bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Novel On‐Chip Method for Differential Extraction of Sperm in Forensic Cases
Authors: Inci Fatih , Ozen Mehmet O. , Saylan Yeseren , Miansari Morteza , Cimen Duygu , Dhara Raghu , Chinnasamy Thiruppathiraja , Yuksekkaya Mehmet , Filippini Chiara , Kumar Deepan Kishore , Calamak Semih , Yesil Yusuf , Durmus Naside Gozde , Duncan George , Klevan Leonard , Demirci Utkan 
Published: June 2018

AbstractOne out of every six American women has been the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. However, the DNA casework backlog continues to increase outpacing the nation's capacity since DNA evidence processing in sexual assault casework remains a bottleneck due to laborious and time‐consuming differential extraction of victim's and perpetrator's cells. Additionally, a significant amount (60–90%) of male DNA evidence may be lost with existing procedures. Here, a microfluidic method is developed that selectively captures sperm using a unique oligosaccharide sequence (Sialyl‐LewisX), a major carbohydrate ligand for sperm‐egg binding. This method is validated with forensic mock samples dating back to 2003, resulting in 70–92% sperm capture efficiency and a 60–92% reduction in epithelial fraction. Captured sperm are then lysed on‐chip and sperm DNA is isolated. This method reduces assay‐time from 8 h to 80 min, providing an inexpensive alternative to current differential extraction techniques, accelerating identification of suspects and advancing public safety.
Prenatal diagnosis of skeletal dysplasias using a targeted skeletal gene panel
Authors: Zhou Xinyao , Chandler Natalie , Deng Linbei , Zhou Jia , Yuan Meizhen , Sun Luming 
Published: June 2018

AbstractObjectiveThis study aimed to perform an accurate and precise diagnosis for fetuses with suspected skeletal anomalies based on an incomplete and limited ultrasound phenotype.MethodsProband‐only targeted skeletal gene panel sequencing was performed on 12 families who had fetuses with suspected skeletal anomalies based on ultrasound evaluations at a mean gestational age of 24 weeks and 3 days. The fetuses all had normal standard genetic testing yield (karyotyping and microarray).ResultsIn 10 of 12 fetuses, panel sequencing provided a diagnosis or possible diagnosis with identification of variants in the following genes: FGFR3, COL1A2, IHH, COL2A1, and DYNC2H1. Two cases revealed novel variants in COL2A1 and DYNC2H1.ConclusionsOur study suggests that targeted skeletal gene panel sequencing is highly sensitive for prenatal diagnosis of fetuses presenting with unexpected ultrasound findings suggestive of a skeletal dysplasia.
Role of NS1 antibodies in the pathogenesis of acute dengue infection
Authors: Jayathilaka Deshni , Gomes Laksiri , Jeewandara Chandima , Jayarathna Geethal S.Bandara , Herath Dhanushka , Perera Pathum Asela , Fernando Samitha , Wijewickrama Ananda , Hardman Clare S. , Ogg Graham S. , Malavige Gathsaurie Neelika 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe role of NS1-specific antibodies in the pathogenesis of dengue virus infection is of particular interest to the dengue field, yet remains poorly understood. We therefore investigated the immunoglobulin responses of patients with dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) to NS1. Antibody responses to recombinant-NS1 were assessed in serum samples obtained throughout illness of patients with acute secondary DENV1 and DENV2 infection by ELISA. NS1 antibody titres were significantly higher in patients with DHF compared to those with DF for both serotypes, during the critical phase of illness. Antibody responses were further assessed to NS1 peptides and showed that in both acute secondary DENV1 and DENV2 infection, the antibody repertoire of DF and DHF patients is directed towards distinct regions of the NS1 protein. Further experiments in healthy individuals, with either past severe dengue or past asymptomatic dengue infection revealed that individuals with past inapparent disease mounted antibody responses directed to the same NS1 epitope regions as those with mild acute infection (DF). Our results suggest that the specific epitope target of NS1-antibodies generated by patients could predict disease severity and be of potential therapeutic benefit in aiding vaccine and treatment design.
The Goldilocks Effect: Female geladas in mid-sized groups have higher fitness
Authors: Johnson Elizabeth Tinsley , Feder Jacob A. , Bergman Thore J. , Lu Amy , Snyder-Mackler Noah , Beehner Jacinta C. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe cost-benefit ratio of group-living is thought to vary with group size: individuals in “optimally-sized” groups should have higher fitness than individuals in groups that are either too large or too small. However, the relationship between group size and individual fitness has been difficult to establish for long-lived species where the number of groups studied is typically quite low. Here we present evidence for optimal group size that maximizes female fitness in a population of geladas (Theropithecus gelada). Drawing on 14 years of demographic data, we found that females in small groups experienced the highest death rates, while females in mid-sized units exhibited the highest reproductive performance. This group-size effect on female reproductive performance was largely explained by variation in infant mortality (and, in particular, by infanticide from immigrant males) but not by variation in reproductive rates. Taken together, females in mid-sized units are projected to attain optimal fitness due to conspecific infanticide and, potentially, predation. Our findings provide insight into how and why group size shapes fitness in long-lived species.
High affinity interactions of Pb2+with Synaptotagmin I
Authors: Katti Sachin , Her Bin , Srivastava Atul K. , Taylor Alexander B. , Lockless Steve W. , Igumenova Tatyana I. 
Published: June 2018

ABSTRACTLead (Pb) is a potent neurotoxin that disrupts synaptic neurotransmission. We report that Synaptotagmin I (SytI), a key regulator of Ca2+-evoked neurotransmitter release, has two high-affinity Pb2+binding sites that belong to its cytosolic C2A and C2B domains. The crystal structures of Pb2+-complexed C2 domains revealed that protein-bound Pb2+ions have holodirected coordination geometries and all-oxygen coordination spheres. The on-rate constants of Pb2+binding to the C2 domains of SytI are comparable to those of Ca2+and are diffusion-limited. In contrast, the off-rate constants are at least two orders of magnitude smaller, indicating that Pb2+can serve as both thermodynamic and kinetic trap for the C2 domains. We demonstrate, using NMR spectroscopy, that population of these sites by Pb2+ions inhibits further Ca2+binding despite the existing coordination vacancies. Our work offers a unique insight into the bioinorganic chemistry of Pb(II) and suggests a mechanism by which low concentrations of Pb2+ions can interfere with the Ca2+-dependent function of SytI in the cell.
Androgen Receptor-Induced Integrin α6β1 and Adhesion to Laminin Promotes Survival and Drug Resistance in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer through BNIP3
Authors: Nollet Eric A. , Ganguly Sourik S. , Schulz Veronique V. , Cress Anne , Miranti Cindy K. 
Published: June 2018

ABSTRACTAlthough castration-resistant prostate cancers no longer respond to anti-androgen therapies, the androgen receptor (AR) is still required to promote tumor survival. However, the signaling pathways downstream of AR that promote this survival are not well known. We recently identified an AR-dependent survival pathway whereby AR induction of integrin α6β1 and adhesion to laminin activates NF-kB/RelA signaling and Bcl-xL. This pathway acts in parallel with the PI3K/Akt pathway in Pten-null tumor cells such that combined inhibition of both PI3K and integrin α6β1 is required to kill tumor cells adherent to laminin. However, PTEN-null castration-resistant tumors were not effectively inhibited by this combination. We discovered that BNIP3, a hypoxia-induced BH3-only, pro-mitophagic Bcl2 family member, is induced by androgen in castration-resistant cells through integrin α6β1 signaling to HIF1α. Furthermore, castration-resistant cells adherent to laminin were much more efficient at inducing autophagy in response to androgen. Androgen blocked the ability of the PI3K inhibitor PX-866 to kill castration-resistant tumors, but this was reversed by loss of BNIP3. Although BNIP3 was dispensable for androgen-induced autophagy, its mitophagy function was required for BNIP3 to promote resistance to PI3K inhibition. Thus, adhesion to laminin triggers signaling through AR/α6β1/HIF1α in castration-resistant cells to drive the expression of BNIP3 and cooperates with AR/α6β1-mediated autophagy, both of which contribute to PI3K resistance through induction of mitophagy.
Genotypes, phenotypes and treatment with immunomodulators in the rheumatic diseases
Authors: van Vollenhoven R. F. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe autoimmune rheumatological diseases rheumatoid arthritis (RA), spondyloarthritis (SpA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are treated with conventional immunosuppressive agents and with modern biological immunomodulators. The latter group of medications have brought about a major change in our ability to control RA and SpA, with more modest results for SLE. The biologicals are very specific in their mechanisms of action, targeting one specific cytokine or one particular cellular marker. Because of this, their efficacy can readily be linked to a single immunomodulatory mechanism. This observation has fuelled hopes that the efficacy of these agents can be predicted at the individual level based on the patient's genetic predisposition, immunological profile or disease phenotype. Whilst the biologic therapies have improved the prospects for patients with these diseases very significantly, the hope that they could be targeted to the patient in an individualized manner has not completely born fruit. In this review, I will argue that we are witnessing important progress in this field, and that justified hope exists for true advances in precision medicine in the autoimmune diseases in the coming years.
Report of the inaugural Interferon Research Summit: interferon in inflammatory diseases
Authors: Crow Mary K , Rönnblom Lars 
Published: June 2018

An international summit on interferon (IFN) in inflammatory diseases, held in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA (4–5 May 2017), united 22 internationally renowned clinicians and scientists with backgrounds in basic science, translational science and clinical medicine. The objectives of the summit were to assess the current knowledge of the role of type I IFN in inflammatory diseases and other conditions, discuss the available clinical trial data of anti-IFN therapeutic agents and identify key clinical and therapeutic knowledge gaps and future directions to advance the treatment landscape of diseases involving the type I IFN pathway. A discussion-based consensus process was used to assess three main clinical areas: the role of type I IFN in innate immunity, the role of type I IFN in autoimmune diseases and rational therapeutic targets in the IFN pathway. These are described here, along with current knowledge gaps and resulting recommendations. The advisors unanimously agreed that, despite significant obstacles, the field should transition from an organ-based model to a pathophysiology-based model. A better understanding of the molecular pathways could help inform potential therapeutic targets, thus progressing towards personalised medicine by tailoring the therapy to each patient.
Was es bedeutet, gegen Journalisten zu hetzen
Authors: Schöning Matthias 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe problematization of journalistic work is a recurring theme in literature. This paper traces the reservations journalists see themselves confronted with according to literary representations, how criticism is solidified, and how the suspicion that journalists are making up facts is becoming more universal. This will be done by looking at a historical line of texts, ranging from Die Journalisten by Gustav Freytag to Josef Haslinger’s Opernball. There are two main criteria underlying the choice of texts: first, the figures of journalists play a central role in each of the texts; second, these texts make visible the stages of a presumed development process from the middle of the 19th century through to today in the most succinct way possible.
Bactericidal and disinfective properties of disinfectant «GK-10»
Authors: Tishyn O.L. , Khomiak R.V. , Kopijchuk G.T. , Danko M.M. , Ponomariova S.A. 
Published: June 2018

The article presents the results of research on bactericidal properties of the new domestic disinfectant «GK-10», which is a transparent solution of light yellow color, without mechanical inclusions with a specific odor. It is well mixed with water. It is based on alkyl dimethylbenzyl ammonium chloride (QAC) and dodecylbispropylentriamine (1,3-prodadiene) (tertiary amines). Was found bactericidal dilution (BD), bactericidal concentration (BC), phenolic coefficient (FC) and protein index (PI). Thus, the most susceptible to the action of the disinfectant were were gram-negative bacteria E. coli, where cell death occurred at 10 and 30 minute exposures at concentrations of 0.19 and 0.14%, respectively. Due to the action of the disinfectant on the gram-positive bacteria S. aureus, cell death came at these exposures at concentrations 0.27 and 0.19%, respectively. The least susceptible to the action of the disinfectant were vegetative forms of B. subtilis, the death of these bacteria came at concentrations 0.37 and 0.27% at 10 and 30 minutes of exposure, respectively. Effects of disinfectant was over 5.38 and 2.74 times higher on microorganisms of E. coli and S. aureus, respectively, of the decontamination effect of phenol, and in the presence of protein, the activity of the disinfectant is reduced by 6.45 times. The efficiency of the disinfectant for the strains of microorganisms at the disinfestation of the test-object surfaces is determined. It has been established that for test cultures of E. coli and S. aureus 0.05–0.3% of disinfectant concentration is ineffective, and 0.5% its disinfectant concentration for disinfection of hard surfaces in preventive disinfection of premises for animals is insufficient for exposure in 120 minutes. For spore form B. subtilis 1.0% disinfectant concentration was ineffective. 1.0% concentration is effective for aseptic cleaning: slaughterhouses, processing shops, laboratory facilities, means of transporting products of animal origin, soaking clothes before washing, and also for treating surfaces of wood, metal and glazed tile at exposures of 60 minutes and more, and when spore forms of microorganisms, the working concentration of insoluble in disinfection of objects subject to veterinary control should be 3% and above. It has been proved that the disinfectant «GK-10» is effective at a concentration of 0.5% at exposure for 180 minutes and at a concentration of 1.0% at an exposure of 120 minutes for the sanation and preventive disinfection of premises for animals.
The Romanian-Russian Relations and the New Linguistic Hegemony: Towards Natural and Necessary Synergies
Authors: Mădălina Iancu Miruna 
Published: June 2018

Abstract
It is certainly and without fail that through a simple hovering over the present state of relations between Romania and the Russian Federation, the factual balance is not an encouraging one, the state of mind of the bilateral register being continuously dominated by the same issue: ,,history is a ballast, and the frame in which the two states perceive each other has been fixed a long time ago, clogged and jammed by momentarily political statements, and deprived of any heuristic nuances” (Dungaciu, Tănăsescu, 2013). Therefore and within such optics, based on an undeniable belief that a heuristic approach of the bilateral dimension is an imperative, the present paper aims to provide a first concrete solution likely to create the critical mass necessary to achieve a complex regeneration process of normalizing Romania's relations with its neighbor to the East. Circumscribed to such a sphere of interest, the present paper assumes the fact that beyond the overwhelming historical legacy related to the bilateral register and implicitly, beyond its problematic receipt, the complex process of normalizing the relations between Romanian and the Russian Federation is unavoidably obstructed by an entire arsenal of terms such as ,, reset”, ,,thaw”, ,,recovery”, ,,blocking”, terms which maintain and support a certain negative perception, thus certifying the fact that it prevails a ,,freeze”, a ,,cooling” and an impediment in the bilateral dimension. Starting from this undeniable and undoubted reality, the axial objective of the present paper is to fundamentally reverse this lexical hegemony, thus operating substantive changes at the level of the linguistic universe specific to the bilateral register, in such a manner as to register a major change in regards to the behavioral pattern afferent to the bilateral reports.
Corporate and country image: a bilateral relationship
Authors: Ana Maria-Irina , Andrei Anca-Georgiana 
Published: June 2018

Abstract
Analyzing this important relationship between corporate image on one side, and country image on the other side is an interesting and actual topic in the context of the increasing level of globalization. Although the subject was approached by place branding scholars and practitioners, there is still a high need for theoretical and empirical research. This documentary article focuses more on the concept of transfer of image, from corporation to country and from country to corporation, but seen from a new perspective, as a Blue Ocean Strategy. The paper will also show the importance of this relation that exists between corporate and country from the image perspective, by given concrete examples withdrawn from relevant literature. At the same time, based on a documentary study, key aspects will be analyzed in order to show the positive aspects generated by the relationship between corporation image and country image. In conclusions, it will be presented how this connection between corporate and country can be one of the best answers to globalization and how the positive transfer of image can be implemented as a Blue Ocean Strategy. The aim of this study is to convince scholars and practitioners to research more on this new topic, because a proactive approach in this field can help increasing tourism and encourage investment and exports.
Multidisciplinarity in economics education and how it can shape economic thinking in the future
Authors: Damoc Adrian – Ioan 
Published: June 2018

Abstract
During the period known as the economic and global financial crisis, economic forecasting came under heavy criticism for its inability to predict the crisis, to the point where said crisis was deemed not just a crisis of the global economy, but of economic thinking as well, in particular mainstream, neoclassical economics. The critique of economics has focused primarily on the following aspects: its unrealistic assumptions regarding markets and human behaviours; its poor track record in predicting phenomena such as the crisis itself; its over-reliance on models that bear little resemblance to real world conditions, and also that it has a very narrow focus, reluctant to integrate useful inputs from other fields, which is perceived as leading to stagnation and hindering progress in the field. Following the crisis, several academic debates occurred within the field of economics, with several heterodox schools of economic thought receiving renewed attention, while universities have begun to expand the range of disciplines included in their business programmes, gravitating towards a multidisciplinary approach. The present paper aims to examine the concept of multidisciplinarity with a focus on its role in business education today and to assess the extent to which its spread and prevalence can usher in a new paradigm in economic thinking.
Development of an instructional practices scale for business school curricula
Authors: Glaser-Segura Daniel , Wilson Jennifer , Mudge Suzanne 
Published: June 2018

Abstract
As reflective educators, we seek to use instructional practices offering the greatest benefit to our students. Such benefits are easily seen and understood by the professor, but less often are clearly recognized by the students. To fully evaluate the impact of various activities on students, it is essential to explore the pedagogical practices they engage in, both within, and outside of the classroom. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the variety of instructional activities used int eh business curricula. The instrument that will be described in this session contains thirteen scales drawn from a total of 58 developed items. The survey gathered responses from 189 business students from four US-based universities: two state-supported (public) and two private. Based on Varimax factor analysis rotation, the scales were left intact. All 58 items aligned on the thirteen scales as predicted. Using Cronbach's Alpha, the reliability of the thirteen scales was supported: all Alpha’s measured above .83. The focus of this study is to validate the instructional groupings. The instrument will also serve to measure the delivery of classroom and institutional-guided learning practices for sound instructional practice.
Romania, Slovakia and Hungary: evolution of mutual funds in recent years
Authors: Nicolescu Luminiţa , Tudorache Florentin Gabriel 
Published: June 2018

Abstract
Mutual funds and their evolution represent an expression of the performances of capital markets in the majority of states. The inflows and the outflows in mutual funds are used to evaluate the achievements obtained in capital markets all over the world. At the same time, both individual and organizational investors guide their acquisition decisions on information about past accomplishments of the various mutual funds and invest in funds that registered good and very good performances in the past, while trying to give up less performing funds. However, the decision is usually asymmetrical, as investors rather take into consideration the very good past performances of mutual funds and prefer to invest in those, while the pace of giving up to less performing funds is not accordingly prominent. Investors’ behaviour can differ from one country to another and the behaviour of those originating from developed countries and more mature capital markets have been studied to a higher extent internationally, while developing capital markets have been less studied so far. The present paper looks at capital markets from the perspective of mutual funds in three (rather) emerging capital markets located in Central and Eastern Europe, namely: Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. The inflows and outflows in mutual funds are analyzed for the 2007-2014 period and based on that, the investors’ behaviour in the three countries is looked at. The analysis has both a dynamic and a comparative character with the purpose to identify similarities and differences between the three analyzed countries, as well as to identify how they compare with more mature financial and capital markets. The analysis also tries to distinguish specific features of both evolution of mutual funds and investors’ behaviour, in a period that comprised two different stages of the economic cycle: financial crisis and the debut of the economic recovery period.