bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nanocatalysts for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ethanol
Authors: Bai Juan , Liu Danye , Yang Jun , Chen Yu 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe use of ethanol as a fuel in direct alcohol fuel cells depends not only on its ease of production from renewable sources, but also on overcoming the challenges of storage and transportation. In an ethanol‐based fuel cell, highly active electrocatalysts are required to break the C−C bond in ethanol for its complete oxidation at lower overpotentials, with the aim of increasing the cell performance, ethanol conversion rates, and fuel efficiency. In recent decades, the development of wet‐chemistry methods has stimulated research into catalyst design, reactivity tailoring, and mechanistic investigations, and thus, created great opportunities to achieve efficient oxidation of ethanol. In this Minireview, the nanomaterials tested as electrocatalysts for the ethanol oxidation reaction in acid or alkaline environments are summarized. The focus is mainly on nanomaterials synthesized by using wet‐chemistry methods, with particular attention on the relationship between the chemical and physical characteristics of the catalysts, for example, catalyst composition, morphology, structure, degree of alloying, presence of oxides or supports, and their activity for ethanol electro‐oxidation. As potential alternatives to noble metals, non‐noble‐metal catalysts for ethanol oxidation are also briefly reviewed. Insights into further enhancing the catalytic performance through the design of efficient electrocatalysts are also provided.
Co‐adaptation impacts the robustness of predator–prey dynamics against perturbations
Authors: Raatz Michael , van Velzen Ellen , Gaedke Ursula 
Published: March 2019

AbstractGlobal change threatens the maintenance of ecosystem functions that are shaped by the persistence and dynamics of populations. It has been shown that the persistence of species increases if they possess larger trait adaptability. Here, we investigate whether trait adaptability also affects the robustness of population dynamics of interacting species and thereby shapes the reliability of ecosystem functions that are driven by these dynamics. We model co‐adaptation in a predator–prey system as changes to predator offense and prey defense due to evolution or phenotypic plasticity. We investigate how trait adaptation affects the robustness of population dynamics against press perturbations to environmental parameters and against pulse perturbations targeting species abundances and their trait values. Robustness of population dynamics is characterized by resilience, elasticity, and resistance. In addition to employing established measures for resilience and elasticity against pulse perturbations (extinction probability and return time), we propose the warping distance as a new measure for resistance against press perturbations, which compares the shapes and amplitudes of pre‐ and post‐perturbation population dynamics. As expected, we find that the robustness of population dynamics depends on the speed of adaptation, but in nontrivial ways. Elasticity increases with speed of adaptation as the system returns more rapidly to the pre‐perturbation state. Resilience, in turn, is enhanced by intermediate speeds of adaptation, as here trait adaptation dampens biomass oscillations. The resistance of population dynamics strongly depends on the target of the press perturbation, preventing a simple relationship with the adaptation speed. In general, we find that low robustness often coincides with high amplitudes of population dynamics. Hence, amplitudes may indicate the robustness against perturbations also in other natural systems with similar dynamics. Our findings show that besides counteracting extinctions, trait adaptation indeed strongly affects the robustness of population dynamics against press and pulse perturbations.
Use of the Palliative Performance Scale to estimate survival among home hospice patients with heart failure
Authors: Masterson Creber Ruth , Russell David , Dooley Frances , Jordan Lizeyka , Baik Dawon , Goyal Parag , Hummel Scott , Hummel Ellen K. , Bowles Kathryn H. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractAimsEstimating survival is challenging in the terminal phase of advanced heart failure. Patients, families, and health‐care organizations would benefit from more reliable prognostic tools. The Palliative Performance Scale Version 2 (PPSv2) is a reliable and validated tool used to measure functional performance; higher scores indicate higher functionality. It has been widely used to estimate survival in patients with cancer but rarely used in patients with heart failure. The aim of this study was to identify prognostic cut‐points of the PPSv2 for predicting survival among patients with heart failure receiving home hospice care.Methods and resultsThis retrospective cohort study included 1114 adult patients with a primary diagnosis of heart failure from a not‐for‐profit hospice agency between January 2013 and May 2017. The primary outcome was survival time. A Cox proportional‐hazards model and sensitivity analyses were used to examine the association between PPSv2 scores and survival time, controlling for demographic and clinical variables. Receiver operating characteristic curves were plotted to quantify the diagnostic performance of PPSv2 scores by survival time. Lower PPSv2 scores on admission to hospice were associated with decreased median (interquartile range, IQR) survival time [PPSv2 10 = 2 IQR: 1–5 days; PPSv2 20 = 3 IQR: 2–8 days] IQR: 55–207. The discrimination of the PPSv2 at baseline for predicting death was highest at 7 days [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.802], followed by an AUC of 0.774 at 14 days, an AUC of 0.736 at 30 days, and an AUC of 0.705 at 90 days.ConclusionsThe PPSv2 tool can be used by health‐care providers for prognostication of hospice‐enrolled patients with heart failure who are at high risk of near‐term death. It has the greatest utility in patients who have the most functional impairment.
Low‐complexity and full‐diversity parallel interference cancellation for multiuser wireless relaying networks
Authors: El Astal Mohammed‐Taha , Ismail Amr , Alouini Mohammed‐Slim , Olivier Jan Corne 
Published: March 2019

AbstractIn this paper, the multiuser interference of wireless relaying networks (WRNs) is considered. Two transmission protocols with an interference cancellation scheme are proposed, namely, the concurrentS − R−D‐PICR,D protocol for decode‐and‐forward WRNs and the concurrentS − R − D‐PICD protocol for amplify‐and‐forward WRNs. Unlike the existing protocols, these protocols allow the concurrent transmission in both phases of the transmission, and hence, higher spectral efficiency is offered while maintaining low decoding complexity. The concurrentS − R − D‐PICR,D protocol achieves interference‐free diversity without imposing any condition on the node's antenna number. However and similar to most existing protocols, this protocol requires the channel state information (CSI) of the users‐relay links at the relay. In contrast, the concurrentS − R − D‐PICD protocol achieves a better diversity order, given that the relay's antenna >8, whereas CSI is required only at the destination. Although the diversity's upper bound is not achieved, this protocol uses a simple relay as no CSI or encoding is required at the relay. In addition and unlike the existing protocols, the achievable diversity is determined by both the user's and the destination's antennas, and it is not sacrificed while the number of users is increased. This paper also establishes sufficient conditions for a space‐time block code to achieve the mentioned diversity gain of the proposed protocols.
Electrophysiological investigation of associative and non‐associative memory odours
Authors: Pellegrino Robert , Usik Katerina , Warr Jonathan , Hummel Thomas , Sorokowska Agnieszka 
Published: March 2019

AbstractAs individuals explore their environment, they experience smells and recall memories associated with them. This close relationship between smell and memory has been extensively studied; however, less attention has been paid to the direct comparison of associative and non‐associative memory odours. This study aimed to measure responses to odours related to memories and responses to odours related to none or few memories using electroencephalography. In a within‐subject design, 25 individuals received two food odours (chocolate and apple strudel) while olfactory event‐related potentials (oERP) were recorded. These stimuli were chosen because individuals had an autobiographical memory associated with either one of the odours. Additionally, individuals rated the characteristics of the odours and were tested on their memory capacity. The results indicate that apple strudel, but not chocolate, produced larger oERP amplitudes when associated with a memory. Additionally, the apple strudel odour was found to be less pleasant and familiar than the chocolate odour, and fewer individuals had an association with the apple strudel odour. This indicates that oERP can be used to indicate the strength of odour‐related memories.
Recursion in action: An fMRI study on the generation of new hierarchical levels in motor sequences
Authors: Martins Mauricio J. D. , Bianco Roberta , Sammler Daniela , Villringer Arno 
Published: March 2019

AbstractGeneration of hierarchical structures, such as the embedding of subordinate elements into larger structures, is a core feature of human cognition. Processing of hierarchies is thought to rely on lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the neural underpinnings supporting active generation of new hierarchical levels remain poorly understood. Here, we created a new motor paradigm to isolate this active generative process by means of fMRI. Participants planned and executed identical movement sequences by using different rules: a Recursive hierarchical embedding rule, generating new hierarchical levels; an Iterative rule linearly adding items to existing hierarchical levels, without generating new levels; and a Repetition condition tapping into short term memory, without a transformation rule. We found that planning involving generation of new hierarchical levels (Recursive condition vs. both Iterative and Repetition) activated a bilateral motor imagery network, including cortical and subcortical structures. No evidence was found for lateral PFC involvement in the generation of new hierarchical levels. Activity in basal ganglia persisted through execution of the motor sequences in the contrast Recursive versus Iteration, but also Repetition versus Iteration, suggesting a role of these structures in motor short term memory. These results showed that the motor network is involved in the generation of new hierarchical levels during motor sequence planning, while lateral PFC activity was neither robust nor specific. We hypothesize that lateral PFC might be important to parse hierarchical sequences in a multi‐domain fashion but not to generate new hierarchical levels.
Motor cortex representation of deep and superficial neck flexor muscles in individuals with and without neck pain
Authors: Elgueta‐Cancino Edith , Marinovic Welber , Jull Gwendolen , Hodges Paul W. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractSensorimotor control of neck muscles differs between individuals with and without pain. Differences in the primary motor cortex (M1) maps of these muscles may be involved. This study compared M1 representations of deep (DNF) and superficial (SNF) neck flexor muscles between 10 individuals with neck pain (NP) and 10 painfree controls. M1 organisation was studied using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to a grid over the skull and surface electromyography of DNF (pharyngeal electrode) and SNF. Three‐dimensional maps of M1 representation of each muscle were generated. Peaks in the SNF map that represented the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and platysma muscles were identified. Unique centre of gravity (CoG)/map peaks were identified for the three muscles. In comparison to painfree controls, NP participants had more medial location of the CoG/peak of DNF, SCM, and platysma, greater mediolateral variation in DNF CoG (p = 0.02), fewer SNF and DNF map peaks (p = 0.01). These data show that neck flexor muscle M1 maps relate to trunk, neck, and face areas of the motor homunculus. Differences in M1 representation in NP have some similarities and some differences with observations for other musculoskeletal pain conditions. Despite the small sample size, our data did reveal differences and is comparable to other similar studies. The results of this study should be interpreted with consideration of methodological issues.
Marital conflict sensitizes mothers to infant irritability: A randomized controlled experiment
Authors: Hibel Leah C. , Buhler‐Wassmann Andrea C. , Trumbell Jill M. , Liu Siwei 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis study examines the impact of marital conflict and infant irritability on mother's emotional engagement during infant–mother interactions. Mothers (n = 117) were randomized to have either a positive (n = 57) or conflictual (n = 60) discussion with their marital partner. Mothers then interacted with their infants before (freeplay) and after (soothing) an infant‐focused stress task. Only for mothers who engaged in the conflict discussion was infant irritability associated with maternal emotional disengagement during the freeplay task. Conversely, infant irritability was associated with maternal disengagement for all mothers, regardless of marital discussion task, after the infant stressor. The experimental findings suggest marital conflict has an immediate causal influence on parenting, sensitizing mothers to disengage from their fussy infants. However, the challenge of soothing a distressed infant following the infant‐focused stressor may tax the emotional resources of mothers regardless of whether they had a conflictual or positive marital discussion.Highlights

We examined how the experience of marital conflict and infant irritability impacts maternal behavior.
After randomization into a marital conflict discussion (but not positive discussion), mothers disengaged from infant irritability; after an infant stress-task, all mothers disengaged from infant irritability.
Marital conflict and heightened infant irritability overwhelms maternal resources, encouraging maternal disengagement.
An assessment of the impact of multi‐route co‐exposures on human variability in toxicokinetics: A case study with binary and quaternary mixtures of volatile drinking water contaminants
Authors: Tohon Honesty , Valcke Mathieu , Haddad Sami 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis study aimed to assess the impact of multi‐route co‐exposures to chemicals on interindividual variability in toxicokinetics. Probabilistic physiologically based pharmacokinetic multi‐route interaction models were developed for adults and four younger subpopulations. Drinking water‐mediated multi‐route exposures were simulated for benzene alone or in co‐exposure with toluene, ethylbenzene and m‐xylene, for trichloroethylene or vinyl chloride (VC), alone and in mixture. These simulations were performed for “low” and “high” exposure scenarios, involving respectively the US EPA's short‐term drinking water health advisories, and 10 times these advisory values. Distributions of relevant internal dose metrics for benzene, trichloroethylene and VC were obtained using Monte Carlo simulations. Intergroup variability indexes (VI) were computed for the “low” (VIL) and “high” (VIH) exposure scenarios, as the ratio between the 95th percentile in each subpopulation over the median in adults. Thus, for benzene, parent compound's area under the curve‐based VIL for single exposures vs. co‐exposures correspondingly varied between 1.7 (teenagers) and 2.8 (infants) vs. 1.9 and 3.1 respectively. VIH varied between 2.5 and 3.5 vs. 2.9 and 4.1. Inversely, VIL and VIH for the amount of benzene metabolized via CYP2E1 pathway decreased in co‐exposure compared to single exposure. For VC and trichloroethylene, similar results were obtained for the “high” exposure, but “low” co‐exposures did not impact the toxicokinetics of individual substances. In conclusion, multi‐route co‐exposures can have an impact on the toxicokinetics of individual substances, but to an extent, that does not seem to challenge the default values attributed to the factors deemed at reflecting interindividual or child/adult differences in toxicokinetics.
Creep, recovery, and stress relaxation behavior of nanostructured bioactive calcium phosphate glass–POSS/polymer composites for bone implants studied under simulated physiological conditions
Authors: Belyamani Imane , Kim Kyoungtae , Rahimi Shahab Kashani , Sahukhal Gyan S. , Elasri Mohamed O. , Otaigbe Joshua U. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe creep and recovery and the stress relaxation behaviors of poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate) (PBAT) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) binary blends incorporating 30 wt % of a mixture of trisilanolisobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) and calcium phosphate glass (CaP‐g) were investigated under simulated physiological and human body temperature conditions. The synergistic effect of PHA and CaP‐g/POSS filler remarkably improved the creep behavior of the PBAT matrix and decreased its residual strain, consequently enhancing its elastic recovery. A considerable increase of the relaxation modulus of the hybrid materials was also observed upon incorporation of PHA and CaP‐g/POSS. The relaxation modulus of the neat PBAT sample increased from ~60 MPa to ~1600 MPa after addition of 30 wt % CaP‐g/POSS and 70 wt % PHA. However, after exposure of the composites to the simulated human body conditions for 14 days, a drop of dynamic mechanical properties of the studied material systems was observed along with formation of a desirable calcium phosphate phase on the material surface. The long‐term (i.e., up to 7 × 105 s) viscoelastic behavior of the studied materials was successfully predicted using the time–temperature superposition principle and the obtained creep strain and the relaxation modulus master curves were satisfactorily fitted to the Findley power law equation and the generalized Maxwell model, respectively. This study demonstrates a facile method for tailoring CaP‐g/POSS bioactive glasses composition for bone‐like apatite formation on biopolymer surfaces. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 2419–2432, 2019.
Analysis of differentially expressed genes in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis by integrated microarray analysis
Authors: Liu Feng‐Qi 
Published: March 2019

AbstractBackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) were two major types of joint diseases. This study aimed to explore the mechanism underlying OA and RA and analyze their difference by integrated analysis of multiple gene expression data sets.MethodsGene expression data sets of RA and OA were downloaded from The Gene Expression Omnibus. Shared and specific differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in RA and OA were identified by integrated analysis of multiple gene expression data sets. Functional annotation and protein‐protein interaction (PPI) network construction of OA‐ and RA‐specific DEGs were performed to further explore the molecular mechanisms underlying RA and OA and analyze the mechanism differences between them.ResultsCompared with normal controls, 3757 and 2598 DEGs were identified in RA and OA, respectively. Among them, 2176 DEGs were RA‐specific DEGs and 1017 DEGs were OA‐specific DEGs. Moreover, the expression of 17 DEGs played opposite pattern in RA and OA compared with normal controls. Chemokine signaling pathway and oxidative phosphorylation were significantly enriched pathways for RA‐ and OA‐specific DEGs, respectively. BIRC2 and CSNK1E were respective hub genes of RA‐ and OA‐specific PPI network.ConclusionOur findings provided clues for the specific mechanism and developing specific biomarkers for RA and OA.
Identification of esophageal cancer pathway deviation and construction of a diagnosis model using three kernel genes
Authors: Xue Wenhua , Fan Zhirui , Li Lifeng , Yan Dan , Shen Zhibo , Zhai Yunkai , Kan Quancheng , Zhao Jie 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to better understand the role of interleukin 35 (IL35) in esophageal carcinoma by comparing the mRNA level in Barrett's esophageal mucosa and in matched normal squamous mucosa and to understand how the diagnosis model works with two other genes: hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B (HNF1B) and cAMP responsive element binding protein 3‐like 1 (CREB3L1). By comparing carcinoma tissue and normal tissue samples, we extracted all the differentially expressed mRNAs. The bioinformatics analysis resulted in the discovery of three prominent genes. Eventually, the three genes were utilized to train a deep‐learning model. An additional wet experiment was conducted to validate the effect of IL35. All the differentially expressed genes were enriched into nine groups, each of which has specific biological functions. Given that the three significant genes HNF1B, CREB3L1, and IL35 as diagnostic features, a deep‐learning model was constructed, reaching an accuracy of 93% in the training set and 87% in the test set. Our findings suggest that IL35, along with the other two signatures, can distinguish esophageal tumor samples from normal samples precisely.
Integrated anaerobic codigestion system for the organic fraction of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge treatment: an Italian case study
Authors: Moretto Giulia , Ardolino Filomena , Piasentin Alberto , Girotto Luca , Cecchi Franco 
Published: March 2019

AbstractBackgroundThe production of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is growing continuously and is often directed to composting, an energy‐consuming approach. This study evaluates the advantages of an integrated treatment of waste and wastewater with the application of anaerobic codigestion technology.ResultsThe anaerobic codigestion process was monitored for 24 months in a full‐scale plant with a 2000 m3 digester. Steady‐state conditions were reached with an average biogas production of 1629 m3 day−1 and a specific gas production of 0.51 m3 kgVS−1 in mesophilic temperature range (37 °C). Electric energy coverage was equal to 49%, with a specific revenue calculated equal to 81.7 €/tOFMSW.ConclusionsIt was demonstrated that this technology is convenient from environmental, territorial and economic points of view. The territorial approach of organic waste treatment can be directed into more energy or matter recovery. In both cases this process is applicable and can allow waste valorization through energy production without costly investments. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry
Tissue Characterization of Atheromatous Plaques: Correlation Between Ultrasound Image and Histological Findings
Authors: Goes E. , Janssens W. , Maillet B. , Freson M. , Steyaert L. , Osteaux M. 
Published: March 2019

Fifty‐four atheromatous plaques of carotid arteries, obtained at autopsy, were scanned with a high‐resolution real‐time instrument, then histologically examined. Comparison between atherogenesis assessed first by histology then by ultrasonography allowed us to differentiate young from old plaques. An old plaque is characterized by a dense heterogeneous echo pattern and irregular borders or ulceration.Previous studies have shown a correlation between the presence of hemorrhage and ulceration of atheromatous plaques in the carotid, and the frequency of cerebral complications. Since these characteristics were mainly found in older plaques, we consider them to be the most important ones clinically.