bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
AKT3 Is a Pivotal Molecule of Cadherin-22 and GDNF Family Receptor-α1 Signal Pathways Regulating Self-Renewal in Female Germline Stem Cells
Authors: Zhang Xiaoyu , Wei Rui , Sun Yizhuo , Xia Qin , Xie Wenhai , Song Hongfei , Wang Wei , Zou Kang 
Published: May 2019

Abstract
Female germline stem cells (FGSCs) are rare population residing in cortex of ovary, with the potential to rescue female infertility caused by ovary failure. Recently, we reported that cadherin-22 (CDH22), a member of cadherin family, regulates self-renewal of mouse FGSCs via interaction with JAK-STAT signal pathway and β-catenin. In this study, the expression profiles of FGSCs and spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) were analyzed to further reveal their similarity and difference, and AKT3 was predicted as a pivotal molecule for FGSCs self-renewal. Then, we demonstrated that CDH22 interacted with PI3K to phosphorylate AKT3 and subsequently enhanced the expression levels of N-myc and cyclin family in FGSCs to promote self-renewal. Moreover, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) was identified as an essential factor for FGSCs self-renewal with a more complicated mechanism: GDNF-GFRA1 activates AKT3 via PI3K or Src family kinase (SFK), and SFK upregulates its target genes, Bcl6b, Etv5, and Lhx1, to promote self-renewal of FGSCs. However, Src, the key intermediate factor for SSCs, was not the functional molecule of SFK family in the GDNF signal network of FGSCs. Based on the observations of bioinformatics analysis and molecular evidence, we demonstrate the underlying links of potential factors which are critical to the self-renewal in FGSC and imply the therapeutic potentials of FGSCs in cure of female infertility. Stem Cells 2019;37:1095–1107
Translabial ultrasound imaging of urethral diverticula
Authors: Gillor M. , Dietz H. P. 
Published: May 2019

ABSTRACTObjectiveUrethral diverticulum is an uncommon cause of urinary dysfunction in women, with often a significant delay in diagnosis. Urethroscopy and/or magnetic resonance imaging are/is widely used for its identification. Translabial ultrasound is an alternative, particularly since the introduction of three‐/four‐dimensional imaging. The aim of our study was to review 10 years' experience of urethral diverticula evaluated by translabial ultrasound.MethodsWe reviewed 4121 patients seen in a tertiary urogynecologic unit between 2008 and 2018. All women were examined using multiplanar translabial ultrasound as well as office urethroscopy. Data regarding demographics, presenting symptoms and findings on clinical examination were collected. Archived ultrasound volumes were analyzed for diverticular location, diameters, complexity and echogenicity as well as tract visualization.ResultsOf our study population, 23 (0.6%) were found to have a major urethral abnormality on translabial ultrasound, 15 of whom were confirmed to have a urethral diverticulum on urethroscopy. Of these, 12 had a cystic component and three were non‐cystic on imaging. Mean maximum diameter was 15.3 mm (range, 4–32 mm). In 9/15 there was a simple diverticulum, while in 6/15 it was classified as complex. A communicating tract was seen in 10/15 (67%), and this was located at the 5–7 o'clock position in 7/10 (70%). Mean urethral circumference covered by the diverticulum was 39%.ConclusionsTranslabial ultrasound is a valid, non‐invasive method for the diagnosis of urethral diverticulum. A cystic structure crossing the urethral rhabdosphincter has high predictive value for urethroscopic diagnosis of urethral diverticulum. Multiple hyperechogenic foci may indicate the presence of a small urethral diverticulum. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Intriguing circles: Conflicts and controversies in circular RNA research
Authors: Li Hui‐Min , Ma Xiu‐Lan , Li Hong‐Gang 
Published: May 2019

AbstractCircular RNAs (circRNAs) are covalently closed RNA circles without a 5′ cap or 3′ tail. Since the landmark discovery of ciRS‐7/CDR1as functioning as a miR‐7 sponge in 2013, circRNAs have become a hot topic in RNA research. CircRNAs have been found to play active roles in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disorders, and many other diseases. They can function as microRNA (miRNA) sponges, protein scaffolds, and even translation templates. However, as circRNA research expands, many divergent views have emerged. For example, are most circRNAs competent in serving as miRNA sponges? What kinds of circRNAs are most likely to sponge miRNAs? Apart from sponging miRNAs, what could the functions of most circRNAs be? What are the features of circRNAs that are translatable? Many researchers have claimed that circRNAs are abundant, stable, conserved, and specific molecules, which hold great potential in serving as biomarkers. However, circRNA abundance is variable and some circRNAs are abundant while others are not. In addition, their stability and conservation may vary under different circumstances. Furthermore, it is unclear whether circRNA biogenesis is more likely to be regulated by RNA binding proteins or transcription factors. All of these are open questions that remain to be answered by researchers in this field. Discussing and investigating these questions will advance the understanding of this class of novel molecules and may propel inspiring new ideas for future studies.This article is categorized under:
Regulatory RNAs/RNAi/Riboswitches > Regulatory RNAs
RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease
RNA Methods > RNA Analyses in Cells
RNA Interactions with Proteins and Other Molecules > Protein–RNA Interactions: Functional Implications
Quantifying thermal‐imager effectiveness for detecting bird nests on farms
Authors: Stephenson Matthew D. , Schulte Lisa A. , Klaver Robert W. 
Published: May 2019

ABSTRACTWe conducted a designed experiment to test whether having a thermal‐imaging camera available affected researchers' nest detection rates when searching for bird nests in cropland and grassland habitat in an agricultural landscape of Iowa, USA, in 2016. With known active nests present, naïve observers searched for nests with and without a thermal imager available. We did not find a difference in detection probabilities, although only a large difference would have been detectable with our sample size. Extraneous heat signatures from reflected solar radiation and dense vegetation were key factors limiting the usefulness of thermal imagers for locating nests. Published 2019. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Attitudes of Secondary School STEM Teachers towards Supervising Research and Design Activities
Authors: Vossen T. E. , Henze I. , Rippe R. C. A. , Van Driel J. H. , De Vries M. J. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractResearch and design activities are important focus points in international policies for secondary Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. It is up to school teachers to implement and supervise these activities in the STEM classroom. However, not much is known about the attitudes teachers hold towards supervising research projects or design projects. In this study, a questionnaire to measure teacher attitudes towards supervising research activities and design activities in secondary school was completed by 130 Dutch teachers who taught the relatively new Dutch STEM subjects O&O (research and design) and NLT (nature, life, and technology). These integrated STEM subjects are project and context based and are taught in a limited number of schools. Important differences between these integrated STEM subjects are their student and teacher populations: NLT is taught in grades 10–12 by teachers with a qualification in a science subject, while O&O is taught in grades 7–12 and can be given by any teacher in secondary school. The results showed that on average, both O&O and NLT teachers had high self-efficacy scores on supervising research and design projects even when they had received no special education in doing so. Furthermore, the teachers in general viewed supervising research projects as a more relevant activity than supervising design. Since research and design activities are becoming more important in (inter)national curriculum standards, STEM teacher education and subsequent professional development should not only familiarize teachers with supervising research projects, but with design projects as well.
‘Woe Betides Anybody Who Tries to Turn me Down.’ A Qualitative Analysis of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Following Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Mosley Philip E. , Robinson Katherine , Coyne Terry , Silburn Peter , Breakspear Michael , Carter Adrian 
Published: May 2019

AbstractDeep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) can lead to the development of neuropsychiatric symptoms. These can include harmful changes in mood and behaviour that alienate family members and raise ethical questions about personal responsibility for actions committed under stimulation-dependent mental states. Qualitative interviews were conducted with twenty participants (ten PD patient-caregiver dyads) following subthalamic DBS at a movement disorders centre, in order to explore the meaning and significance of stimulation-related neuropsychiatric symptoms amongst a purposive sample of persons with PD and their spousal caregivers. Interview transcripts underwent inductive thematic analysis. Clinical and experiential aspects of post-DBS neuropsychiatric symptoms were identified. Caregivers were highly burdened by these symptoms and both patients and caregivers felt unprepared for their consequences, despite having received information prior to DBS, desiring greater family and peer engagement prior to neurosurgery. Participants held conflicting opinions as to whether emergent symptoms were attributable to neurostimulation. Many felt that they reflected aspects of the person’s “real” or “younger” personality. Those participants who perceived a close relationship between stimulation changes and changes in mental state were more likely to view these symptoms as inauthentic and uncontrollable. Unexpected and troublesome neuropsychiatric symptoms occurred despite a pre-operative education programme that was delivered to all participants. This suggests that such symptoms are difficult to predict and manage even if best practice guidelines are followed by experienced centres. Further research aimed at predicting these complications may improve the capacity of clinicians to tailor the consent process.
Invasive shrub removal benefits native plants in an eastern deciduous forest of North America
Authors: Maynard-Bean Erynn , Kaye Margot 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn eastern deciduous forests of North America, invasive shrubs are increasing in richness and abundance at the expense of native species across taxa. Invasive shrubs create an understory that is more dense than both recent and historical preinvasion conditions. Interest in invasive shrub removal to restore native habitat is growing, but our understanding of natural regeneration following treatment of a diverse invasive shrub community is lagging. Using an invasive shrub removal experiment, we provide insight into the effect of repeated removal of a suite of 18 invasive shrub species dominated by border privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium Siebold & Zucc.). In 2009, invasive shrubs were removed from five 20-m-diameter treatment plots, each with a paired control plot. Seven years later, we find an increase in plant diversity, native understory species abundance, and overstory tree species regeneration for individuals under a meter in height. For plants 1 to 4 m in height, the removal treatment has a positive effect on understory woody species, but there has been no change in regenerating overstory trees. A lack of overstory tree regeneration to greater heights is not surprising, given the time frame and the closed-canopy conditions. However, other factors, such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) browse, could be serving as an impediment to taller tree regeneration in the forest understory. An ambient sampling approach in unmanaged, invaded, and uninvaded forest has been used in other studies to estimate the potential impacts of invasive shrub species to native plant communities. However, in this study the ambient sampling approach underestimated the impacts of invasive shrubs compared to their experimental removal. Overall, invasive shrub removal increased plant diversity and allowed passive natural regeneration of native plants that exceeded native cover in the unmanaged, ambient forest under minimal invasive shrub abundance.
Reconstructing the mass and thermal ecology of North American Pleistocene tortoises
Authors: Esker Donald A. , Forman Steve L. , Butler Dava K. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractResearchers often interpret the presence of tortoises in Pleistocene assemblages as evidence of an interglacial age, based on an assumption that these fossils indicate thermic climates, as modern giant tortoises require. Since the Paleocene, tortoises have been common components of terrestrial fossil assemblages and have repeatedly evolved species of giant size. Whereas extant giant tortoises are found only on islands off the coasts of South America and Africa, at least two species persisted in North America until the terminal Pleistocene. These tortoises,Hesperotestudo crassiscutataandGopherus“hexagonatus,” both of which reached carapace lengths of &gt;1 m, were distributed across the southern United States. This study provides new metrics to derive quantitative weight estimates from measurements of the tortoise shell. The linear measurements of 69 anatomical features of the shells of 108 live tortoises indicate that the regression between straight carapace length and weight is most significant, with a maximumr2&gt; 0.99. This regression is useful for tortoises that weigh between 1.8 and 339 kg. This mass estimate, coupled with a heat dissipation rate derived from thermoregulation modeling, provides estimates of how long tortoises can maintain a viable body temperature at low ambient temperatures. Depending on size, a tortoise can survive a maximum of 2.3 to 33 hours of freezing temperatures, which corresponds to a mean annual temperature ≥22°C and a mean winter low temperature ≥7.5°C. This analysis infers warmer temperatures at Pleistocene sites with fossil tortoise occurrences than previous qualitative estimates.
Morphological innovation and the evolution of hadrosaurid dinosaurs
Authors: Stubbs Thomas L. , Benton Michael J. , Elsler Armin , Prieto-Márquez Albert 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe hadrosaurids were a successful group of herbivorous dinosaurs. During the Late Cretaceous, 100 to 66 million years ago, hadrosaurids had high diversity, rapid speciation rates, and wide geographic distribution. Most hadrosaurids were large bodied and had similar postcranial skeletons. However, they show important innovations in the skull, including disparate crests that functioned as socio-sexual display structures, and a complex feeding apparatus, with specialized jaws bearing dental batteries. Little is known about the macroevolutionary processes that produced these evolutionary novelties. Here we provide novel perspectives using evolutionary rate and disparity analyses. Our results show that hadrosaurid cranial evolution was complex and dynamic, but their postcranial skeleton and body size were conservative. High cranial disparity was achieved through multiple bursts of phenotypic innovation. We highlight contrasting evolutionary trends within hadrosaurids between the disparate facial skeleton and crests, which both showed multiple high-rate shifts, and the feeding apparatus, which had low variance and high rates on a single phylogenetic branch leading to the diverse Saurolophidae. We reveal that rapid evolutionary rates were important for producing the high disparity of exaggerated crests and present novel evidence that the hadrosaurid diversification was linked to both a key adaptive innovation in the feeding apparatus and multiple bursts of innovation in socio-sexual displays.
Alluvial architecture of fluvio-deltaic successions: a review with special reference to Holocene settings
Authors: Gouw M.J.P. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractAlluvial architecture has been subject of many studies because of the occurrence of natural resources in ancient fluvial successions. This paper provides an overview of the current state of research on alluvial architecture with special reference to Holocene fluvio-deltaic settings. Several examples from modern fluvio-deltaic areas, especially the Holocene Rhine-Meuse delta (the Netherlands) and the Lower Mississippi Valley (U.S.A.), are used to illustrate the architectural elements that can be distinguished in fluvial successions and to show the influence of the various controls on alluvial architecture (base level, climate, tectonism, aggradation, avulsion, and compaction). Avulsion is regarded as a principal process in the formation of fluvio-deltaic sequences, because it determines the location and number of active channels on the floodplain. The avulsion mechanism is still subject of debate, though. A brief description of the evolution of process-based alluvial-architecture models is given. These models simulate the proportion and distribution of coarse-grained channel belts in fine-grained overbank deposits. The major drawback of the present-day alluvial-architecture models is the lack of (three-dimensional) quantitative field data to test and validate them. The paper concludes with the suggestion to collect more architectural data from natural fluvial settings, to improve simulation of channel-belt geometry in alluvial-architecture models, and to implement new data and knowledge of fluvial processes into models.
Radiometric fingerprinting of fluvial sediments in the Rhine-Meuse delta, the Netherlands – a feasibility test
Authors: Mebinck K. , Middelkoop H. , van Diepen N. , van der Graaf E.R , de Meijer R.J. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThe deposits of the Rhine and the Meuse in the Netherlands alternate in their delta in a complex way. This paper discusses a method to distinguish the deposits of the Rhine and the Meuse based on the differences in natural radioactivity of 40K, 238U and 232Th, and the effect of the age of the deposits on the radiometrie signal. In total, six channel belts of the Rhine and the Meuse were selected for sampling with an approximate age of about 2000, 4000 and 6000 14C years B.P. Of each channel belt 5 samples of different lithology were taken: clay (C), clay leads (CL), sandy clay loam (sCL), sandy loam (sL) and sand (S). All samples were analysed on organic matter content, grain size, geochemistry and radioactivity of the radionuclides 40K, 238U and 232Th. The radioactivity of the sample is mainly influenced by the grain size of the sample. Therefore, this signal is divided in partial radioactivities for three grain size fractions – clay (<16 μm), silt (16 – 63 μm) and sand (>63 μm) – to make the radiometric fingerprint, which is independent of the grain size of the sample. These fingerprints show a difference between the Rhine and the Meuse. Additionally, the radiometric signal strongly depends on the age of the deposits. Remarkably, this trend with age is opposite in the deposits of the Rhine and the Meuse and opposite in the clay and silt fraction. Because the radiometrie differences between the samples seem more distinct than the geochemical differences, the radiometric fingerprints are more suitable to distinguish the deposits of the Rhine and the Meuse. A method is presented to derive the contribution of the Rhine and the Meuse in a deposit of unknown origin, assuming that the radiometric fingerprints found are consistent and valid for the Rhine-Meuse delta. To distinguish the deposits of the Rhine and the Meuse, both the grain size composition and the age of the deposits have to be known.
Diagnostic sedimentary structures of the fluvial-tidal transition zone – Evidence from deposits of the Rhine and Meuse
Authors: van den Berg J.H. , Boersma J.R. , van Gelder A. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractIn mesotidal settings the transition of a coastal plain estuary to the river is marked by the change of a multiple ebb and flood channel configuration to a single channel system. At high river discharge fluvial processes operate, whereas in periods of low discharge the flow is complicated by a tidal component and a landward intrusion of the salt wedge. These hydraulic and morphological characteristics make the transitional zone different from the ‘pure’ fluvial and estuarine environment. Inspection of published and unpublished data from a number of outcrops of Recent and Tertiary deposits of the Rhine reveals that also in a sedimentary sense a transitional zone can be recognized. In order to separate this zone from the upstream fluvial and downstream estuarine environment a sedimentological definition of the fluvial-tidal zone is proposed being the part of river that lies between the landward limit of observable effects of tidal-induced flow deceleration on fluvial cross-bedding at low river discharge and the most seaward occurrence of a textural or structural fluvial signature related to the high river stage.
Talking Italian blues: Roberto Leydi, Giovanna Marini and American Influence in the Italian folk revival, 1954–66
Authors: Love Rachel E. 
Published: May 2019

AbstractThis article examines how Roberto Leydi and Giovanna Marini, two important figures of the Italian ‘folk revival’, negotiated diverse American cultural influences and adapted them to the political context of Italy in the 1950s and 1960s. I argue that American musical traditions offered them valuable models even as many Italian intellectuals and artists grew more critical of US society and foreign policy. To explore this phenomenon in greater depth, I take as examples two particular moments of exchange. I first discuss American folklorist Alan Lomax's research in Italy and its impact on Leydi's career. I then examine how Marini employed American talking blues in order to reject US society in her first ballad, Vi parlo dell'America (I Speak to You of America) (1966). These two cases provide specific examples of how American influence worked in postwar Italy and the role of folk music in this process.