bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patient‐Reported Disease Activity and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Harris Nathaniel , Eudy Amanda , Clowse Megan 
Published: June 2018

ObjectiveWhile increased rheumatic disease activity during pregnancy has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, this disease activity is typically assessed by physicians. Little is known, however, about the association between patient‐reported measures of disease activity and pregnancy outcomes. The aim of our study was to evaluate this association.MethodsUnivariate and multivariable regression models were used to assess the relationship between patient‐ and physician‐reported measures of disease activity and adverse pregnancy outcomes in 225 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The patients were enrolled from 2008–2016 in a prospective registry at a single academic center.ResultsIn women with RA, patient‐reported disease activity was associated with preterm birth (odds ratio [OR] 5.9 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.5, 23.9]) and gestational age in weeks (β = –1.5 [95% CI –2.6, –0.4]). The physician assessment of disease activity also predicted preterm (OR 2.1 [95% CI 1.2, 3.5]), small for gestational age births (OR 1.8 [95% CI 1.03, 3.1]), and gestational age in weeks (β = –0.6 [95% CI –0.9, –0.02]). Alternatively, in women with SLE, patient‐reported disease activity measures, including the Health Assessment Questionnaire, pain, or global health measures, were not associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, physician measures of SLE disease activity are associated with preterm birth (OR 2.9 [95% CI 1.3, 6.3]), cesarean delivery (OR 2.3 [95% CI 1.0, 5.3]), and preeclampsia (OR 2.8 [95% CI 1.3, 6.3]). The results did not appear to be driven by lupus nephritis or antiphospholipid syndrome.ConclusionFor women with RA, patient‐reported measures of disease activity were associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, and thus may be useful adjuncts to physician‐reported measures in identifying pregnancies at greater risk. In contrast, in SLE, while physician measures of disease activity helped predict several adverse pregnancy outcomes, no patient‐reported measures were associated with adverse outcomes.
A Formal [5+1] Annulation Reaction of Sulfur Ylides and 2‐(1H‐indol‐2‐yl)phenols: Access to Indole‐Fused 4H‐benzo[e][1,3]oxazines
Authors: Jia Penghao , Huang You 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe first sulfur ylides involved formal [5+1]‐annulation reaction was developed between prop‐2‐ynylsulfonium salts and 2‐(1H‐indol‐2‐yl)phenols. Prop‐2‐ynylsulfonium salt participates in the reaction with its β‐carbon atom and acts as a novel C1 synthon. Various indole‐fused 4H‐benzo[e][1,3]oxazines bearing a thioether moiety were constructed in good to high yields under mild conditions.magnified image
A Facile Method for Preparation of Polymer Particles Having a “Cylindrical” Shape
Authors: Li Wei , Suzuki Toyoko , Minami Hideto 
Published: June 2018

AbstractA facile and novel approach to prepare monodisperse polystyrene (PS) particles having a “cylindrical” shape was discovered. Spherical PS particles prepared by dispersion polymerization were stirred in a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) aqueous solution for several hours using a magnetic stirrer at room temperature. In the presence of PVP, the spherical PS particles deformed into cylindrical shapes following stirring; however, the particles did not deform in the absence of PVP. The deformation rate of the particles was affected by the molecular weight of the dissolved PVP. This stirring method is not only highly efficient and high yielding, but also applicable to other materials such as polymethyl methacrylate. Moreover, the cylindrical particles were successfully applied as particulate surfactants in a Pickering emulsion system, which exhibited excellent stability in comparison to a system using spherical particles as a surfactant. In the first case, the emulsion was left standing for more than 4 months.
Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of Dinitrogen to Ammonia at Ambient Temperature and Pressure over Iron Oxide Catalysts
Authors: Cui Xiaoyang , Tang Cheng , Liu Xiao‐Meng , Wang Chen , Ma Wenjun , Zhang Qiang 
Published: June 2018

AbstractThe catalytic conversion of dinitrogen (N2) into ammonia under ambient conditions represents one of the Holy Grails in sustainable chemistry. As a potential alternative to the Haber–Bosch process, the electrochemical reduction of N2 to NH3 is attractive owing to its renewability and flexibility, as well as its sustainability for producing and storing value‐added chemicals from the abundant feedstock of water and nitrogen on earth. However, owing to the kinetically complex and energetically challenging N2 reduction reaction (NRR) process, NRR electrocatalysts with high catalytic activity and high selectivity are rare. In this contribution, as a proof‐of‐concept, we demonstrate that both the NH3 yield and faradaic efficiency (FE) under ambient conditions can be improved by modification of the hematite nanostructure surface. Introducing more oxygen vacancies to the hematite surface renders an improved performance in NRR, which leads to an average NH3 production rate of 0.46 μg h−1 cm−2 and an NH3 FE of 6.04 % at −0.9 V vs. Ag/AgCl in 0.10 m KOH electrolyte. The durability of the electrochemical system was also investigated. A surprisingly high average NH3 production rate of 1.45 μg h−1 cm−2 and a NH3 FE of 8.28 % were achieved after the first 1 h chronoamperometry test. This is among the highest FEs reported so far for non‐precious‐metal catalysts that use a polymer‐electrolyte‐membrane cell and is much higher than the FE of precious‐metal catalysts (e.g., Ru/C) under comparable reaction conditions. However, the NH3 yield and the FE dropped to 0.29 μg h−1 cm−2 and 2.74 %, respectively, after 16 h of chronoamperometry tests, which indicates poor durability of the system. Our results demonstrate the important role that the surface states of transition‐metal oxides have in promoting electrocatalytic NRR under ambient conditions. This work may spur interest towards the rational design of electrocatalysts as well as electrochemical systems for NRR, with emphasis on the issue of stability.
Quantitative ultrastructural analysis of fibers expressing parvalbumin, calretinin, calbindin D‐28k, stage specific embryonic antigen‐4, and phosphorylated neurofilament 200 in the peripheral sensory root of the rat trigeminal ganglion
Authors: Bae Jin Young , Mun Cheol Ju , Kim Yun Sook , Ahn Dong Kuk , Bae Yong Chul 
Published: June 2018

AbstractParvalbumin (PV), calretinin (CR), calbindin D‐28k (CB), stage specific embryonic antigen‐4 (SSEA4), and phosphorylated neurofilament 200 (pNF200) have been commonly used as markers for primary afferent neurons with large myelinated (A) fibers but detailed information on the expression of these markers in specific primary afferent fiber types is still lacking. We here examined the fibers that express PV, CR, CB, SSEA4, and pNF200 in the trigeminal ganglion and its peripheral sensory root by light‐ and electron‐microscopic immunohistochemistry and quantitative analysis. We found that all CR‐immunopositive (+), CB+, and SSEA4+ fibers and virtually all (98.8%) PV+ fibers were myelinated, most CR+ fibers were large myelinated, whereas most CB+ and SSEA4+ fibers were small myelinated. One half of the PV+ fibers were small myelinated and the other half were large myelinated. Of all pNF200+ fibers, about a third each were small myelinated, large myelinated, and unmyelinated. These findings suggest that PV, CR, CB, and SSEA4 can be used as specific markers for primary afferent neurons with myelinated fibers, but that pNF200 is not suitable as a specific marker for primary afferent neurons with myelinated fibers, and also raise the possibility that PV, CR, CB, and SSEA4 may be expressed in both mechanoreceptive and nociceptive neurons.
Effects of nerve bundle geometry on neurotrauma evaluation
Authors: Cinelli Ilaria , Destrade Michel , McHugh Peter , Duffy Maeve 
Published: June 2018

AbstractObjectiveWe confirm that alteration of a neuron structure can induce abnormalities in signal propagation for nervous systems, as observed in brain damage. Here, we investigate the effects of geometrical changes and damage of a neuron structure in 2 scaled nerve bundle models, made of myelinated nerve fibers or unmyelinated nerve fibers.MethodsWe propose a 3D finite element model of nerve bundles, combining a real‐time full electromechanical coupling, a modulated threshold for spiking activation, and independent alteration of the electrical properties for each fiber. With the inclusion of plasticity, we then simulate mechanical compression and tension to induce damage at the membrane of a nerve bundle made of 4 fibers. We examine the resulting changes in strain and neural activity by considering in turn the cases of intact and traumatized nerve membranes.ResultsOur results show lower strain and lower electrophysiological impairments in unmyelinated fibers than in myelinated fibers, higher deformation levels in larger bundles, and higher electrophysiological impairments in smaller bundles.ConclusionWe conclude that the insulation sheath of myelin constricts the membrane deformation and scatters plastic strains within the bundle, that larger bundles deform more than small bundles, and that small fibers tolerate a higher level of elongation before mechanical failure.
Amphiphilic Y shaped miktoarm star copolymer for anticancer hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs codelivery: Synthesis, characterization, in vitro, and in vivo biocompatibility study
Authors: Aghajanzadeh Mozhgan , Zamani Mostafa , Rashidzadeh Hamid , Rostamizadeh Kobra , Sharafi Ali , Danafar Hossein 
Published: June 2018

AbstractIn this project, a core‐shell polymersome based on miktoarm star‐copolymer:methoxy poly‐ethylene glycol‐lysine‐(poly‐caprolactone)2 was synthesized by a new method as controlled targeted drug delivery systems for codelivery of the chemotherapeutic methotrexate (MTX) and curcumin (CUR). Some properties of these nanocarriers (NCs), such as surface morphology, structure, surface charge, stability, and biocompatibility, were evaluated by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, dynamic scanning colorimetry, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, critical aggregation concentration, hemolysis test, MTT assay, and lethal dose 50 (LD50). The AFM results showed that the uniform spherical morphology of NCs have an average size of about ∼60 nm. The drug loading of NCs was about 14.13 and 10.93% for CUR and MTX, respectively. The NCs revealed pH‐sensitivity in drug release. The release of drugs from miktoarm‐based NCs in neutral pH was lower than in acidic medium because of faster degradation of polymersome in acidic environment. MTT assay results showed that the drug‐loaded NCs did not show significant toxicity due to which cell viability maintain over 82% at 300 μg/mL concentration. Also, synthesized miktoarm showed hemolysis lower than 3%. This result was repeated in LD50, and all mice which treat with 5000 mg/kg were still alive after 24 h. These result confirmed safety of miktoarm star copolymer. Eventually, the goal of this study is the application of water‐soluble star copolymers miktoarm with pH dependent release properties for designing a new drug delivery carrier and using CUR for enhancing anticancer properties of MTX. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 2817–2826, 2018.
Metabolite assignment of ultrafiltered synovial fluid extracted from knee joints of reactive arthritis patients using high resolution NMR spectroscopy
Authors: Dubey Durgesh , Chaurasia Smriti , Guleria Anupam , Kumar Sandeep , Modi Dinesh Raj , Misra Ramnath , Kumar Dinesh 
Published: June 2018

AbstractCurrently, there are no reliable biomarkers available that can aid early differential diagnosis of reactive arthritis (ReA) from other inflammatory joint diseases. Metabolic profiling of synovial fluid (SF)—obtained from joints affected in ReA—holds great promise in this regard and will further aid monitoring treatment and improving our understanding about disease mechanism. As a first step in this direction, we report here the metabolite specific assignment of 1H and 13C resonances detected in the NMR spectra of SF samples extracted from human patients with established ReA. The metabolite characterization has been carried out on both normal and ultrafiltered (deproteinized) SF samples of eight ReA patients (n = 8) using high‐resolution (800 MHz) 1H and 1H─13C NMR spectroscopy methods such as one‐dimensional 1H CPMG and two‐dimensional J‐resolved1H NMR and homonuclear 1H─1H TOCSY and heteronuclear1H─13C HSQC correlation spectra. Compared with normal SF samples, several distinctive 1H NMR signals were identified and assigned to metabolites in the 1H NMR spectra of ultrafiltered SF samples. Overall, we assigned 53 metabolites in normal filtered SF and 64 metabolites in filtered pooled SF sample compared with nonfiltered SF samples for which only 48 metabolites (including lipid/membrane metabolites as well) have been identified. The established NMR characterization of SF metabolites will serve to guide future metabolomics studies aiming to identify/evaluate the SF‐based metabolic biomarkers of diagnostic/prognostic potential or seeking biochemical insights into disease mechanisms in a clinical perspective.
Design of a compact microstrip power‐divider diplexer with simple layout
Authors: Zhang Gang , Qian Zhenyao , Yang Jiquan 
Published: June 2018

A new design of microstrip power‐divider (PD) diplexer with simple layout is presented. The proposed design is directly formed up by two independently designed dual‐mode filtering PDs without any additional matching network at the common port, thus bringing significant design flexibility and size reduction to the design process. For validation, a prototype PD diplexer working at 2.45 and 2.98 GHz is finally implemented and measured. Measured results agree well with the simulated ones. Results indicate that the PD diplexer exhibits sharp passband selectivity, good port‐to‐port isolation and high channel isolation, which is very attractive for applying to the multi‐standard wireless communication systems.
Neoadjuvant Radiotherapy: Changing the Treatment Sequence to Allow Immediate Free Autologous Breast Reconstruction
Authors: Neoh Derek , Hughes Kimberley 
Published: June 2018

Background Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) is traditionally treated with a multimodal approach of chemotherapy, surgery, and postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT). The advantages of immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) are well described and include improved aesthetic outcomes, fewer surgical procedures, shorter treatment period, and a higher quality of life. However, this sequence makes immediate free autologous reconstruction more challenging as PMRT can have deleterious and unpredictable effects on the flap. We have reversed this treatment sequence with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, followed by mastectomy and immediate free autologous reconstruction. To our knowledge, this is the first series to assess the outcomes of neoadjuvant radiotherapy on immediate free microvascular breast reconstruction.
Methods A review of patients with LABC who underwent immediate free autologous breast reconstruction post neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy between 2013 and 2017 was conducted. All reconstructions were performed by a single reconstructive team. The primary end points were flap failure and surgical complications. Secondary end points were pathological response rate and disease recurrence.
Results A total of 40 women with an average age of 48.1 (36–61) and average body mass index of 25.6 (18–37) were included. The most common choice of flap was immediate deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP, 31), followed by transverse or diagonal upper gracilis (5), muscle-sparing transversus abdominis (3), and stacked DIEP (1). Our major complication rate was 12.5% and minor complication 15%. There were no cases of local recurrence and only three cases (7.5%) of distant disease progression.
Conclusion From our experience, this treatment sequence allows patients to have an immediate gold standard reconstruction without an increase in surgical morbidity. It affords the benefits of IBR without concern in delaying adjuvant therapy and appears to be safe from an oncological perspective.
PASTA for proteins
Authors: Collins Kodi , Warnow Tandy 
Published: June 2018

AbstractSummaryPASTA is a multiple sequence method that uses divide-and-conquer plus iteration to enable base alignment methods to scale with high accuracy to large sequence datasets. By default, PASTA included MAFFT L-INS-i; our new extension of PASTA enables the use of MAFFT G-INS-i, MAFFT Homologs, CONTRAlign and ProbCons. We analyzed the performance of each base method and PASTA using these base methods on 224 datasets from BAliBASE 4 with at least 50 sequences. We show that PASTA enables the most accurate base methods to scale to larger datasets at reduced computational effort, and generally improves alignment and tree accuracy on the largest BAliBASE datasets.Availability and implementationPASTA is available at https://github.com/kodicollins/pasta and has also been integrated into the original PASTA repository at https://github.com/smirarab/pasta.Supplementary informationSupplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Race and Gender Are Associated with Opioid Dose Reduction Among Patients on Chronic Opioid Therapy
Authors: Buonora Michele , Perez Hector R , Heo Moonseong , Cunningham Chinazo O , Starrels Joanna L 
Published: June 2018

AbstractObjectiveAmong patients with chronic pain, risk of opioid use is elevated with high opioid dose or concurrent benzodiazepine use. This study examined whether these clinical factors, or sociodemographic factors of race and gender, are associated with opioid dose reduction.Design and SettingA retrospective cohort study of outpatients prescribed chronic opioid therapy between 2007 and 2012 within a large, academic health care system in Bronx, New York, using electronic medical record data. Included patients were prescribed a stable dose of chronic opioid therapy over a one-year “baseline period” and did not have cancer.MethodsThe primary outcome was opioid dose reduction (≥30% reduction from baseline) within two years. Multivariable logistic regression tested the associations of two clinical variables (baseline daily opioid dose and concurrent benzodiazepine prescription) and two sociodemographic variables (race/ethnicity and gender) with opioid dose reduction.ResultsOf 1,097 patients, 463 (42.2%) had opioid dose reduction. High opioid dose (≥100 morphine-milligram equivalents [MME]) was associated with lower odds of opioid dose reduction compared with an opioid dose <100 MME (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.54–0.89). Concurrent benzodiazepine prescription was not associated with opioid dose reduction. Black (vs white) race and female (vs male) gender were associated with greater odds of opioid dose reduction (AOR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.22–2.70; and AOR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.11–1.83, respectively).ConclusionsBlack race and female gender were associated with greater odds of opioid dose reduction, whereas clinical factors of high opioid dose and concurrent benzodiazepine prescription were not. Efforts to reduce opioid dose should target patients based on clinical factors and address potential biases in clinical decision-making.
Immune gene diversity in archaic and present-day humans
Authors: Reher David , Key Felix M. , Andrés Aida M. , Kelso Janet 
Published: June 2018

Genome-wide analyses of two Neandertals and a Denisovan have shown that these archaic humans had lower genetic heterozygosity than present-day people. A similar reduction in genetic diversity of protein-coding genes (gene diversity) was found in exome sequences of three Neandertals. Reduced gene diversity, and particularly in genes involved in immunity, may have important functional consequences. In fact, it has been suggested that reduced diversity in immune genes may have contributed to Neandertal extinction. We therefore explored gene diversity in different human groups and at different time points on the Neandertal lineage with a particular focus on the diversity of genes involved in innate immunity and genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC).We find that the two Neandertals and the Denisovan have similar gene diversity, both significantly lower than any present-day human. This is true across gene categories, with no gene set showing an excess decrease in diversity compared to the genome-wide average. Innate immune-related genes show a similar reduction in diversity to other genes, both in present-day and archaic humans. There is also no observable decrease in gene diversity over time in Neandertals, suggesting that there may have been no ongoing reduction in gene diversity in later Neandertals, although this needs confirmation with a larger sample size. In both archaic and present-day humans, genes with the highest levels of diversity are enriched for MHC-related functions. In fact, in archaic humans the MHC genes show evidence of having retained more diversity than genes involved only in the innate immune system.
Demographic response to patch destruction in a spatially structured amphibian population
Authors: Cayuela Hugo , Besnard Aurélien , Quay Ludivine , Helder Rémi , Léna Jean‐Paul , Joly Pierre , Pichenot Julian 
Published: June 2018

AbstractEconomic activities such as logging and mineral extraction can result in the creation of new anthropogenic habitats that host specific biodiversity, including protected species. However, the legislation in many Western European countries requires the rehabilitation of “damaged” areas following logging and mining operations, which can eliminate these early successional habitats. Conservation managers face a dilemma in these situations, but often lack knowledge about the impacts of environmental rehabilitation on the population dynamics of pioneer species and so are unable to take this into account in their actions.We investigated the demography of a spatially structured population of an endangered amphibian (Bombina variegata) that uses waterbodies created by logging activities as breeding sites. Using capture–recapture (CR) data collected during a 9‐year study period, we examined how the destruction of breeding patches due to environmental rehabilitation affected adult survival and the long‐term population growth rate. For this purpose, we used recently developed capture–recapture multievent models to estimate survival and dispersal rates in the spatially structured population. We then used these estimates to simulate population trajectories and viability depending on differing frequency of breeding patch destruction.The multievent models revealed that dispersal not resulting from patch loss was relatively high and was sex biased. They also highlighted that patch destruction had a negative impact on adult survival. Moreover, simulations showed that the increase in patch destruction frequency had a strong negative influence on the population growth rate, even when the number of patches remained constant over time. This impact was intensified if female fecundity was also affected.Synthesis and applications. Our study quantifies for the first time the detrimental effect of habitat rehabilitation on the population dynamics of an endangered, pioneer species. Our results show that this deleterious impact of patch destruction could be reduced by certain management practices, such as avoiding the systematic rehabilitation of the breeding patches and compensating for patch destruction by creating substitute breeding patches.