bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy and its associated factors among third trimester Malaysian pregnant women
Authors: Woon Fui Chee , Chin Yit Siew , Ismail Intan Hakimah , Batterham Marijka , Abdul Latiff Amir Hamzah , Gan Wan Ying , Appannah Geeta , Mohammed Hussien Siti Huzaifah , Edi Muliana , Tan Meng Lee , Chan Yoke Mun 
Published: April 2019

AbstractBackgroundDespite perennial sunshine, vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among Malaysian especially pregnant women.ObjectiveTo determine the vitamin D status and its associated factors among third trimester pregnant women attending government health clinics in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.MethodsInformation on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetrical history, vitamin D intake, supplement use, and sun exposure were obtained through face-to-face interviews. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was measured and classified as deficient (< 30 nmol/L), insufficient (30-50 nmol/L), and sufficient (≥ 50 nmol/L).ResultsOf the 535 pregnant women recruited, 42.6% were vitamin D deficient. They consumed an average of 8.7 ± 6.7 μg of vitamin D daily. A total of 80.4% of the vitamin D were obtained from the food sources, while 19.6% were from dietary supplements. Fish and fish products showed the highest contribution to vitamin D intake (35.8%). The multivariate generalized linear mixed models, with clinic as a random effect, indicates that higher intake of vitamin D is associated with lower risk of vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women (OR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.93-0.99). Non-Malay pregnant women had lower odds of having vitamin D deficiency (OR = 0.13; 95% CI = 0.04-0.37) compared to Malays. No associations were found between age, educational level, monthly household income, work status, gravidity, parity, pre-pregnancy body mass index, total hours of sun exposure, total percentage of body surface area, and sun exposure index per day with vitamin D deficiency.ConclusionsVitamin D deficiency is prevalent among Malaysian pregnant women. Considering the possible adverse obstetric and fetal outcomes of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, antenatal screening of vitamin D levels and nutrition education should be emphasised by taking into consideration ethnic differences.
PanoView: An iterative clustering for single-cell RNA sequencing data
Authors: Hu Ming-Wen , Kim Dong Won , Liu Sheng , Zack Donald J , Blackshaw Seth , Qian Jiang 
Published: April 2019

AbstractSingle-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) provides new opportunities to gain a mechanistic understanding of many biological processes. Current approaches for single cell clustering are often sensitive to the input parameters and have difficulty dealing with cell types with different densities. Here, we present Panoramic View (PanoView), an iterative method integrated with a novel density-based clustering, Ordering Local Maximum by Convex hull (OLMC), that uses a heuristic approach to estimate the required parameters based on the input data structures. In each iteration, PanoView will identify the most confident cell clusters and repeat the clustering with the remaining cells in a new PCA space. Without adjusting any parameter in PanoView, we demonstrated that PanoView was able to detect major and rare cell types simultaneously and outperformed other existing methods in both simulated datasets and published single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets. Finally, we conducted scRNA-Seq analysis of embryonic mouse hypothalamus, and PanoView was able to reveal known cell types and several rare cell subpopulations.Author summaryOne of the important tasks in analyzing single-cell transcriptomics data is to classify cell subpopulations. Most computational methods require users to input parameters and sometimes the proper parameters are not intuitive to users. Hence, a robust but easy-to-use method is of great interest. We proposed PanoView algorithm that utilizes an iterative approach to search cell clusters in an evolving three-dimension PCA space. The goal is to identify the cell cluster with the most confidence in each iteration and repeat the clustering algorithm with the remaining cells in a new PCA space. To cluster cells in a given PCA space, we also developed OLMC clustering to deal with clusters with varying densities. We examined the performance of PanoView in comparison to other existing methods using ten published single-cell datasets and simulated datasets as the ground truth. The results showed that PanoView is an easy-to-use and reliable tool and can be applied to diverse types of single-cell RNA-sequencing datasets.
Single-cell DNA and RNA sequencing reveals the dynamics of intra-tumor heterogeneity in a colorectal cancer model
Authors: Ono Hanako , Arai Yasuhito , Furukawa Eisaku , Narushima Daichi , Matsuura Tetsuya , Nakamura Hiromi , Shiokawa Daisuke , Nagai Momoko , Imai Toshio , Mimori Koshi , Okamoto Koji , Hippo Yoshitaka , Shibata Tatsuhiro , Kato Mamoru 
Published: April 2019

AbstractIntra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) encompasses cellular differences in tumors and is related to clinical outcomes, such as drug resistance. However, little is known about the dynamics of ITH, owing to the lack of time-series analysis at the single-cell level. We performed single-cell exome and transcriptome sequencing of 200 cells and investigated how ITH is generated from one single cell in a mouse colorectal cancer model. The ITH of the transcriptome increased after transplantation from cultured organoids, while that of the exome decreased. Mutations generated in the culture did not greatly change at the transplantation at the bulk-cell level. The RNA ITH increase was due to the emergence of new transcriptional subpopulations. In contrast to the initial cells expressing mesenchymal-marker genes, new subpopulations repressed these genes at transplantation. Analyses of colorectal cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas revealed a high proportion of metastatic cases in human subjects with expression patterns similar to the new cell subpopulations in mouse. These results suggest that the birth of transcriptional subpopulations may be a key for adaptation to drastic micro-environmental changes when cancer cells have sufficient genetic alterations at later tumor stages. This study revealed an evolutionary dynamics of single-cell RNA and DNA changes in tumor progression, giving insights into the mesenchymal-epithelial transformation of tumor cells at metastasis in colorectal cancer.
Impaired alanine transport or exposure to D-cycloserine increases the susceptibility of MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics
Authors: Gallagher Laura A. , Shears Rebecca K. , Fingleton Claire , Alvarez Laura , Waters Elaine M. , Clarke Jenny , Bricio-Moreno Laura , Campbell Christopher , Yadav Akhilesh K. , Razvi Fareha , O’Neill Eoghan , O’Neill Alex J. , Cava Felipe , Fey Paul D. , Kadioglu Aras , O’Gara James P. 
Published: April 2019

AbstractProlonging the clinical effectiveness of β-lactams, which remain first-line antibiotics for many infections, is an important part of efforts to address antimicrobial resistance. We report here that inactivation of the predicted D-cycloserine (DCS) transporter genecycAre-sensitized MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics. ThecycAmutation also resulted in hyper-susceptibility to DCS, an alanine analogue antibiotic that inhibits alanine racemase and D-alanine ligase required for D-alanine incorporation into cell wall peptidoglycan (PG). Alanine transport was impaired in thecycAmutant and this correlated with increased susceptibility to oxacillin and DCS. ThecycAmutation or exposure to DCS were both associated with the accumulation of muropeptides with tripeptide stems lacking the terminal D-ala-D-ala and reduced PG crosslinking, prompting us to investigate synergism between β-lactams and DCS. DCS re-sensitised MRSA to β-lactamsin vitroand significantly enhanced MRSA eradication by oxacillin in a mouse bacteraemia model. These findings reveal alanine transport as a new therapeutic target to enhance the susceptibility of MRSA to β-lactam antibiotics.
The self-built city: theorizing urban design of informal settlements
Authors: Pojani Dorina 
Published: April 2019

Purpose
While a substantial amount of study of informal settlements has been undertaken, they remain largely unstudied in terms of urban form. In this analysis, the purpose of this paper is to set forth a conceptual framework, which considers the context in which informality takes place, the settlement itself, the houses contained therein, the dwellers of those houses and the process through which a settlement is designed and transformed over time.

Design/methodology/approach
This is a literature review.

Findings
This framework aims to be sufficiently flexible to be deployed across diverse national settings. Its formulation is important because informal settlements are a permanent fixture of the global urban landscape, and are increasing in scale.

Originality/value
Any sustainable strategies to improve informal settlements depend on a better understanding of their urban space, as well as of the producers of this space – the residents themselves. Finally, professional designers may be able to learn from this contemporary urban vernacular grammar – perhaps the only one left in the era of sanitized, contrived and prosaic urban design.
Moderating role of LMX and proactive coping in the relationship between learning value of the job and employability enhancement among academic staff employees
Authors: Van der Heijden Beatrice , Spurk Daniel 
Published: April 2019

PurposeBuilding upon a competence-based employability model and a social exchange and proactive perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between learning value of the job and employability among academic staff employees. Moreover, this study also examined whether this relationship was moderated by leader–member exchange (LMX) and a proactive coping style.Design/methodology/approachAn online self-report questionnaire with thoroughly validated measures was distributed among academic staff employees (n=139).FindingsThe results partially supported the specific study assumptions. Concrete, learning value of the job was positively related to anticipation and optimization, corporate sense and balance. LMX moderated the relationship between learning value of the job, on the one hand, and all employability dimensions, on the other hand. However, proactive coping only moderated the relationship with anticipation and optimization, flexibility and balance. In all cases, under the condition of high moderator variable levels, the relationship became stronger.Originality/valueThis study extends past employability research by applying an interactionist perspective (person: proactive coping style, context: LMX and learning value of the job) approach for explaining employability enhancement. The results of this scholarly work provide useful insights for stimulating future career development and growth, which is of upmost importance in nowadays’ labor markets.
Can the integration of a tax-compliant transfer pricing system into the management control system be successful?
Authors: Hummel Katrin , Pfaff Dieter , Bisig Benedikt 
Published: April 2019

PurposeThis paper aims to draw on Adler and Borys’ (1996) concept of an enabling use of bureaucracy to examine how the integration of a single-book tax-compliant transfer pricing system into the management control system is related to the perceived success of that transfer pricing system.Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data from Swiss multinational firms, the authors test a structural equation model. In addition, the authors conduct interviews with executives from three multinational enterprises.FindingsThe authors find that the integration of a tax-compliant transfer pricing system into the management control system may be perceived to be successful in achieving both tax compliance and internal (control) purposes. This is particularly true when the transfer pricing system is transparent and can be amended in the case of fundamental management control problems.Research limitations/implicationsThe typical shortcomings of a survey-based research apply to this study. Future research could build on this model and more closely investigate the relationship between transfer pricing system integration and an enabling use of the transfer pricing system.Practical implicationsBased on this study’s findings, the authors recommend that a strong integration of tax-compliant transfer prices into the management control system should be accompanied by internal transparency and the ability to repair the transfer pricing system.Originality/valuePrior research on the integration between transfer pricing and management control systems has either been analytical or based on case studies. This cross-sectional analysis provides reliable insights into different levels of integration, use and the success of transfer pricing systems.
Post-contract material management and waste minimization
Authors: Saka Abdullahi Babatunde , Olaore Fatai Oladayo , Olawumi Timothy Oluwatosin 
Published: April 2019

Purpose
This paper aims to assess the level of awareness of quantity surveyors in material management and their key roles in waste minimization during the post-contract stage of the project with a view of achieving value for money in their roles.

Design/methodology/approach
This involves administering a questionnaire survey to registered members of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, the only recognized professional body of quantity surveyors in Nigeria, within Lagos state. The empirical questionnaire survey succeeds a literature review that isolates the key strategies used by quantity surveyors in material management and waste minimization at the post-contract stage. The validity of the questionnaire was carried out by two experienced construction industry researchers and three experienced professional quantity surveyors to ensure that the questionnaire was not ambiguous and that it consists of the right questions in tandem with the research. The respondents were grouped into consultant’s QS and contractor’s QS.

Findings
Key roles of quantity surveyors during the material management process are proper material storage, and material inventory and accounting are the most important material management and waste minimization practices during the institute stage. It revealed that there is a lack of material waste documentation practices during the construction stage. In addition, there is no statistically significant difference in the responses of the two groups. This may be because there is no clear compartmentalization between the practices of the two groups. In addition, these two groups had the same education training, as there is no difference between the educational training of the consultant’s QS and contractor’s QS.

Originality/value
This study assessed the quantity surveyors’ roles with regard to material management and waste minimization. It would add to the scanty research work in this area. The study has also successfully revealed the strategies that are to be adopted by the quantity surveyors to achieve value for money during the post-contract stage.
Tackling protein–energy under‐nutrition among resource‐limited people living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi using soybean‐enriched maize‐based stiff porridge (nsima): A pilot study
Authors: Bhima Karen , Mtimuni Beatrice , Matumba Limbikani 
Published: April 2019

AimThe Ministry of Health in Malawi has scaled‐up antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV infection. However, the majority of Malawians heavily depend on maize‐based stiff porridge (nsima), a protein‐deficient staple, a practice that exacerbates wasting and ultimately compromises the success of ART programming. This pilot study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of utilising soybean‐enriched nsima as a strategy for managing HIV‐related wasting among resource‐poor people.MethodsA before and after designed study involving 25 wasted (<18.5 BMI (body mass index)) to normal (18.5–24.9 BMI) HIV‐positive rural women (21–40 years) taking ART and provided with soybean–maize flour (20 kg/month for 3 months) prepared from hydrothermally treated soybeans and maize in the ratio of 1:4 (wt/wt). Anthropometry was performed at baseline and every month for the 3‐month study period. Paired sample t‐tests were used to test for changes in body mass and BMI between baseline and the subsequent months.ResultsStatistically significant (P < 0.001) cumulative mean weight gain for the first, second and third month of the study were 1.6, 2.1 and 2.9 kg, respectively. The number of participants with low BMI reduced from 6/25 at baseline to 2/25 after 3 months, and the mean BMI improved from 19.3 to 21.1 kg/m2.ConclusionsNsima prepared from a blend of maize and hydrothermally treated soybeans could feasibly be used to prevent and manage wasting among resource‐poor people living with HIV/AIDS in sub‐Saharan Africa who rely on maize as a major staple.
Functional assessment of hydrophilic domains of late embryogenesis abundant proteins from distant organisms
Authors: Liu Yingying , Zhang Heng , Han Jiahui , Jiang Shijie , Geng Xiuxiu , Xue Dong , Chen Yun , Zhang Chen , Zhou Zhengfu , Zhang Wei , Chen Ming , Lin Min , Wang Jin 
Published: April 2019

SummaryLate embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins play a protective role during desiccation and oxidation stresses. LEA3 proteins are a major group characterized by a hydrophilic domain (HD) with a highly conserved repeating 11‐amino acid motif. We compared four different HD orthologs from distant organisms: (i) DrHD from the extremophilic bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans; (ii) CeHD from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; (iii) YlHD from the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica; and (iv) BnHD from the plant Brassica napus. Circular dichroism spectroscopy showed that all four HDs were intrinsically disordered in phosphate buffer and then folded into α‐helical structures with the addition of glycerol or trifluoroethanol. Heterologous HD expression conferred enhanced desiccation and oxidation tolerance to Escherichia coli. These four HDs protected the enzymatic activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) by preventing its aggregation under desiccation stress. The HDs also interacted with LDH, which was intensified by the addition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), suggesting a protective role in a chaperone‐like manner. Based on these results, the HDs of LEA3 proteins show promise as protectants for desiccation and oxidation stresses, especially DrHD, which is a potential ideal stress‐response element that can be applied in synthetic biology due to its extraordinary protection and stress resistance ability.
Estrogen receptor α promotes Cav1.2 ubiquitination and degradation in neuronal cells and in APP/PS1 mice
Authors: Lai Yu‐Jie , Zhu Bing‐Lin , Sun Fei , Luo Dong , Ma Yuan‐Lin , Luo Bio , Tang Jing , Xiong Ming‐Jian , Liu Lu , Long Yan , Hu Xiao‐Tong , He Ling , Deng Xiao‐Juan , Zhang John H. , Yang Jian , Yan Zhen , Chen Guo‐Jun 
Published: April 2019

AbstractCav1.2 is the pore‐forming subunit of L‐type voltage‐gated calcium channel (LTCC) that plays an important role in calcium overload and cell death in Alzheimer's disease. LTCC activity can be regulated by estrogen, a sex steroid hormone that is neuroprotective. Here, we investigated the potential mechanisms in estrogen‐mediated regulation of Cav1.2 protein. We found that in cultured primary neurons, 17β‐estradiol (E2) reduced Cav1.2 protein through estrogen receptor α (ERα). This effect was offset by a proteasomal inhibitor MG132, indicating that ubiquitin–proteasome system was involved. Consistently, the ubiquitin (UB) mutant at lysine 29 (K29R) or the K29‐deubiquitinating enzyme TRAF‐binding protein domain (TRABID) attenuated the effect of ERα on Cav1.2. We further identified that the E3 ligase Mdm2 (double minute 2 protein) and the PEST sequence in Cav1.2 protein played a role, as Mdm2 overexpression and the membrane‐permeable PEST peptides prevented ERα‐mediated Cav1.2 reduction, and Mdm2 overexpression led to the reduced Cav1.2 protein and the increased colocalization of Cav1.2 with ubiquitin in cortical neurons in vivo. In ovariectomized (OVX) APP/PS1 mice, administration of ERα agonist PPT reduced cerebral Cav1.2 protein, increased Cav1.2 ubiquitination, and improved cognitive performances. Taken together, ERα‐induced Cav1.2 degradation involved K29‐linked UB chains and the E3 ligase Mdm2, which might play a role in cognitive improvement in OVX APP/PS1 mice.
Ethanol induces maladaptive impulse control and decreased seeking behaviors in mice
Authors: Starski Phillip , Hong Sa‐Ik , Peyton Lee , Oliveros Alfredo , Wininger Katheryn , Hutchison Colleen , Kang Seungwoo , Karpyak Victor , Choi Doo‐Sup 
Published: April 2019

AbstractWaiting impulsivity is a risk factor for many psychiatric disorders including alcohol use disorder (AUD). Highly impulsive individuals are vulnerable to alcohol abuse. However, it is not well understood whether chronic alcohol use increases the propensity for impulsive behavior. Here, we establish a novel experimental paradigm demonstrating that continuous binge‐like ethanol exposure progressively leads to maladaptive impulsive behavior. To test waiting impulsivity, we employed the 5‐choice serial reaction time task (5‐CSRTT) in C57BL/6J male mice. We assessed premature responses in the fixed and variable intertrial interval (ITI) 5‐CSRTT sessions. We further characterized our ethanol‐induced impulsive mice using Open Field, y‐maze, two‐bottle choice, and an action‐outcome task. Our results indicate that continuous binge‐like ethanol exposure significantly increased premature responses when mice were tested in variable ITI sessions even during a prolonged abstinent period. Ethanol‐induced impulsive mice exhibited anxiety‐like behavior during chronic exposures. This behavior was also observed in a separate cohort that was subjected to 20 days of abstinence. Ethanol‐treated mice were less motivated for a sucrose reward compared with air‐exposed control mice, while also demonstrating reduced responding during action‐outcome testing. Overall, ethanol‐treated mice demonstrated increased impulsive behavior, but a reduced motivation for a sucrose reward. Although waiting impulsivity has been hypothesized to be a trait or risk factor for AUD, our findings indicate that maladaptive impulse control can also be potentiated or induced by continuous chronic ethanol exposure in mice.
Exploring the Consequences of Competing Uses of Budgets
Authors: Henri Jean‐François , Massicotte Steeve , Arbour Dominique 
Published: April 2019

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to revisit the impact of budgets within organisations by combining the notions of simultaneity and tension between budget uses and by introducing the notion of predominance. More specifically, we first intend to empirically examine the combination of budget uses in an organisational setting. Second, our aim is to examine to what extent the simultaneous use of budgets for the purpose of performance evaluation or forecasting gives rise to satisfactory or unsatisfactory consequences of budgets. Using survey data collected from a large sample of manufacturing firms, the results suggest that more satisfactory budget consequences, in terms of budget value, arise in two situations: (a) whereby budgets are predominately used for performance evaluation, or (b) whereby budgets are predominately used for forecasting. Those firms displaying no predominant budget use show less satisfactory budget consequences.