bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Parasite spillover: indirect effects of invasive Burmese pythons
Authors: Miller Melissa A. , Kinsella John M. , Snow Ray W. , Hayes Malorie M. , Falk Bryan G. , Reed Robert N. , Mazzotti Frank J. , Guyer Craig , Romagosa Christina M. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractIdentification of the origin of parasites of nonindigenous species (NIS) can be complex. NIS may introduce parasites from their native range and acquire parasites from within their invaded range. Determination of whether parasites are non‐native or native can be complicated when parasite genera occur within both the NIS’ native range and its introduced range. We explored potential for spillover and spillback of lung parasites infecting Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in their invasive range (Florida). We collected 498 indigenous snakes of 26 species and 805 Burmese pythons during 2004–2016 and examined them for lung parasites. We used morphology to identify three genera of pentastome parasites, Raillietiella, a cosmopolitan form, and Porocephalus and Kiricephalus, both New World forms. We sequenced these parasites at one mitochondrial and one nuclear locus and showed that each genus is represented by a single species, R. orientalis, P. crotali, and K. coarctatus. Pythons are host to R. orientalis and P. crotali, but not K. coarctatus; native snakes are host to all three species. Sequence data show that pythons introduced R. orientalis to North America, where this parasite now infects native snakes. Additionally, our data suggest that pythons are competent hosts to P. crotali, a widespread parasite native to North and South America that was previously hypothesized to infect only viperid snakes. Our results indicate invasive Burmese pythons have affected parasite‐host dynamics of native snakes in ways that are consistent with parasite spillover and demonstrate the potential for indirect effects during invasions. Additionally, we show that pythons have acquired a parasite native to their introduced range, which is the initial condition necessary for parasite spillback.
How to deal with ground truthing affected by human‐induced habitat change?: Identifying high‐quality habitats for the Critically Endangered Red Siskin
Authors: Sánchez‐Mercado Ada , Rodríguez‐Clark Kathryn M. , Miranda Jhonathan , Ferrer‐Paris José Rafael , Coyle Brian , Toro Samuel , Cardozo‐Urdaneta Arlene , Braun Michael J. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractSpecies distribution models (SDM) can be valuable for identifying key habitats for conservation management of threatened taxa, but anthropogenic habitat change can undermine SDM accuracy. We used data for the Red Siskin (Spinus cucullatus), a critically endangered bird and ground truthing to examine anthropogenic habitat change as a source of SDM inaccuracy. We aimed to estimate: (1) the Red Siskin's historic distribution in Venezuela; (2) the portion of this historic distribution lost to vegetation degradation; and (3) the location of key habitats or areas with both, a high probability of historic occurrence and a low probability of vegetation degradation. We ground‐truthed 191 locations and used expert opinion as well as landscape characteristics to classify species' habitat suitability as excellent, good, acceptable, or poor. We fit a Random Forest model (RF) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time series to evaluate the accuracy and precision of the expert categorization of habitat suitability. We estimated the probability of historic occurrence by fitting a MaxLike model using 88 presence records (1960–2013) and data on forest cover and aridity index. Of the entire study area, 23% (20,696 km2) had a historic probability of Red Siskin occurrence over 0.743. Furthermore, 85% of ground‐truthed locations had substantial reductions in mean EVI, resulting in key habitats totaling just 976 km2, in small blocks in the western and central regions. Decline in Area of Occupancy over 15 years was between 40% and 95%, corresponding to an extinction risk category between Vulnerable and Critically Endangered. Relating key habitats with other landscape features revealed significant risks and opportunities for proposed conservation interventions, including the fact that ongoing vegetation degradation could limit the establishment of reintroduced populations in eastern areas, while the conservation of remaining key habitats on private lands could be improved with biodiversity‐friendly agri‐ and silviculture programs.
A spatiotemporal analysis of acoustic interactions between great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) using microphone arrays and robot audition software HARK
Authors: Suzuki Reiji , Matsubayashi Shiho , Saito Fumiyuki , Murate Tatsuyoshi , Masuda Tomohisa , Yamamoto Koichi , Kojima Ryosuke , Nakadai Kazuhiro , Okuno Hiroshi G. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractAcoustic interactions are important for understanding intra‐ and interspecific communication in songbird communities from the viewpoint of soundscape ecology. It has been suggested that birds may divide up sound space to increase communication efficiency in such a manner that they tend to avoid overlap with other birds when they sing. We are interested in clarifying the dynamics underlying the process as an example of complex systems based on short‐term behavioral plasticity. However, it is very problematic to manually collect spatiotemporal patterns of acoustic events in natural habitats using data derived from a standard single‐channel recording of several species singing simultaneously. Our purpose here was to investigate fine‐scale spatiotemporal acoustic interactions of the great reed warbler. We surveyed spatial and temporal patterns of several vocalizing color‐banded great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) using an open‐source software for robot audition HARK (Honda Research Institute Japan Audition for Robots with Kyoto University) and three new 16‐channel, stand‐alone, and water‐resistant microphone arrays, named DACHO spread out in the bird's habitat. We first show that our system estimated the location of two color‐banded individuals’ song posts with mean error distance of 5.5 ± 4.5 m from the location of observed song posts. We then evaluated the temporal localization accuracy of the songs by comparing the duration of localized songs around the song posts with those annotated by human observers, with an accuracy score of average 0.89 for one bird that stayed at one song post. We further found significant temporal overlap avoidance and an asymmetric relationship between songs of the two singing individuals, using transfer entropy. We believe that our system and analytical approach contribute to a better understanding of fine‐scale acoustic interactions in time and space in bird communities.
Symbioses with nitrogen‐fixing bacteria: nodulation and phylogenetic data across legume genera
Authors: Afkhami Michelle E. , Luke Mahler D. , Burns Jean H. , Weber Marjorie G. , Wojciechowski Martin F. , Sprent Janet , Strauss Sharon Y. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractHow species interactions shape global biodiversity and influence diversification is a central – but also data‐hungry – question in evolutionary ecology. Microbially based mutualisms are widespread and could cause diversification by ameliorating stress and thus allowing organisms to colonize and adapt to otherwise unsuitable habitats. Yet the role of these interactions in generating species diversity has received limited attention, especially across large taxonomic groups. In the massive angiosperm family Leguminosae, plants often associate with root‐nodulating bacteria that ameliorate nutrient stress by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. These symbioses are ecologically‐important interactions, influencing community assembly, diversity, and succession, contributing ~100–290 million tons of N annually to natural ecosystems, and enhancing growth of agronomically‐important forage and crop plants worldwide. In recent work attempting to determine whether mutualism with N‐fixing bacteria led to increased diversification across legumes, we were unable to definitively resolve the relationship between diversification and nodulation. We did, however, succeed in compiling a very large searchable, analysis‐ready database of nodulation data for 749 legume genera (98% of Leguminosae genera; LPWG 2017), which, along with associated phylogenetic information, will provide a valuable resource for future work addressing this question and others. For each legume genus, we provide information about the species richness, frequency of nodulation, subfamily association, and topological correspondence with an additional data set of 100 phylogenetic trees curated for database compatibility. We found 386 legume genera were confirmed nodulators (i.e., all species examined for nodulation nodulated), 116 were non‐nodulating, four were variable (i.e., containing both confirmed nodulators and confirmed non‐nodulators), and 243 had not been examined for nodulation in published studies. Interestingly, data exploration revealed that nodulating legume genera are ~3 × more species‐rich than non‐nodulating genera, but we did not find evidence that this difference in diversity was due to differences in net diversification rate. Our metadata file describes in more detail the structure of these data that provide a foundational resource for future work as more nodulation data become available, and as greater phylogenetic resolution of this ca. 19,500‐species family comes into focus. We release this data set under the Creative Commons 4.0 Attribution‐ShareAlike License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The data may be used, distributed, and reproduced with proper citation of this article.
Predictors and outcomes of heart failure with mid‐range ejection fraction
Authors: Bhambhani Vijeta , Kizer Jorge R. , Lima Joao A.C. , van der Harst Pim , Bahrami Hossein , Nayor Matthew , de Filippi Christopher R. , Enserro Danielle , Blaha Michael J. , Cushman Mary , Wang Thomas J. , Gansevoort Ron T. , Fox Caroline S. , Gaggin Hanna K. , Kop Willem J. , Liu Kiang , Vasan Ramachandran S. , Psaty Bruce M. , Lee Douglas S. , Brouwers Frank P. , Hillege Hans L. , Bartz Traci M. , Benjamin Emelia J. , Chan Cheeling , Allison Matthew , Gardin Julius M. , Januzzi James L. , Levy Daniel , Herrington David M. , van Gilst Wiek H. , Bertoni Alain G. , Larson Martin G. , de Boer Rudolf A. , Gottdiener John S. , Shah Sanjiv J. , Ho Jennifer E. 
Published: December 2017

AimsWhile heart failure with preserved (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) are well described, determinants and outcomes of heart failure with mid‐range ejection fraction (HFmrEF) remain unclear. We sought to examine clinical and biochemical predictors of incident HFmrEF in the community.Methods and resultsWe pooled data from four community‐based longitudinal cohorts, with ascertainment of new heart failure (HF) classified into HFmrEF [ejection fraction (EF) 41–49%], HFpEF (EF ≥50%), and HFrEF (EF ≤40%). Predictors of incident HF subtypes were assessed using multivariable Cox models. Among 28 820 participants free of HF followed for a median of 12 years, there were 200 new HFmrEF cases, compared with 811 HFpEF and 1048 HFrEF. Clinical predictors of HFmrEF included age, male sex, systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, and prior myocardial infarction (multivariable adjusted P ≤ 0.003 for all). Biomarkers that predicted HFmrEF included natriuretic peptides, cystatin‐C, and high‐sensitivity troponin (P ≤ 0.0004 for all). Natriuretic peptides were stronger predictors of HFrEF [hazard ratio (HR) 2.00 per 1 standard deviation increase, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.81–2.20] than of HFmrEF (HR 1.51, 95% CI 1.20–1.90, P = 0.01 for difference), and did not differ in their association with incident HFmrEF and HFpEF (HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.41–1.73, P = 0.68 for difference). All‐cause mortality following the onset of HFmrEF was worse than that of HFpEF (50 vs. 39 events per 1000 person‐years, P = 0.02), but comparable to that of HFrEF (46 events per 1000 person‐years, P = 0.78).ConclusionsWe found overlap in predictors of incident HFmrEF with other HF subtypes. In contrast, mortality risk after HFmrEF was worse than HFpEF, and similar to HFrEF.
Anti‐inflammatory effects of propranolol in the temporomandibular joint of female rats and its contribution to antinociceptive action
Authors: Zanelatto F.B. , Dias E.V. , Teixeira J.M. , Sartori C.R. , Parada C.A. , Tambeli C.H. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBackgroundβ‐Blockers reduce temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain. We asked whether they also reduce TMJ inflammation and, if so, whether this anti‐inflammatory effect contributes to its analgesic action.MethodsWe measured many parameters of the inflammatory response after co‐administration of the β‐blocker propranolol with the inflammatory agent carrageenan in the TMJ of female rats. We also hypothesized that the activation of β‐adrenoceptors in the TMJ induces nociception mediated, at least in part, by the inflammatory response. To test this hypothesis, we examined the nociceptive response induced by the activation of the β‐adrenoceptors in the TMJ in female rats pretreated with thalidomide and fucoidan.ResultsWe found that the co‐administration of propranolol with carrageenan in the TMJ of female rats significantly reduced several parameters of the inflammatory response induced by carrageenan such as plasma extravasation, neutrophil migration and the release of the pro‐inflammatory cytokines TNF‐α, IL‐1β and CINC‐1. Furthermore, the injection of the β‐adrenergic receptor agonist isoproterenol in the TMJ induced nociception that was significantly reduced by thalidomide, fucoidan and by the co‐administration of propranolol but not of the α‐adrenergic receptor antagonist phentolamine.ConclusionsPropranolol has anti‐inflammatory effects that contribute to its antinociceptive action in the TMJ of females.Significanceβ‐Blockers have an anti‐inflammatory effect on temporomandibular joint (TMJ) that contributes to its analgesic effect. The results of this work suggest that β‐blockers can be used to treat the painful conditions of TMJ, especially when they are associated with an inflammatory process.
Influence of horizontal projection on upward flame spread over XPS thermal insulation material
Authors: An Weiguang , Meng Qingxuan , Pan Rongliang , Zhu Hongya 
Published: December 2017

SummaryExperimental methods and theoretical analysis are employed to investigate the effects of horizontal projection on upward flame spread over extruded polystyrene thermal insulation material of building façade. The average flame height (Hf) (or area S) drops exponentially as dimensionless projection width (w*) rises, and dropping rates are more significant for wider projection. The decrease of flame area is more remarkable than that of flame height. There exists a low temperature zone which is surrounded by the horizontal projection, the flame, and the façade. The average of maximum temperature (
) of zone below the projection first decreases and then increases as projection width (w) rises. The temperature dropping rate increases exponentially with w*.
of the zone adjoining the surface of extruded polystyrene sample above the projection decreases linearly with w*. For wider projection (w ≥ 10 cm), the average temperature above it first increases and then drops as height rises. The heat flux history could be divided into 4 stages, ie, ignition stage, smoke heat transfer stage, flame heat transfer stage, and attenuation stage. The average heat flux (
) at each stage decreases as w rises. The maximum value is observed at the third stage, where
increases linearly with S.
Effect of processing on the biochemical contents of Acanthus montanus (Nees) T. Anderson (Acanthaceae) leaves
Authors: Igwe Andrew , Eleazu Chinedum 
Published: December 2017

AbstractThe effect of processing on the biochemical contents of Acanthus montanus leaves was investigated. The moisture, crude protein, lipid, fiber, ash, and total carbohydrate contents of the raw vegetable were 59.15, 1.85, 2.32, 3.76, 2.04, and 34.65 g/100 g, respectively. The saponin, alkaloid, tannin, flavonoid, phenol, and anthocyanin contents of the raw vegetable were 5.35, 4.04, 1.10, 3.53, 2.87, and 1.27 g/100 g, respectively, while it contained 2.65 mg/100 g calcium, 1.14 mg/100 g magnesium, 7.66 mg/100 g potassium, 350.75 μg/g vitamin A, 50.87 mg/100 g vitamin C, and 0.25% titratable acidity. There were significant reductions (p < .05) in the protein, lipid, fiber, ash, saponin, alkaloid, tannin, phenol, anthocyanin, calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and titratable acidity of the boiled or boiled + sun‐dried A. montanus leaves; significant elevation of the moisture contents but significant reduction of the total carbohydrate contents of the boiled; and significant reduction of the moisture contents of the boiled + sun‐dried vegetable compared with the raw. There were significant increases (p < .05) in the total carbohydrate contents of the boiled + sun‐dried leaves; significant reductions (p < .05) in the moisture, saponin, alkaloid, and vitamins A and C contents of the sun‐dried vegetable; and no significant differences (p > .05) in the lipid, calcium, potassium, and ash, but significant increases (p < .05) in the protein, crude fiber, total carbohydrates, tannins, flavonoids, phenols, anthocyanin, magnesium, and titratable acidity of the sun‐dried vegetable when compared with the raw. Sun drying alone either retained or enhanced the release of some important bioactive compounds in A. montanus leaves. Furthermore, the reduced moisture content of the sun‐dried vegetable together with its increased titratable acidity will make the sun‐dried vegetable uninhabitable for microorganisms, thereby increasing its shelf life.
A robust and powerful two‐step testing procedure for local ancestry adjusted allelic association analysis in admixed populations
Authors: Duan Qing , Xu Zheng , Raffield Laura M. , Chang Suhua , Wu Di , Lange Ethan M. , Reiner Alex P. , Li Yun 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACTGenetic association studies in admixed populations allow us to gain deeper understanding of the genetic architecture of human diseases and traits. However, population stratification, complicated linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns, and the complex interplay of allelic and ancestry effects on phenotypic traits pose challenges in such analyses. These issues may lead to detecting spurious associations and/or result in reduced statistical power. Fortunately, if handled appropriately, these same challenges provide unique opportunities for gene mapping. To address these challenges and to take these opportunities, we propose a robust and powerful two‐step testing procedure Local Ancestry Adjusted Allelic (LAAA) association. In the first step, LAAA robustly captures associations due to allelic effect, ancestry effect, and interaction effect, allowing detection of effect heterogeneity across ancestral populations. In the second step, LAAA identifies the source of association, namely allelic, ancestry, or the combination. By jointly modeling allele, local ancestry, and ancestry‐specific allelic effects, LAAA is highly powerful in capturing the presence of interaction between ancestry and allele effect. We evaluated the validity and statistical power of LAAA through simulations over a broad spectrum of scenarios. We further illustrated its usefulness by application to the Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe) African American participants for association with hemoglobin levels. We were able to replicate independent groups’ previously identified loci that would have been missed in CARe without joint testing. Moreover, the loci, for which LAAA detected potential effect heterogeneity, were replicated among African Americans from the Women's Health Initiative study. LAAA is freely available at https://yunliweb.its.unc.edu/LAAA.
Methods for meta‐analysis of multiple traits using GWAS summary statistics
Authors: Ray Debashree , Boehnke Michael 
Published: December 2017

ABSTRACTGenome‐wide association studies (GWAS) for complex diseases have focused primarily on single‐trait analyses for disease status and disease‐related quantitative traits. For example, GWAS on risk factors for coronary artery disease analyze genetic associations of plasma lipids such as total cholesterol, LDL‐cholesterol, HDL‐cholesterol, and triglycerides (TGs) separately. However, traits are often correlated and a joint analysis may yield increased statistical power for association over multiple univariate analyses. Recently several multivariate methods have been proposed that require individual‐level data. Here, we develop metaUSAT (where USAT is unified score‐based association test), a novel unified association test of a single genetic variant with multiple traits that uses only summary statistics from existing GWAS. Although the existing methods either perform well when most correlated traits are affected by the genetic variant in the same direction or are powerful when only a few of the correlated traits are associated, metaUSAT is designed to be robust to the association structure of correlated traits. metaUSAT does not require individual‐level data and can test genetic associations of categorical and/or continuous traits. One can also use metaUSAT to analyze a single trait over multiple studies, appropriately accounting for overlapping samples, if any. metaUSAT provides an approximate asymptoticP‐value for association and is computationally efficient for implementation at a genome‐wide level. Simulation experiments show that metaUSAT maintains proper type‐I error at low error levels. It has similar and sometimes greater power to detect association across a wide array of scenarios compared to existing methods, which are usually powerful for some specific association scenarios only. When applied to plasma lipids summary data from the METSIM and the T2D‐GENES studies, metaUSAT detected genome‐wide significant loci beyond the ones identified by univariate analyses. Evidence from larger studies suggest that the variants additionally detected by our test are, indeed, associated with lipid levels in humans. In summary, metaUSAT can provide novel insights into the genetic architecture of a common disease or traits.
Estimating Soil Hydraulic and Solute Transport Parameters in Subsurface Drainage Systems Using an Inverse Modelling Approach
Authors: Sedaghatdoost Amir , Ebrahimian Hamed , Liaghat Abdolmajid 
Published: December 2017

AbstractThe aim of this study is to present an inverse modelling approach with a genetic algorithm for estimating soil hydraulic and solute transport parameters in two subsurface drainage systems in Iran. In this study, measured data were obtained from Amirkabir and Shoaybiyeh sugarcane fields equipped with subsurface drainage systems. The SWAP model was used for simulating the outputs of subsurface drainage systems. The accuracy of different objective functions which were based on the discrepancies between measured and simulated values of drainage discharge, groundwater depth and drainage water salinity was evaluated in the inverse modelling approach. Based on sensitivity analysis of the SWAP model in studied areas, n shape parameter, lateral hydraulic conductivity, depth to impermeable layer, saturated water content and α shape parameter were selected in the inverse modelling approach. By applying the objective function which is based on drainage discharge and salinity in the Amirkabir study area, the Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values for predicting drainage discharge and salinity were 0.63 and 0.79, respectively. In the Shoaybiyeh study area, the objective function which includes drainage discharge, groundwater depth and drainage water salinity resulted in NSE values of 0.83, 0.95 and 0.89 for predicting drainage discharge, groundwater depth and drainage water salinity, respectively. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.