bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Natural and induced growth of VO2 (M) on VO2 (B) ultrathin films
Authors: Émond Nicolas , Torriss Badr , Chaker Mohamed 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThis work examines the synthesis of single phase VO2 (B) thin films on LaAlO3 (100) substrates, and the naturally-occurring and induced subsequent growth of VO2 (M) phase on VO2 (B) films. First, the thickness (t) dependence of structural, morphological and electrical properties of VO2 films is investigated, evidencing that the growth of VO2 (B) phase is progressively replaced by that of VO2 (M) when t > ~11 nm. This change originates from the relaxation of the substrate-induced strain in the VO2 (B) films, as corroborated by the simultaneous increase of surface roughness and decrease of the c-axis lattice parameter towards that of bulk VO2 (B) for such films, yielding a complex mixed-phase structure composed of VO2 (B)/VO2 (M) phases, accompanied by the emergence of the VO2 (M) insulator-to-metal phase transition. Second, the possibility of inducing this phase conversion, through a proper surface modification of the VO2 (B) films via plasma treatment, is demonstrated. These natural and induced VO2 (M) growths not only provide substantial insights into the competing nature of phases in the complex VO2 polymorphs system, but can also be further exploited to synthesize VO2 (M)/VO2 (B) heterostructures at the micro/nanoscale for advanced electronics and energy applications.
The lactose operon from Lactobacillus casei is involved in the transport and metabolism of the human milk oligosaccharide core-2 N-acetyllactosamine
Authors: Bidart Gonzalo N. , Rodríguez-Díaz Jesús , Pérez-Martínez Gaspar , Yebra María J. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe lactose operon (lacTEGF) from Lactobacillus casei strain BL23 has been previously studied. The lacT gene codes for a transcriptional antiterminator, lacE and lacF for the lactose-specific phosphoenolpyruvate: phosphotransferase system (PTSLac) EIICB and EIIA domains, respectively, and lacG for the phospho-β-galactosidase. In this work, we have shown that L. casei is able to metabolize N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc), a disaccharide present at human milk and intestinal mucosa. The mutant strains BL153 (lacE) and BL155 (lacF) were defective in LacNAc utilization, indicating that the EIICB and EIIA of the PTSLac are involved in the uptake of LacNAc in addition to lactose. Inactivation of lacG abolishes the growth of L. casei in both disaccharides and analysis of LacG activity showed a high selectivity toward phosphorylated compounds, suggesting that LacG is necessary for the hydrolysis of the intracellular phosphorylated lactose and LacNAc. L. casei (lacAB) strain deficient in galactose-6P isomerase showed a growth rate in lactose (0.0293 ± 0.0014 h−1) and in LacNAc (0.0307 ± 0.0009 h−1) significantly lower than the wild-type (0.1010 ± 0.0006 h−1 and 0.0522 ± 0.0005 h−1, respectively), indicating that their galactose moiety is catabolized through the tagatose-6P pathway. Transcriptional analysis showed induction levels of the lac genes ranged from 130 to 320–fold in LacNAc and from 100 to 200–fold in lactose, compared to cells growing in glucose.
Globally discordant Isocrinida (Crinoidea) migration confirms asynchronous Marine Mesozoic Revolution
Authors: Whittle Rowan J. , Hunter Aaron W. , Cantrill David J. , McNamara Kenneth J. 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe Marine Mesozoic Revolution (MMR, starting ~200 million years ago) changed the ecological structure of sea floor communities due to increased predation pressure. It was thought to have caused the migration of less mobile invertebrates, such as stalked isocrinid crinoids, into deeper marine environments by the end of the Mesozoic. Recent studies questioned this hypothesis, suggesting the MMR was globally asynchronous. Alternatively, Cenozoic occurrences from Antarctica and South America were described as retrograde reversions to Palaeozoic type communities in cool water. Our results provide conclusive evidence that isocrinid migration from shallow to deep water did not occur at the same time all over the world. The description of a substantial new fauna from Antarctica and Australia, from often-overlooked isolated columnals and articulated crinoids, in addition to the first compilation to our knowledge of Cenozoic Southern Hemisphere isocrinid data, demonstrates a continuous record of shallow marine isocrinids from the Cretaceous-Paleogene to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary.
High-throughput density-functional perturbation theory phonons for inorganic materials
Authors: Petretto Guido , Dwaraknath Shyam , P.C. Miranda Henrique , Winston Donald , Giantomassi Matteo , van Setten Michiel J. , Gonze Xavier , Persson Kristin A. , Hautier Geoffroy , Rignanese Gian-Marco 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe knowledge of the vibrational properties of a material is of key importance to understand physical phenomena such as thermal conductivity, superconductivity, and ferroelectricity among others. However, detailed experimental phonon spectra are available only for a limited number of materials, which hinders the large-scale analysis of vibrational properties and their derived quantities. In this work, we perform ab initio calculations of the full phonon dispersion and vibrational density of states for 1521 semiconductor compounds in the harmonic approximation based on density functional perturbation theory. The data is collected along with derived dielectric and thermodynamic properties. We present the procedure used to obtain the results, the details of the provided database and a validation based on the comparison with experimental data.
An optimal filter for short photoplethysmogram signals
Authors: Liang Yongbo , Elgendi Mohamed , Chen Zhencheng , Ward Rabab 
Published: May 2018

AbstractA photoplethysmogram (PPG) contains a wealth of cardiovascular system information, and with the development of wearable technology, it has become the basic technique for evaluating cardiovascular health and detecting diseases. However, due to the varying environments in which wearable devices are used and, consequently, their varying susceptibility to noise interference, effective processing of PPG signals is challenging. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the optimal filter and filter order to be used for PPG signal processing to make the systolic and diastolic waves more salient in the filtered PPG signal using the skewness quality index. Nine types of filters with 10 different orders were used to filter 219 (2.1s) short PPG signals. The signals were divided into three categories by PPG experts according to their noise levels: excellent, acceptable, or unfit. Results show that the Chebyshev II filter can improve the PPG signal quality more effectively than other types of filters and that the optimal order for the Chebyshev II filter is the 4th order.
Fed-EXosome: extracellular vesicles and cell–cell communication in metabolic regulation
Authors: Samuelson Isabella , Vidal-Puig Antonio J. 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a novel messaging system of the organism, mediating cell–cell and interorgan communication. Through their content of proteins and nucleic acids, as well as membrane proteins and lipid species, EVs can interact with and modulate the function of their target cells. The regulation of whole-body metabolism requires cross-talk between key metabolic tissues including adipose tissue (AT), the liver and skeletal muscle. Furthermore, the regulation of nutrient/energy allocation during pregnancy requires co-ordinated communication between the foetus and metabolic organs of the mother. A growing body of evidence is suggesting that EVs play a role in communication between and within key metabolic organs, both physiologically during metabolic homoeostasis but also contributing to pathophysiology during metabolic dysregulation observed in metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. As obesity and its associated metabolic complications are reaching epidemic proportions, characterization of EV-mediated communication between key metabolic tissues may offer important insights into the regulation of metabolic functions during disease and offer global therapeutic opportunities. Here, we focus on the role of EVs in metabolic regulation and, in particular, EV-mediated cross-talk between cells of the AT.
Facile one‐step hydrothermal syntheses of graphene oxide–MnO2 composite and their application in removing heavy metal ions
Authors: Liang Chunyan , Feng Xuezhen , Yu Jingang , Jiang Xinyu 
Published: May 2018

In this work, a composite of graphene oxide (GO) supported by granulated manganese dioxide (MnO2) has been synthesised via a facile one‐step hydrothermal process and then used as adsorbent to remove heavy metal ions from aqueous solution. The morphology and surface functional groups of GO–MnO2 composite were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectra, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The results indicated that MnO2 particles were successfully inserted into graphene sheets, and the agglomeration of GO was prevented. The effects of contact time and initial concentrations of heavy metal ions on the adsorption capacity of GO–MnO2 composite were studied. The adsorption data fitted well with the pseudo‐second‐order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity for Pb2+ obtained from Langmuir isotherm model was about 490 mg/g. Based on the results from the removal of four heavy metal ions from smelting wastewater and the reusability experiments, it could be deduced that GO–MnO2 composite is a potential adsorbent for environmental clean‐up.
QE of cadmium sulphide QD photodetectors
Authors: Dakhil Tahseen , Abdulalmuhsin Samir M. , Al‐Khursan Amin Habbeb 
Published: May 2018

The absorption spectrum and quantum efficiency (QE) of cadmium sulphide/zinc oxide quantum dot (QD) photodetectors are studied at different QD sizes and junction depths. It is shown that doping the QD layer gives high QE. The structures studied cover the range 200–270 nm, which is important in photodetector applications. High QE was obtained at QDs with a small height, while wide QE bath was obtained at QD with enough (but not so much) radius.
Dual‐detection‐window fluorescence probe for ultra‐sensitive determination of Pb2+ based on emission‐tunable B and N co‐doped carbon dots
Authors: Cheng Qiao , He Yu , Ge Yili , Song Gongwu 
Published: May 2018

In this work, 3‐aminophenylboronic acid was used as the starting materials to construct boron and nitrogen co‐doped carbon dots with tunable dual‐emission intensity at 420 and 540 nm with different excitation at 360 and 500 nm, respectively. The dual‐emission carbon dots sensor is employed for rapid and sensitive fluorescence‐enhancing detection of Pb2+. Compared with previous reported methods, their method showed better linear ranges or detection limits. Under the optimal conditions, the limit of detection of 0.9 nM for Pb2+ was reached with a wide range of 9 nM to 438 μM. The authors believe that the established method has more opportunities for application for other environmental targets.
Translational Research in Familial Colorectal Cancer Syndromes
Authors: Ford Molly 
Published: May 2018

AbstractGrowing knowledge of inherited colorectal cancer syndromes has led to better surveillance and better care of this subset of patients. The most well-known entities, including Lynch syndrome and familial adenomatous polyposis, are continually being studied and with the advent of more sophisticated genetic testing, additional genetic discoveries have been made in the field of inherited cancer. This article will summarize many of the updates to both the familiar and perhaps less familiar syndromes that can lead to inherited or early-onset colorectal cancer.
Effect of Gestational and Lactational Exposure to DEHP, DINP, and DEP on Intestinal Morphology, Disaccharidases, and Alkaline Phosphatase in Rats during Postnatal Development
Authors: Kharoubi O. , Aoues A. , Bouchekara M. , Khaladi B. , Taleb M. , Setti Ahmed K. 
Published: May 2018

Introduction The diesters of 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid (phthalic acid), commonly known as phthalates, are used primarily as plasticizers of polyvinyl chloride and as additives in consumer and personal care products.
Objective This study was designed to evaluate the impact of in utero and postnatal exposure to diisononyl phthalate (DINP), diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), and diethyl phthalate (DEP) on gut maturation in a Wistar rat model.
Materials and Methods Pregnant females were gavaged from day 8 of gestation through postnatal day (pd) 30 with 0 (vehicle control), DEHP (380 mg/kg/d), DINP (380 mg/kg/d), or DEP (800 mg/kg/d) dissolved in corn oil. Intestinal samples have been collected at 0, 7, 14, 21, and 30 pd for histological and biochemical analysis. The mitotic index has been evaluated based on the expression of Ki-67 antigen.
Results All tested phthalate treatments have significantly decreased the body as well as the organ's weight (p < 0.001). DINP exposure resulted in severe villous atrophy, while DEHP treated group was characterized by lymphoepithelial lesions. In addition, a significant decrease of the Ki-67 proliferation index was observed in the youngest rats (0 and 7 days) upon the various treatments (p < 0.0001), whereas at day 30, an increased numbers of Ki-67 positive cells were observed in DEHP and DEP but bot DINP group. Lactase and sucrase activities were inhibited by DEP in contrast to DINP and DEHP which increased enzymes activity (p < 0.05).
Conclusion Our results suggest that exposure to phthalates during gestational and lactational phases negatively impacts the development of the small intestine.
Survey of miRNA-miRNA cooperative regulation principles across cancer types
Authors: Shao Tingting , Wang Guangjuan , Chen Hong , Xie Yunjin , Jin Xiyun , Bai Jing , Xu Juan , Li Xia , Huang Jian , Jin Yan , Li Yongsheng 
Published: May 2018

AbstractCooperative regulation among multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) is a complex type of posttranscriptional regulation in human; however, the global view of the system-level regulatory principles across cancers is still unclear. Here, we investigated miRNA-miRNA cooperative regulatory landscape across 18 cancer types and summarized the regulatory principles of miRNAs. The miRNA-miRNA cooperative pan-cancer network exhibited a scale-free and modular architecture. Cancer types with similar tissue origins had high similarity in cooperative network structure and expression of cooperative miRNA pairs. In addition, cooperative miRNAs showed divergent properties, including higher expression, greater expression variation and a stronger regulatory strength towards targets and were likely to regulate cancer hallmark-related functions. We found a marked rewiring of miRNA-miRNA cooperation between various cancers and revealed conserved and rewired network miRNA hubs. We further identified the common hubs, cancer-specific hubs and other hubs, which tend to target known anticancer drug targets. Finally, miRNA cooperative modules were found to be associated with patient survival in several cancer types. Our study highlights the potential of pan-cancer miRNA-miRNA cooperative regulation as a novel paradigm that may aid in the discovery of tumorigenesis mechanisms and development of anticancer drugs.
Finding associated variants in genome-wide association studies on multiple traits
Authors: Gai Lisa , Eskin Eleazar 
Published: May 2018

Abstract

Motivation
Many variants identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been found to affect multiple traits, either directly or through shared pathways. There is currently a wealth of GWAS data collected in numerous phenotypes, and analyzing multiple traits at once can increase power to detect shared variant effects. However, traditional meta-analysis methods are not suitable for combining studies on different traits. When applied to dissimilar studies, these meta-analysis methods can be underpowered compared to univariate analysis. The degree to which traits share variant effects is often not known, and the vast majority of GWAS meta-analysis only consider one trait at a time.

Results
Here, we present a flexible method for finding associated variants from GWAS summary statistics for multiple traits. Our method estimates the degree of shared effects between traits from the data. Using simulations, we show that our method properly controls the false positive rate and increases power when an effect is present in a subset of traits. We then apply our method to the North Finland Birth Cohort and UK Biobank datasets using a variety of metabolic traits and discover novel loci.

Availability and implementation
Our source code is available at https://github.com/lgai/CONFIT.

Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
dbCRSR: a manually curated database for regulation of cancer radiosensitivity
Authors: Wen Pengbo , Xia Junfeng , Cao Xianbin , Chen Bin , Tao Yinping , Wu Lijun , Xu An , Zhao Guoping 
Published: May 2018

AbstractRadiotherapy is used to treat approximately 50% of all cancer patients, with varying prognoses. Intrinsic radiosensitivity is an important factor underlying the radiotherapeutic efficacy of this precise treatment. During the past decades, great efforts have been made to improve radiotherapy treatment through multiple strategies. However, invaluable data remains buried in the extensive radiotherapy literature, making it difficult to obtain an overall view of the detailed mechanisms leading to radiosensitivity, thus limiting advances in radiotherapy. To address this issue, we collected data from the relevant literature contained in the PubMed database and developed a literature-based database that we term the cancer radiosensitivity regulation factors database (dbCRSR). dbCRSR is a manually curated catalogue of radiosensitivity, containing multiple radiosensitivity regulation factors (395 coding genes, 119 non-coding RNAs and 306 chemical compounds) with appropriate annotation. To illustrate the value of the data we collected, data mining was performed including functional annotation and network analysis. In summary, dbCRSR is the first literature-based database to focus on radiosensitivity and provides a resource to better understand the detailed mechanisms of radiosensitivity. We anticipate dbCRSR will be a useful resource to enrich our knowledge and to promote further study of radiosensitivity.Database URL: http://bioinfo.ahu.edu.cn:8080/dbCRSR/
Growing health in UK prison settings
Authors: Baybutt Michelle , Dooris Mark , Farrier Alan 
Published: May 2018

AbstractGlobally, prisoners tend to come from marginalized and socially disadvantaged sections of the society and exhibit a high incidence of ill health, linked to social exclusion and multiple complex needs. Prisons therefore offer an important opportunity to tackle inequality and injustice, through promoting health, reducing reoffending and facilitating community reintegration.This paper reports on and critically discusses findings from an evaluative research study, which aimed to identify and explore impacts of prisoners’ participation in an innovative social and therapeutic horticultural programme, ‘Greener on the Outside for Prisons’ (GOOP), delivered in prisons in North West England. Focus groups with 16 prisoners and semi-structured interviews with six prison staff were conducted at five sites. Presented under three overarching themes (health and well-being; skills development, employability, and work preparedness; and relationships), findings suggest that engagement with and participation in GOOP were important in improving positive mental well-being, increasing physical activity and knowledge about healthier eating; developing skills and work readiness; and building relationships and catalysing and strengthening prosocial behaviours, important for good citizenship and effective resettlement. The paper concludes that – in the context of the current UK prison reform agenda and concern about the high incidence of violence, substance misuse, self-harm and suicide – prison-based horticulture can offer multiple benefits and make a significant contribution to the creation of safe, secure, supportive and health-enhancing environments. Furthermore, it contends that by joining up health and justice agendas, programmes such as GOOP have the potential to serve as powerful catalysts for wider systemic change, thereby helping tackle inequalities and social exclusion within societies across the globe.
Dimension Formulae in Genus Zero and Uniqueness of Vertex Operator Algebras
Authors: van Ekeren Jethro , Möller Sven , Scheithauer Nils R 
Published: May 2018

Abstract
We prove a dimension formula for orbifold vertex operator algebras of central charge 24 by automorphisms of order n such that $\Gamma _{0}(n)$ is a genus zero group. We then use this formula together with the inverse orbifold construction for automorphisms of orders 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8 to establish that each of the following fifteen Lie algebras is the weight-one space $V_{1}$ of exactly one holomorphic, $C_{2}$-cofinite vertex operator algebra V of CFT type and central charge 24: $A_{5}C_{5}E_{6,2}$, $A_{3}A_{7,2}{C_{3}^{2}}$, $A_{8,2}F_{4,2}$, $B_{8}E_{8,2}$, ${A_{2}^{2}}A_{5,2}^{2}B_{2}$, $C_{8}{F_{4}^{2}}$, $A_{4,2}^{2}C_{4,2}$, $A_{2,2}^{4}D_{4,4}$, $B_{5}E_{7,2}F_{4}$, $B_{4}{C_{6}^{2}}$, $A_{4,5}^{2}$, $A_{4}A_{9,2}B_{3}$, $B_{6}C_{10}$, $A_{1}C_{5,3}G_{2,2}$, and $A_{1,2}A_{3,4}^{3}$.
A Generalized Turán Problem and its Applications
Authors: Gishboliner Lior , Shapira Asaf 
Published: May 2018

AbstractThe investigation of conditions guaranteeing the appearance of cycles of certain lengths is one of the most well-studied topics in graph theory. In this paper we consider a problem of this type that asks, for fixed integers ℓ and k, how many copies of the k-cycle guarantee the appearance of an ℓ-cycle? Extending previous results of Bollobás–Gy̋ri–Li and Alon–Shikhelman, we fully resolve this problem by giving tight (or nearly tight) bounds for all values of ℓ and k. We also present a somewhat surprising application of the above mentioned estimates to the study of the graph removal lemma. Prior to this work, all bounds for removal lemmas were either polynomial or there was a tower-type gap between the best-known upper and lower bounds. We fill this gap by showing that for every super-polynomial function $f(\varepsilon )$, there is a family of graphs ${\mathcal F}$, such that the bounds for the ${\mathcal F}$ removal lemma are precisely given by $f(\varepsilon )$. We thus obtain the 1st examples of removal lemmas with tight super-polynomial bounds. A special case of this result resolves a problem of Alon and the 2nd author, while another special case partially resolves a problem of Goldreich.