bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Decisions Regarding Pregnancy Termination Due to β‐Thalassemia Major: a Mixed‐Methods Study in Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran
Authors: Moudi Zahra , Miri‐Moghaddam Ebrahim 
Published: September 2016

AbstractIn the present study, an embedded design was applied in order to conduct a one‐year cross‐sectional audit of chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and foetal outcomes affected by β‐thalassemia major (β‐TM) in a prenatal diagnosis (PND) setting. In addition, we explored the decisions regarding pregnancy termination among women whose pregnancy (or child) was affected by β‐TM. In the quantitative phase, the available data in the clients’ medical records were analysed, while the qualitative phase was performed using a grounded theory method. Interviews were performed with nine pregnant women who had decided against pregnancy termination despite positive CVS results, 11 mothers who had admitted their child to the thalassemia ward for blood transfusion, and 19 mothers who had received positive CVS results and had decided against pregnancy termination in the preceding year. Over one year, 18.6 % of women decided against pregnancy termination despite positive CVS results. Two main themes related to decisions against pregnancy termination emerged from the qualitative data: 1) Cognitive factors (questioning the reliability of the tests or doubts about the accuracy of the results, understanding disease recurrence, curability, perceived severity of the disease, and lack of “real‐life experiences”); and 2) Sociocultural responsiveness (family opposition, responsibility before God, and self‐responsiveness). All of the mentioned factors could intensify fear of abortion in couples due to possible regret, and encourage a decision against pregnancy termination.
Reason and Justice: The Optimal and the Maximal
Authors: Sen Amartya 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThis paper is a revised version of the Royal Institute of Philosophy’s Annual Lecture, 2016. It discusses the demands of critical reasoning in ethical arguments, and focuses in particular on the assessment of justice. It disputes the belief that reasoning about choice remains unfinished until an optimal alternative has been identified. A successful closure of a reasoning may identify a maximal alternative, which is not judged to be worse than any other available option. A maximal alternative need not be optimal in the sense of being ‘best’ (that is, at least as good as every other alternative). Critically sound reasoning can lead us to a partial ordering yielding a maximal alternative that is not optimal. The compulsive search for an optimal alternative needlessly limits the reach of reasoning in ethics.
Philosophy (and Athens) in Decay: Timon of Athens
Authors: Blits Jan H. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractPericles famously described the Athenians as “lovers of the beautiful with thrift, and lovers of wisdom without softness.” Yet he cautioned that Athens's pursuit of boundless empire and glory could corrupt the citizens and destroy Athenian brilliance. Timon of Athens, the counterpart of A Midsummer Night's Dream, depicts what Pericles had warned against. The Athenians' love of the noble has given way to a voracious love of gold. With artists looking upon their work as merchandise to be sold at the highest price, the only thing considered beautiful is a line of salacious chorus-girls. Flattery and utility prevail throughout. The lowest form of friendship is thought to be the highest. Athens has disintegrated as a community of citizens sharing a common heritage. And philosophy, no longer a speculative inquiry, has become a shameless way of life, based on a fixed doctrine and virtually indistinguishable from misanthropy.
HERE COMES NEWER DESPAIR: AN AESTHETIC PRIMER FOR THE NEW CONCEPTUALISM OF JOHANNES KREIDLER
Authors: Erwin Max 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThis article seeks to clarify the aesthetic precedents for New Conceptualism generally, and Johannes Kreidler's work in particular. Pursuant to this end, I examine how Kreidler's approaches to musical and political material are ideologically indebted to his teacher, Mathias Spahlinger, whose dictum that New Music can be socially relevant without resorting to political clichés is taken by Kreidler into the digital age. Finally, by means of a conclusion, I attempt to provide a broad examination of how Kreidler's aesthetic concerns differ from – and sometimes radically conflict with – those other composers who are grouped under the New Conceptualism letterhead.
GESTURE, MIMESIS AND IMAGE: ADORNO, BENJAMIN AND THE GUITAR MUSIC OF BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH
Authors: Castro-Magas Diego 
Published: September 2016

AbstractOne important stimulus in attempting to apply Adorno's constellation of concepts on performance to Brian Ferneyhough's guitar music is that both display the influence of Walter Benjamin's thought. Benjamin's concept of mimesis influenced Adorno's theory of musical reproduction, however much Adorno may have reformulated it, and various Benjaminian topics are traceable in Ferneyhough's guitar music, especiallyKurze Schatten II(1983–89) for solo guitar. Adorno claims that true reproduction is the X-ray image of the work of music, a rendition of all the aspects that lie hidden beneath the surface. By exploring the conceptual traces of Benjamin's thought inKurze Schatten II, this article examines how performer's interpretative choices are likely to render the X-ray image of this music in performance, as seen through a gesture-based approach.
UPON THE OCCASION OF THE MILTON BABBITT (1916–2011) CENTENARY: AN INTERVIEW WITH BENJAMIN BORETZ
Authors: Mailman Joshua Banks 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThis edited transcript of a public pre-concert discussion with composer, theorist and critic Benjamin Boretz not only touches on early personal encounters with Babbitt but also ranges over issues of reception of his music, listening experiences, transformations of music's temporality, connections to Schoenberg, Webern, Cage, and postmodernism, stylistic changes over Babbitt's career and composerly poetics, as well as motivations and consequences for precompositional structures and systems. The discussion took place on 22 November 2015, at the first of three recitals during the 2015–16 concert season at Spectrum, in New York City, in which Augustus Arnone for the second time performed all of Milton Babbitt's solo piano works, this time in honour of the composer's centenary.
Pelvic inflammatory disease and salpingitis: incidence of primary and repeat episodes in England
Authors: PRICE M. J. , ADES A. E. , WELTON N. J. , SIMMS I. , HORNER P. J. 
Published: September 2016

SUMMARYPelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and more specifically salpingitis (visually confirmed inflammation) is the primary cause of tubal factor infertility and is an important risk factor for ectopic pregnancy. The risk of these outcomes increases following repeated episodes of PID. We developed a homogenous discrete-time Markov model for the distribution of PID history in the UK. We used a Bayesian framework to fully propagate parameter uncertainty into the model outputs. We estimated the model parameters from routine data, prospective studies, and other sources. We estimated that for women aged 35–44 years, 33·6% and 16·1% have experienced at least one episode of PID and salpingitis, respectively (diagnosed or not) and 10·7% have experienced one salpingitis and no further PID episodes, 3·7% one salpingitis and one further PID episode, and 1·7% one salpingitis and ⩾2 further PID episodes. Results are consistent with numerous external data sources, but not all. Studies of the proportion of PID that is diagnosed, and the proportion of PIDs that are salpingitis together with the severity distribution in different diagnostic settings and of overlap between routine data sources of PID would be valuable.
Prostate cancer risk related to foods, food groups, macronutrients and micronutrients derived from the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium food diaries
Authors: Lane J A , Oliver S E , Appleby P N , Lentjes M A H , Emmett P , Kuh D , Stephen A , Brunner E J , Shipley M J , Hamdy F C , Neal D E , Donovan J L , Khaw K-T , Key T J 
Published: September 2016

Abstract

Background/Objectives:
The influence of dietary factors remains controversial for screen-detected prostate cancer and inconclusive for clinically detected disease. We aimed to examine these associations using prospectively collected food diaries.

Subjects/Methods:
A total of 1,717 prostate cancer cases in middle-aged and older UK men were pooled from four prospective cohorts with clinically detected disease (n=663), with routine data follow-up (means 6.6–13.3 years) and a case-control study with screen-detected disease (n=1054), nested in a randomised trial of prostate cancer treatments (ISCTRN 20141297). Multiple-day food diaries (records) completed by men prior to diagnosis were used to estimate intakes of 37 selected nutrients, food groups and items, including carbohydrate, fat, protein, dairy products, fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, energy, fibre, alcohol, lycopene and selenium. Cases were matched on age and diary date to at least one control within study (n=3528). Prostate cancer risk was calculated, using conditional logistic regression (adjusted for baseline covariates) and expressed as odds ratios in each quintile of intake (±95% confidence intervals). Prostate cancer risk was also investigated by localised or advanced stage and by cancer detection method.

Results:
There were no strong associations between prostate cancer risk and 37 dietary factors.

Conclusions:
Prostate cancer risk, including by disease stage, was not strongly associated with dietary factors measured by food diaries in middle-aged and older UK men.
Structural and functional characterization of a calcium-activated cation channel from Tsukamurella paurometabola
Authors: Dhakshnamoorthy Balasundaresan , Rohaim Ahmed , Rui Huan , Blachowicz Lydia , Roux Benoît 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThe selectivity filter is an essential functional element of K+ channels that is highly conserved both in terms of its primary sequence and its three-dimensional structure. Here, we investigate the properties of an ion channel from the Gram-positive bacterium Tsukamurella paurometabola with a selectivity filter formed by an uncommon proline-rich sequence. Electrophysiological recordings show that it is a non-selective cation channel and that its activity depends on Ca2+ concentration. In the crystal structure, the selectivity filter adopts a novel conformation with Ca2+ ions bound within the filter near the pore helix where they are coordinated by backbone oxygen atoms, a recurrent motif found in multiple proteins. The binding of Ca2+ ion in the selectivity filter controls the widening of the pore as shown in crystal structures and in molecular dynamics simulations. The structural, functional and computational data provide a characterization of this calcium-gated cationic channel.
Systematic functional analysis of kinases in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans
Authors: Lee Kyung-Tae , So Yee-Seul , Yang Dong-Hoon , Jung Kwang-Woo , Choi Jaeyoung , Lee Dong-Gi , Kwon Hyojeong , Jang Juyeong , Wang Li Li , Cha Soohyun , Meyers Gena Lee , Jeong Eunji , Jin Jae-Hyung , Lee Yeonseon , Hong Joohyeon , Bang Soohyun , Ji Je-Hyun , Park Goun , Byun Hyo-Jeong , Park Sung Woo , Park Young-Min , Adedoyin Gloria , Kim Taeyup , Averette Anna F. , Choi Jong-Soon , Heitman Joseph , Cheong Eunji , Lee Yong-Hwan , Bahn Yong-Sun 
Published: September 2016

AbstractCryptococcus neoformans is the leading cause of death by fungal meningoencephalitis; however, treatment options remain limited. Here we report the construction of 264 signature-tagged gene-deletion strains for 129 putative kinases, and examine their phenotypic traits under 30 distinct in vitro growth conditions and in two different hosts (insect larvae and mice). Clustering analysis of in vitro phenotypic traits indicates that several of these kinases have roles in known signalling pathways, and identifies hitherto uncharacterized signalling cascades. Virulence assays in the insect and mouse models provide evidence of pathogenicity-related roles for 63 kinases involved in the following biological categories: growth and cell cycle, nutrient metabolism, stress response and adaptation, cell signalling, cell polarity and morphology, vacuole trafficking, transfer RNA (tRNA) modification and other functions. Our study provides insights into the pathobiological signalling circuitry of C. neoformans and identifies potential anticryptococcal or antifungal drug targets.
A novel perovskite oxide chemically designed to show multiferroic phase boundary with room-temperature magnetoelectricity
Authors: Fernández-Posada Carmen M. , Castro Alicia , Kiat Jean-Michel , Porcher Florence , Peña Octavio , Algueró Miguel , Amorín Harvey 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThere is a growing activity in the search of novel single-phase multiferroics that could finally provide distinctive magnetoelectric responses at room temperature, for they would enable a range of potentially disruptive technologies, making use of the ability of controlling polarization with a magnetic field or magnetism with an electric one (for example, voltage-tunable spintronic devices, uncooled magnetic sensors and the long-searched magnetoelectric memory). A very promising novel material concept could be to make use of phase-change phenomena at structural instabilities of a multiferroic state. Indeed, large phase-change magnetoelectric response has been anticipated by a first-principles investigation of the perovskite BiFeO3–BiCoO3 solid solution, specifically at its morphotropic phase boundary between multiferroic polymorphs of rhombohedral and tetragonal symmetries. Here, we report a novel perovskite oxide that belongs to the BiFeO3–BiMnO3–PbTiO3 ternary system, chemically designed to present such multiferroic phase boundary with enhanced ferroelectricity and canted ferromagnetism, which shows distinctive room-temperature magnetoelectric responses.
Optical manipulation of single flux quanta
Authors: Veshchunov I. S. , Magrini W. , Mironov S. V. , Godin A. G. , Trebbia J.-B. , Buzdin A. I. , Tamarat Ph. , Lounis B. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractMagnetic field can penetrate into type II superconductors in the form of Abrikosov vortices, which are magnetic flux tubes surrounded by circulating supercurrents often trapped at defects referred to as pinning sites. Although the average properties of the vortex matter in superconductors can be tuned with magnetic fields, temperature or electric currents, handling of individual Abrikosov vortices remains challenging and has been demonstrated only with sophisticated scanning local probe microscopies. Here we introduce a far-field optical method based on local heating of the superconductor with a focused laser beam to realize a fast and precise manipulation of individual vortices, in the same way as with optical tweezers. This simple approach provides the perfect basis for sculpting the magnetic flux profile in superconducting devices like a vortex lens or a vortex cleaner, without resorting to static pinning or ratchet effects.
Return of naturally sourced Pb to Atlantic surface waters
Authors: Bridgestock Luke , van de Flierdt Tina , Rehkämper Mark , Paul Maxence , Middag Rob , Milne Angela , Lohan Maeve C. , Baker Alex R. , Chance Rosie , Khondoker Roulin , Strekopytov Stanislav , Humphreys-Williams Emma , Achterberg Eric P. , Rijkenberg Micha J. A. , Gerringa Loes J. A. , de Baar Hein J. W. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractAnthropogenic emissions completely overwhelmed natural marine lead (Pb) sources during the past century, predominantly due to leaded petrol usage. Here, based on Pb isotope measurements, we reassess the importance of natural and anthropogenic Pb sources to the tropical North Atlantic following the nearly complete global cessation of leaded petrol use. Significant proportions of up to 30–50% of natural Pb, derived from mineral dust, are observed in Atlantic surface waters, reflecting the success of the global effort to reduce anthropogenic Pb emissions. The observation of mineral dust derived Pb in surface waters is governed by the elevated atmospheric mineral dust concentration of the North African dust plume and the dominance of dry deposition for the atmospheric aerosol flux to surface waters. Given these specific regional conditions, emissions from anthropogenic activities will remain the dominant global marine Pb source, even in the absence of leaded petrol combustion.
Thresholds in marsh resilience to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Authors: Silliman Brian R. , Dixon Philip M. , Wobus Cameron , He Qiang , Daleo Pedro , Hughes Brent B. , Rissing Matthew , Willis Jonathan M. , Hester Mark W. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractEcosystem boundary retreat due to human-induced pressure is a generally observed phenomenon. However, studies that document thresholds beyond which internal resistance mechanisms are overwhelmed are uncommon. Following the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, field studies from a few sites suggested that oiling of salt marshes could lead to a biogeomorphic feedback where plant death resulted in increased marsh erosion. We tested for spatial generality of and thresholds in this effect across 103 salt marsh sites spanning ~430 kilometers of shoreline in coastal Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, using data collected as part of the natural resource damage assessment (NRDA). Our analyses revealed a threshold for oil impacts on marsh edge erosion, with higher erosion rates occurring for ~1–2 years after the spill at sites with the highest amounts of plant stem oiling (90–100%). These results provide compelling evidence showing large-scale ecosystem loss following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. More broadly, these findings provide rare empirical evidence identifying a geomorphologic threshold in the resistance of an ecosystem to increasing intensity of human-induced disturbance.
Prediction of new drug indications based on clinical data and network modularity
Authors: Yu Liang , Ma Xiaoke , Zhang Long , Zhang Jing , Gao Lin 
Published: September 2016

AbstractDrug repositioning is commonly done within the drug discovery process in order to adjust or expand the application line of an active molecule. Previous computational methods in this domain mainly focused on shared genes or correlations between genes to construct new drug-disease associations. We propose a method that can not only handle drugs or diseases with or without related genes but consider the network modularity. Our method firstly constructs a drug network and a disease network based on side effects and symptoms respectively. Because similar drugs imply similar diseases, we then cluster the two networks to identify drug and disease modules, and connect all possible drug-disease module pairs. Further, based on known drug-disease associations in CTD and using local connectivity of modules, we predict potential drug-disease associations. Our predictions are validated by testing their overlaps with drug indications reported in published literatures and CTD, and KEGG enrichment analysis are also made on their related genes. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach can complement the current computational approaches and its predictions can provide new clues for the candidate discovery of drug repositioning.
An electrical probe of the phonon mean-free path spectrum
Authors: Ramu Ashok T. , Halaszynski Nicole I. , Peters Jonathan D. , Meinhart Carl D. , Bowers John E. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractMost studies of the mean-free path accumulation function (MFPAF) rely on optical techniques to probe heat transfer at length scales on the order of the phonon mean-free path. In this paper, we propose and implement a purely electrical probe of the MFPAF that relies on photo-lithographically defined heater-thermometer separation to set the length scale. An important advantage of the proposed technique is its insensitivity to the thermal interfacial impedance and its compatibility with a large array of temperature-controlled chambers that lack optical ports. Detailed analysis of the experimental data based on the enhanced Fourier law (EFL) demonstrates that heat-carrying phonons in gallium arsenide have a much wider mean-free path spectrum than originally thought.
Foldable and High Sulfur Loading 3D Carbon Electrode for High-performance Li-S Battery Application
Authors: He Na , Zhong Lei , Xiao Min , Wang Shuanjin , Han Dongmei , Meng Yuezhong 
Published: September 2016

AbstractSulfur is a promising cathode material with a high theoretical capacity of 1672 mAh g−1, however, the practical energy density of Li-S battery is far away from such promising due to its low active material utilization and low sulfur loading. Moreover, the challenges of the low electrical conductivity of sulfur and the high solubility of polysulfide intermediates still hinder its practical application. Here, we report a kind of free-standing and foldable cathodes consisting of 3D activated carbon fiber matrix and sulfur cathode. The 3D activated carbon fiber matrix (ACFC) has continuous conductive framework and sufficient internal space to provide a long-distance and continuous high-speed electron pathway. It also gives a very larger internal space and tortuous cathode region to ACFC accommodate a highly sulfur loading and keeps polysulfide within the cathode. The unique structured 3D foldable sulfur cathode using a foldable ACFC as matrix delivers a reversible capacity of about 979 mAh g−1 at 0.2C, a capacity retention of 98% after 100 cycles, and 0.02% capacity attenuation per cycle. Even at an areal capacity of 6 mAh cm−2, which is 2 times higher than the values of Li-ion battery, it still maintains an excellent rate capability and cycling performance.
Dimethylarginine Dimethylaminohydrolase 2 (DDAH 2) Gene Polymorphism, Asymmetric Dimethylarginine (ADMA) Concentrations, and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease: A Case-Control Study
Authors: Xuan Chao , Xu Long-Qiang , Tian Qing-Wu , Li Hui , Wang Qing , He Guo-Wei , Lun Li-Min 
Published: September 2016

AbstractAsymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) has been shown to be an independent predictor of cardiovascular diseases. Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 (DDAH 2) promotes the metabolism of ADMA and plays a key role in the regulation of acute inflammatory response. With the present study, we investigated the relationship between DDAH 2 polymorphisms and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its association to plasma ADMA concentrations. We used the haplotype-tagging SNP approach to identify tag SNPs in DDAH 2. The SNPs were genotyped by PCR and sequenced in 385 CAD patients and 353 healthy controls. Plasma concentrations of ADMA were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A promoter polymorphism −449C/G (rs805305) in DDAH 2 was identified. Compared with the ADMA concentrations in CC genotype (0.328 ± 0.077 μmol/l), ADMA concentrations in CG + GG genotype were significantly increased (0.517 ± 0.090 μmol/l, P < 0.001). No significant associations between the −449C/G and risk of CAD were detected in the genetic models. The results of this study suggest that Genetic −499C/G polymorphism in DDAH 2 gene may affect the plasma ADMA concentrations in patients with CAD. However, it does not indicate a novel genetic risk marker for CAD.