabrina , Lesser Michael P. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractLike scleractinian corals, soft corals contain photosymbionts (Family Symbiodiniaceae) that provide energy for the host. Recent thermal events have resulted in soft coral bleaching in four of five years on Guam, where they dominated back-reef communities. Soft coral bleaching was examined in Sinularia maxima, S. polydactyla, and their hybrid S. maxima x polydactyla. Results from annual field surveys indicated that S. maxima and the hybrid were more susceptible to bleaching than S. polydactyla, and this was related to differences in their Symbiodiniaceae communities in 2016 and 2017. The photosymbionts of S. polydactyla were apparently more stress tolerant and maintained higher photosynthetic potential through three years of bleaching, in contrast to the other species that exhibited a decline in photosynthetic potential after the first year of bleaching. Nonetheless, by the 2017 bleaching event all soft coral populations exhibited significant bleaching-mediated declines and loss of photosynthetic efficiency suggesting a declining resiliency to annual thermal stress events. While S. polydactyla initially looked to succeed the other species as the dominant space occupying soft coral on Guam back-reefs, cumulative bleaching events ultimately turned this “winner” into a “loser”, suggesting the trajectory for coral reefs is towards continued loss of structure and function.
Improved drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis by CRISPR/dCas9 fusion with a Histone AcetylTransferase
Authors: Roca Paixão Joaquin Felipe , Gillet François-Xavier , Ribeiro Thuanne Pires , Bournaud Caroline , Lourenço-Tessutti Isabela Tristan , Noriega Daniel D. , Melo Bruno Paes de , de Almeida-Engler Janice , Grossi-de-Sa Maria Fatima 
Published: May 2019

AbstractDrought episodes decrease plant growth and productivity, which in turn cause high economic losses. Plants naturally sense and respond to water stress by activating specific signalling pathways leading to physiological and developmental adaptations. Genetically engineering genes that belong to these pathways might improve the drought tolerance of plants. The abscisic acid (ABA)-responsive element binding protein 1/ABRE binding factor (AREB1/ABF2) is a key positive regulator of the drought stress response. We investigated whether the CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) system that targets AREB1 might contribute to improve drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Arabidopsis histone acetyltransferase 1 (AtHAT1) promotes gene expression activation by switching chromatin to a relaxed state. Stable transgenic plants expressing chimeric dCas9HAT were first generated. Then, we showed that the CRISPRa dCas9HAT mechanism increased the promoter activity controlling the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. To activate the endogenous promoter of AREB1, the CRISPRa dCas9HAT system was set up, and resultant plants showed a dwarf phenotype. Our qRT-PCR experiments indicated that both AREB1 and RD29A, a gene positively regulated by AREB1, exhibited higher gene expression than the control plants. The plants generated here showed higher chlorophyll content and faster stomatal aperture under water deficit, in addition to a better survival rate after drought stress. Altogether, we report that CRISPRa dCas9HAT is a valuable biotechnological tool to improve drought stress tolerance through the positive regulation of AREB1.
Vitamin D and Wnt3A have additive and partially overlapping modulatory effects on gene expression and phenotype in human colon fibroblasts
Authors: Ferrer-Mayorga Gemma , Niell Núria , Cantero Ramón , González-Sancho José Manuel , del Peso Luis , Muñoz Alberto , Larriba María Jesús 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway is essential for intestinal epithelium homeostasis, but its aberrant activation is a hallmark of colorectal cancer (CRC). Several studies indicate that the bioactive vitamin D metabolite 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) inhibits proliferation and promotes epithelial differentiation of colon carcinoma cells in part through antagonism of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. It is now accepted that stromal fibroblasts are crucial in healthy and pathologic intestine: pericryptal myofibroblasts are constituents of the stem cell niche and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) contribute to CRC progression. However, studies on the combined action of 1,25(OH)2D3 and Wnt factors in colon fibroblasts are lacking. Here we show by global transcriptomic studies that 1,25(OH)2D3 and Wnt3A have profound, additive, partially overlapping effects on the gene expression profile of CCD-18Co human colon myofibroblasts. Moreover, 1,25(OH)2D3 and Wnt3A inhibit CCD-18Co cell proliferation and migration, while 1,25(OH)2D3 reduces, but Wnt3A increases, their capacity to contract collagen gels (a marker of fibroblast activation). These data were largely confirmed in patient-derived primary colon normal fibroblasts and CAFs, and in fibroblasts from other origins. Our results indicate that 1,25(OH)2D3 and Wnt3A are strong regulators of colon fibroblast biology and contribute to a better knowledge of intestinal homeostasis and stromal fibroblast action in CRC.
Changes in the distribution of hydro-climatic extremes in a non-stationary framework
Authors: Ouarda Taha B. M. J. , Charron Christian 
Published: May 2019

AbstractHydro-climatic extremes are influenced by climate change and climate variability associated to large-scale oscillations. Non-stationary frequency models integrate trends and climate variability by introducing covariates in the distribution parameters. These models often assume that the distribution function and shape of the distribution do not change. However, these assumptions are rarely verified in practice. We propose here an approach based on L-moment ratio diagrams to analyze changes in the distribution function and shape parameter of hydro-climate extremes. We found that important changes occur in the distribution of annual maximum streamflow and extreme temperatures. Eventual relations between the shapes of the distributions of extremes and climate indices are also identified. We provide an example of a non-stationary frequency model applied to flood flows. Results show that a model with a shape parameter dependent on climate indices in combination with a scale parameter dependent on time improves significantly the goodness-of-fit.
Shell-type acoustic metasurface and arc-shape carpet cloak
Authors: Ma Fuyin , Xu Yicai , Wu Jiu Hui 
Published: May 2019

AbstractWe systematically propose a thin shell-type acoustic metasurface, which could be used to design a carpet cloak that closely covers an arc-shaped object, therefore providing the necessary support for hiding an object with any arbitrary shape. To facilitate the experimental measurement, however, the work here starts with some rotary spherical shell-type and ellipsoidal shell-type cell structures. The measured and calculated sound transmission loss (STL) results of these structures suggest that the sound insulation performances of the shell-type structure are quite different from those of the plate-type structure, indicating a possible break in the shape of the classical sound insulation curve. Considering also that cylindrical shell structures are more widely used in practice than the rotary shell structures, a number of two-dimensional bilayer cylindrical and elliptic cylindrical shell structures were, therefore, designed in this assay. Due to the asymmetry of the structure, the shell-type cells could exhibit bianisotropic sound absorption, reflection and effective parameters. Furthermore, the stiffness of the thin shell structure changed nonlinearly with the changing of the radius of curvature, with a wing shape tendency. In addition, a bilayer cylindrical shell-type acoustic metasurface and an arc-shaped carpet acoustic cloak were successively designed, wherein the phased compensation of differently shaped cell structures could be adjusted by means of a new engineering iso-phase design method. This work could provide the necessary guidance to extend existing results in the field of membrane- and plate-type acoustic metamaterials for shell-type structures, and the realization of the arc-shaped cloak could provide support for the design of a carpet acoustical cloak for use with arbitrary shapes.
Cathode coating using LiInO2-LiI composite for stable sulfide-based all-solid-state batteries
Authors: Kwak Hwan Wook , Park Yong Joon 
Published: May 2019

AbstractAll-solid-state batteries with inorganic solid electrolytes are ideal to overcome the safety issues related to the flammable organic electrolyte in lithium ion batteries. Sulfide materials are promising inorganic electrolytes due to their high ionic conductivity and good elasticity. Nevertheless, their application is limited by their high reactivity and instability at the cathode/electrolyte (Li[Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05]O2/75Li2S–22P2S5–3Li2SO4) interface. In this study, LiInO2 and LiInO2–LiI were introduced as new cathode coating materials to suppress such undesirable reactions. The LiInO2–LiI composite coating layer reduced the undesirable interfacial reactions and prevented the diffusion of S and P ions from the sulfide electrolyte to the oxide cathode. Moreover, the electrochemical properties of all-solid-state cells were improved by the cathode coating. The LiInO2–LiI-coated electrode presented better rate capability and lower impedance than the pristine and LiInO2-coated electrodes. Hence, the LiInO2–LiI composite coating was successful at improving the cathode stability while providing superior electrochemical properties.
An ultra wideband-high spatial resolution-compact electric field sensor based on Lab-on-Fiber technology
Authors: Calero V. , Suarez M. -A. , Salut R. , Baida F. , Caspar A. , Behague F. , Courjal N. , Galtier L , Gillette L. , Duvillaret L. , Gaborit G. , Bernal M. -P. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractNon-intrusive, wide bandwidth and spatial resolution are terms often heard in electric field sensing. Despite of the fact that conventional electromagnetic field probes (EMF) can exhibit notable functional performances, they fail in terms of perturbation of the E-field due to their loaded metallic structure. In addition, even though electro-optical technology offers an alternative, it requires large interaction lenghts which severely limit the sensing performances in terms of bandwidth and spatial resolution. Here, we focus on miniaturizing the interaction volume, photon lifetime and device footprint by taking advantage of the combination of lithium niobate (LN), Lab-on-Fiber technologies and photonic crystals (PhC). We demonstrate the operation of an all-dielectric E-field sensor whose ultra-compact footprint is inscribed in a 125 μm-diameter circle with an interaction area smaller than 19 μm × 19 μm and light propagation length of 700 nm. This submicrometer length provides outstanding bandwidth flatness, in addition to be promising for frequency detection beyond the THz. Moreover, the minituarization also provides unique features such as spatial resolution under 10 μm and minimal perturbation to the E-field, accompanied by great linearity with respect to the E-field strength. All these specifications, summarized to the high versatibility of Lab-on-Fiber technology, lead to a revolutionary and novel fibered E-field sensor which can be adapted to a broad range of applications in the fields of telecommunications, health and military.
Gut microbiota imbalances in Tunisian participants with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus
Authors: Fassatoui Meriem , Lopez-Siles Mireia , Díaz-Rizzolo Diana A. , Jmel Haifa , Naouali Chokri , Abdessalem Ghaith , Chikhaoui Asma , Nadal Belén , Jamoussi Henda , Abid Abdelmajid , Gomis Ramon , Abdelhak Sonia , Martinez-Medina Margarita , Kefi Rym 
Published: May 2019

Abstract
Gut microbiota plays an important role in the regulation of the immune system and host’s metabolism. We aimed to characterize the gut microbiota of Tunisian participants with and without diabetes.
We enrolled ten participants with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), ten patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and 11 subjects without diabetes. Bacteria was quantified in fecal samples by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Statistical tests and multivariate analysis were performed using RStudio program.
Results showed that the proportions of Firmicutes, Akkermansia muciniphila, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (P≤0.041), as well as, the ratio Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes decreased in participants with T1DM compared with those without diabetes (p = 0.036). Participants with T2DM presented a reduction in the amounts of A. muciniphila and F. prausnitzii compared with those without diabetes (P≤0.036). Furthermore, A muciniphila is negatively correlated with glucose level (P=0.022) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (P=0.035). Multivariate analysis revealed that participants with diabetes formed a cluster apart compared with those without diabetes.
In conclusion the gut bacteria of Tunisian participants with diabetes was altered. The gut bacterial profile, especially the distribution of A muciniphila in participants with diabetes was affected by glycemic dysregulation. The investigation of the gut microbiota may help clinicians to improve diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and its complications.
Trehalose: is it a potential inhibitor of antithrombin polymerization?
Authors: Martínez-Martínez Irene 
Published: May 2019

Abstract
SERine Protease INhibitorS (Serpins) are a superfamily of proteins that are characterized by having a similar three-dimensional structure. The native conformation is not most thermodynamically stable, so polymerization is the main consequence when its stability is altered as a result of certain mutations. The polymerization of serpins has been a research topic for many years. Different mechanisms have been proposed and in the same way different compounds or strategies have been studied to prevent polymerization. A recent paper published in Bioscience Reports by Naseem et al. [Biosci. Rep. (2019) 5, 39] studies the role of trehalose in the prevention of the polymerization of antithrombin, which belongs to the serpin superfamily. The main consequence of the antithrombin polymerization is the increased thrombotic risk, since antithrombin is the main inhibitor of the coagulation cascade. The authors demonstrate that trehalose is able to prevent the in vitro polymerization of antithrombin, under conditions in which it usually tends to polymerize, and demonstrate it by using different techniques. However, the binding site of trehalose in antithrombin should be defined by site-directed mutagenesis. On the other hand, it is not clear if all serpins polymerize in vivo through the same mechanism and it is also not clear if the same serpin can even polymerize through different mechanisms. Therefore, there are still doubts about the potential of trehalose or its derivatives to prevent in vivo antithrombin polymerization and, therefore, reduce thrombotic risk, as well as whether trehalose would be able to reduce polymerization in other serpins.
A Comparison of Behavioral Methods for Indexing the Auditory Processing of Temporal Fine Structure Cues
Authors: Hoover Eric C. , Kinney Brianna N. , Bell Karen L. , Gallun Frederick J. , Eddins David A. 
Published: May 2019

PurposeGrowing evidence supports the inclusion of perceptual tests that quantify the processing of temporal fine structure (TFS) in clinical hearing assessment. Many tasks have been used to evaluate TFS in the laboratory that vary greatly in the stimuli used and whether the judgments require monaural or binaural comparisons of TFS. The purpose of this study was to compare laboratory measures of TFS for inclusion in a battery of suprathreshold auditory tests. A subset of available TFS tasks were selected on the basis of potential clinical utility and were evaluated using metrics that focus on characteristics important for clinical use.MethodTFS measures were implemented in replication of studies that demonstrated clinical utility. Monaural, diotic, and dichotic measures were evaluated in 11 young listeners with normal hearing. Measures included frequency modulation (FM) tasks, harmonic frequency shift detection, interaural phase difference (TFS–low frequency), interaural time difference (ITD), monaural gap duration discrimination, and tone detection in noise with and without a difference in interaural phase (N0S0, N0Sπ). Data were compared with published results and evaluated with metrics of consistency and efficiency.ResultsThresholds obtained were consistent with published data. There was no evidence of predictive relationships among the measures consistent with a homogenous group. The most stable tasks across repeated testing were TFS–low frequency, diotic and dichotic FM, and N0Sπ. Monaural and diotic FM had the lowest normalized variance and were the most efficient accounting for differences in total test duration, followed by ITD.ConclusionsDespite a long stimulus duration, FM tasks dominated comparisons of consistency and efficiency. Small differences separated the dichotic tasks FM, ITD, and N0Sπ. Future comparisons following procedural optimization of the tasks will evaluate clinical efficiency in populations with impairment.
Case study on the effects of partial solar eclipse on distributed PV systems and management areas
Authors: Sundararajan Aditya , Olowu Temitayo O. , Wei Longfei , Rahman Shahinur , Sarwat Arif I. 
Published: May 2019

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are weather‐dependent. A solar eclipse causes significant changes in these parameters, thereby impacting PV generation profile, performance, and power quality of larger grid, where they connect to. This study presents a case study to evaluate the impacts of the solar eclipse of 21 August 2017, on two real‐world grid‐tied PV systems (1.4 MW and 355 kW) in Miami and Daytona, Florida, the feeders they are connected to, and the management areas they belong to. Four types of analyses are conducted to obtain a comprehensive picture of the impacts using 1 min PV generation data, hourly weather data, real feeder parameters, and daily reliability data. These analyses include: individual PV system performance measurement using power performance index; power quality analysis at the point of interconnection; a study on the operation of voltage regulating devices on the feeders during eclipse peak using an IEEE 8500 test case distribution feeder; and reliability study involving a multilayer perceptron framework for forecasting system reliability of the management areas. Results from this study provide a unique insight into how solar eclipses impact the behaviour of PV systems and the grid, which would be of concern to electric utilities in future high penetration scenarios.