bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Urokinase‐plasminogen activator protects periodontal ligament fibroblast from oxidative induced‐apoptosis and DNA damage
Authors: Ahmad Akhoundi M. S. , Rokn A. , Bagheri R. , Momeni N. , Hodjat M. 
Published: June 2018

Background and ObjectiveUrokinase‐plasminogen activator (uPA) is a serine protease expressed at high basal level in normal gingival cervical fluid. Despite its known pathologic role in tissue proteolysis in periodontitis, little is known concerning uPA physiological function in oral tissue. Recent evidence in cancer cells has implicated the uPA system in DNA repair and anti‐apoptotic pathways. This study is aimed to evaluate the protective function of urokinase against oxidative DNA damage in periodontal ligament (PDL) fibroblast, and to propose a new biological role for uPA in oral cavity.Material and MethodsPDL cells were isolated from human wisdom teeth obtained from healthy donors. An oxidative stress model was created in which PDL cells were incubated with 20, 30, 40 and 60 μmol/L hydrogen peroxide. Twenty‐four hours before and after peroxide treatment, cells were treated with uPA and amiloride. Cell viability was assessed by 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, apoptosis by DAPI‐staining and annexin V/propidium iodide assay, and DNA breaks by alkaline comet assay. For estimating DNA damage level, γ‐H2AX expression was studied using flow cytometry and immunostaining.ResultsThe incubation of the peroxide‐treated cells with uPA significantly increased cell viability and decreased apoptosis. A significant decrease in the number of γ‐H2AX foci was seen at 30 μmol/L hydrogen peroxide in uPA‐treated cells. uPA inhibition as a result of amiloride treatment, in turn, induced a reduction in cell viability. In addition, there was a significant decrease in the levels of DNA damage in uPA‐treated groups as measured by the comet assay.ConclusionThe present study brings support to the theory that uPA may have a protective role for periodontal tissue and could protect PDL fibroblasts from oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis.
Neural basis of bilingual language control
Authors: Calabria Marco , Costa Albert , Green David W. , Abutalebi Jubin 
Published: June 2018

AbstractAcquiring and speaking a second language increases demand on the processes of language control for bilingual as compared to monolingual speakers. Language control for bilingual speakers involves the ability to keep the two languages separated to avoid interference and to select one language or the other in a given conversational context. This ability is what we refer with the term “bilingual language control” (BLC). It is now well established that the architecture of this complex system of language control encompasses brain networks involving cortical and subcortical structures, each responsible for different cognitive processes such as goal maintenance, conflict monitoring, interference suppression, and selective response inhibition. Furthermore, advances have been made in determining the overlap between the BLC and the nonlinguistic executive control networks, under the hypothesis that the BLC processes are just an instantiation of a more domain‐general control system. Here, we review the current knowledge about the neural basis of these control systems. Results from brain imaging studies of healthy adults and on the performance of bilingual individuals with brain damage are discussed.
Creating favourable morphological and yield variations for rapeseed by interspecific crosses between Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea
Authors: Jiang Jinjin , Rong Hao , Ran Liping , Fan Hongxia , Kong Yueqin , Wang Youping 
Published: June 2018

AbstractBrassica napus is a most important oilseed grown worldwide with a limited genetic background, due to the short history of speciation, domestication and cultivation. To create novel germplasm for rapeseed breeding, we made interspecific crosses followed with chromosome doubling between B. rapa and B. oleracea to generate novel B. napus with favourable agronomic traits. The resynthesized (S0) hybrids were confirmed by SSR and cytogenetic analysis, and the fertility was increased from 32.7% in S0 generation to ~97.31% in S1 generation. The plant shapes of the progeny were dramatically improved compared to the diploid parents and B. napus cv. ‘Yangyou 6’, especially for the branch initiation height, branch number and pod number. The single‐plant yield was significantly improved in S1 progeny for the variations in branching sites and number. Significant improvement in plant shape and yield was observed on S2 generation compared to the local elite commercial open‐pollinated cultivar, which would be further fixed by intensive selection and pyramiding breeding. Such variation is of great value for breeding rapeseed with improved plant architecture and harvest index.
Legume biofortification is an underexploited strategy for combatting hidden hunger
Authors: Rehman Hafiz Mamoon , Cooper James William , Lam Hon‐Ming , Yang Seung Hwan 
Published: June 2018

AbstractLegumes are the world's primary source of dietary protein and are particularly important for those in developing economies. However, the biofortification potential of legumes remains underexploited. Legumes offer a diversity of micronutrients and amino acids, exceeding or complementing the profiles of cereals. As such, the enhancement of legume nutritional composition presents an appealing target for addressing the “hidden hunger” of global micronutrient malnutrition. Affecting ~2 billion people, micronutrient malnutrition causes severe health effects ranging from stunted growth to reduced lifespan. An increased availability of micronutrient‐enriched legumes, particularly to those in socio‐economically deprived areas, would serve the dual functions of ameliorating hidden hunger and increasing the positive health effects associated with legumes. Here, we give an updated overview of breeding approaches for the nutritional improvement of legumes, and crucially, we highlight the importance of considering nutritional improvement in a wider ecological context. Specifically, we review the potential of the legume microbiome for agronomic trait improvement and highlight the need for increased genetic, biochemical, and environmental data resources. Finally, we state that such resources should be complemented by an international and multidisciplinary initiative that will drive crop improvement and, most importantly, ensure that research outcomes benefit those who need them most.
Abscisic acid negatively modulates plant defence against rice black‐streaked dwarf virus infection by suppressing the jasmonate pathway and regulating reactive oxygen species levels in rice
Authors: Xie Kaili , Li Lulu , Zhang Hehong , Wang Rong , Tan Xiaoxiang , He Yuqing , Hong Gaojie , Li Junmin , Ming Feng , Yao Xuefeng , Yan Fei , Sun Zongtao , Chen Jianping 
Published: June 2018

AbstractAbscisic acid (ABA) plays a multifaceted role in plant immunity and can either increase resistance or increase susceptibility to some bacterial and fungal pathogens depending on the pathosystem. ABA is also known to mediate plant defence to some viruses. In this study, the relationship between the ABA pathway and rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) was investigated in rice. The expression of ABA pathway genes was significantly reduced upon RBSDV infection. Application of exogenous hormones and various ABA pathway mutants revealed that the ABA pathway plays a negative role in rice defence against RBSDV. Exogenous hormone treatment and virus inoculation showed that ABA inhibits the jasmonate‐mediated resistance to RBSDV. ABA treatment also suppressed accumulation of reactive oxygen species by inducing the expression of superoxidase dismutases and catalases. Thus, ABA modulates the rice–RBSDV interaction by suppressing the jasmonate pathway and regulating reactive oxygen species levels. This is the first example of ABA increasing susceptibility to a plant virus.
Chromatin‐based mechanisms of temperature memory in plants
Authors: Friedrich Thomas , Faivre Léa , Bäurle Isabel , Schubert Daniel 
Published: June 2018

AbstractFor successful growth and development, plants constantly have to gauge their environment. Plants are capable to monitor their current environmental conditions, and they are also able to integrate environmental conditions over time and store the information induced by the cues. In a developmental context, such an environmental memory is used to align developmental transitions with favourable environmental conditions. One temperature‐related example of this is the transition to flowering after experiencing winter conditions, that is, vernalization. In the context of adaptation to stress, such an environmental memory is used to improve stress adaptation even when the stress cues are intermittent. A somatic stress memory has now been described for various stresses, including extreme temperatures, drought, and pathogen infection. At the molecular level, such a memory of the environment is often mediated by epigenetic and chromatin modifications. Histone modifications in particular play an important role. In this review, we will discuss and compare different types of temperature memory and the histone modifications, as well as the reader, writer, and eraser proteins involved.
Cell phone support to improve medication adherence among solid organ transplant recipients
Authors: Sayegh Caitlin S. , Szmuszkovicz Jacqueline R. , Menteer Jondavid , Sherer Sara , Thomas Daniel , Lestz Rachel , Belzer Marvin 
Published: June 2018

AbstractFor many adolescent and young adult solid organ transplant recipients, medication non‐adherence is a mortal issue. This study investigated the feasibility, acceptability, and potential efficacy of a 12‐week cell phone support intervention to improve immunosuppressant medication adherence. A small sample (N = 8) of non‐adherent adolescent and young adult transplant recipients, aged 15‐20.5 years, was enrolled. Cell phone support consisted of short calls each weekday including medication reminders, discussion of needs, problem‐solving support, and promotion of clinic and community resources. Changes in adherence were measured by self‐report and laboratory values, and intervention acceptability, adherence barriers, social support, depression, and substance use were assessed by self‐report. Pre‐post effect sizes showed medium‐to‐large improvements in adherence, lasting through a 12‐week follow‐up assessment. There were also small‐to‐medium changes in adherence barriers, social support, and depression. However, acceptability and feasibility were limited, due to a low rate of enrollment by eligible male participants. Cell phone support interventions may promote medication adherence among adolescents and young adults. Cell phone support warrants further investigation, including a randomized controlled trial to evaluate efficacy.
An academic practice partnership: Building capacity to meet sexual health education policy requirements of a public school system
Authors: Cygan Heide R. , McNaughton Diane , Reising Virginia , Reid Bianca 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe purpose of this clinical concepts paper is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a formal academic‐practice partnership between a large, urban, public school system and a college of nursing, based on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Guiding Principles to Academic‐Practice Partnerships. The overarching goal of the partnership was to increase the school district's capacity to meet sexual health education policy requirements while providing graduate nursing students with an opportunity to work with a diverse population of youth during a public health nursing practicum course. As a result of the partnership, over 2,000 public school students (grades 5–12) have received comprehensive sexual health education and increased their knowledge by an average of 19.7–32.7%. In addition, 79 prelicensure, graduate nursing students have been placed at the public school system for public health nursing practicum and 100% have met all clinical objectives. As with any partnership, successes and lessons learned were identified. Discussion of both is included in this paper and may benefit other organizations considering entering into similar partnerships. Ultimately, academic‐practice partnerships are an important mechanism to simultaneously meet the growing needs of community practice partners and nursing education programs, while strengthening public health nursing practice.
Selection of reference genes for transcript profiling of Sargassum polycystum by quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction
Authors: Sim Mei‐Chea , Chan Cheong Xin , Ho Chai‐Ling , Phang Siew‐Moi 
Published: June 2018

SUMMARYSargassum species are one of the major alginate‐producing seaweed species in Asian countries. Alginate is widely used in food, feed, pharmaceutical and medical industries as thickening and stabilizing agents. To establish a set of consistently expressed genes as reference genes for quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) studies of Sargassum polycystum (Fucales, Ochrophyta) in samples collected at two distinct time points from the field, four candidate reference genes, namely ribosomal protein L3 (RPL3), ribosomal protein S15 (RPS15), alpha‐tubulin (α‐TUB) and eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1α), were analyzed using geNorm and NormFinder. The results showed that RPL3, α‐TUB and TEF1α were the most stable genes using both programs, whereas RPS15 gene was shown to be the least stable. Identification of stably expressed reference genes is crucial for qRT‐PCR studies to allow accurate quantification of target gene expression levels. In addition, the expression of key enzyme in the final step of alginate biosynthesis pathway mannuronan C5 epimerase‐SP01411 (MC5E‐SP01411) and mannuronan C5 epimerase‐SP02271 (MC5E‐SP02271) were differentially expressed in the seaweeds collected at two distinct time points from the field. To our knowledge, this is the first report on validation of reference genes for any Sargassum species. Our data provide a basis for the selection of reference genes for future biological research in related studies.
Complex Contracting: Management Challenges and Solutions
Authors: Brown Trevor L. , Potoski Matthew , Van Slyke David M. 
Published: June 2018

AbstractGovernments at all levels buy mission‐critical goods and services whose attributes and performance requirements are hard to define and produce. Many governments—and the public managers who lead them—lack experience and knowledge about how to contract for complex products. The contract management counsel provided to public managers is thin. Missing is a conceptual managerial framework to guide purchasing the complex products that are often so critical to public organizations' core missions. Drawing on perspectives from across the social sciences, the framework presented in this article provides guidance on how managers can harness the upsides of complex contracting while avoiding its pitfalls. The framework helps identify conditions that increase the likelihood of positive outcomes for the purchasing government and the vendor—the win‐win. To illustrate the framework, the article provides examples of successful and failed acquisitions for complex products such as transportation projects, social service systems, and information technology systems.
Prospect Theory Goes Public: Experimental Evidence on Cognitive Biases in Public Policy and Management Decisions
Authors: Bellé Nicola , Cantarelli Paola , Belardinelli Paolo 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThis article tests a broad range of cognitive biases branching out from prospect theory in the context of public policy and management. Results illuminate systematic deviations from rationality. In experiments 1 through 5, the framing of outcomes influenced decisions across policy and management domains. In experiment 6, public employees were prone to an anchoring bias when setting standards for responsiveness. Experiment 7 shows that public workers tend to put more effort into activities that affect higher percentages of beneficiaries, even if the absolute number of affected clients is constant. Experiments 8 and 9 suggest that public employees are more likely to stick to a suboptimal status quo as the number of superior alternatives increases. Experiment 10 provides evidence of an asymmetric dominance effect: decisions changed when a decoy was present. This article contributes to behavioral public administration by replicating and extending previous trials.
Toward a social–ecological approach to ecological restoration: a look back at three decades of maritime clifftop restoration
Authors: Le Roy Maxime , Sawtschuk Jérôme , Bioret Frédéric , Gallet Sébastien 
Published: June 2018

The sharp increase in the touristic use of the maritime clifftops in western France after WWII resulted in a concentration of activities that generated ecosystem degradation in many sites (e.g. touristic infrastructure, human trampling). Consideration of the ecological value of these sites over the past three decades has led to a shift in maritime clifftop management and consequently to numerous planning and restoration projects. Using inventories of maritime clifftop restoration projects conducted in 2007 and 2016, we identified 76 restoration projects, which allowed us to study the active and passive restoration methods used. In addition, we collected and analyzed 465 vegetation monitoring plots with an average duration of 5.6 years to understand how they were used by both scientists and nonscientists. First, we describe the social–ecological systems of these restoration projects through an analysis of their social contexts, ecological stakes, and restoration goals based on 19 semistructured interviews with restoration stakeholders. Comparing our research with similar studies in the literature reveals that the main strength of maritime clifftop restorations is a strong network between scientist and nonscientist stakeholders combined with high‐level monitoring. Finally, we underline the main challenges for the future of maritime clifftop ecological restoration: (1) the need for further study of this ecological database (e.g. to study the medium‐term effect of active restoration, continue current monitoring); and (2) the need to develop sociological studies of human uses and perceptions to improve the long‐term management of restored ecosystems.
Nursing student as patient: experiential learning in a hospital simulation to improve empathy of nursing students
Authors: ter Beest Hanneke , van Bemmel Marlies , Adriaansen Marian 
Published: June 2018

BackgroundEmpathy is an important factor in the relation nurse–patient. To develop empathy in bachelor nursing students is a challenge in nursing education. There are several small experiential learning methods that develop empathy in nursing students, although not in a hospital simulation. By experiencing the role of a patient, nursing students would learn important aspects of empathy.AimThis research will explore what nursing students learn about empathy in the relation nurse–patient, while they lie in bed as a patient seeing the nurse from another perspective.Methodological designQualitative descriptive study on 75 reflections of bachelor nursing students.ResultsStudents experienced the need for empathy and were confronted with the patient's experiential world, being dependent, enduring hospital life and needing attention from the nurse.ConclusionThe change in perspective in the hospital simulation gives nursing students valuable insights in the importance of empathy in the relation patient–nurse. Four themes were identified: endurance, silent scream for attention, scary dependency and confrontation with the role of patient. Students learned about the possibilities and difficulties of empathy in different stages of the simulation. A hospital simulation is a useful and practical method to teach students empathy from the patients’ perspective, on condition that there is a solid preparation for experiential learning.
Predicting Future Suicide: Clinician Opinion versus a Standardized Assessment Tool
Authors: Randall Jason R. , Sareen Jitender , Chateau Dan , Bolton James M. 
Published: June 2018

ObjectiveTo compare the effectiveness of clinician prediction of risk to a standardized assessment of presentation status.MethodsAll adult psychiatry emergency department consults in the two main hospitals in Winnipeg, Canada, were assessed using a standardized form (n = 5,376). This form includes two risk scales for a gestalt physician assessment of risk (Suicide Likelihood scale, suicide Attempt Likelihood scale) and the Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment (C‐CASA). Regression determined whether assessments predicted future suicide attempts and deaths. The area under the curve (AUC) determined the prediction accuracy of these methods.ResultsAlthough the regression results were significant, the AUCs were either moderate or poor. Clinician assessment was not effective at predicting deaths (AUC = .546, .36–.73), but moderately accurate at predicting future attempts (AUC = .728, .66–.79). C‐CASA assessment was moderately accurate at predicting both attempts and deaths (AUC = .666 and .678).ConclusionsClinician assessment does not significantly outperform a simple assessment of the occurrence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors during presentation to the emergency department. Behavior‐based standardized assessments should be further researched in this field. Assessment of suicidality at presentation using C‐CASA or similar assessment should be standard for psychiatric patients assessed in the emergency department.
“A game of two halves?” Understanding the process and outcomes of English care home closures: Qualitative and quantitative perspectives
Authors: Glasby Jon , Allen Kerry , Robinson Suzanne 
Published: June 2018

AbstractWith care services increasingly delivered via a market there is always a risk that care homes could fail financially or struggle in terms of quality, ultimately having to close. When this happens, the received wisdom is that subsequent relocation can be detrimental to the health and well‐being of older residents (possibly even culminating in increased mortality). However, there is very little formal evidence in the United Kingdom (UK) or beyond to guide policymakers and local leaders when undertaking such sensitive work. Against this background, this article reports findings from an independent evaluation of what is believed to be the largest care home closure program in the UK (and possibly beyond). This consisted of qualitative interviews with older people, families, care staff, and social work assessors during the closure process in one case study care home and one linked day center, as well as self‐reported health and quality of life data for older people from 13 homes/linked day centers at initial assessment, 28 days after moving and at 12‐month follow up. The study is significant in presenting public data about such a contested topic from such a large‐scale closure process, in its focus on both process and outcomes, in its mixed‐methods approach, and in its engagement with older people, families, and care staff alongside the use of more formal outcome measures. Despite significant distress part‐way through the process, the article suggests that outcomes either stayed the same or improved for most of our sample up to a year after moving to new services. Care homes closures may thus be a “tale of two halves”, with inevitable distress during the closure but, if done well, with scope for improved outcomes for some people in the longer term. These findings are crucial for current policy and practice given that the risk of major closures seems to be growing and given that there is virtually no prior research on which to base local or national closure processes. While some of this research is specific to England, the underlying issue of care home closures and lessons learned around good practice will also apply to other countries.