bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Multidimensional analyses reveal distinct immune microenvironment in hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Lim Chun Jye , Lee Yun Hua , Pan Lu , Lai Liyun , Chua Camillus , Wasser Martin , Lim Tony Kiat Hon , Yeong Joe , Toh Han Chong , Lee Ser Yee , Chan Chung Yip , Goh Brian KP , Chung Alexander , Heikenwälder Mathias , Ng Irene OL , Chow Pierce , Albani Salvatore , Chew Valerie 
Published: July 2018

Background and aimsChronic inflammation induced by chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection increases the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is known about the immune landscape of HBV-related HCC and its influence on the design of effective cancer immunotherapeutics.MethodsWe interrogated the immune microenvironments of HBV-related HCC and non-viral-related HCC using immunohistochemistry and cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF). On identifying unique immune subsets enriched in HBV-related HCC, we further interrogated their phenotypes and functions using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and in vitro T-cell proliferation assays.ResultsIn-depth interrogation of the immune landscapes showed that regulatory T cells (TREG) and CD8+ resident memory T cells (TRM) were enriched in HBV-related HCC, whereas Tim-3+CD8+ T cells and CD244+ natural killer cells were enriched in non-viral-related HCC. NGS of isolated TREG and TRM from HBV-related HCC and non-viral-related HCC identified distinct functional signatures associated with T-cell receptor signalling, T-cell costimulation, antigen presentation and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) signalling. TREG and TRM from HBV-related HCC expressed more PD-1 and were functionally more suppressive and exhausted than those from non-virus-related HCC. Furthermore, immunosuppression by PD-1+ TREG could be reversed with anti-PD-1 blockade. Using multiplexed tissue immunofluorescence, we further demonstrated that TREG and TRM contributed to overall patient survival: TREG were associated with a poor prognosis and TRM were associated with a good prognosis in HCC.ConclusionWe have shown that the HBV-related HCC microenvironment is more immunosuppressive and exhausted than the non-viral-related HCC microenvironment. Such in-depth understanding has important implications in disease management and appropriate application of immunotherapeutics.
Field emission properties of laser ablated multi-walled carbon nanotubes
Authors: Koinkar Pankaj , Ohsumi Yu , Kanazawa Makoto , Furube Akihiro , Gavhane Dnyaneshwar , More Mahendra A. 
Published: July 2018

In the present study, the field emission properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) treated with laser ablation have been investigated. The MWCNTs were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition method. The laser ablation treatment was performed in liquid medium for laser ablation time of 40 min and 60 min. The morphology of MWCNTs films was characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The results exhibit that the field emission properties of MWCNTs are dependent on the laser ablation time. The Raman spectra of laser-ablated MWCNTs clearly showed disorder and increase in graphitic content. The SEM and TEM results clearly revealed the separation of MWCNTs after laser ablation treatment. The field emission characteristics of the MWCNTs showed that the turn-on fields and current density are improved for the nanotubes treated with laser ablation. The enhancement in the field emission characteristics of MWCNTs is attributed to the disorder as well as the increase in the aspect ratio which causes more pathways for electron emission.
An analysis of carbon fiber hull structure of a new underwater glider
Authors: Kang J. I. , Jeoung S. K. , Oh J. Y. , Choi H. S. , Kim Y. H. , Kim J. Y. , Yu S. H. , Cho H. K. 
Published: July 2018

In this research, hull structure of Ray-type Underwater Glider (RUG) that could be a next generation unmanned vehicle was studied. RUG is capable of long-term operation at higher speeds than conventional cylindrical underwater gliders due to its ray shaped body composed of dual buoyancy engine. For long-term operation, it is necessary to develop a lightweight control housing and battery case. For this reason, the carbon fiber container was used to be lighter and stronger than duralumin used in the past. Through the stress and buckling analysis, it was shown that the container was able to withstand the pressure of 200 m which is the target water depth with the safety ratio of about 1.8 times. Using a carbon composite material, the mechanical strength can be maintained while reducing the weight of the pressure vessel by more than 40% compared with the high tensile aluminum material.
Predictors of High-Risk Adenoma Occurrence at Surveillance Colonoscopy in Patients Who Undergo Colorectal Adenoma Removal
Authors: Lee Jin , Seo Joo Wan , Sim Ho Chan , Choi Joon Hyuk , Heo Nae-Yun , Park Jongha , Park Seung Ha , Moon Young Soo , Kim Tae Oh 
Published: July 2018

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> Surveillance colonoscopy is recommended after polypectomy because adenoma recurrence is common. The aim of this study was to evaluate the predictors of high-risk adenoma occurrence at surveillance colonoscopy in patients who undergo colorectal adenoma removal and to clarify the association between age and recurrent colorectal adenoma. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This retrospective study included 563 patients who had colorectal adenomas at baseline colonoscopy and who underwent surveillance colonoscopy. The risk factors for recurrent adenoma were evaluated and the 5-year cumulative incidence rates of overall and high-risk adenoma were compared according to age group. <b><i>Results:</i></b> During a mean follow-up period of 3.1 years, 305 (54.2%) patients had overall adenoma recurrence, and 80 (14.2%) patients had high-risk adenoma at surveillance colonoscopy. In a multivariate analysis, old age (≥60 years) and presence of multiple adenomas (3 or more) were significantly associated with high-risk adenoma (<i>p</i> = 0.002 and <i>p</i> = 0.006 respectively). The 5-year cumulative incidence rates of high-risk adenoma were 7.4, 16.7, and 24.1% in the &#x3c; 50, 50–59, and ≥60 years group respectively (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Old age (≥60 years) and presence of multiple adenomas (3 or more) were strongly associated with the occurrence of high-risk adenoma at surveillance colonoscopy. The 5-year cumulative incidence of high-grade adenoma was significantly high in the old age group.
Accidental Gaps and Surface-Based Phonotactic Learning: A Case Study of South Bolivian Quechua
Authors: Wilson Colin , Gallagher Gillian 
Published: July 2018

The lexicon of a natural language does not contain all of the phonological structures that are grammatical. This presents a fundamental challenge to the learner, who must distinguish linguistically significant restrictions from accidental gaps ( Fischer-Jørgensen 1952 , Halle 1962 , Chomsky and Halle 1965 , Pierrehumbert 1994 , Frisch and Zawaydeh 2001 , Iverson and Salmons 2005 , Gorman 2013 , Hayes and White 2013 ). The severity of the challenge depends on the size of the lexicon ( Pierrehumbert 2001 ), the number of sounds and their frequency distribution ( Sigurd 1968 , Tambovtsev and Martindale 2007 ), and the complexity of the generalizations that learners must entertain ( Pierrehumbert 1994 , Hayes and Wilson 2008 , Kager and Pater 2012 , Jardine and Heinz 2016 ). In this squib, we consider the problem that accidental gaps pose for learning phonotactic grammars stated on a single, surface level of representation. While the monostratal approach to phonology has considerable theoretical and computational appeal ( Ellison 1993 , Bird and Ellison 1994 , Scobbie, Coleman, and Bird 1996 , Burzio 2002 ), little previous research has investigated how purely surface-based phonotactic grammars can be learned from natural lexicons (but cf. Hayes and Wilson 2008 , Hayes and White 2013 ). The empirical basis of our study is the sound pattern of South Bolivian Quechua, with particular focus on the allophonic distribution of high and mid vowels. We show that, in characterizing the vowel distribution, a surface-based analysis must resort to generalizations of greater complexity than are needed in traditional accounts that derive outputs from underlying forms. This exacerbates the learning problem, because complex constraints are more likely to be surface-true by chance (i.e., the structures they prohibit are more likely to be accidentally absent from the lexicon). A comprehensive quantitative analysis of the Quechua lexicon and phonotactic system establishes that many accidental gaps of the relevant complexity level do indeed exist. We propose that, to overcome this problem, surface-based phonotactic models should have two related properties: they should use distinctive features to state constraints at multiple levels of granularity, and they should select constraints of appropriate granularity by statistical comparison of observed and expected frequency distributions. The central idea is that actual gaps typically belong to statistically robust feature-based classes, whereas accidental gaps are more likely to be featurally isolated and to contain independently rare sounds. A maximum-entropy learning model that incorporates these two properties is shown to be effective at distinguishing systematic and accidental gaps in a whole-language phonotactic analysis of Quechua, outperforming minimally different models that lack features or perform nonstatistical induction.
Race and Religion: Postcolonial Formations of Power and Whiteness
Authors: Nye Malory 
Published: July 2018

AbstractI have two ambitions in this paper. The first is to explore a framework for talking about the intersections between the categories of race and religion, particularly with reference to critical race and critical religion approaches. The second is to discuss how discourses on religion are a particular type of racial formation, or racialization. The premise for this discussion is the historic, colonial-era development of the contemporary categories of race and religion, and related formations such as whiteness. Both religion and race share a common colonial genealogy, and both critical studies of race and religion also stress the politically discursive ways in which the terms create social realities of inequality. Although the intersections between these terms are often discussed as the ‘racialization of religion’, in this paper I follow Meer (2013) and others by concluding that the category of religion is in itself a form of racialization.
Disfiguring Christianity
Authors: Iqbal Basit Kareem 
Published: July 2018

AbstractThis essay reads Anidjar’s “critique of Christianity” to confront the history of Western rhetoric, in its separation of figure from referent. He reads blood as catachrestic—catachresis not as abuse of language but its actualization. From the perspective of the tropological system, one might track the different meanings of blood (metaphorical, metonymic, symbolic) of historical Christianity. But from the asymmetrical perspective of catachresis, blood maps out the divisive activity of Christianity, even in its institution of the propriety of figure.Bloodthus does not deliver a revolutionary program somehow “against” Christianity so much as demonstrate its impropriety. In so doingBloodpartakes of the temporality of besiegement expressed in the Darwish poem with which the essay opens, where the possibility of escape is neither relinquished nor celebrated but endured. A postscript takes up Anidjar’s reading ofMoses and Monotheismin order to raise the question of Islam.
Ambient Factors Controlling the Wintertime Precipitation Distribution Across Mountain Ranges in the Interior Western United States. Part I: Insights from Regional Climate Simulations
Authors: Jing Xiaoqin , Geerts Bart , Wang Yonggang , Liu Changhai 
Published: July 2018

AbstractThis study analyzes the control of upstream conditions on the distribution of wintertime precipitation across mountain ranges in the interior western United States using 10 winters of high-resolution regional climate model data. Three mountain ranges, the Wind River Range, the Park Range, and the Teton Range, are selected to explore the statistical relations between the precipitation distribution and upstream wind, stability, and cloud conditions. A 4-km-resolution simulation is used for the former two ranges, and a 1.33-km-resolution simulation driven by the 4-km-resolution simulation is used for the Teton Range, which is smaller and steeper. Across all three mountain ranges, the dominant factor controlling precipitation is the mountain-normal low-level wind speed. Statistically, stronger wind results in heavier precipitation and a lower upwind precipitation fraction. The low-level wind generally veers with height during precipitation events, but the amount of veering does not unambiguously affect the precipitation distribution or intensity. The more the terrain blocks the upstream flow, the more the precipitation shifts toward the upstream side of the mountain and the weaker the overall precipitation rate is. A higher cloud-base temperature and a lower cloud-base height typically are associated with heavier precipitation. Deeper clouds tend to produce heavier precipitation and a slightly lower windward/leeward contrast. Convective precipitation proportionally falls more on the lee slopes than stratiform precipitation. The upstream and macroscale cloud conditions identified herein predict both the mean precipitation rate and the upwind precipitation fraction very well for the three ranges studied here.
Propagation of North Atlantic Deep Water Anomalies
Authors: Nieves David , Spall Michael 
Published: July 2018

AbstractWe present a simplified theory using reduced-gravity equations for North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and its variation driven by high-latitude deep-water formation. The theory approximates layer thickness on the eastern boundary with domain-averaged layer thickness and, in tandem with a mass conservation argument, retains fundamental physics for cross-equatorial flows on interannual and longer forcing time scales. Layer thickness anomalies are driven by a time-dependent northern boundary condition that imposes a southward volume flux representative of a variable source of NADW and damped by diapycnal mixing throughout the basin. Moreover, an outflowing southern boundary condition imposes a southward volume flux that generally differs from the volume flux at the northern boundary, giving rise to temporal storage of NADW within the Atlantic basin. Closed form analytic solutions for the amplitude and phase are provided when the variable source of NADW is sinusoidal. We provide a nondimensional analysis that demonstrates that solution behavior is primarily controlled by two parameters that characterize the meridional extent of the southern basin and the width of the basin relative to the equatorial deformation radius. Similar scaling applied to the time-lagged equations of Johnson and Marshall provides a clear connection to their results. Numerical simulations of reduced-gravity equations agree with analytic predictions in linear, turbulent, and diabatic regimes. The theory introduces a simple analytic framework for studying idealized buoyancy- and wind-driven cross-equatorial flows on interannual and longer time scales.
Elastography and diffusion-weighted MRI in patients with testicular microlithiasis, normal testicular tissue, and testicular cancer: an observational study
Authors: Pedersen Malene Roland , Sloth Osther Palle Jørn , Nissen Henrik Dahl , Vedsted Peter , Møller Henrik , Rafaelsen Søren Rafael 
Published: July 2018

Background Ultrasound elastography is increasingly available in clinical practice. Recent studies showed higher velocity stiffness in testicular tumors compared to normal testicles. Purpose To evaluate ultrasound elastography in combination with the apparent diffusion coefficient measurements in diffusion weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in testicles. DW can be a useful tool in evaluating testicular malignancies. However, the relationship between velocity stiffness and MRI diffusion is not well established. Material and Methods We prospectively included 132 patients with testicular microlithiasis (n = 53), or normal testicular tissue (n = 53), or suspected for testicular cancer (n = 26). All 132 patients underwent ultrasonography including shear wave elastography and MRI diffusion coefficient examination of the scrotum. Results No clinically relevant difference in velocity stiffness was found between normal and testicles with microlithiasis. There was a significant difference in stiffness between patients with testicular microlithiasis (0.78 m/s), normal testicular tissue (0.77 m/s), and patients with testicular cancer (1.95 m/s) ( P ≤ 0.001). Similarly, there was a statistically significant difference in MRI diffusion values between patients with testicular microlithiasis (0.978 × 10−3 mm2 s−1), normal testicular tissue (0.929 × 10−3 mm2 s−1), and testicular cancers (0.743 × 10−3 mm2 s−1) ( P < 0.01). Conclusion Patients with testicular microlithiasis had no malignant characteristics measured with shear wave elastography or MRI diffusion. MRI diffusion and elastography may be useful to preoperatively differentiate benign from malignant testicular lesions.
Prevalence of hypothyroidism among patients with isthmus-preserved thyroid lobectomy
Authors: Salih Abdulwahid M. 
Published: July 2018

Objective To investigate the prevalence of hypothyroidism following thyroid lobectomy with isthmus preservation. Methods This retrospective, case series study included patients who had undergone thyroid lobectomy with preserved isthmus that was reversed onto the contralateral lobe. Neck ultrasound was performed in all patients and the patients were followed for 2 years. Results Out of 170 patients enrolled into the study, three were excluded due to preoperative hypothyroidism and one due to isthmusectomy; of the remaining 166 included in the final analyses, 139 patients (83.7%) were female, 27 (16.3%) were male, and patient age ranged between 17 and 77 years. The indication for intervention was thyroid swelling in 141 patients (84.9%). Final diagnoses following histopathological examination comprised benign lesion in 145 cases (87.3%), malignancy (follicular carcinoma and papillary thyroid carcinoma) in 12 cases (7.2%) and thyroiditis in nine cases (5.4%). During the 2-year post-surgery follow-up, 165 patients (99.4%) were euthyroid and one patient (0.6%) developed hypothyroidism. Conclusion Postoperative hypothyroidism following thyroid lobectomy appears to be very rare when the isthmus is preserved and reversed onto the contralateral lobe.
Chronic kidney disease is associated with carotid atherosclerosis and symptomatic ischaemic stroke
Authors: Kajitani Nobuo , Uchida Haruhito A. , Suminoe Isao , Kakio Yuki , Kitagawa Masashi , Sato Hajime , Wada Jun 
Published: July 2018

Objective We aimed to investigate the relationships among chronic kidney disease (CKD), symptomatic ischaemic stroke, and carotid atherosclerosis. Methods We enrolled 455 patients who underwent carotid ultrasonography in our hospital, including 311 patients with symptomatic ischaemic stroke and 144 patients without symptomatic ischaemic stroke. Carotid intima–media thickness (IMT), the rate of internal carotid artery stenosis, and maximal plaque size were evaluated. Results The mean age of the patients was 68.5 ± 11.0 years and the mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 68.8 ± 18.2 mL/min/1.73 m2. After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, the mean IMT was significantly higher in patients with CKD than in those without CKD. The IMT and eGFR were negatively correlated in patients with stroke (r = −0.169). Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that mean IMT, plaque size, and internal carotid artery stenosis were significant determinants of symptomatic ischaemic stroke after adjustment of multivariate risk factors. Furthermore, the eGFR was a negative determinant of symptomatic ischaemic stroke after adjusting for classical risk factors (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 0.868 [0.769–0.979]). Conclusion CKD might be associated with the carotid atherosclerosis and symptomatic ischaemic stroke.
Associations of Maternal Beliefs and Distress in Pregnancy and Postpartum With Breastfeeding Initiation and Early Cessation
Authors: Ritchie-Ewing Genevieve , Mitchell Amanda M. , Christian Lisa M. 
Published: July 2018

Background: Breastfeeding plays an important role in both maternal and infant health and well-being. While researchers have examined the relationship between postpartum psychological distress and breastfeeding behaviors, few have investigated links between prenatal distress, postpartum distress, and breastfeeding behaviors over time. Research Aim: We aimed to determine if prenatal breastfeeding beliefs and psychological distress during and after pregnancy were associated with initiation and early cessation rates of breastfeeding. Methods: In our secondary data analysis, a nonexperimental longitudinal one-group design was used. We assessed pregnant women ( N = 70) during four perinatal visits (early, mid, and late pregnancy and 7-10 weeks postpartum). Participants completed self-report surveys about psychological distress and depressive symptoms at each visit, breastfeeding beliefs during the third visit, and breastfeeding behaviors at the postpartum visit. Results: Participants who breastfed for ⩾8 weeks had more positive beliefs about breastfeeding prior to delivery than participants with early cessation, who in turn had more positive beliefs than those who never initiated. Participants with early cessation reported heightened levels of pregnancy-specific distress in early pregnancy compared to those who continued breastfeeding or never initiated. Participants who continued breastfeeding for ⩾8 weeks reported less general anxiety and depressive symptoms in postpartum than those who discontinued or never initiated. Conclusions: Prenatal beliefs about breastfeeding, pregnancy-specific distress in early pregnancy, and general anxiety and depressive symptoms in postpartum are associated with breastfeeding initiation and continuation. Of clinical relevance, addressing prenatal and postpartum distress in the implementation of breastfeeding practice interventions could improve breastfeeding rates.