bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The ratio potassium‐to‐magnesium intake and high blood pressure
Authors: Guerrero‐Romero Fernando , Rodríguez‐Morán Martha 
Published: February 2019

AbstractBackgroundTo analyse whether the weight ratio of potassium‐to‐magnesium intake is associated with incident high blood pressure, in otherwise healthy individuals.Materials and MethodsA total of 529 healthy individuals were enrolled in a cross‐sectional study and allocated into following groups: group 1) potassium and magnesium intake within Recommended Dietary Allowance; group 2) magnesium intake as recommended and potassium intake below of recommended dietary allowance; group 3) potassium intake as recommended and magnesium intake below of recommended dietary allowance; and group 4) magnesium and potassium intake below recommended dietary allowance. Groups in study were matched by sodium and calcium intake. A “24 hours recall” questionnaire was used to register all intakes of food and drinks for two consecutive days. Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted by sex, waist circumference, and triglycerides levels was used to compute the odds ratio between intakes of magnesium and potassium with the high blood pressure.ResultsHigh blood pressure was identified in 155 (29.3%) individuals. There were no statistical significant differences by obesity and overweight between the groups. As compared with individuals in the group 1, the potassium‐to‐magnesium ratio (odds ratio 0.88; 95%CI 0.85‐0.93) but not the isolated magnesium and potassium intake per se, was inversely associated to high blood pressure in the subjects of group 4; individuals in the groups 2 and 3 showed no association.ConclusionsOur results suggest that, in healthy individuals with magnesium and potassium intake below recommended dietary allowance, the high potassium‐to‐magnesium ratio is inversely associated with incident high blood pressure.
Host plant or geographic barrier? Reproductive compatibility among Diatraea saccharalis populations from different host plant species and locations in Argentina
Authors: Fogliata Sofia V. , Herrero María I. , Vera Martín A. , Castagnaro Atilio P. , Gastaminza Gerardo , Murúa María G. 
Published: February 2019

AbstractThe sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is one of the main lepidopteran pests of sugarcane and maize. The association of insects with different environments and/or host plants may occur by adaptation and this can generate host races. Adaptation may produce phenotypic or genotypic variation, which results in the differences in bioecological characteristics such as reproductive compatibility that reduces gene flow among populations. The objective of this study was to determine the reproductive compatibility of three population combinations collected in various geographic locations and from different host plants, thereby determining the influence of geographic distance and/or insect plant association. Interpopulation crosses of D. saccharalis populations from Tucumán (maize and sugarcane) and Jujuy (sugarcane) provided evidence of pre‐zygotic and post‐zygotic incompatibility. The results indicate that gene flow barriers are influenced by the host plant. However, populations from various locations revealed that geographical location is the main factor influencing gene flow among populations of D. saccharalis.
Multiple guests in a single host: interactions across symbiotic and phytopathogenic bacteria in phloem‐feeding vectors – a review
Authors: Gonella Elena , Tedeschi Rosemarie , Crotti Elena , Alma Alberto 
Published: February 2019

AbstractSome pathogenic phloem‐limited bacteria are a major threat for worldwide agriculture due to the heavy economic losses caused to many high‐value crops. These disease agents – phytoplasmas, spiroplasmas, liberibacters, and Arsenophonus‐like bacteria – are transmitted from plant to plant by phloem‐feeding Hemiptera vectors. The associations established among pathogens and vectors result in a complex network of interactions involving also the whole microbial community harboured by the insect host. Interactions among bacteria may be beneficial, competitive, or detrimental for the involved microorganisms, and can dramatically affect the insect vector competence and consequently the spread of diseases. Interference is observed among pathogen strains competing to invade the same vector specimen, causing selective acquisition or transmission. Insect bacterial endosymbionts are another pivotal element of interactions between vectors and phytopathogens, because of their central role in insect life cycles. Some symbionts, either obligate or facultative, were shown to have antagonistic effects on the colonization by plant pathogens, by producing antimicrobial substances, by stimulating the production of antimicrobial substances by insects, or by competing for host infection. In other cases, the mutual exclusion between symbiont and pathogen suggests a possible detrimental influence on phytopathogens displayed by symbiotic bacteria; conversely, examples of microbes enhancing pathogen load are available as well. Whether and how bacterial exchanges occurring in vectors affect the relationship between insects, plants, and phytopathogens is still unresolved, leaving room for many open questions concerning the significance of particular traits of these multitrophic interactions. Such complex interplays may have a serious impact on pathogen spread and control, potentially driving new strategies for the containment of important diseases.
Home care of acute leukaemia patients: From active therapy to end‐of‐life and palliative care. The 3‐year experience of a single centre
Authors: Capodanno Isabella , Tamagnini Enrica , Alfieri Pierluigi , Codeluppi Katia , Luminari Stefano , Merli Francesco 
Published: February 2019

AbstractPurposeThe aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility and the potential effects of the Haematological Home Care (HHC) programme for acute leukaemia (AL) patients, either in active chemotherapy or in the terminal phase of disease.MethodsWe retrospectively assessed a group of AL patients assisted at home in terms of number of hospitalisations, accesses to emergency department and place of death. We also used historical data to evaluate potential effects of HHC.ResultsThe study group consisted of 44 patients, 36 of whom (82%) required palliative treatment, and eight (18%) had ongoing active chemotherapy. The mean number of hospitalisations was 0.64 (range 0‐7) per patient, and the number of emergency department (ED) visits was 0.82 (range 0‐4) per patient. Place of death was at home for 51.4% of patients and in hospital for 40.5%. Considering a historical group of 17 patients assisted at home the rate of hospitalisations and ED visits were 2.53 (range 0‐9) and one (range 0‐3), respectively. Place of death was home and hospital in 6% and 65%, respectively.ConclusionsHaematological Home Care for AL patients is feasible and has potential positive effects in terms rate of hospitalisations and place of death.
Expectancy modulates pupil size both during endogenous orienting and during re‐orienting of spatial attention: A study with isoluminant stimuli
Authors: Lasaponara Stefano , Fortunato Gianfranco , Dragone Alessio , Pellegrino Michele , Marson Fabio , Silvetti Massimo , Pinto Mario , D'Onofrio Marianna , Doricchi Fabrizio 
Published: February 2019

AbstractWe have recently demonstrated that when endogenous orienting of spatial attention is guided by central directional cues that reliably predict the position of lateral targets. Pupil Dilation (PDil) is higher as compared with directional cues that do not predict target position. These findings were interpreted as reflecting different levels of Locus Coeruleus‐Noradrenergic activity during endogenous orienting. In contrast to this, we were not able to highlight reliable differences between PDil responses to infrequent invalid targets that are associated with predictive cues and frequent invalid targets that are associated with non‐predictive ones. These null findings might have been due to the spurious influence of transitory changes in luminance at the moment of target presentation or to the short time window used for the analysis of target‐related changes in PDil. Here, we re‐explored cue‐ and target‐related changes in PDil using cue and target stimuli that were kept isoluminant to their background and long lasting cue and target periods for data recording and analysis. We fully replicate our previous cue‐related results and, in addition, we demonstrate that infrequent invalid targets in the predictive experimental condition evoke larger PDil as compared with frequent ones. Analyses with Linear Mixed Models highlighted that both during the cue and target period, higher levels of PDil were associated with slower reaction times. These findings confirm that PDil is a reliable marker of the expectancy components of endogenous cue‐related and exogenous target‐related orienting of spatial attention.
A multiscale hybrid mathematical model of epidermal‐dermal interactions during skin wound healing
Authors: Wang Yangyang , Guerrero‐Juarez Christian F. , Qiu Yuchi , Du Huijing , Chen Weitao , Figueroa Seth , Plikus Maksim V. , Nie Qing 
Published: February 2019

AbstractFollowing injury, skin activates a complex wound healing programme. While cellular and signalling mechanisms of wound repair have been extensively studied, the principles of epidermal‐dermal interactions and their effects on wound healing outcomes are only partially understood. To gain new insight into the effects of epidermal‐dermal interactions, we developed a multiscale, hybrid mathematical model of skin wound healing. The model takes into consideration interactions between epidermis and dermis across the basement membrane via diffusible signals, defined as activator and inhibitor. Simulations revealed that epidermal‐dermal interactions are critical for proper extracellular matrix deposition in the dermis, suggesting these signals may influence how wound scars form. Our model makes several theoretical predictions. First, basal levels of epidermal activator and inhibitor help to maintain dermis in a steady state, whereas their absence results in a raised, scar‐like dermal phenotype. Second, wound‐triggered increase in activator and inhibitor production by basal epidermal cells, coupled with fast re‐epithelialization kinetics, reduces dermal scar size. Third, high‐density fibrin clot leads to a raised, hypertrophic scar phenotype, whereas low‐density fibrin clot leads to a hypotrophic phenotype. Fourth, shallow wounds, compared to deep wounds, result in overall reduced scarring. Taken together, our model predicts the important role of signalling across dermal‐epidermal interface and the effect of fibrin clot density and wound geometry on scar formation. This hybrid modelling approach may be also applicable to other complex tissue systems, enabling the simulation of dynamic processes, otherwise computationally prohibitive with fully discrete models due to a large number of variables.
Future recovery of baleen whales is imperiled by climate change
Authors: Tulloch Vivitskaia J. D. , Plagányi Éva E. , Brown Christopher , Richardson Anthony J. , Matear Richard 
Published: February 2019

AbstractHistorical harvesting pushed many whale species to the brink of extinction. Although most Southern Hemisphere populations are slowly recovering, the influence of future climate change on their recovery remains unknown. We investigate the impacts of two anthropogenic pressures—historical commercial whaling and future climate change—on populations of baleen whales (blue, fin, humpback, Antarctic minke, southern right) and their prey (krill and copepods) in the Southern Ocean. We use a climate–biological coupled “Model of Intermediate Complexity for Ecosystem Assessments” (MICE) that links krill and whale population dynamics with climate change drivers, including changes in ocean temperature, primary productivity and sea ice. Models predict negative future impacts of climate change on krill and all whale species, although the magnitude of impacts on whales differs among populations. Despite initial recovery from historical whaling, models predict concerning declines under climate change, even local extinctions by 2100, for Pacific populations of blue, fin and southern right whales, and Atlantic/Indian fin and humpback whales. Predicted declines were a consequence of reduced prey (copepods/krill) from warming and increasing interspecific competition between whale species. We model whale population recovery under an alternative scenario whereby whales adapt their migratory patterns to accommodate changing sea ice in the Antarctic and a shifting prey base. Plasticity in range size and migration was predicted to improve recovery for ice‐associated blue and minke whales. Our study highlights the need for ongoing protection to help depleted whale populations recover, as well as local management to ensure the krill prey base remains viable, but this may have limited success without immediate action to reduce emissions.
Volatile emissions from thawing permafrost soils are influenced by meltwater drainage conditions
Authors: Kramshøj Magnus , Albers Christian N. , Svendsen Sarah H. , Björkman Mats P. , Lindwall Frida , Björk Robert G. , Rinnan Riikka 
Published: February 2019

AbstractVast amounts of carbon are bound in both active layer and permafrost soils in the Arctic. As a consequence of climate warming, the depth of the active layer is increasing in size and permafrost soils are thawing. We hypothesize that pulses of biogenic volatile organic compounds are released from the near‐surface active layer during spring, and during late summer season from thawing permafrost, while the subsequent biogeochemical processes occurring in thawed soils also lead to emissions. Biogenic volatile organic compounds are reactive gases that have both negative and positive climate forcing impacts when introduced to the Arctic atmosphere, and the knowledge of their emission magnitude and pattern is necessary to construct reliable climate models. However, it is unclear how different ecosystems and environmental factors such as drainage conditions upon permafrost thaw affect the emission and compound composition. Here we show that incubations of frozen B horizon of the active layer and permafrost soils collected from a High Arctic heath and fen release a range of biogenic volatile organic compounds upon thaw and during subsequent incubation experiments at temperatures of 10°C and 20°C. Meltwater drainage in the fen soils increased emission rates nine times, while having no effect in the drier heath soils. Emissions generally increased with temperature, and emission profiles for the fen soils were dominated by benzenoids and alkanes, while benzenoids, ketones, and alcohols dominated in heath soils. Our results emphasize that future changes affecting the drainage conditions of the Arctic tundra will have a large influence on volatile emissions from thawing permafrost soils – particularly in wetland/fen areas.
Subiculum volumes associated with memory function in the oldest‐old individuals aged 95 years and older
Authors: Eguchi Yoko , Noda Yoshihiro , Nakajima Shinichiro , Tsugawa Sakiko , Kida Hisashi , Plitman Eric , Graff‐Guerrero Ariel , Chakravarty Mallar M , Takayama Midori , Arai Yasumichi , Matsuda Hiroshi , Mimura Masaru , Niimura Hidehito 
Published: February 2019

AimFew cohort studies targeting the oldest‐old individuals have been carried out. The subiculum in the hippocampus is thought to be related to memory function, and atrophy of this structure might result in the conversion from amnestic mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease. Thus, we sought to examine the relationship between subiculum volumes and memory function in individuals aged ≥95 years, using a novel cognitive examination called the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III (ACE‐III) and an advanced magnetic resonance imaging analytical method, Multiple Automatically Generated Templates Brain Segmentation Algorithm (MAGeTbrain), to measure hippocampal subfield volumes.MethodsA part of the cohort data of the Arakawa 95+ study for the oldest‐old aged ≥95 years was used. A total of 10 individuals completed all of the examinations. The MAGeT brain was applied to estimate the subfield volumes of the hippocampus. Correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses were carried out to examine a relationship among ACE‐III memory scores and the subfield volumes in the hippocampus, including the subiculum.ResultsThere was a significant relationship between ACE‐III memory scores and subdivision volumes. Regression analyses showed that subiculum volumes were associated with ACE‐III memory scores in the oldest‐old individuals (β = 0.721, P = 0.019; F1, 8 = 8.67, adjusted R2 = 0.46).ConclusionsThe subiculum might play a pivotal role in memory function in the oldest‐old individuals aged ≥95 years. The present finding warrants further research including larger sample sizes. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 347–351.
Sending Granny to Chiang Mai: debating global outsourcing of care for the elderly
Authors: SCHWITER KARIN , BRÜTSCH JILL , PRATT GERALDINE 
Published: February 2019

AbstractThis article ties in with existing discussions on global care chains, family separation and the devaluation of social‐reproductive work. We explore the new trend of outsourcing care for the elderly to countries with lower wages. We base our analysis on the debate in the German press and supplement it with insights from ethnographic field observations in two care homes in Thailand. We identify a discourse of abandonment, which shows how outsourcing the care of the elderly unsettles the privilege of sedentarism that is often taken for granted in the Global North. Furthermore, the newspaper articles tend to villainize people who seek care for their loved ones abroad. We argue that both discourses foster a neoliberal rationale of individualized responsibility and obfuscate the deep systemic roots of the care crisis in the Global North. However, by extending the discussion on outsourcing care for the elderly beyond the dominant media discourses, we envisage a rich potential for provoking political debate on the revaluation of care.
Collecting insects to conserve them: a call for ethical caution
Authors: Fischer Bob , Larson Brendon M. H. 
Published: February 2019

Abstract

Insect sampling for the purpose of measuring biodiversity – as well as entomological research more generally – largely assumes that insects lack consciousness. Here, we briefly present some arguments that insects are conscious and encourage entomologists to revisit their ethical codes in light of them.

Specifically, we adapt the Three Rs, guidelines proposed in 1959 by WMS Russell and RL Burch that have become the dominant way of thinking about the ethics of using animals in research.

The Three Rs specify the need to replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in research, yet have received little attention in entomological circles, which is perhaps unsurprising given that Russell and Burch explicitly excluded invertebrates from their purview.

As a specific case, we consider issues of suffering and bycatch in the use of Malaise traps for insect sampling.

While we do not claim that entomologists have an obligation to adopt the Three Rs framework wholesale, we do suggest that there is reason to adopt it in a modified form to mitigate moral risk especially in the context of conservation.
Influence of nanostructured calcium aluminate and calcium silicate on the liver: histological and unbiased stereological analysis
Authors: Paraš S. , Janković O. , Trišić D. , Čolović B. , Mitrović‐Ajtić O. , Dekić R. , Soldatović I. , Živković Sandić M. , Živković S. , Jokanović V. 
Published: February 2019

AbstractAimTo examine the potential systemic toxicity of nanostructured materials based on calcium silicate and calcium aluminate, for potential application in Dentistry.MethodologyTwenty‐four Albino Wistar rats aged 2 months were used as an in vivo animal model for subcutaneous implantation of the investigated materials, placed in polyethylene tubes. Thirty days after implantation, the livers of the rats were analysed and following histological and stereological parameters were evaluated for volume density of hepatocytes and blood sinusoids, number and numerical density of hepatocytes, surface of hepatocytes and their nucleuses, nucleocytoplasmic ratio and mitotic index of hepatocytes. Stereological measurements were achieved using Cavalieri's principle, with grid P2 and unbiased analysis. Additionally, immunohistochemistry studies were performed to further analyse changes in liver tissue. Several haematological and biochemical parameters of blood of experimental animals were also analysed, as well as local tissue reactions around the implants. Statistical analysis was performed using parametric (anova and t‐test) and nonparametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U‐test) depending on data distribution.ResultsImplanted dental cements led to an increase in stereological and histological parameters in liver tissue compared to control rats. Although the investigated parameters mostly showed significant differences between control and experimental animals, the liver tissue of the experimental animals did not have visible signs of pathological changes. This was supported by the analysis of blood parameters which were not significantly different between control and experimental animals. Also, the subcutaneous tissues had minimal inflammatory reactions. Immunohistochemistry studies revealed that nanostructured materials induced proliferation of hepatocytes, but that the immunological response to the materials was not strong enough to induce proliferation of immunoreactive cells in liver in the observed time period.ConclusionsThis study was performed as a contribution to the attestation of the biocompatibility of dental cements based on calcium silicate and calcium aluminate. Although these materials induced several changes in the liver structure, they were not clinically relevant and represent a normal and reversible response of the liver to the presence of biocompatible materials in the body. Blood and immunohistochemistry analyses and local tissue reactions further confirmed that these materials possess good biocompatible potential.
Fabrication, thermal shock resistance, and dielectric property of α‐Si3N4‐based ceramic coating on porous Si3N4 ceramics
Authors: Wang Chao , Xia Yi , Qiao Ruiqing , Zhang Fan , Chen Lijia , Wang Zhanjie 
Published: February 2019

AbstractA dense α‐Si3N4‐based ceramic protective coating was successfully prepared on porous Si3N4 ceramics by a liquid infiltration and filling method. The coating composed of a primary α‐Si3N4 phase and secondary O'‐Sialon, β‐Sialon, and Y–Si–Al–O–N glass phase. After thermal shock at ΔT = 1000°C for five times, cracks were produced, but the tip of crack stopped inside the coating; so the coated porous Si3N4 ceramics still had a good waterproof ability and its water absorption was only 7%. During thermal shock, toughening mechanisms involving needle‐like O'‐Sialon particle bridging, crack deflection, and rough fracture, occurred within the cracks, contributing to thermal shock resistance of the coating. The dielectric constant of the coated porous Si3N4 ceramics showed a slow increase trend with increasing temperature, and it reached the maximum value of 3.57 at 1100°C at the frequency of 11 GHz. The dielectric loss increased slowly as the temperature increased from room temperature to 900°C, but it started to increase evidently when the temperature was over 900°C.