bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Nap‐mediated benefit to implicit information processing across age using an affective priming paradigm
Authors: Shaikh Netasha , Coulthard Elizabeth 
Published: July 2018

AbstractUnderstanding how sleep‐related information processing affects behaviour may allow targeted cognitive enhancement to improve quality of life. Previous evidence demonstrates that implicitly‐presented cues are processed during subsequent sleep, resulting in enhanced cognition upon waking. We used a masked priming task to investigate this further. To assess sleep‐mediated effects on reactions to implicitly presented primes, participants performed an Affective Priming Task pre‐and‐post 90 min of sleep, compared with an equal period of wakefulness. The Choice Reaction Time Task—a similar binary choice task but without the implicit aspect—was used as a control. Sixteen healthy participants across a range of ages were tested and sleep monitored using electroencephalogram. In stark contrast to the control task, in the Affective Priming Task reaction times significantly improved across all prime types after sleep, but not an equal period of wake. There was no significant change in reaction times on Choice Reaction Time Task after wakefulness or sleep. Rather than a general suppression of all primes, the data are more in keeping with specific strategic optimisation of prime processing during sleep. We plan future work to probe the mechanisms and neuroanatomical substrate of sleep‐mediated prime processing.
Inherent Aspect and L1 Transfer in the L2 Acquisition of Spanish Grammatical Aspect
Authors: GONZÁLEZ PAZ , QUINTANA HERNÁNDEZ LUCÍA 
Published: July 2018

AbstractThe aim of this article is to show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by inherent aspect depending on the learner's first language (L1). It considers both the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH; Andersen, 1986, and his followers) and the L1 Transfer Hypothesis (Izquierdo & Collins, 2008; McManus, 2015), and it compares the use of Spanish past tenses by L1 Dutch and L1 English learners at first stages of acquisition. Differences in grammatical aspect in both L1 and the second language (L2) predict that learners will have difficulties acquiring grammatical differences such as the contrast between the Preterit and the Imperfect. Recent studies claim that not all learners are biased by the traditional Vendlerian lexical aspect typology (Domínguez et al., 2013; González, 2013), which may mean that refinement of the LAH is necessary. For our study, L1 English and Dutch learners of Spanish performed the same written production task, which involved the retelling of a story after watching a muted video. The results, based on an approximate binomial distribution analysis, show that the use of both the Preterit and the Imperfect by English‐speaking learners is biased by dynamicity contrasts. Furthermore, their overuse of Preterit to complete the written task shows L1 transfer from the English past tense, which can be uttered in perfective and imperfective contexts. On the other hand, the results of L1 Dutch speakers show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by the terminative‐durative classification, and that they prefer the Present Perfect in perfective contexts, also showing L1 transfer.
Differences in maternal smoking across successive pregnancies – dose‐dependent relation to BMI z‐score in the offspring: an individual patient data (IPD) meta‐analysis
Authors: Albers L. , von Kries R. , Sobotzki C. , Gao H. J. , Buka S. L. , Clifton V. L. , Grzeskowiak L. E. , Oken E. , Paus T. , Pausova Z. , Rifas‐Shiman S. L. , Sharma A. J. , Gilman S. E. 
Published: July 2018

SummaryIntroductionUncontrolled family factors may bias the estimation of the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring body mass index (BMI). The objective was to assess if there is an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring BMI z‐score independent of factors in the siblings' shared environment and if such association is linear.MethodsWe performed an individual patient data meta‐analysis using five studies providing sibling data (45,299 children from 14,231 families). In a multi‐level model, separating within‐family and between‐family effects and with random intercept for families, we analysed the dose–response association between maternal number of cigarettes per day during pregnancy and offspring's BMI z‐score using B‐splines to allow for non‐linear associations.ResultsA linear within‐family effect for number of cigarettes smoked in the range from 1 to 30 cigarettes per day on the offspring's BMI z‐score was observed. Each additional cigarette per day between sibling pregnancies resulted in an increase in BMI z‐score of 0.007 (95% CI [0.006, 0.009]). A between family‐effect emerged only with doses ≥25 cigarettes per day.ConclusionsThe number of cigarettes mothers smoke per day during pregnancy is positively associated with offspring BMI z‐score even among siblings, suggesting that the association is not entirely explained by confounding by family factors.
Metabotype variation in a field population of tansy plants influences aphid host selection
Authors: Clancy Mary V. , Zytynska Sharon E. , Moritz Franco , Witting Michael , Schmitt‐Kopplin Philippe , Weisser Wolfgang W. , Schnitzler Jörg‐Peter 
Published: July 2018

AbstractIt is well known that plant volatiles influence herbivores in their selection of a host plant; however, less is known about how the nonvolatile metabolome affects herbivore host selection. Metabolic diversity between intraspecific plants can be characterized using non‐targeted mass spectrometry that gives us a snapshot overview of all metabolic processes occurring within a plant at a particular time. Here, we show that non‐targeted metabolomics can be used to reveal links between intraspecific chemical diversity and ecological processes in tansy (Tanacetum vulgare). First, we show that tansy plants can be categorized into five subgroups based up on their metabolic profiles, and that these “metabotypes” influenced natural aphid colonization in the field. Second, this grouping was not due to induced metabolomic changes within the plant due to aphid feeding but rather resulted from constitutive differences in chemical diversity between plants. These findings highlight the importance of intraspecific chemical diversity within one plant population and provide the first report of a non‐targeted metabolomic field study in chemical ecology.
Inducible nitric oxide synthase controls experimental Strongyloides infection
Authors: Rodrigues Rosângela Maria , Gonçalves Ana Lúcia Ribeiro , Silva Neide Maria , Cardoso Cristina Ribeiro de Barros , Araújo Natália Rodrigues , Coutinho Loyane Bertagnolli , Alves Ronaldo , Ueta Marlene Tiduko , Costa‐Cruz Julia Maria 
Published: July 2018

SummaryInfection with Strongyloides sp. induces a host immune response, predominantly the Th2 type, that is able to eliminate the parasite. However, little is known about the role of the nitric oxide (NO) mediator, induced by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS), in strongyloidiasis. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the immune response of mice genetically deficient in the enzyme inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS−/−), infected with Strongyloides venezuelensis. C57BL/6 wild‐type (WT) and iNOS−/− mice were individually inoculated by subcutaneous injection of 3000 S. venezuelensis L3 larvae. In the absence of iNOS, mice were more susceptible to the infection than WT animals, in which the parasite was completely eliminated. The overall production of cytokines and specific IgG, IgG1 or IgE antibodies against the parasite was significantly lowered in infected iNOS−/− mice. The expression of iNOS was observed in the intestine of WT hosts but mainly in the wall of the parasite, despite the presence of iNOS in mice. Altogether, we concluded that iNOS expression may play an important role in the control of S. venezuelensis infection.
Culture: The Driving Force of Human Cognition
Authors: Colagè Ivan , d'Errico Francesco 
Published: July 2018

AbstractIt is often, though sometimes only implicitly, assumed that biological/genetic evolution sets neural substrates, that neural substrates fix cognitive abilities, and that cognitive abilities determine the spectrum of cultural practices exhibited by a biological species. We label this view as the “bottom‐up‐only” view. In this paper we will show that such a “chain of dependence” is much looser than usually assumed, especially as far as recent periods (the last 800,000 years vs. the last 7 million years or more) are considered. We will provide evidence and arguments supporting the idea that cultural innovation may have direct and ascertainable effects both on the cognitive capabilities of populations of hominins (via what we call “cultural exaptation”) and on the neural substrates of the individuals in those populations (via what we call “cultural neural reuse”). Together, cultural exaptation and cultural neural reuse may give raise to a plausible general mechanism for cognitive evolution in which culture is the driving force, thus offering a “top‐down‐also” view of human evolution.
Foreword to BIOMATH 2017 Proceedings: Some comments on mathematical modelling and biomathematics.
Authors: Banasiak Jacek 
Published: July 2018

Both biology and mathematics have existed as well established branches of science for hundreds of years and both, maybe not in a well defined way, have been with the humankind for a couple of thousands of years. Though nature was studied by the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian subcontinent and China, the origins of modern biology are typically traced back to the ancient Greece, where Aristotle (384-322 BC) contributed most extensively to its development. Similarly, the ancient Babylonians were able to solve quadratic equation over four millennia ago and we can see the development of mathematical methods in all ancient civilisations, notably in China and on the Indian subcontinent. However, possibly again the Greeks were the first who studied mathematics for its own sake, as a collection of abstract objects and relations between them. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the development of such a mathematics has not required any external stimuli, an amazing feature of the human mind is that a large number of abstract mathematical constructs has proved to be very well suited for describing natural phenomena.This prompted Eugene Wigner to write his famous article The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, ...
Good performance of liver stiffness measurement in the prediction of postoperative hepatic decompensation in patients with cirrhosis complicated with hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Procopet Bogdan , Fischer Petra , Horhat Adelina , Mois Emil , Stefanescu Horia , Comsa Mihai , Graur Florin , Bartos Adrian , Lupsor-Platon Monica , Badea Radu , Grigorescu Mircea , Tantau Marcel , Sparchez Zeno , Al Hajjar Nadim 
Published: July 2018

The evaluation of patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) referred for liver resection is still a matter of debate. Aims: 1) to compare liver stiffness measurement (LSM) by transient elastography with hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) in the prediction of decompensation after liver resection in patients with cirrhosis and early HCC; 2) to identify which definition for posthepatectomy liver failure is better associated with survival.Material and methods: Fifty-one patients (MELD score of 10±3) were included. In this group, 34 patients underwent HVPG measurement, of which 13 (38%) had clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) and 35 patients underwent LSM (21.8±17.9 kPa). The study’s end-points were: posthepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) defined according to International Study Group of Liver Surgery criteria and 3-month decompensation defined as de novo ascites, variceal bleeding, jaundice, hepatic encephalopathy and acute kidney injury. The performance of LSM compared to HVPG in predicting the end-points were assessed by AUROC curves and accuracy.Results: Twenty (39%) patients developed PHLF and 15 (29%) developed decompensationat 3 months. Three-month decompensation tended to be better correlated with survival. LSM performed well in predicting decompensation at 3 months (AUROC=0.78, 95%CI: 0.63-0.94; p=0.01), comparable with HVPG (AUROC=0.89, 95%CI: 0.79-1.00; p<0.01) (DeLong test p=0.21). LSM was not sufficiently accurate to predict PHLF.Conclusion: LSM has a similar performance to HVPG in predicting decompensation at 3 months in patients with early HCC submitted to liver resection. Three-month decompensation is better associated with survival.
Novel Insights into Selection for Antibiotic Resistance in Complex Microbial Communities
Authors: Murray Aimee K. , Zhang Lihong , Yin Xiaole , Zhang Tong , Buckling Angus , Snape Jason , Gaze William H. 
Published: July 2018

ABSTRACT

Recent research has demonstrated that selection for antibiotic resistance occurs at very low antibiotic concentrations in single-species experiments, but the relevance of these findings when species are embedded in complex microbial communities is unclear. We show that the strength of selection for naturally occurring resistance alleles in a complex community remains constant from low subinhibitory to above clinically relevant concentrations. Selection increases with antibiotic concentration before reaching a plateau where selection remains constant over a 2-order-magnitude concentration range. This is likely to be due to cross protection of the susceptible bacteria in the community following rapid extracellular antibiotic degradation by the resistant population, shown experimentally through a combination of chemical quantification and bacterial growth experiments. Metagenome and 16S rRNA analyses of sewage-derived bacterial communities evolved under cefotaxime exposure show preferential enrichment for
bla
CTX-M
genes over all other beta-lactamase genes, as well as positive selection and co-selection for antibiotic resistant, opportunistic pathogens. These findings have far-reaching implications for our understanding of the evolution of antibiotic resistance, by challenging the long-standing assumption that selection occurs in a dose-dependent manner.

IMPORTANCE
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest global issues facing society. Still, comparatively little is known about selection for resistance at very low antibiotic concentrations. We show that the strength of selection for clinically important resistance genes within a complex bacterial community can remain constant across a large antibiotic concentration range (wide selective space). Therefore, largely understudied ecological compartments could be just as important as clinical environments for selection of antibiotic resistance.
Announcement of 2019 Keystone Symposia Conference: “Microbiome: Chemical Mechanisms and Biological Consequences”
Authors: Balskus Emily P. , Turnbaugh Peter J. , Wolan Dennis W. 
Published: July 2018

The Keystone Symposia will be hosting a conference organized by Emily Balskus, Peter Turnbaugh, and Dennis Wolan entitled “Microbiome: Chemical Mechanisms and Biological Consequences” 10 to 14 March 2019 in Montreal, Québec, Canada. Our goal for this meeting is to focus attention on the intersection of chemistry and biology by bringing together scientists in these two disciplines, while also including talks about other hosts, environmental microbiomes, and multidisciplinary research platforms.
Psychosocial work characteristics, burnout, psychological morbidity symptoms and early retirement intentions: a cross-sectional study of NHS consultants in the UK
Authors: Khan Atir , Teoh Kevin RH , Islam Saiful , Hassard Juliet 
Published: July 2018

ObjectivesThe objectives of this study are twofold. First, to examine the direct effect of psychosocial work characteristics (as measured by job autonomy and work-related pressure) in relation to self-reported psychological morbidity symptoms and early retirement intentions among a sample of hospital consultants in the National Health Service (NHS). Second, to investigate burnout as mediating variable (ie, indirect effect) of these postulated associations.DesignA cross-sectional observational study.Participants593 NHS consultants (male=63.1%) from hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales.MeasuresSelf-reported online questionnaires on work-related pressure and job autonomy (Job Demands-Resources Questionnaire); emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation (Maslach Burnout Inventory); depressive and anxiety symptoms (State Trait Personality Inventory) and a single-item on early retirement intention.ResultsThis study observed high prevalence rates across all adverse health measures: emotional exhaustion (38.7%), depersonalisation (20.7%), anxiety symptoms (43.1%) and depressive symptoms (36.1%). Multiple linear regressions examined the postulated direct and indirect effects. Job autonomy had significant negative direct effects on the frequency of NHS consultants’ anxiety and depressive symptoms, and their intention to retire early. Both emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation mediated the relationships that work-related pressure (full mediation) and job autonomy (partial mediation) had with self-reported symptoms of psychological morbidities. Only emotional exhaustion mediated the relationships where early retirement intention was the outcome. In terms of sociodemographic factors, age and years’ experience predicted both burnout dimensions and psychological morbidity.ConclusionsThis is the first study to observe job autonomy to be associated with the number of self-reported psychological morbidity symptoms and early retirement intentions in a sample of NHS consultants. Burnout dimensions mediated these relationships, indicating that interventions need to focus on enhancing working conditions and addressing burnout among NHS consultants before more severe symptoms of psychological morbidity are reported. This study has implications for NHS policy makers and senior leadership.
Selection of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes from a large electronic medical records database and a study of the use of disease-modifying therapy in the United States
Authors: Ma Xiaomei , Steensma David P , Scott Bart L , Kiselev Pavel , Sugrue Mary M , Swern Arlene S 
Published: July 2018

ObjectivesTreatment patterns for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) outside clinical trials are not well described. Our objective was to evaluate treatment patterns and patient characteristics that influence time to disease-modifying therapy in patients with MDS in the USA.Design, participants and outcome measuresPatients with MDS treated with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), iron chelation therapy, lenalidomide (LEN) and the hypomethylating agents (HMAs) azacitidine and decitabine, were retrospectively identified in the GE Centricity Electronic Medical Record database between January 2006 and February 2014; LEN and HMAs were defined as ‘disease-modifying’ therapies. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to ascertain patient characteristics associated with time to disease-modifying therapy.ResultsOf the 5162 patients with MDS, 35.7%, 40.3% and 4.6% received 1, ≥1 and ≥2 therapies, respectively. ESAs were the first-line (72.5%) and only (64.0%) treatment in the majority of patients who received ≥1 therapy. ESA-only patients were older and had more comorbidities, including isolated anaemia. LEN and HMAs were first-line treatment in 12.4% of patients each; 32.7% received LEN or HMAs at any time. The majority of del(5q) patients (77.6%) received ≥1 therapy, most commonly LEN, compared with 40% of patients without del(5q). A shorter time to disease-modifying therapy was significantly associated with absence of comorbidities, diagnosis after February 2008, lower baseline haemoglobin level, age <80 years and male gender (p<0.002 for all).ConclusionsA high proportion of patients diagnosed with MDS in the USA do not receive approved disease-modifying therapies. It is important to improve access to these therapies.
Differences in risk factors and chronic conditions between informal (family) carers and non-carers using a population-based cross-sectional survey in South Australia
Authors: Stacey Anne F , Gill Tiffany K , Price Kay , Taylor Anne W 
Published: July 2018

BackgroundThere is growing discussion on the impact of informal caregiving on the health status and morbidity of family carers. Evidence suggests a proportion of carers may be at risk of poor health outcomes. However, there are limited population-based studies that provide representative data on specific risk factors among carers (eg, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking status, activity and body mass index) and major chronic conditions (eg, asthma, diabetes and arthritis). This study aimed to redress that imbalance.MethodSelf-reported data were from the South Australian Monitoring and Surveillance System (SAMSS), a representative cross-sectional state-wide population-based survey of 600 randomly selected persons per month. SAMSS uses computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) to monitor chronic health-related problems and risk factors and to assess health outcomes. In total, 2247 family carers were identified from 35 195 participants aged 16 years and older for the 5-year period from 2010 to 2015. Logistic regression analyses examined associations of being a carer with self-reported chronic diseases and health risk factors. In addition, the population attributable risk (PAR) of being a carer was examined for selected chronic conditions.ResultsThe prevalence of carers was 6.4%, and peak age group for carers was 50–59 years. Adjusted ORs for chronic conditions in carers were significant for all chronic conditions examined. Although there is a high prevalence of self-reported risk factors and chronic conditions among carers compared with non-carers at the population level, PAR findings suggest that caregiving is associated with a small to moderate increased risk of having these chronic conditions.ConclusionsMonitoring of carer health and morbidity particularly ‘at risk’ individuals such as female carers with asthma or diabetes remains important and provides an ongoing baseline for future surveys. To achieve this, caregiver-based studies need to become part of mainstream biomedical research at both epidemiological and clinical levels.