bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
High levels of periostin correlate with increased fracture rate, diffuse MRI pattern, abnormal bone remodeling and advanced disease stage in patients with newly diagnosed symptomatic multiple myeloma
Authors: Terpos E , Christoulas D , Kastritis E , Bagratuni T , Gavriatopoulou M , Roussou M , Papatheodorou A , Eleutherakis-Papaiakovou E , Kanellias N , Liakou C , Panagiotidis I , Migkou M , Kokkoris P , Moulopoulos L A , Dimopoulos M A 
Published: October 2016

AbstractPeriostin is an extracellular matrix protein that is implicated in the biology of normal bone remodeling and in different cancer cell growth and metastasis. However, there is no information on the role of periostin in multiple myeloma (MM). Thus, we evaluated periostin in six myeloma cell lines in vitro; in the bone marrow plasma and serum of 105 newly diagnosed symptomatic MM (NDMM) patients and in the serum of 23 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), 33 smoldering MM (SMM) patients, 30 patients at the plateau phase post-first-line therapy, 30 patients at first relapse and 30 healthy controls. We found high levels of periostin in the supernatants of myeloma cell lines compared with ovarian cancer cell lines that were not influenced by the incubation with the stromal cell line HS5. In NDMM patients the bone marrow plasma periostin was almost fourfold higher compared with the serum levels of periostin and correlated with the presence of fractures and of diffuse magnetic resonance imaging pattern of marrow infiltration. Serum periostin was elevated in NDMM patients compared with healthy controls, MGUS and SMM patients and correlated with advanced disease stage, high lactate dehydrogenase, increased activin-A, increased bone resorption and reduced bone formation. Patients at first relapse had also elevated periostin compared with healthy controls, MGUS and SMM patients, while even patients at the plateau phase had elevated serum periostin compared with healthy controls. These results support an important role of periostin in the biology of myeloma and reveal periostin as a possible target for the development of antimyeloma drugs.
Motor cortex activity predicts response alternation during sensorimotor decisions
Authors: Pape Anna-Antonia , Siegel Markus 
Published: October 2016

AbstractOur actions are constantly guided by decisions based on sensory information. The motor cortex is traditionally viewed as the final output stage in this process, merely executing motor responses based on these decisions. However, it is not clear if, beyond this role, the motor cortex itself impacts response selection. Here, we report activity fluctuations over motor cortex measured using MEG, which are unrelated to choice content and predict responses to a visuomotor task seconds before decisions are made. These fluctuations are strongly influenced by the previous trial's response and predict a tendency to switch between response alternatives for consecutive decisions. This alternation behaviour depends on the size of neural signals still present from the previous response. Our results uncover a response-alternation bias in sensorimotor decision making. Furthermore, they suggest that motor cortex is more than an output stage and instead shapes response selection during sensorimotor decision making.
The smallest chimera state for coupled pendula
Authors: Wojewoda Jerzy , Czolczynski Krzysztof , Maistrenko Yuri , Kapitaniak Tomasz 
Published: October 2016

AbstractChimera states in the systems of coupled identical oscillators are spatiotemporal patterns in which different groups of oscillators can exhibit coexisting synchronous and incoherent behaviors despite homogeneous coupling. Although these states are typically observed in large ensembles of oscillators, recently it has been suggested that chimera states may occur in the systems with small numbers of oscillators. Here, considering three coupled pendula showing chaotic behavior, we find the pattern of the smallest chimera state, which is characterized by the coexistence of two synchronized and one incoherent oscillator. We show that this chimera state can be observed in simple experiments with mechanical oscillators, which are controlled by elementary dynamical equations derived from Newton’s laws. Our finding suggests that chimera states are observable in small networks relevant to various real-world systems.
Increasing the Efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Precise Genome Editing of HSV-1 Virus in Human Cells
Authors: Lin Chaolong , Li Huanhuan , Hao Mengru , Xiong Dan , Luo Yong , Huang Chenghao , Yuan Quan , Zhang Jun , Xia Ningshao 
Published: October 2016

AbstractGenetically modified HSV-1 viruses serve as promising vectors for tumour therapy and vaccine development. The CRISPR/Cas9 system is one of the most powerful tools for precise gene editing of the genomes of organisms. However, whether the CRISPR/Cas9 system can precisely and efficiently make gene replacements in the genome of HSV-1 remains essentially unknown. Here, we reported CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of the HSV-1 genome in human cells, including the knockout and replacement of large genes. In established cells stably expressing CRISPR/Cas9, gRNA in coordination with Cas9 could direct a precise cleavage within a pre-defined target region and foreign genes were successfully used to replace the target gene seamlessly by HDR-mediated gene replacement. Introducing the NHEJ inhibitor SCR7 to the CRISPR/Cas9 system greatly facilitated HDR-mediated gene replacement in the HSV-1 genome. We provided the first genetic evidence that two copies of the ICP0 gene in different locations on the same HSV-1 genome could be simultaneously modified with high efficiency and with no off-target modifications. We also developed a revolutionized isolation platform for desired recombinant viruses using single-cell sorting. Together, our work provides a significantly improved method for targeted editing of DNA viruses, which will facilitate the development of anti-cancer oncolytic viruses and vaccines.
The transcription factor Ets21C drives tumor growth by cooperating with AP-1
Authors: Toggweiler Janine , Willecke Maria , Basler Konrad 
Published: October 2016

AbstractTumorigenesis is driven by genetic alterations that perturb the signaling networks regulating proliferation or cell death. In order to block tumor growth, one has to precisely know how these signaling pathways function and interplay. Here, we identified the transcription factor Ets21C as a pivotal regulator of tumor growth and propose a new model of how Ets21C could affect this process. We demonstrate that a depletion of Ets21C strongly suppressed tumor growth while ectopic expression of Ets21C further increased tumor size. We confirm that Ets21C expression is regulated by the JNK pathway and show that Ets21C acts via a positive feed-forward mechanism to induce a specific set of target genes that is critical for tumor growth. These genes are known downstream targets of the JNK pathway and we demonstrate that their expression not only depends on the transcription factor AP-1, but also on Ets21C suggesting a cooperative transcriptional activation mechanism. Taken together we show that Ets21C is a crucial player in regulating the transcriptional program of the JNK pathway and enhances our understanding of the mechanisms that govern neoplastic growth.
Accurate modeling of high-repetition rate ultrashort pulse amplification in optical fibers
Authors: Lindberg Robert , Zeil Peter , Malmström Mikael , Laurell Fredrik , Pasiskevicius Valdas 
Published: October 2016

AbstractA numerical model for amplification of ultrashort pulses with high repetition rates in fiber amplifiers is presented. The pulse propagation is modeled by jointly solving the steady-state rate equations and the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which allows accurate treatment of nonlinear and dispersive effects whilst considering arbitrary spatial and spectral gain dependencies. Comparison of data acquired by using the developed model and experimental results prove to be in good agreement.
Allosteric regulation in NMDA receptors revealed by the genetically encoded photo-cross-linkers
Authors: Tian Meilin , Ye Shixin 
Published: October 2016

AbstractAllostery is essential to neuronal receptor function, but its transient nature poses a challenge for characterization. The N-terminal domains (NTDs) distinct from ligand binding domains are a major locus for allosteric regulation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs), where different modulatory binding sites have been observed. The inhibitor ifenprodil, and related phenylethanoamine compounds specifically targeting GluN1/GluN2B NMDARs have neuroprotective activity. However, whether they use differential structural pathways than the endogenous inhibitor Zn2+ for regulation is unknown. We applied genetically encoded unnatural amino acids (Uaas) and monitored the functional changes in living cells with photo-cross-linkers specifically incorporated at the ifenprodil binding interface between GluN1 and GluN2B subunits. We report constraining the NTD domain movement, by a light induced crosslinking bond that introduces minimal perturbation to the ligand binding, specifically impedes the transduction of ifenprodil but not Zn2+ inhibition. Subtle distance changes reveal interfacial flexibility and NTD rearrangements in the presence of modulators. Our results present a much richer dynamic picture of allostery than conventional approaches targeting the same interface, and highlight key residues that determine functional and subtype specificity of NMDARs. The light-sensitive mutant neuronal receptors provide complementary tools to the photo-switchable ligands for opto-neuropharmacology.
Understanding the multiferroicity in TmMn2O5 by a magnetically induced ferrielectric model
Authors: Yang L. , Li X. , Liu M. F. , Li P. L. , Yan Z. B. , Zeng M. , Qin M. H. , Gao X. S. , Liu J.-M. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe magnetically induced electric polarization behaviors in multiferroic TmMn2O5 in response to varying temperature and magnetic field are carefully investigated by means of a series of characterizations including the high precision pyroelectric current technique. Here polycrystalline rather than single crystal samples are used for avoiding the strong electrically self-polarized effect in single crystals, and various parallel experiments on excluding the thermally excited current contributions are performed. The temperature-dependent electric polarization flop as a major character is identified for different measuring paths. The magneto-current measurements indicate that the electric polarization in the low temperature magnetic phase region has different origin from that in the high temperature magnetic phase. It is suggested that the electric polarization does have multiple components which align along different orientations, including the Mn3+-Mn4+-Mn3+ exchange striction induced polarization PMM, the Tm3+-Mn4+-Tm3+ exchange striction induced polarization PTM, and the low temperature polarization PLT probably associated with the Tm3+ commensurate phase. The observed electric polarization flop can be reasonably explained by the ferrielectric model proposed earlier for DyMn2O5, where PMM and PTM are the two antiparallel components both along the b-axis and PLT may align along the a-axis. Finally, several issues on the unusual temperature dependence of ferroelectric polarizations are discussed.
Non-equilibrium quantum phase transition via entanglement decoherence dynamics
Authors: Lin Yu-Chen , Yang Pei-Yun , Zhang Wei-Min 
Published: October 2016

AbstractWe investigate the decoherence dynamics of continuous variable entanglement as the system-environment coupling strength varies from the weak-coupling to the strong-coupling regimes. Due to the existence of localized modes in the strong-coupling regime, the system cannot approach equilibrium with its environment, which induces a nonequilibrium quantum phase transition. We analytically solve the entanglement decoherence dynamics for an arbitrary spectral density. The nonequilibrium quantum phase transition is demonstrated as the system-environment coupling strength varies for all the Ohmic-type spectral densities. The 3-D entanglement quantum phase diagram is obtained.
Chromatic Mechanical Response in 2-D Layered Transition Metal Dichalcogenide (TMDs) based Nanocomposites
Authors: Rahneshin Vahid , Khosravi Farhad , Ziolkowska Dominika A. , Jasinski Jacek B. , Panchapakesan Balaji 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe ability to convert photons of different wavelengths directly into mechanical motion is of significant interest in many energy conversion and reconfigurable technologies. Here, using few layer 2H-MoS2 nanosheets, layer by layer process of nanocomposite fabrication, and strain engineering, we demonstrate a reversible and chromatic mechanical response in MoS2-nanocomposites between 405 nm to 808 nm with large stress release. The chromatic mechanical response originates from the d orbitals and is related to the strength of the direct exciton resonance A and B of the few layer 2H-MoS2 affecting optical absorption and subsequent mechanical response of the nanocomposite. Applying uniaxial tensile strains to the semiconducting few-layer 2H-MoS2 crystals in the nanocomposite resulted in spatially varying energy levels inside the nanocomposite that enhanced the broadband optical absorption up to 2.3 eV and subsequent mechanical response. The unique photomechanical response in 2H-MoS2 based nanocomposites is a result of the rich d electron physics not available to nanocomposites based on sp bonded graphene and carbon nanotubes, as well as nanocomposite based on metallic nanoparticles. The reversible strain dependent optical absorption suggest applications in broad range of energy conversion technologies that is not achievable using conventional thin film semiconductors.
Intra-islet lesions and lobular variations in β-cell mass expansion in ob/ob mice revealed by 3D imaging of intact pancreas
Authors: Parween Saba , Kostromina Elena , Nord Christoffer , Eriksson Maria , Lindström Per , Ahlgren Ulf 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe leptin deficient ob/ob mouse is a widely used model for studies on initial aspects of metabolic disturbances leading to type 2 diabetes, including insulin resistance and obesity. Although it is generally accepted that ob/ob mice display a dramatic increase in β-cell mass to compensate for increased insulin demand, the spatial and quantitative dynamics of β-cell mass distribution in this model has not been assessed by modern optical 3D imaging techniques. We applied optical projection tomography and ultramicroscopy imaging to extract information about individual islet β-cell volumes throughout the volume of ob/ob pancreas between 4 and 52 weeks of age. Our data show that cystic lesions constitute a significant volume of the hyperplastic ob/ob islets. We propose that these lesions are formed by a mechanism involving extravasation of red blood cells/plasma due to increased islet vessel blood flow and vessel instability. Further, our data indicate that the primary lobular compartments of the ob/ob pancreas have different potentials for expanding their β-cell population. Unawareness of the characteristics of β-cell expansion in ob/ob mice presented in this report may significantly influence ex vivo and in vivo assessments of this model in studies of β-cell adaptation and function.
Cell surface GRP78 as a biomarker and target for suppressing glioma cells
Authors: Kang Bo Ram , Yang Seung-Hoon , Chung Bo-Ryehn , Kim Woong , Kim YoungSoo 
Published: October 2016

AbstractHigh-grade glioma is a highly malignant and metastatic brain cancer, resistant to many existing anticancer treatments. In such glioma cancer cells, the glucose-regulated protein 78 kDa (GRP78) is particularly highly up-regulated. Former studies have thus targeted mutation-free GRP78 not only to detect glioma cancer cells specifically but also to enhance cytotoxic effect. We focus on cell surface-expressed GRP78 as a target for suppressing high-grade glioma cell lines. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cell line, highly malignant glioma cells, was first injected into 5-week-old athymic mice to confirm and compare GRP78 expression in vivo in xenografted and normal brain tissue. Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting were utilized to detect surface-localized GRP78 in diverse high-grade glioma cell lines. By treating glioma cell lines with the polyclonal N-20 antibody against surface-localized GRP78, we subsequently studied the significance of surface GRP78 to the survival and growth of the glioma cell lines. We found that inhibiting the function of surface GRP78 suppressed cancer cell survival and growth proving that the surface-expressed GRP78 is a vital receptor involved in the proliferation of high-grade glioma. Our findings provide opportunities to target surface GRP78 as a biomarker for high-grade glioma and to develop effective cell-specific anticancer therapy.
Behaviors of Microcystis aeruginosa cells during floc storage in drinking water treatment process
Authors: Xu Hangzhou , Pei Haiyan , Xiao Hongdi , Jin Yan , Li Xiuqing , Hu Wenrong , Ma Chunxia , Sun Jiongming , Li Hongmin 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThis is the first study to systematically investigate the different behaviors of Microcystis aeruginosa in the sludges formed by AlCl3, FeCl3, and polymeric aluminium ferric chloride (PAFC) coagulants during storage. Results show that the viability of Microcystis aeruginosa in PAFC sludge was stronger than that of cells in either AlCl3 or FeCl3 sludge after the same storage time, while the cells’ viability in the latter two systems stayed at almost the same level. In AlCl3 and FeCl3 sludges high concentrations of Al and Fe were toxic to Microcystis aeruginosa, whereas in PAFC sludge low levels of Al showed little toxic effect on Microcystis aeruginosa growth and moderate amounts of Fe were beneficial to growth. The lysis of Microcystis aeruginosa in AlCl3 sludge was more serious than that in PAFC sludge, for the same storage time. Although the cell viability in FeCl3 sludge was low (similar to AlCl3 sludge), the Microcystis aeruginosa cells remained basically intact after 10 d storage (similar to PAFC sludge). The maintenance of cellular integrity in FeCl3 sludge might be due to the large floc size and high density, which had a protective effect for Microcystis aeruginosa.
Tooth enamel oxygen “isoscapes” show a high degree of human mobility in prehistoric Britain
Authors: Pellegrini Maura , Pouncett John , Jay Mandy , Pearson Mike Parker , Richards Michael P. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractA geostatistical model to predict human skeletal oxygen isotope values (δ18Op) in Britain is presented here based on a new dataset of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age human teeth. The spatial statistics which underpin this model allow the identification of individuals interpreted as ‘non-local’ to the areas where they were buried (spatial outliers). A marked variation in δ18Op is observed in several areas, including the Stonehenge region, the Peak District, and the Yorkshire Wolds, suggesting a high degree of human mobility. These areas, rich in funerary and ceremonial monuments, may have formed focal points for people, some of whom would have travelled long distances, ultimately being buried there. The dataset and model represent a baseline for future archaeological studies, avoiding the complex conversions from skeletal to water δ18O values–a process known to be problematic.
Tailoring Thermal Conductivity of Single-stranded Carbon-chain Polymers through Atomic Mass Modification
Authors: Liao Quanwen , Zeng Lingping , Liu Zhichun , Liu Wei 
Published: October 2016

AbstractTailoring the thermal conductivity of polymers is central to enlarge their applications in the thermal management of flexible integrated circuits. Progress has been made over the past decade by fabricating materials with various nanostructures, but a clear relationship between various functional groups and thermal properties of polymers remains to be established. Here, we numerically study the thermal conductivity of single-stranded carbon-chain polymers with multiple substituents of hydrogen atoms through atomic mass modification. We find that their thermal conductivity can be tuned by atomic mass modifications as revealed through molecular dynamics simulations. The simulation results suggest that heavy homogeneous substituents do not assist heat transport and trace amounts of heavy substituents can in fact hinder heat transport substantially. Our analysis indicates that carbon chain has the biggest contribution (over 80%) to the thermal conduction in single-stranded carbon-chain polymers. We further demonstrate that atomic mass modifications influence the phonon bands of bonding carbon atoms, and the discrepancies of phonon bands between carbon atoms are responsible for the remarkable drops in thermal conductivity and large thermal resistances in carbon chains. Our study provides fundamental insight into how to tailor the thermal conductivity of polymers through variable substituents.
Identifying molecular signatures of hypoxia adaptation from sex chromosomes: A case for Tibetan Mastiff based on analyses of X chromosome
Authors: Wu Hong , Liu Yan-Hu , Wang Guo-Dong , Yang Chun-Tao , Otecko Newton O. , Liu Fei , Wu Shi-Fang , Wang Lu , Yu Li , Zhang Ya-Ping 
Published: October 2016

AbstractGenome-wide studies on high-altitude adaptation have received increased attention as a classical case of organismal evolution under extreme environment. However, the current genetic understanding of high-altitude adaptation emanated mainly from autosomal analyses. Only a few earlier genomic studies paid attention to the allosome. In this study, we performed an intensive scan of the X chromosome of public genomic data generated from Tibetan Mastiff (TM) and five other dog populations for indications of high-altitude adaptation. We identified five genes showing signatures of selection on the X chromosome. Notable among these genes was angiomotin (AMOT), which is related to the process of angiogenesis. We sampled additional 11 dog populations (175 individuals in total) at continuous altitudes in China from 300 to 4,000 meters to validate and test the association between the haplotype frequency of AMOT gene and altitude adaptation. The results suggest that AMOT gene may be a notable candidate gene for the adaptation of TM to high-altitude hypoxic conditions. Our study shows that X chromosome deserves consideration in future studies of adaptive evolution.