bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Adoption, reinvention and amendment of renewable portfolio standards in the American states
Authors: Carley Sanya , Nicholson-Crotty Sean , Miller Chris J. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractIt has long been recognised that interstate diffusion of policy innovations is comprised of distinct decisions including adoption, reinvention and amendment. Interstate influences are an important driver of these diffusion processes, but studies to date have not investigated the degree to which external influences vary across these decisions. We theorise that geographical peers will have the largest impact in adoption decisions; that ideological peers are an important source of policy information when states make decisions about “reinventing” innovations adopted by others; and that internal factors will drive the decision by a state to amend a policy. We test these expectations for renewable portfolio standards in the American states between 1996 and 2009. Results suggest that state policymakers emulate peers in adoption or policy design choices, and that internal influences have a stronger influence on amendment decisions than do external influences. These findings further our understanding of policy diffusion and state-by-state relations.
Exploring the Changing Role of Chinese Entities in WMD Proliferation
Authors: Salisbury Daniel , Jones Lucy 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThis paper seeks to provide an original examination of the nature of the proliferation of sensitive materials and technologies by Chinese entities. A number of publications have attempted to understand the issue of proliferation stemming from businesses based in China, with many having commented on the efforts undertaken both by international actors and by the Chinese government to prevent it. However, relatively few scholars have sought, in any systematic and sustained way, to understand the types of Chinese companies involved in proliferation and the evolution of their behaviour. This paper seeks to argue and account for the declining role of, and concern regarding, Chinese state-owned enterprise in the global proliferation problem. Different accounts for this change, and the relating proliferation challenge posed by China, are examined.
Ashley, Two Born as One, and the Best Interests of a Child
Authors: GILLETT GRANT 
Published: January 2016

Abstract:What is in the best interests of a child, and could that ever include interventions that we might regard as prima facie detrimental to a child’s physical well-being? This question is raised a fortiori by growth attenuation treatments in children with severe neurological disorders causing extreme developmental delay. I argue that two principles that provide guidance in generating a conception of best interests for each individual child yield the right results in such cases. The principles are as follows: thepotentiality principle, whereby every child should be able to develop its potential and is entitled to receive certain help in doing so, and theprinciple of psychosomatic harmony, whereby every human being is entitled to treatment that is appropriate to or enables a life in which mind and body are in tune with each other. These principles indicate a certain response to what we can call Ashley-type cases and admit certain caveats.
Minors and Contested Medical-Surgical Treatment
Authors: SNELLING JEANNE 
Published: January 2016

Abstract:Use of the best-interests test as the legal standard to justify medical treatment (or its cessation) in respect to legally incompetent adults or minors has come under sustained critique over the years. “Best interests” has variously been alleged to be indeterminate as well as susceptible to majoritarian ideology and inherent bias. It has also been alleged to be inferior to rights-based approaches. Against the background of several particularly hard cases involving minors discussed by Gillett in a prior article in this journal, this article considers some of these critiques. It concludes that these critical accounts make significant contributions to enabling a more procedurally and substantively robust consideration of what might be in a child’s best interests. However, it is argued that none of these accounts alone provide a superior framework that would justify jettisoning the concept of best interests. Further, it is suggested that best interests still has an important role in achieving patient-centered decisionmaking in this context. It concludes by suggesting a taxonomy of considerations when determining best interests.
Neuroethics beyond Normal
Authors: SHOOK JOHN R. , GIORDANO JAMES 
Published: January 2016

Abstract:An integrated and principled neuroethics offers ethical guidelines able to transcend conventional and medical reliance on normality standards. Elsewhere we have proposed four principles for wise guidance on human transformations. Principles like these are already urgently needed, as bio- and cyberenhancements are rapidly emerging. Context matters. Neither “treatments” nor “enhancements” are objectively identifiable apart from performance expectations, social contexts, and civic orders. Lessons learned from disability studies about enablement and inclusion suggest a fresh way to categorize modifications to the body and its performance. The term “enhancement” should be broken apart to permit recognition of enablements and augmentations, and kinds of radical augmentation for specialized performance. Augmentations affecting the self, self-worth, and self-identity of persons require heightened ethical scrutiny. Reversibility becomes the core problem, not the easy answer, as augmented persons may not cooperate with either decommissioning or displacement into unaccommodating societies. We conclude by indicating how our four principles of self-creativity, nonobsolescence, empowerment, and citizenship establish a neuroethics beyond normal that is better prepared for a future in which humans and their societies are going so far beyond normal.
Introducing the Medical Ethics Bowl
Authors: MERRICK ALLISON , GREEN ROCHELLE , CUNNINGHAM THOMAS V. , EISENBERG LEAH R. , HESTER D. MICAH 
Published: January 2016

Abstract:Although ethics is an essential component of undergraduate medical education, research suggests that current medical ethics curricula face considerable challenges in improving students’ ethical reasoning. This article discusses these challenges and introduces a promising new mode of graduate and professional ethics instruction for overcoming them. We begin by describing common ethics curricula, focusing in particular on established problems with current approaches. Next, we describe a novel method of ethics education and assessment for medical students that we have devised: the Medical Ethics Bowl (MEB). Finally, we suggest the pedagogical advantages of the MEB when compared to other ethics curricula.
Cognition in the Emergency Department as a Predictor of Recovery after Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Brooks Brian L. , Daya Hussain , Khan Samna , Carlson Helen L. , Mikrogianakis Angelo , Barlow Karen M. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractCognitive abilities can be acutely disrupted in children and adolescents who sustain a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), with the potential that these disruptions may be predictive of recovery. The objective of this study was to determine if cognitive abilities in the emergency department (ED) can differentiate and predict poor symptom recovery following a pediatric mTBI. Participants included 77 male and female youth with a mTBI (mean age=13.6;SD=2.6). All participants completed computerized cognitive testing (four subtests from the CNS Vital Signs) when they presented to the ED. Symptom measurement occurred in the ED (for pre-injury), at 7–10 days, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months post-mTBI using the post-concussion symptom inventory (PCSI). Recovery was determined using reliable change scores for symptom ratings from 28 orthopedic injury controls (mean age=13.9 years;SD=2.1). Significantly worse Reaction Time scores (i.e., rapid information processing) in the ED were found in those who remained symptomatic at 1 month. Performances on the Reaction Time and Cognitive Flexibility domain scores were predictive of symptom outcome at 1 month for youth (above and beyond sex and baseline symptom burden). Youth with low scores on Reaction Time and/or Cognitive Flexibility were nearly 15 times (95%CI=1.8–323.5) more likely to remain symptomatic at 1 month post-mTBI. No significant group differences were found at 7–10 days, 2 months, or 3 months post-injury. Rapid computerized cognitive testing in the ED following a mTBI may help clinicians predict which youth may or may not remain symptomatic at follow-up. (JINS, 2016,22, 379–387)
Pulse-density modulation control of chemical oscillation far from equilibrium in a droplet open-reactor system
Authors: Sugiura Haruka , Ito Manami , Okuaki Tomoya , Mori Yoshihito , Kitahata Hiroyuki , Takinoue Masahiro 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe design, construction and control of artificial self-organized systems modelled on dynamical behaviours of living systems are important issues in biologically inspired engineering. Such systems are usually based on complex reaction dynamics far from equilibrium; therefore, the control of non-equilibrium conditions is required. Here we report a droplet open-reactor system, based on droplet fusion and fission, that achieves dynamical control over chemical fluxes into/out of the reactor for chemical reactions far from equilibrium. We mathematically reveal that the control mechanism is formulated as pulse-density modulation control of the fusion–fission timing. We produce the droplet open-reactor system using microfluidic technologies and then perform external control and autonomous feedback control over autocatalytic chemical oscillation reactions far from equilibrium. We believe that this system will be valuable for the dynamical control over self-organized phenomena far from equilibrium in chemical and biomedical studies.
Nanoscale visualization of functional adhesion/excitability nodes at the intercalated disc
Authors: Leo-Macias Alejandra , Agullo-Pascual Esperanza , Sanchez-Alonso Jose L. , Keegan Sarah , Lin Xianming , Arcos Tatiana , Feng-Xia-Liang  , Korchev Yuri E. , Gorelik Julia , Fenyö David , Rothenberg Eli , Delmar Mario 
Published: January 2016

AbstractIntercellular adhesion and electrical excitability are considered separate cellular properties. Studies of myelinated fibres, however, show that voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) aggregate with cell adhesion molecules at discrete subcellular locations, such as the nodes of Ranvier. Demonstration of similar macromolecular organization in cardiac muscle is missing. Here we combine nanoscale-imaging (single-molecule localization microscopy; electron microscopy; and ‘angle view’ scanning patch clamp) with mathematical simulations to demonstrate distinct hubs at the cardiac intercalated disc, populated by clusters of the adhesion molecule N-cadherin and the VGSC NaV1.5. We show that the N-cadherin-NaV1.5 association is not random, that NaV1.5 molecules in these clusters are major contributors to cardiac sodium current, and that loss of NaV1.5 expression reduces intercellular adhesion strength. We speculate that adhesion/excitability nodes are key sites for crosstalk of the contractile and electrical molecular apparatus and may represent the structural substrate of cardiomyopathies in patients with mutations in molecules of the VGSC complex.
Unveiling the structural arrangements responsible for the atomic dynamics in metallic glasses during physical aging
Authors: Giordano V. M. , Ruta B 
Published: January 2016

AbstractUnderstanding and controlling physical aging, that is, the spontaneous temporal evolution of out-of-equilibrium systems, represents one of the greatest tasks in material science. Recent studies have revealed the existence of a complex atomic motion in metallic glasses, with different aging regimes in contrast with the typical continuous aging observed in macroscopic quantities. By combining dynamical and structural synchrotron techniques, here for the first time we directly connect previously identified microscopic structural mechanisms with the peculiar atomic motion, providing a broader unique view of their complexity. We show that the atomic scale is dominated by the interplay between two processes: rearrangements releasing residual stresses related to a cascade mechanism of relaxation, and medium range ordering processes, which do not affect the local density, likely due to localized relaxations of liquid-like regions. As temperature increases, a surprising additional secondary relaxation process sets in, together with a faster medium range ordering, likely precursors of crystallization.
Protein unfolding as a switch from self-recognition to high-affinity client binding
Authors: Groitl Bastian , Horowitz Scott , Makepeace Karl A. T. , Petrotchenko Evgeniy V. , Borchers Christoph H. , Reichmann Dana , Bardwell James C. A. , Jakob Ursula 
Published: January 2016

AbstractStress-specific activation of the chaperone Hsp33 requires the unfolding of a central linker region. This activation mechanism suggests an intriguing functional relationship between the chaperone’s own partial unfolding and its ability to bind other partially folded client proteins. However, identifying where Hsp33 binds its clients has remained a major gap in our understanding of Hsp33’s working mechanism. By using site-specific Fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance experiments guided by in vivo crosslinking studies, we now reveal that the partial unfolding of Hsp33’s linker region facilitates client binding to an amphipathic docking surface on Hsp33. Furthermore, our results provide experimental evidence for the direct involvement of conditionally disordered regions in unfolded protein binding. The observed structural similarities between Hsp33’s own metastable linker region and client proteins present a possible model for how Hsp33 uses protein unfolding as a switch from self-recognition to high-affinity client binding.
Giant phonon anomaly associated with superconducting fluctuations in the pseudogap phase of cuprates
Authors: Liu Ye-Hua , Konik Robert M. , Rice T. M. , Zhang Fu-Chun 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe pseudogap in underdoped cuprates leads to significant changes in the electronic structure, and was later found to be accompanied by anomalous fluctuations of superconductivity and certain lattice phonons. Here we propose that the Fermi surface breakup due to the pseudogap, leads to a breakup of the pairing order into two weakly coupled sub-band amplitudes, and a concomitant low energy Leggett mode due to phase fluctuations between them. This increases the temperature range of superconducting fluctuations containing an overdamped Leggett mode. In this range inter-sub-band phonons show strong damping due to resonant scattering into an intermediate state with a pair of overdamped Leggett modes. In the ordered state, the Leggett mode develops a finite energy, changing the anomalous phonon damping into an anomaly in the dispersion. This proposal explains the intrinsic connection between the anomalous pseudogap phase, enhanced superconducting fluctuations and giant anomalies in the phonon spectra.
Bcl-xL promotes metastasis independent of its anti-apoptotic activity
Authors: Choi Soyoung , Chen Zhengming , Tang Laura H. , Fang Yuanzhang , Shin Sandra J. , Panarelli Nicole C. , Chen Yao-Tseng , Li Yi , Jiang Xuejun , Du Yi-Chieh Nancy 
Published: January 2016

AbstractBcl-xL suppresses mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and is frequently overexpressed in cancer to promote cancer cell survival. Bcl-xL also promotes metastasis. However, it is unclear whether this metastatic function is dependent on its anti-apoptotic activity in the mitochondria. Here we demonstrate that Bcl-xL promotes metastasis independent of its anti-apoptotic activity. We show that apoptosis-defective Bcl-xL mutants and an engineered Bcl-xL targeted to the nucleus promote epithelial–mesenchymal transition, migration, invasion and stemness in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour (panNET) and breast cancer cell lines. However, Bcl-xL proteins targeted to the mitochondria or outside of the nucleus do not have these functions. We confirm our findings in spontaneous and xenograft mouse models. Furthermore, Bcl-xL exerts metastatic function through epigenetic modification of the TGFβ promoter to increase TGFβ signalling. Consistent with these findings, we detect nuclear Bcl-xL in human metastatic panNETs. Taken together, the metastatic function of Bcl-xL is independent of its anti-apoptotic activity and its residence in the mitochondria.
CLIC4 regulates apical exocytosis and renal tube luminogenesis through retromer- and actin-mediated endocytic trafficking
Authors: Chou Szu-Yi , Hsu Kuo-Shun , Otsu Wataru , Hsu Ya-Chu , Luo Yun-Cin , Yeh Celine , Shehab Syed S. , Chen Jie , Shieh Vincent , He Guo-an , Marean Michael B. , Felsen Diane , Ding Aihao , Poppas Dix P. , Chuang Jen-Zen , Sung Ching-Hwa 
Published: January 2016

AbstractChloride intracellular channel 4 (CLIC4) is a mammalian homologue of EXC-4 whose mutation is associated with cystic excretory canals in nematodes. Here we show that CLIC4-null mouse embryos exhibit impaired renal tubulogenesis. In both developing and developed kidneys, CLIC4 is specifically enriched in the proximal tubule epithelial cells, in which CLIC4 is important for luminal delivery, microvillus morphogenesis, and endolysosomal biogenesis. Adult CLIC4-null proximal tubules display aberrant dilation. In MDCK 3D cultures, CLIC4 is expressed on early endosome, recycling endosome and apical transport carriers before reaching its steady-state apical membrane localization in mature lumen. CLIC4 suppression causes impaired apical vesicle coalescence and central lumen formation, a phenotype that can be rescued by Rab8 and Cdc42. Furthermore, we show that retromer- and branched actin-mediated trafficking on early endosome regulates apical delivery during early luminogenesis. CLIC4 selectively modulates retromer-mediated apical transport by negatively regulating the formation of branched actin on early endosomes.
The role of mesenchymal stem cells in promoting the transformation of androgen-dependent human prostate cancer cells into androgen-independent manner
Authors: Cheng Jiwen , Yang Keqin , Zhang Qingyun , Yu Yang , Meng Qinggui , Mo Ning , Zhou Yang , Yi Xianlin , Ma Chengzhong , Lei Aming , Liu Yan 
Published: January 2016

AbstractMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play an important role in the development of human prostate cancer (PCa). However, the role of MSCs in the transformation of androgen-dependent human PCa cells into androgen-independent manner has been poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the underlying mechanism of MSCs in promoting PCa cells from androgen-dependent into androgen-independent manner. Firstly, we demonstrated that MSCs could affect the transformation of androgen-dependent human PCa cells into androgen-independent manner in vivo and in vitro. Then we found a substantial expression of TGF-β in MSCs. TGF-β blockade could significantly inhibit the promotive function of MSCs in PCa cells. Besides that, we also demonstrated androgen might inhibit the expression of TGF-β in MSCs. Furthermore, we found that either overexpression of SSEA-4 or the number of SSEA-4 positive MSCs in PCa tissues was associated with a shorter cancer-free survival interval (CFSI) and a worse overall survival (OS). Our results suggest that androgen blockade treatment in clinical PCa therapy may elicit the expression of TGF-β in MSCs, which will result in the transformation of androgen-dependent human PCa cells into androgen-independent manner.
Genome-wide association studies in East Asians identify new loci for waist-hip ratio and waist circumference
Authors: Wen Wanqing , Kato Norihiro , Hwang Joo-Yeon , Guo Xingyi , Tabara Yasuharu , Li Huaixing , Dorajoo Rajkumar , Yang Xiaobo , Tsai Fuu-Jen , Li Shengxu , Wu Ying , Wu Tangchun , Kim Soriul , Guo Xiuqing , Liang Jun , Shungin Dmitry , Adair Linda S. , Akiyama Koichi , Allison Matthew , Cai Qiuyin , Chang Li-Ching , Chen Chien-Hsiun , Chen Yuan-Tsong , Cho Yoon Shin , Choi Bo Youl , Gao Yutang , Go Min Jin , Gu Dongfeng , Han Bok-Ghee , He Meian , Hixson James E. , Hu Yanling , Huang Tao , Isono Masato , Jung Keum Ji , Kang Daehee , Kim Young Jin , Kita Yoshikuni , Lee Juyoung , Lee Nanette R. , Lee Jeannette , Wang Yiqin , Liu Jian-Jun , Long Jirong , Moon Sanghoon , Nakamura Yasuyuki , Nakatochi Masahiro , Ohnaka Keizo , Rao Dabeeru , Shi Jiajun , Sull Jae Woong , Tan Aihua , Ueshima Hirotsugu , Wu Chen , Xiang Yong-Bing , Yamamoto Ken , Yao Jie , Ye Xingwang , Yokota Mitsuhiro , Zhang Xiaomin , Zheng Yan , Qi Lu , Rotter Jerome I. , Jee Sun Ha , Lin Dongxin , Mohlke Karen L. , He Jiang , Mo Zengnan , Wu Jer-Yuarn , Tai E. Shyong , Lin Xu , Miki Tetsuro , Kim Bong-Jo , Takeuchi Fumihiko , Zheng Wei , Shu Xiao-Ou 
Published: January 2016

AbstractSixty genetic loci associated with abdominal obesity, measured by waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR), have been previously identified, primarily from studies conducted in European-ancestry populations. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations of abdominal obesity with approximately 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among 53,052 (for WC) and 48,312 (for WHR) individuals of Asian descent and replicated 33 selected SNPs among 3,762 to 17,110 additional individuals. We identified four novel loci near the EFEMP1, ADAMTSL3 , CNPY2 and GNAS genes that were associated with WC after adjustment for body mass index (BMI); two loci near the NID2 and HLA-DRB5 genes associated with WHR after adjustment for BMI and three loci near the CEP120, TSC22D2 and SLC22A2 genes associated with WC without adjustment for BMI. Functional enrichment analyses revealed enrichment of corticotropin-releasing hormone signaling, GNRH signaling, and/or CDK5 signaling pathways for those newly-identified loci. Our study provides additional insight on genetic contribution to abdominal obesity.
Increased Dickkopf-1 in Recent-onset Rheumatoid Arthritis is a New Biomarker of Structural Severity. Data from the ESPOIR Cohort
Authors: Seror Raphaèle , Boudaoud Saida , Pavy Stephan , Nocturne Gaetane , Schaeverbeke Thierry , Saraux Alain , Chanson Philippe , Gottenberg Jacques-Eric , Devauchelle-Pensec Valérie , Tobón Gabriel J. , Mariette Xavier , Miceli-Richard Corinne 
Published: January 2016

AbstractRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory rheumatic condition over the world. RA is potentially disabling because chronic inflammation of the joints leads to joint destruction. To date, the best predictor of radiographic progression for patients with early RA is the presence of radiographic erosions at baseline, but a limited number of predictive biomarkers of structural progression are currently used in daily practice. Here, we investigated Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) and sclerostin (SOST) serum levels in patients with recent inflammatory arthritis from the ESPOIR cohort. This cohort is a prospective, multicenter French cohort of 813 patients with early arthritis. We observed that mean baseline DKK-1 level was higher among RA patients with than without radiological progression within the first 2 years of evolution. DKK-1 level was still associated with radiographic progression in a model including other main predictors of severity (erosions at baseline and anti-CCP antibody positivity). This study demonstrates that increased DKK-1 level at baseline predicted structural progression after 2-year follow-up and suggests that DKK-1 might be a new structural biomarker for early RA.