bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Submicron Crystals of the Parkinson’s Disease Substantia nigra: Calcium Oxalate, Titanium Dioxide and Iron Oxide
Authors: Heller Adam , Coffman Sheryl S. 
Published: January 2019

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) results of the death of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. When activated, the NLRP3 inflammasome of phagocytes releases inflammatory agents, their release resulting in the death of proximal cells. The hallmark protein of PD, aggregated α-synuclein, is phagocytized and activates the NLRP3 inflammasome. Because crystalline particles are known to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome, to enhance α-synuclein expression and aggregation in dopaminergic neurons and because their facets may mis-template adsorbed α-synuclein, we probe here, by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), four human PD substantia nigra specimens for their crystalline particles. Samples weighing 5 mg of PD stages 1, 2, 4 and 5 were processed by proteolysis and centrifugation. TEM-grids were dipped in the centrifugate diluted to 1 mL and the dried films were searched for crystalline particles. Two types of crystalline particles, known to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome were found. Endogenous calcium oxalate, a downstream product of ascorbate and dopamine oxidation-produced hydrogen peroxide; and TiO2, the with pigment of foods and medications. The number-density of the NLRP-inflammasome activating crystalline particles found approached the reported about-equal number-densities of microglia and neuronal cells in the brain.The observations of COD and protein-coated TiO2 support two putative feedback loops, both leading to dopaminergic neuron death. In one, polymeric oxidized-dopamine catalyst accelerates H2O2-generation, the H2O2 indirectly oxidizing ascorbate in an ascorbate-fueled, oxalate-generating, loop the excess oxalate precipitating the subsequently inflammasome-activating COD crystals; In the second, protein-adsorbing facets of TiO2 mis-template the aggregation of α-synuclein to produce inflammasome-activating mis-folded α-synuclein.
Oceanic salt spray and herbivore pressure contribute to local adaptation of coastal perennial and inland annual ecotypes of the Seep Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus)
Authors: Popovic Damian , Lowry David B. 
Published: January 2019

ABSTRACTIdentifying the environmental factors responsible for natural selection across different habitats is crucial for understanding the process of local adaptation. Despite its importance, only a few studies have successfully isolated the environmental factors driving local adaptation in nature. In this study, we evaluated the agents of selection responsible local adaptation of the monkeyflower Mimulus guttatus to coastal and inland habitats in California. We implemented a manipulative field reciprocal transplant experiment at coastal and inland sites, where we excluded aboveground stressors in an effort to elucidate their role in the evolution of local adaptation. We found that excluding these stressors, most likely a combination of salt spray and herbivory, completely rescued inland plant fitness when transplanted to coastal habitat. In contrast, the exclosures in inland habitat provided limited fitness benefit for either coastal or inland plants. We have previously established that low soil water availability belowground is the most important agent of selection in inland habitat. Therefore, our study demonstrates that a distinct set of selective agents are responsible for local adaptation at opposite ends of an environmental gradient.
A Spiking Neuron and Population Model based on the Growth Transform Dynamical System
Authors: Gangopadhyay Ahana , Mehta Darshit , Chakrabartty Shantanu 
Published: January 2019

AbstractIn neuromorphic engineering, neural populations are generally modeled in a bottom-up manner, where individual neuron models are connected through synapses to form large-scale spiking networks. Alternatively, a top-down approach treats the process of spike generation and neural representation of excitation in the context of minimizing some measure of network energy. However, these approaches usually define the energy functional in terms of some statistical measure of spiking activity (ex. firing rates), which does not allow independent control and optimization of neurodynamical parameters. In this paper, we introduce a new spiking neuron and population model where the dynamical and spiking responses of neurons can be derived directly from a network objective or energy functional of continuous-valued neural variables like the membrane potential. The key advantage of the model is that it allows for independent control over three neuro-dynamical properties: (a) control over the steady-state population dynamics that encodes the minimum of an exact network energy functional; (b) control over the shape of the action potentials generated by individual neurons in the network without affecting the network minimum; and (c) control over spiking statistics and transient population dynamics without affecting the network minimum or the shape of action potentials. At the core of the proposed model are different variants of Growth Transform dynamical systems that produce stable and interpretable population dynamics, irrespective of the network size and the type of neuronal connectivity (inhibitory or excitatory). In this paper, we present several examples where the proposed model has been configured to produce different types of single-neuron dynamics as well as population dynamics. In one such example, the network is shown to adapt such that it encodes the steady-state solution using a reduced number of spikes upon convergence to the optimal solution. In this paper we use this network to construct a spiking associative memory that uses fewer spikes compared to conventional architectures, while maintaining high recall accuracy at high memory loads.
Compartmentalized Biosynthesis of Mycophenolic Acid
Authors: Zhang Wei , Du Lei , Qu Zepeng , Zhang Xingwang , Li Fengwei , Li Zhong , Qi Feifei , Wang Xiao , Jiang Yuanyuan , Men Ping , Sun Jingran , Cao Shaona , Geng Ce , Qi Fengxia , Wan Xiaobo , Liu Changning , Li Shengying 
Published: January 2019

AbstractMycophenolic acid (MPA) from filamentous fungi is the first natural product antibiotic in human history and a first-line immunosuppressive drug for organ transplantations and autoimmune diseases. However, its biosynthetic mechanisms have remained a long-standing mystery. Here, we elucidate the MPA biosynthetic pathway that features both compartmentalized enzymatic steps and unique cooperation between biosynthetic and β-oxidation catabolism machineries based on targeted gene inactivation, feeding experiments in heterologous expression hosts, enzyme functional characterization and kinetic analysis, and microscopic observation of protein subcellular localization. Besides identification of the oxygenase MpaB’ as the long-sought key enzyme responsible for the oxidative cleavage of sesquiterpene side chain, we reveal the intriguing pattern of compartmentalization for the MPA biosynthetic enzymes, including the cytosolic polyketide synthase MpaC’ and O-methyltransferase MpaG’, the Golgi apparatus-associated prenyltransferase MpaA’, the endoplasmic reticulum-bound oxygenase MpaB’ and P450-hydrolase fusion enzyme MpaDE’, and the peroxisomal acyl-CoA hydrolase MpaH’. The whole pathway is elegantly co-mediated by these compartmentalized enzymes, together with the peroxisomal β-oxidation machinery. Beyond characterizing the remaining outstanding steps of the MPA biosynthetic pathway, our study highlights the importance of considering subcellular contexts and the broader cellular metabolism in natural product biosynthesis.Significance StatementHere we elucidate the full biosynthetic pathway of the fungal natural product mycophenolic acid (MPA), which represents an unsolved mystery for decades. Besides the intriguing enzymatic mechanisms, we reveal that the MPA biosynthetic enzymes are elegantly compartmentalized; and the subcellular localization of the acyl-CoA hydrolase MpaH’ in peroxisomes is required for the unique cooperation between biosynthetic and β-oxidation catabolism machineries. This work highlights the importance of a cell biology perspective for understanding the unexplored organelle-associated essential catalytic mechanisms in natural product biosynthesis of fungi and other higher organisms. The insights provided by our work will also benefit future efforts for both industrial strain improvement and novel drug development.
Heartbeat evokes a dynamically changing cortical theta-synchronized network in the resting state
Authors: Kim Jaejoong , Jeong Bumseok 
Published: January 2019

AbstractIn the resting state, heartbeats evoke cortical responses called heartbeat-evoked responses (HERs). While previous studies reported regional level HERs, researchers have not determined how heartbeat is processed at the cortical network level. Using resting-state magnetoencephalography data from 87 human subjects of both genders provided by the Human Connectome Project, we first showed that heartbeat increases the phase synchronization between cortical regions in the theta frequency, which forms a network structure, and we called this network a heartbeat-evoked network (HEN). The HEN was not an artefactual increase in phase synchronization. The HEN was partitioned into three modules with connector hubs in each module. The first module contained major interoception-related regions and thus was called a visceromotor-interoceptive network (VIN) displaying the strongest synchronization among modules, suggesting a major role for the VIN in processing heartbeat information. Two modules contained regions involved in the default mode network (DMN). The HEN structure was not fixed, but dynamically changed. The most prominent change was observed at approximately 200 ms after R-peak of the electrocardiogram, which was quantified based on the ‘flexibility’ of the network. Furthermore, the strongest synchronization within VIN was observed before heartbeat stimulated the cortex, which might be related to the prediction of an afferent heartbeat signal, thus supporting an interoceptive coding framework. Based on our results, the heartbeat is processed at the network level, and this result provides a useful framework that may potentially explain previous results of the regional level HER modulation through network-level processing.Significance statementThe resting-state network is composed of several networks supporting different functions. However, although the heartbeat is processed in the cortical regions, even in the resting state, the network supporting this function is unknown. Thus, we identified and investigated the heartbeat-evoked network (HEN), a network composed of significantly increased theta-phase synchronization between cortical regions after a heartbeat. The HEN comprised three modules. In particularly, the visceromotor-interoceptive network was likely to play a major role in network-level heartbeat processing and displayed the strongest synchronization immediately before the heartbeat enters the CNS, which supports an interoceptive predictive coding framework. These results provide a novel framework that may improve our understanding of cortical heartbeat processing from a network perspective.
Microbial predictors of environmental perturbations in coral reef ecosystems
Authors: Glasl Bettina , Bourne David G. , Frade Pedro R. , Thomas Torsten , Schaffelke Britta , Webster Nicole S. 
Published: January 2019

AbstractIncorporation of microbial community data into environmental monitoring programs could improve prediction and management of environmental pressures. Coral reefs have experienced dramatic declines due to cumulative impacts of local and global stressors. Here we assess the utility of free-living (i.e. seawater and sediment) and host-associated (i.e. corals, sponges and macroalgae) microbiomes for diagnosing environmental perturbation based on their habitat-specificity, environmental sensitivity and uniformity. We show that the seawater microbiome has the greatest diagnostic value, with environmental parameters explaining 56% of the observed compositional variation and temporal successions being dominated by uniform community assembly patterns. Host-associated microbiomes, in contrast, were five-times less affected by the environment and their community assembly patterns were generally less uniform. Further, seawater microbial community data provided an accurate prediction on the environmental state, highlighting the diagnostic value of microorganisms and illustrating how long-term coral reef monitoring initiatives could be enhanced by incorporating assessments of microbial communities in seawater.ImportanceThe recent success in disease diagnostics based on the human microbiome has highlighted the utility of this approach for model systems. However, despite improved prediction and management of environmental pressures from the inclusion of microbial community data in monitoring programs, this approach has not previously been applied to coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are facing unprecedented pressure on a local and global scale, and sensitive and rapid markers for ecosystem stress are urgently needed to underpin effective management and restoration strategies. In this study, we performed the first assessment of the diagnostic value of multiple free-living and host-associated reef microbiomes to infer the environmental state of coral reef ecosystems. Our results reveal that free-living microbial communities have a higher potential to infer environmental parameters than host-associated microbial communities due to their higher determinacy and environmental sensitivity. We therefore recommend timely integration of microbial sampling into current coral reef monitoring initiatives.
Measuring amber initiator tRNA orthogonality in a genomically recoded organism
Authors: Vincent Russel M. , Wright Bradley W. , Jaschke Paul R. 
Published: January 2019

ABSTRACTUsing engineered initiator tRNA for precise control of protein translation within cells has great promise within future orthogonal translation systems to decouple housekeeping protein metabolism from that of engineered genetic systems. Previously,E. colistrain C321.ΔA.explacking all UAG stop codons was created, freeing this ‘amber’ stop codon for other purposes. An engineered ‘amber initiator’that activates translation at UAG codons is available, but little is known about this tRNA’s orthogonality. Here, we combine for the first time the amber initiatorin C321.ΔA.expand measure its cellular effects. We found that theexpression resulted in a nearly 200Yfold increase in fluorescent reporter expression with a unimodal population distribution and no apparent cellular fitness defects. Proteomic analysis revealed upregulated ribosomeYassociated, tRNA degradation, and amino acid biosynthetic proteins, with no evidence for offYtarget translation initiation. In contrast to previous work, we show that UAGYinitiated proteins carry NYterminal methionine exclusively. Together, our results identify beneficial features of using the amber initiatorto control gene expression while also revealing fundamental challenges to using engineered initiator tRNAs as the basis for orthogonal translation initiation systems.
A variant of the student’s t-test for data of varying reliability
Authors: Sheth Suril B. , Sheth Bhavin R. 
Published: January 2019

AbstractThe student’s t-test has been a workhorse of statistical testing and is used to determine if two sets of sampled data are significantly different from one another, in a statistical sense. The samples of the data may be individual samples or the means – or some overall summary statistic – of independently acquired subsets of data (e.g. data from individual observers, neurons, or baseball games). The various subsets of data acquired that go into computing the t-statistic are likely to be of differing reliability on account of either different variances or of different numbers of subsamples corresponding to each subset; while all data are given equal weight in a standard t-test, the variation in data reliability across subsets of data needs to be accounted for. Solutions based on mixed model methods and Monte Carlo simulations exist, which do factor data reliability in computing statistics. However, no such extension exists for the ubiquitous student’s t-test. Our proposal is a novel variant of the students t-test that incorporates these issues and adopts a simple but effective alteration in the design that accounts for differing levels of data reliability. Specifically, we weighted each data subset by the inverse of the variance of the data contained therein, a measure that has been used in studies of Bayesian cue combination, or, in the absence of information about variance, by the relative proportion of the overall data contained in the subset. The changes proposed here extend the applicability of the student’s t-test to a wider array of data sets.
Performance assessment of novel photovoltaic thermal system using nanoparticle in phase change material
Authors: Ergün Alper , Eyinç Hilal 
Published: January 2019

Purpose
Nanotechnology has developed gradually in recent years and it is encountered in various applications. It has many usage area especially in energy systems. The purpose of this study, in a photovoltaic thermal system, thermal behaviours of a PV panel has been investigated by energy and exergy analysis method using a phase change material inserted 5 per cent weighted Al2O3 nanoparticle.

Design/methodology/approach
In this study, one of the three different PV panels was kept normally, the other one was filled with a phase changing material (paraffin-wax) and the last panel was filled with the mixture of a nanoparticle and paraffin-wax.

Findings
After the analyses, especially during the time intervals when the radiation is high, it is found that the panel with Np-paraffin mixture has a high electrical and thermal efficiency. In addition, as a result of the exergy analyses, average exergy efficiency of the panel with Np-paraffin mixture has been determined as 10 per cent, whereas that of the panel with paraffin as 9.2 per cent.

Originality/value
Nanoparticles had not been used with PCMs in photovoltaic–thermal systems in the studies made before.
Inequality and imbalance of professional development opportunities
Authors: Mongkolhutthi Preechaya 
Published: January 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the professional development opportunities of a group of 16 “English as a foreign language” (EFL) lecturers at a Thai higher educational institution and the nature of the learning opportunities they engaged in.

Design/methodology/approach
The ethnographic research approach was employed to reveal the participants’ accesses to professional learning opportunities and their perception towards the opportunities. Observation, interview, written document and questionnaire were used to help capture the complexities of the issues investigated.

Findings
The data suggest varied degrees of participants’ engagement in learning activities, inside and outside the workplace. This group of lecturers relied more on formal than on informal professional development opportunities. Constraints in accessing professional development activities for the part-time lecturers and non-Thai lecturers were highly noticeable.

Research limitations/implications
These emerging findings provide an insight into the actual professional learning situation and call for greater awareness of the support of learning opportunities and better visibility of the part-time lecturers and expatriate lectures in the higher education system. With regard to the nature of ethnographic research, the implementation of the findings of this study should be done with awareness of the socio-cultural influences on participants’ beliefs and behaviours.

Originality/value
This is one of the first studies that academically highlights the existence of part-time and expatriate lecturers in the Asian higher educational context and voices these lecturers’ actual professional needs and their perceived obstacles.
The internal governance model in Chinese universities: an international comparative analysis
Authors: Liu Wei , Yan Weigang 
Published: January 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to glean a comprehensive picture of the internal governance structure in Chinese universities based on data from 40 university administrators from 33 Chinese institutions.

Design/methodology/approach
The 40 administrators were convenience sampled while they were taking a three-month higher education leadership development program in a large public university in Canada. Permission was obtained to use the comparative discussions at different reflective research sessions as data to inform this study. The data were also progressively collected through informal interviews throughout the three months.

Findings
The study finds that the current governance model practiced in Chinese universities can be called “administrator governance,” with all members on the two major governing bodies being senior administrators appointed by and accountable for the governments. To build a “modern university system” aspired in China, the Chinese university administrators perceived a need to strengthen institutional autonomy and collegial governance with participation of the faculty and students.

Originality/value
As much of the literature has focused on the government–university relationship in China, this study aims to glean a comprehensive picture of the internal governance structure in Chinese universities.
Relationship of transformational leadership with employee creativity and organizational innovation
Authors: Chaubey Akriti , Sahoo Chandan Kumar , Khatri Naresh 
Published: January 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how creative self-efficacy and physical work environment mediate and moderate the relationship of transformational leadership with employee creativity and organizational innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from 254 managers working in two major automotive manufacturing units in India. The survey response rate was 81.9 percent. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe study findings suggest that transformational leadership augments employee creativity. The authors show that employee creative self-efficacy acts as a mediator and physical work environment as a moderator in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity.Originality/valueThe study contributes by examining mediating and moderating influences in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity. The data were collected from an important industry in a large, emerging economy that has received much less research attention relative to its size and significance.
Professionalism in accounting: a five-factor model of ethical decision-making
Authors: Dunn Paul , Sainty Barbara 
Published: January 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a model of ethical decision-making that applies to accountants and the accounting profession.Design/methodology/approachThis model is an integration of five factors that influence ethical decision-making by accountants: professional codes of conduct; philosophical orientation; religious orientation; culturally derived values; and moral maturity.FindingsThis model is a synthesis of previous identified factors that influence ethical decision-making and incorporates them into a model that is specific to professional accountants.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors develop a set of propositions and explain how this model can be tested and its implications for both the accounting profession and the teaching of business ethics.Originality/valueThis model presents a new way of viewing ethical decision-making by accountants that is predicated on the importance of professional codes of conduct that influence both behaviour and decision-making. The external certification of professional accountants provides a layer of accountability not previously incorporated into ethical decision-making models.