bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Vitamin C inhibits the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by scavenging mitochondrial ROS
Authors: Sang Xuesong , Wang Hongbin , Chen Yihui , Guo Qiuhong , Lu Ailing , Zhu Xiaoli , Meng Guangxun 
Published: July 2016

AbstractInflammasomes are intracellular protein complexes that mediate maturation and secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-18. Inflammasomes have been connected with various diseases, therefore the regulation of inflammasome activation is important for the development of novel therapies for many inflammatory syndromes. Vitamin C is an essential nutrient and has regulatory effects on immune cells. Here we report that vitamin C has an inhibitory effect on the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, this inhibition is through scavenging mitochondrial ROS but not through NF-κB inhibition. Moreover, specificity tests show that the AIM2 inflammasome and the NLRC4 inflammasome can also be inhibited by vitamin C. Our results have thus identified a new inflammasome regulator and provide therapeutic potential for inflammasome-associated diseases.
Hyponatremia associated with preeclampsia
Authors: Razavi Armin S. , Chasen Stephen T. , Gyawali Ritu , Kalish Robin B. 
Published: July 2016

Abstract

Objective:
The objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence and clinical factors associated with hyponatremia in patients with preeclampsia.

Study design:
This is a descriptive study of all patients who delivered at our institution from 2013 to 2014. Patients with preeclampsia were identified from electronic medical records. Preeclampsia with and without severe features was defined using the criteria outlined in the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Hypertension in Pregnancy guidelines. As sodium levels have been shown to be approximately 5 mEq/L lower in pregnancy, hyponatremia was defined as a sodium level <130 mEq/L.

Results:
We identified 332 pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia, including 277 singletons and 55 twins. Hyponatremia was noted in 32 (9.7%) patients. Preeclampsia with severe features was present in the majority of patients with hyponatremia, and hyponatremia was more common in those with preeclampsia with severe features compared to those without (P<0.001). Hyponatremia also occurred more frequently in twins (P=0.001) and in older women (P=0.017). Only one patient without hyponatremia had an eclamptic seizure.

Conclusion:
Hyponatremia is not uncommon in preeclampsia, and is even more common in those with preeclampsia with severe features and twin gestations. As women with preeclampsia are at risk for hyponatremia, serum sodium should be monitored, especially in women with preeclampsia with severe features or twin gestations.
Comparison of student perception and performance between case-based learning and lecture-based learning in a clinical laboratory immunology course
Authors: Ma Xingming , Luo Yanping , Wang Jingqiu , Zhang Lifeng , Liang Yaling , Wu Yufeng , Yu Hongjuan , Cao Mingqiang 
Published: July 2016

Abstract

Background:
Case-based learning (CBL), an educational method of problem-based learning, provides students with a venue to relate content learned in the classroom to performance in professional practice. This study compared CBL in the teaching of a clinical laboratory immunology (CLI) course to lecture-based learning (LBL), and evaluated the effect on students regarding the CBL.

Methods:
Data were collected from senior students (n=85; 46% males, 54% females) at Lanzhou University in China. The students were divided into two groups, one group was offered CBL, while the other LBL as a teaching instrument. After intervention, perceptions of both the groups about their respective teaching method were evaluated using questionnaires, the resulting scores were compared to those obtained in the LBL group.

Results:
The CBL group showed significantly better scores in course examination (p<0.05) as compared to the LBL group. Seventy-seven (90.6%) students in the CBL group opined that CBL improved their learning and clinical problem-solving skills. CBL also provided them with better understanding (90.6%) and preparation for examinations (90.6%). CBL group improved markedly in comparison to the LBL group with regard to learning motivation (p=0.040), clinical reasoning ability (p=0.023) and clinical problem-solving ability (p=0.022).

Conclusions:
Our findings demonstrate that CBL is a more effective teaching strategy as compared to LBL in a CLI course. Consequently, the implementation of CBL in teaching a CLI course helps students to improve their learning motivation, problem solving abilities and mastery of knowledge.
First record of the bushy-tailed jird, Sekeetamys calurus (Thomas, 1892) (Rodentia: Muridae) in Oman
Authors: Soto Erika Cuéllar , Pardiñas Ulyses F.J. 
Published: July 2016

AbstractIn order to improve the knowledge of terrestrial fauna in the Jabal Samhan Reserve – in southern Oman – several systematic surveys have been carried out in this region. Four specimens of the bushy-tailed jird, the gerbilline
Photonic spin Hall effect in metasurfaces: a brief review
Authors: Liu Yachao , Ke Yougang , Luo Hailu , Wen Shuangchun 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
The photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) originates from the interplay between the photon-spin (polarization) and the trajectory (extrinsic orbital angular momentum) of light, i.e. the spin-orbit interaction. Metasurfaces, metamaterials with a reduced dimensionality, exhibit exceptional abilities for controlling the spin-orbit interaction and thereby manipulating the photonic SHE. Spin-redirection phase and Pancharatnam-Berry phase are the manifestations of spin-orbit interaction. The former is related to the evolution of the propagation direction and the latter to the manipulation with polarization state. Two distinct forms of splitting based on these two types of geometric phases can be induced by the photonic SHE in metasurfaces: the spin-dependent splitting in position space and in momentum space. The introduction of Pacharatnam-Berry phases, through space-variant polarization manipulations with metasurfaces, enables new approaches for fabricating the spin-Hall devices. Here, we present a short review of photonic SHE in metasurfaces and outline the opportunities in spin photonics.
Effect of thermal processing temperature on the microphase separation and mechanical properties of BAMO/THF polyurethane
Authors: Xiaoxia Jian , Yiwen Hu , Qilong Zheng 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
This paper describes the influence of thermal processing temperature on the microphase separation, hydrogen bonding, phase transitions and mechanical properties of 3,3-bis(azidomethyl)oxetane (BAMO)/tetrahydrofuran (THF) polyurethane binder, which is used for propellant. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed that the intended polyurethane was synthesized and was used to determine the state of the local hydrogen bonding in these polyurethanes. The results showed that the thermal processing clearly imparts significant changes to the H-bonded environment and this was confirmed in a quantitative fashion using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed rather significant changes in dynamic segmental relaxations and storage moduli for this series of BAMO/THF polyurethanes, which are in keeping with the findings from other experiments.
S100B raises the alert in subarachnoid hemorrhage
Authors: Chong Zhao Zhong 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a devastating disease with high mortality and mobility, the novel therapeutic strategies of which are essentially required. The calcium binding protein S100B has emerged as a brain injury biomarker that is implicated in pathogenic process of SAH. S100B is mainly expressed in astrocytes of the central nervous system and functions through initiating intracellular signaling or via interacting with cell surface receptor, such as the receptor of advanced glycation end products. The biological roles of S100B in neurons have been closely associated with its concentrations, resulting in either neuroprotection or neurotoxicity. The levels of S100B in the blood have been suggested as a biomarker to predict the progress or the prognosis of SAH. The role of S100B in the development of cerebral vasospasm and brain damage may result from the induction of oxidative stress and neuroinflammation after SAH. To get further insight into mechanisms underlying the role of S100B in SAH based on this review might help us to find novel therapeutic targets for SAH.
Powers, Structure, and Thought in Empedocles
Authors: Curd Patricia 
Published: July 2016

AbstractHow is it that Empedocles’ world is is an organized system of diverse entities and how does this system of maintain regularity over long periods of time? I suggest that it is the impulses and thoughts of the roots and of Love and Strife that answer these questions. Love and Strife, working within the laws of nature provide the major structural aspects of the cosmos: the circular motion of the whirls created by the opposing forces produce the masses of roots that are worked up into the heavenly bodies and the living things that populate the cosmos. It is useful to conceive of Empedocles as a proto-power-structuralist. The basic ingredients of the world are ontologically prior to the medium sized objects of sensible experience: it is not the case that there are underlying Aristotelian subjects with properties and attributes depending on those subjects.
Empedoclean Superorganisms
Authors: Sedley David 
Published: July 2016

AbstractIn Empedocles’ zoogony, an original set of single-specialism organisms – solitary hands, eyes, etc. – combined into complex organisms, of which the fittest survived. A less recognized anticipation of (one strand of) the Darwinian tradition relates to the superorganism theory: what is naturally selected for is not the individual and/or its kin, but, as most manifestly in insect colonies, the cooperative group. Empedocles’ Love likewise works by promoting co-operation, whose emergence in complex organisms reflects her growing power, and the periodic world-organism, Sphairos, her ultimate triumph. This latter divinity is not a homogeneous blend of the elements, but a single self-sufficient superorganism.
The use of vector bootstrapping to improve variable selection precision in Lasso models
Authors: Laurin Charles , Boomsma Dorret , Lubke Gitta 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
The Lasso is a shrinkage regression method that is widely used for variable selection in statistical genetics. Commonly, K-fold cross-validation is used to fit a Lasso model. This is sometimes followed by using bootstrap confidence intervals to improve precision in the resulting variable selections. Nesting cross-validation within bootstrapping could provide further improvements in precision, but this has not been investigated systematically. We performed simulation studies of Lasso variable selection precision (VSP) with and without nesting cross-validation within bootstrapping. Data were simulated to represent genomic data under a polygenic model as well as under a model with effect sizes representative of typical GWAS results. We compared these approaches to each other as well as to software defaults for the Lasso. Nested cross-validation had the most precise variable selection at small effect sizes. At larger effect sizes, there was no advantage to nesting. We illustrated the nested approach with empirical data comprising SNPs and SNP-SNP interactions from the most significant SNPs in a GWAS of borderline personality symptoms. In the empirical example, we found that the default Lasso selected low-reliability SNPs and interactions which were excluded by bootstrapping.
Li-Yorke chaos in models with backward dynamics
Authors: Stockman David R. 
Published: July 2016

AbstractSome economic models like the cash-in-advance model of money, the overlapping generations model and a model of credit with limited commitment may have the property that the dynamical system characterizing equilibria in the model are multi-valued going forward in time, but single-valued going backward in time. Such models or dynamical systems are said to have backward dynamics. In such instances, what does it mean for a dynamical system (set-valued) to be chaotic? Furthermore, under what conditions are such dynamical systems chaotic? In this paper, I provide a definition of chaos that is in the spirit of Li and Yorke for a dynamical system with backward dynamics. I utilize the theory of inverse limits to provide sufficient conditions for such a dynamical system to be Li-Yorke chaotic.
Triumph of Hilarity? Some Reflections on the Structure and Function of the Final Scenes in Aristophanic Comedy
Authors: Pirrotta Serena 
Published: July 2016

Abstract:The final scenes of Aristophanic comedies have been usually interpreted as disconnected from the rest of the plot: as a pure expression of joy, a cheerful celebration of a successful comic hero. The present work offers an attempt to confute this interpretation. A systematic analysis of the exodoi of selected plays – especially
Synthesis and characterization of metastable transition metal oxides and oxide nitrides
Authors: Lüdtke Tobias , Weber Dominik , Schmidt Alexander , Müller Alexander , Reimann Christoph , Becker Nils , Bredow Thomas , Dronskowski Richard , Ressler Thorsten , Lerch Martin 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
New routes to vanadium sesquioxide and tantalum oxide nitride (γ- and δ-phase) are presented. Phase pure V2O3 with bixbyite-type structure, a metastable polymorph, was obtained from vanadium fluoride hydrates at ~750 K. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system in space group

I
a

3
¯

$Ia\bar 3$

with lattice parameter a=939.30(5) pm. The catalytical properties of the corresponding oxide nitride phases and their oxidation and reduction solid-state kinetics were investigated. The preparation of γ-TaON as a phase pure sample can be realized by ammonolysis of X-ray amorphous tantalum oxide precursors at 1073 K. This metastable tantalum oxide nitride crystallizes in the monoclinic VO2(B)-type structure in space group C2/m. The same precursors can be used to synthesize the δ-modification with an anatase-type structure at 1023 K. It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system in space group I41/amd. A maximum yield of 82 m % could be obtained. The fundamental band gaps of the synthesized and of other metastable TaON polymorphs were calculated from first principles using the GW method. The present results are compared to experimental data and to previous calculations at hybrid DFT level.
A tetranuclear Sn(IV) 4-thiazolecarboxylate complex: synthesis, structure and catalytic behavior in the bulk ring-opening polymerization of glycolide
Authors: Gao Jian , Yuan Yu , Cui Ai-Jun , Tian Feng , He Ming-Yang , Chen Qun 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
The reaction of 4-thiazolecarboxylic acid (Htzc) and dimethyltin(IV) dichloride with NaOH in mixed MeOH-H2O solvent led to the formation of a new Sn(IV) complex (Me2Sn)4(μ
3-O)2(tzc)4 (1). Its structure has been characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that complex 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic P21/c space group with Z = 2 and has a tetranuclear structure with crystallographically imposed centrosymmetry. The as-synthesized complex 1 was found to be active toward the bulk solvent-free polymerization of glycolide, producing poly(glycolic acid) with a number-average molecular weight up to 55.5 kDa.
GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase from Pogonatherum paniceum enhances salinity and drought tolerance of transgenic tobacco
Authors: Ai Taobo , Liao Xuehong , Li Rui , Fan Linhong , Luo Fengxue , Xu Ying , Wang Shenghua 
Published: July 2016

Abstract

Pogonatherum paniceum is a highly drought- and salt-tolerant plant species that is typically used for ecological restoration and the conservation of soil and water in many countries. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying plant abiotic stress responses, especially to salinity and drought stresses, in species such as P. paniceum could be important to broader crop improvement efforts. GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase (GMPase) is the limiting enzyme in the synthesis of L-ascorbic acid (AsA), which plays a crucial role in the detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We have cloned and characterized the cDNA of the PpGMP gene of P. paniceum encoding a GMPase. The full-length cDNA sequence contains 1411 nucleotides encoding a putative protein with 361 amino acid residues and an approximate molecular mass of 39.68 kDa. The GMPase transcript was up-regulated in P. paniceum plants subjected to salinity and drought stress, respectively. Transgenic tobacco expressing PpGMPase exhibited enhanced salinity and drought resistance, a higher seed germination rate, better growth performance, a higher AsA content, a more stable redox state, higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and lower levels of malonaldehyde (MDA) and H2O2 under drought and salinity stress. Taken together, expression of PpGMPase in tobacco conferred salinity and drought stress tolerance by increasing the content of AsA, thereby enhancing ROS-detoxifying functions. Thus, PpGMP is a potential candidate gene for crop improvement.
Non-Cell-Autonomous Regulation of Retrograde Motoneuronal Axonal Transport in an SBMA Mouse Model
Authors: Halievski Katherine , Kemp Michael Q. , Breedlove S. Marc , Miller Kyle E. , Jordan Cynthia L. 
Published: July 2016

AbstractDefects in axonal transport are seen in motoneuronal diseases, but how that impairment comes about is not well understood. In spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a disorder linked to a CAG/polyglutamine repeat expansion in the androgen receptor (AR) gene, the disease-causing AR disrupts axonal transport by acting in both a cell-autonomous fashion in the motoneurons themselves, and in a non-cell-autonomous fashion in muscle. The non-cell-autonomous mechanism is suggested by data from a unique “myogenic” transgenic (TG) mouse model in which an AR transgene expressed exclusively in skeletal muscle fibers triggers an androgen-dependent SBMA phenotype, including defects in retrograde transport. However, motoneurons in this TG model retain the endogenousARgene, leaving open the possibility that impairments in transport in this model also depend on ARs in the motoneurons themselves. To test whether non-cell-autonomous mechanisms alone can perturb retrograde transport, we generated male TG mice in which the endogenousARallele has the testicular feminization mutation (Tfm) and, consequently, is nonfunctional. Males carrying theTfmallele alone show no deficits in motor function or axonal transport, with or without testosterone treatment. However, when Tfm males carrying the myogenic transgene (Tfm/TG) are treated with testosterone, they develop impaired motor function and defects in retrograde transport, having fewer retrogradely labeled motoneurons and deficits in endosomal flux based on time-lapse video microscopy of living axons. These findings demonstrate that non-cell-autonomous disease mechanisms originating in muscle are sufficient to induce defects in retrograde transport in motoneurons.
The Role of Visual and Semantic Properties in the Emergence of Category-Specific Patterns of Neural Response in the Human Brain
Authors: Coggan David D. , Baker Daniel H. , Andrews Timothy J. 
Published: July 2016

AbstractBrain-imaging studies have found distinct spatial and temporal patterns of response to different object categories across the brain. However, the extent to which these categorical patterns of response reflect higher-level semantic or lower-level visual properties of the stimulus remains unclear. To address this question, we measured patterns of EEG response to intact and scrambled images in the human brain. Our rationale for using scrambled images is that they have many of the visual properties found in intact images, but do not convey any semantic information. Images from different object categories (bottle, face, house) were briefly presented (400 ms) in an event-related design. A multivariate pattern analysis revealed categorical patterns of response to intact images emerged ∼80–100 ms after stimulus onset and were still evident when the stimulus was no longer present (∼800 ms). Next, we measured the patterns of response to scrambled images. Categorical patterns of response to scrambled images also emerged ∼80–100 ms after stimulus onset. However, in contrast to the intact images, distinct patterns of response to scrambled images were mostly evident while the stimulus was present (∼400 ms). Moreover, scrambled images were able to account only for all the variance in the intact images at early stages of processing. This direct manipulation of visual and semantic content provides new insights into the temporal dynamics of object perception and the extent to which different stages of processing are dependent on lower-level or higher-level properties of the image.
Organizaciones de pequeños productores, certificaciones y competitividad: experiencia reciente en Costa Rica
Authors: Díaz Porras Rafael , Delgado Ballesteros Antonio , Páez Ramírez William 
Published: July 2016

Este artículo indaga si la aplicación de certificaciones ambientales ha significado un mejoramiento de la competitividad de los pequeños y medianos productores agrícolas. Para ello se realiza un análisis del entorno de las certificaciones tanto internacional como en la institucionalidad en Costa Rica, y la aproximación a las realidades de las experiencias de las organizaciones de pequeños productores con base en los resultados de una encuesta realizada en el año 2015. El artículo concluye que la estrategia de certificarse ha permitido un mejor posicionamiento y por consiguiente estabilidad, en la cadena de valor, aunque para las organizaciones y las instancias generadoras de políticas hay áreas donde mejorar, como por ejemplo los costos y cambios en los procesos y la resistencia cultural a este tipo de iniciativas.
Diagnóstico del Virus de la Celda Real Negra, el Virus de Alas Deformes y el Virus de la Parálisis Aguda en abejas africanizadas Apis mellifera scutellata, sintomáticas de Costa Rica, utilizando RT‐PCR en tiempo real.
Authors: Chaves Guevara Guisella , Cubero Murillo Ana , Cordero Juan Miguel , Vicente-Rubiano Marina , Kukielka Deborah , León Bernal , Sánchez-Vizcaíno José Manuel 
Published: July 2016

Tras denuncias de apicultores, por la presencia de abejas Apis mellifera scutellata enfermas en colmenas localizadas en la región central sur de la provincia de San José, Costa Rica, se recolectó muestras de abejas adultas vivas, con sintomatología presuntiva de infección viral. Las muestras fueron extraídas y procesadas en el laboratorio. A partir de estas muestras, se diagnosticó, por primera vez en Costa Rica, la presencia del virus de la Celda Real Negra (BQCV) y el virus de la Parálisis Aguda (ABPV), en los cantones de: Turrubares, distrito San Pedro; Tarrazú, distrito San Marcos, respectivamente. Además, se confirmó, por PCR, la presencia del virus de las Alas Deformes (DWV) en el país. La información, acerca de las enfermedades virales en Costa Rica, es todavía escasa, por lo cual, la implementación de estas metodologías abre la posibilidad de ofrecer, a los apicultores de este país, un diagnóstico rápido, específico y sensible. La puesta a punto de estas técnicas, además, podría ser el inicio para la realización de investigaciones con el fin de determinar la prevalencia de virus en las colmenas costarricenses, así como posibles factores de riesgo asociados a estas infecciones.