bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Chromosome 22q11 deletion in a patient with pulmonary atresia, intact ventricular septum, and confluent branch pulmonary arteries
Authors: Aggarwal Varun , Imamura Michaki , Acuna Carlos , Cabrera Antonio G. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractIn this study, we report a patient with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PA/IVS), confluent pulmonary arteries supplied by an arterial duct, and chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletion. The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome has been associated with anomalies of the outflow tracts, such as tetralogy of Fallot with either pulmonary stenosis or atresia, but we are aware of a solitary case described with pulmonary atresia when the ventricular septum is intact. The presence of genetic malformations can have long-term co-morbidities. By describing our patient, we aim to create awareness of this rare association.
Helicobacter pylori VacA induces autophagic cell death in gastric epithelial cells via the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway
Authors: Zhu Pan , Xue Jun , Zhang Zhu-jun , Jia Yin-ping , Tong Ya-nan , Han Dan , Li Qian , Xiang Yang , Mao Xu-hu , Tang Bin 
Published: December 2017

AbstractTheHelicobacter pylorivacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) can promote progressive vacuolation and gastric injury and may be associated with human gastric cancer. Increasing evidence indicates that autophagy is involved in the cell death induced by VacA, but the specific mechanisms need to be further elucidated. We show here that VacA could induce autophagy and increase cell death in human gastric cancer cell lines. Further investigations revealed that inhibition of autophagy could decrease the VacA-induced cell death in AGS cells. Furthermore, numerous dilated endoplasmic reticula (ER) were observed, and the phosphorylation of a subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 subunit 1 also increased in the VacA-treated AGS cells, while repression of ER stress could reduce autophagy and cell death through knockdown of activating transcription factor 4 and DNA-damage-inducible transcript 3. In addition, the expression of pseudokinase tribbles homolog 3 (TRIB3) upon ER stress was triggered by VacA, and knockdown of TRIB3 could also decrease VacA-induced cell death. Finally, inhibition of autophagy could decrease VacAs1m1-induced cell death and apoptosis, and apoptosis inhibitor Z-VAD had no significant effect on autophagy induced by VacAs1m1. Thus, these results suggested that VacA causes autophagic cell death via ER stress in gastric epithelial cells.
Shear-Assisted Production of Few-Layer Boron Nitride Nanosheets by Supercritical CO2 Exfoliation and Its Use for Thermally Conductive Epoxy Composites
Authors: Tian Xiaojuan , Li Yun , Chen Zhuo , Li Qi , Hou Liqiang , Wu Jiaye , Tang Yushu , Li Yongfeng 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBoron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) hold the similar two-dimensional structure as graphene and unique properties complementary to graphene, which makes it attractive in application ranging from electronics to energy storage. The exfoliation of boron nitride (BN) still remains challenge and hinders the applications of BNNS. In this work, the preparation of BNNS has been realized by a shear-assisted supercritical CO2 exfoliation process, during which supercritical CO2 intercalates and diffuses between boron nitride layers, and then the exfoliation of BN layers is obtained in the rapid depressurization process by overcoming the van der Waals forces. Our results indicate that the bulk boron nitride has been successfully exfoliated into thin nanosheets with an average 6 layers. It is found that the produced BNNS is well-dispersed in isopropyl alcohol (IPA) with a higher extinction coefficient compared with the bulk BN. Moreover, the BNNS/epoxy composite used as thermal interface materials has been prepared. The introduction of BNNS results in a 313% enhancement in thermal conductivity. Our results demonstrate that BNNS produced by supercritical CO2 exfoliation show great potential applications for heat dissipation of high efficiency electronics.
Clinical Implications of the Autophagy Core Gene Variations in Advanced Lung Adenocarcinoma Treated with Gefitinib
Authors: Yuan Jupeng , Zhang Nasha , Yin Longbin , Zhu Hui , Zhang Li , Zhou Liqing , Yang Ming 
Published: December 2017

AbstractEGFR-TKIs show dramatic treatment benefits for advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients with activatingEGFRmutations. Considering the essential role of autophagy in EGFR-TKIs treatments, we hypothesized that genetic variants in autophagy core genes might contribute to outcomes of advanced lung adenocarcinoma treated with gefitinib. We systematically examined 27 potentially functional genetic polymorphisms in 11 autophagy core genes among 108 gefitinib-treated advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients. We found thatATG10rs10036653,ATG12rs26538,ATG16L1rs2241880 andATG16L2rs11235604 were significantly associated with survival of lung adenocarcinoma patients (allP < 0.05). AmongEGFR-mutant patients,ATG5rs688810,ATG5rs510432,ATG7rs8154,ATG10rs10036653,ATG12rs26538,ATG16L1rs2241880 andATG16L2rs11235604 significantly contributed to disease prognosis. We also found thatATG5rs510432,ATG5rs688810,ATG10rs10036653 andATG10rs1864182 were associated with primary or acquired resistance to gefitinib. Functional analyses ofATG10rs10036653 polymorphism suggested thatATG10A allele might increase transcription factor OCT4 binding affinity compared to the T allele in lung cancer cells. Our results indicate that autophagy core genetic variants show potential clinical implications in gefitinib treatment, especially among advanced lung adenocarcinoma patients, highlighting the possibility of patient-tailored decisions during EGFR-TKIs based on both germline and somatic variation detection.
Tuck-in Lamellar keratoplasty with an lenticule obtained by small incision lenticule extraction for treatment of Post- LASIK Ectasia
Authors: Jiang Yang , Li Ying , Yang Shan , Lu Thomas Chengxuan 
Published: December 2017

AbstractCorneal ectasia is a rare but serious post-operative complication of LASIK. Our main aim was to describe and evaluate the efficacy and safety of tuck-in lamellar keratoplasty with an lenticule obtained by SMILE for treatment of Post LASIK Ectasia. Tuck-in lamellar keratoplasty was performed on three post-LASIK cornea ectasia patients (three eyes) with central corneal thickness less than 400 µm. Each patient was monitored for at least 12 months. Our primary outcomes measured pre and post-operatively included: Anterior segment optical coherence tomography(AS-OCT), corneal topography and monitored by slit-lamp microscopy. The mean total corneal thickness preoperatively and 1 day, 1 month, 3 months and 12 months post-op were 360.00 ± 32.07 µm, 590.00 ± 10.00 µm, 536.67 ± 11.54 µm, 523.33 ± 37.85 µm, 466.67 ± 41.63 µm. The mean lenticule implanted 1 day, 1 month, 3 months and 12 months post-op were 173.33 ± 41.63 µm,136.67 ± 25.16 µm, 133.33 ± 40.41 µm, 130.00 ± 17.32 µm. There was no evidence of immune rejection or other complications. Tuck-in lamellar keratoplasty with an lenticule obtained by SMILE seems to be a safe and alternative surgical approach in the treatment of post - LASIK cornea ectasia, especially for severe cases with cornea thickness less than 400 μm.
Two novel mutations identified in ADCC families impair crystallin protein distribution and induce apoptosis in human lens epithelial cells
Authors: Li Li , Fan Da-Bei , Zhao Ya-Ting , Li Yun , Kong De-Qian , Cai Fang-Fei , Zheng Guang-Ying 
Published: December 2017

AbstractCongenital cataract (CC) is a clinical and genetically heterogeneous eye disease that primarily causes lens disorder and even amblyopic blindness in children. As the mechanism underlying CC is genetically inherited, identification of CC-associated gene mutations and their role in protein distribution are topics of both pharmacological and biological research. Through physical and ophthalmic examinations, two Chinese pedigrees with autosomal dominant congenital cataract (ADCC) were recruited for this study. Mutation analyses of CC candidate genes by next-generation sequencing (NGS) and Sanger sequencing revealed a novel missense mutation in CRYBB2 (p.V146L) and a deletion mutation in CRYAA (p.116_118del). Both mutations fully co-segregated were not observed in unaffected family members or in 100 unrelated healthy controls. The CRYBB2 missense mutation disrupts the distribution of CRYBB2 in human lens epithelial cells (HLEpiCs), and the CRYAA deletion mutation causes hyperdispersion of CRYAA. Furthermore, these two crystallin mutations result in aberrant expression of unfolded protein response (UPR) marker genes as well as apoptosis in HLEpiCs. Collectively, these findings broaden the genetic spectrum of ADCC.
CscoreTool: fast Hi-C compartment analysis at high resolution
Authors: Zheng Xiaobin , Zheng Yixian 
Published: December 2017

Abstract

Summary
The genome-wide chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) has revealed that the eukaryotic genome can be partitioned into A and B compartments that have distinctive chromatin and transcription features. Current Principle Component Analyses (PCA)-based method for the A/B compartment prediction based on Hi-C data requires substantial CPU time and memory. We report the development of a method, CscoreTool, which enables fast and memory-efficient determination of A/B compartments at high resolution even in datasets with low sequencing depth.

Availability and implementation
https://github.com/scoutzxb/CscoreTool

Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
An industrial security system for human-robot coexistence
Authors: Long Philip , Chevallereau Christine , Chablat Damien , Girin Alexis 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The installation of industrial robots requires security barriers, a costly, time-consuming exercise. Collaborative robots may offer a solution; however, these systems only comply with safety standards if operating at reduced speeds. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of a novel security system that allows human–robot coexistence while permitting the robot to execute much of its task at nominal speed.

Design/methodology/approach
The security system is defined by three modes: a nominal mode, a coexistence mode and a gravity compensation mode. Mode transition is triggered by three lasers, two of which are mechanically linked to the robot. These scanners create a dynamic envelope around the robot and allow the detection of operator presence or environmental changes. To avoid velocity discontinuities between transitions, the authors propose a novel time scaling method.

Findings
The paper describes the system’s mechanical, software and control architecture. The system is demonstrated experimentally on a collaborative robot and is compared with the performance of a state-of-art security system. Both a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the new system is carried out.

Practical implications
The mode transition method is easily implemented, requires little computing power and leaves the trajectories unchanged. As velocity discontinuities are avoided, motor wear is reduced. The execution time is substantially less than a commercial alternative. These advantages can lead to economic benefits in high-volume manufacturing environments.

Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel system that is based on industrial material but can generate dynamic safety zones for a collaborative robot.
The Pransky interview: Mel Torrie, Founder, CEO and President of Autonomous Solutions, Inc.
Authors: Pransky Joanne 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The following paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned successful innovator and leader, regarding the challenges of bringing technological discoveries to fruition. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
The interviewee is Mel Torrie, CEO and President of Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI). ASI manufactures an OEM/vendor independent software and hardware solution retrofitted to existing equipment to create a wide variety of fully autonomous vehicles spanning agriculture, mining, automotive, industrial cleaning, security and government/military applications. In this interview, Torrie shares how he first got started in the robotics field along with his experiences in running his ground-breaking startup.

Findings
In 1999, Torrie received a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering at Utah State University (USU) where he worked on two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space shuttle payloads. After his work at USU, he managed robotics development programs for John Deere, the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Energy. He founded ASI, a spin-off of the Center of Self Organizing and Intelligent Systems (CSOIS) at USU, in 2000.

Originality/value
Torrie was a pioneer and visionary who bootstrapped ASI from the beginning. Under Torrie’s leadership, ASI raised over $85m in a unique business model where there is no equity but only strategic partners. These foremost companies are given exclusive rights to their vertical market and jointly own their industry’s driverless vehicle’s intellectual property (IP) with ASI. The vehicles are developed and tested at ASI’s 100-acre proving ground facility in Utah. To date, ASI’s more than 100 employees and their business partners have automated 75 different vehicle types and ASI continues to create new markets. Some of ASI’s notable installations include the Bingham Canyon Mine clean-up effort; BatCat, the teleoperated CAT telehandler for the Los Angeles Police Department; and the robotic durability testing program with Ford Motors, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler Automotive, Hyundai, General Motors as well as other private proving grounds.
Evaluation of dry port implementation in Ghana
Authors: Owusu Kwateng Kwame , Donkoh Archibald , Muntaka Abdul Samed 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
Congestion at Ghana’s main seaports is a problem that has received much attention recently. This is as a result of continuous increase in containerized cargo. To increase the capacity of Ghana’ seaport, the Ministry of Transport through the Ghana Shippers Council initiated the Boankra Inland Port Project. The aim of this paper is to assess the feasibility and economic effects of implementing the Boankra Inland Port as a solution to reduce congestion at the main seaports, as well as reduce transportation cost.

Design/methodology/approach
The location of the inland port was assessed using the gravitational model. Data for the gravitational model are distances from the main seaports in Ghana and Boankra Inland Port to major hinterland destinations and population of the destinations. Also, 210 respondents were selected and interviewed on contribution of the dry port concept to the economy and transportation management in Ghana.

Findings
The results of the gravitational model support the location of Boankra as an inland port. A further comparison between Tema and Takoradi shows that Tema has a better location as a distribution center than Takoradi.

Practical implications
Although Tema and Takoradi are the main seaports in Ghana, the implementation of the Boankra inland port will reduce the transportation cost for cargo with hinterland destinations, therefore making it a rational and cost-efficient location for transit transportation.

Originality/value
This paper is among the first significant attempts to evaluate the suitability of inland port implementation in Ghana.
Trade‐offs between water loss and gas exchange influence habitat suitability of a woodland salamander
Authors: Riddell Eric A. , McPhail Jared , Damm Jason D. , Sears Michael W. 
Published: December 2017

Abstract

Reversible acclimation increases resilience to environmental stress, but acclimation may have hidden costs due to underlying linkages between related physiological traits. These linkages might result in trade‐offs that undermine whole‐organism performance if the change in a related trait reduces the net benefits of acclimation or increases susceptibility to alternative environmental stressors.

Metabolic rate and water loss rate are two fundamental physiological traits that could interact due to their dependence on gas exchange across shared physical surfaces. Reductions in water loss rate in response to dehydration stress might reduce metabolic rate by constraining the flux of both water and oxygen.

We examined acclimation of metabolic rate and water loss rate using a species of woodland salamander (Plethodon metcalfi) in response to temperature and humidity using a full factorial experimental design. We controlled the evaporative demand of the air across temperatures to assess temperature and humidity as independent cues for acclimation. We predicted that reductions in water loss rate would coincide with reductions in metabolic rate in response to temperature due to shared physical and chemical pathways. We also assessed acclimation of heart rates as a potential compensatory mechanism used to promote oxygen delivery. We integrated these responses into a biophysical model developed from first principles to demonstrate the potential for these interactions to influence habitat suitability.

We found that reductions in water loss rates during thermal acclimation were associated with simultaneous reductions in metabolic rates, and we did not find a compensatory response in heart rates. We suggest that these linkages underlie whole‐organism strategies (e.g. physiological dormancy or arousal) for reducing the energetic costs imposed by warm temperatures. The biophysical model suggested that the interaction between these two traits potentially structures phenotypic variation in our population because certain combinations of trait values were incapable of reaching positive energy balance.

Trade‐offs between linked physiological traits potentially structure whole‐organism strategies for responding to environmental stressors and constrain phenotypic variation. Therefore, predictions of the benefits of acclimation must be interpreted cautiously without knowledge of the underlying trade‐offs among linked physiological traits.

A plain language summary is available for this article.
The mechanistic basis of demographic Allee effects: The search for mates
Authors: Kuparinen Anna 
Published: December 2017

AbstractIn Focus: Berec, L., Kremer, A.M., Bernhauverova, V., & Drake, J.M. (2017). . Journal of Animal Ecology, 87, 24–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12662In Focus: Shaw, A.K., Kokko, H., & Neubert, M.G. (2017). . Journal of Animal Ecology, 87, 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12658Lowered population growth ability at low abundances is called the demographic Allee effect. The difficulty of finding mates in a sparse population is the best documented pathway through which a demographic Allee effect might arise. The articles in focus here aim to establish the mechanistic links between mate search component Allee effects and the emergent demographic Allee effect manifested at the level of population growth rate. The authors discover that limitations in the time invested in mate searching generates demographic Allee effects and that the population level adaptations of mate search time are likely to be dependent on the prevailing population density. Trade‐offs between mate search, survival and reproductive outputs are key in understanding optimal mate search strategies and their fitness consequences. The present studies provide guidelines to identify populations at risk of experiencing demographic Allee effects at low abundances.
Dynamic environments of fungus‐farming termite mounds exert growth‐modulating effects on fungal crop parasites
Authors: Katariya Lakshya , Ramesh Priya B. , Borges Renee M. 
Published: December 2017

SummaryThis study investigated for the first time the impact of the internal mound environment of fungus‐growing termites on the growth of fungal crop parasites. Mounds of the termite Odontotermes obesus acted as (i) temperature and relative humidity (RH) ‘stabilisers’ showing dampened daily variation and (ii) ‘extreme environments’ exhibiting elevated RH and CO2 levels, compared to the outside. Yet, internal temperatures exhibited seasonal dynamics as did daily and seasonal CO2 levels. During in situ experiments under termite‐excluded conditions within the mound, the growth of the crop parasite Pseudoxylaria was greater inside than outside the mound, i.e., Pseudoxylaria is ‘termitariophilic’. Also, ex situ experiments on parasite isolates differing in growth rates and examined under controlled conditions in the absence of termites revealed a variable effect with fungal growth decreasing only under high CO2 and low temperature conditions, reflecting the in situ parasite growth fluctuations. In essence, the parasite appears to be adapted to survive in the termite mound. Thus the mound microclimate does not inhibit the parasite but the dynamic environmental conditions of the mound affect its growth to varying extents. These results shed light on the impact of animal‐engineered structures on parasite ecology, independent of any direct role of animal engineers.
Improving quit rates of web‐delivered interventions for smoking cessation: full‐scale randomized trial of WebQuit.org versus Smokefree.gov
Authors: Bricker Jonathan B. , Mull Kristin E. , McClure Jennifer B. , Watson Noreen L. , Heffner Jaimee L. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBackground and aimsMillions of people world‐wide use websites to help them quit smoking, but effectiveness trials have an average 34% follow‐up data retention rate and an average 9% quit rate. We compared the quit rates of a website using a new behavioral approach called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; WebQuit.org) with the current standard of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Smokefree.gov website.DesignA two‐arm stratified double‐blind individually randomized trial (n = 1319 for WebQuit; n = 1318 for Smokefree.gov) with 12‐month follow‐up.SettingUnited States.ParticipantsAdults (n = 2637) who currently smoked at least five cigarettes per day were recruited from March 2014 to August 2015. At baseline, participants were mean [standard deviation (SD)] age 46.2 years (13.4), 79% women and 73% white.InterventionsWebQuit.org website (experimental) provided ACT for smoking cessation; Smokefree.gov website (comparison) followed US Clinical Practice Guidelines for smoking cessation.MeasurementsThe primary outcome was self‐reported 30‐day point prevalence abstinence at 12 months.FindingsThe 12‐month follow‐up data retention rate was 88% (2309 of 2637). The 30‐day point prevalence abstinence rates at the 12‐month follow‐up were 24% (278 of 1141) for WebQuit.org and 26% (305 of 1168) for Smokefree.gov [odds ratio (OR) = 0.91; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.76, 1.10; P = 0.334] in the a priori complete case analysis. Abstinence rates were 21% (278 of 1319) for WebQuit.org and 23% (305 of 1318) for Smokefree.gov (OR = 0.89 (0.74, 1.07; P = 0.200) when missing cases were imputed as smokers. The Bayes factor comparing the primary abstinence outcome was 0.17, indicating ‘substantial’ evidence of no difference between groups.ConclusionsWebQuit.org and Smokefree.gov had similar 30‐day point prevalence abstinence rates at 12 months that were descriptively higher than those of prior published website‐delivered interventions and telephone counselor‐delivered interventions.