bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Habitat preference and flowering‐time variation contribute to reproductive isolation between diploid and autotetraploid Anacamptis pyramidalis
Authors: Pegoraro L. , Cafasso D. , Rinaldi R. , Cozzolino S. , Scopece G. 
Published: July 2016

AbstractTetraploid lineages are typically reproductively isolated from their diploid ancestors by post‐zygotic isolation via triploid sterility. Nevertheless, polyploids often also exhibit ecological divergence that could contribute to reproductive isolation from diploid ancestors. In this study, we disentangled the contribution of different forms of reproductive isolation between sympatric diploid and autotetraploid individuals of the food‐deceptive orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis by quantifying the strength of seven reproductive barriers: three prepollination, one post‐pollination prezygotic and three post‐zygotic. The overall reproductive isolation between the two cytotypes was found very high, with a preponderant contribution of two prepollination barriers, that is phenological and microhabitat differences. Although the contribution of post‐zygotic isolation (triploid sterility) is confirmed in our study, these results highlight that prepollination isolation, not necessarily involving pollinator preference, can represent a strong component of reproductive isolation between different cytotypes. Thus, in the context of polyploidy as quantum speciation, that generates reproductive isolation via triploid sterility, ecological divergence can strengthen the reproductive isolation between cytotypes, reducing the waste of gametes in low fitness interploidy crosses and thus favouring the initial establishment of the polyploid lineage. Under this light, speciation by polyploidy involves ecological processes and should not be strictly considered as a nonecological form of speciation.
What's in a Name? Roles of RFamide‐Related Peptides Beyond Gonadotrophin Inhibition
Authors: Kim J. S. 
Published: July 2016

RFamide‐related peptides (RFRPs) have been heavily implicated in the control of reproductive function subsequent to their discovery more than 16 years ago. However, recent studies using genetic and pharmacological tools have challenged their importance in regulating the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐gonadal axis. It is generally accepted that RFRPs act as part of a wider RFamide system, which involves two receptors, called the neuropeptide FF receptors (NPFFR1 and R2), and includes the closely‐related neuropeptide NPFF. NPFF has been studied ever since the 1980s and many of the functions of NPFF are also shared by RFRPs. The current review questions whether these functions of NPFF are indeed specific to just NPFF alone and presents evidence from both neuroendocrine and pharmacological perspectives. Furthermore, recently emerging new functions of RFRPs are discussed with the overall goal of clarifying the functions of RFRPs beyond the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐gonadal axis.
The comparison of the melanin content and UV exposure affecting aging process: seven countries in Asia
Authors: Bae Sung Hae , Park Jung Jun , Song Eun Jeung , Lee Jung Ah , Byun Kyung Soo , Kim Nam Soo , Moon Tae Kee 
Published: July 2016

SummaryBackgroundThe skin brightness is determined according to the amount and type of melanin. People with darker skin have a greater amount of melanin that makes their skin less susceptible to UV damages. They live in lower latitude and receive a greater amount of the intensity of the UV radiation.AimWe wanted to know how the latitude and skin brightness affect skin aging.MethodsThree thousand volunteers from seven countries (Korea, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia), aged 20–59 years, participated in this study. We measured skin brightness, Ra (wrinkles parameter), and R2 (elasticity parameter) under controlled environmental conditions. The skin brightness of the face was measured using the Janus® which is a facial analysis system. Cutometer® the elasticity was measured by on the cheeks, and PRIMOS lite® was used to evaluate wrinkles on crow's feet.ResultsLatitude and skin brightness showed a positive correlation (0.346). Also, the correlations of Ra and R2 with skin brightness were significantly negative (−0.181) and positive (0.105), respectively. Results of comparison of Ra and R2 with age among the countries showed no significant difference among the 20s, but there was a significant difference among the 50s between countries with high latitude and low latitude.ConclusionThe long‐term exposure of UV radiation, the natural environmental factor, seems to have more decisive effect on the skin aging process than the photoprotective effect of melanin of epidermal skin. This study helps to understand differences of the skin properties among countries in Asia.
Scrambler Therapy®MC‐5A for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Case Reports
Authors: Raucci Umberto , Tomasello Caterina , Marri Marcello , Salzano Marco , Gasparini Augusto , Conicella Elena 
Published: July 2016

AbstractBackgroundComplex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a disorder that is often challenging to treat and can be associated with a prolonged course of severe pain. Therapy of CRPS remains controversial; the pain often can be very difficult to control, and treatment includes medications, physical therapy, regional anesthesia, and neuromodulation.AimWe evaluated Scrambler Therapy® (ST) in terms of efficacy, safety, and durability of treatment effect in patients suffering from CRPS.Materials and MethodsWe report the response to ST in four patients with CRPS referred to the Pain Center of Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital. The patients previously did not respond to conventional and nonconventional medical treatments.ResultsThe treatment with ST was found effective in all four of our patients; they obtained pain relief for long periods and an improvement in their quality of life. We observed a progressive improvement with complete disappearance of neuropathic pain. Patients also reported a muscle strength increase that allowed them to resume normal daily activities.Discussion and ConclusionWe conclude that ST may offer a therapeutic opportunity for patients with neuropathic pain resulting from CRPS, without side effects and with minimal discomfort during treatment. The observed pain relief indicates that ST could be an effective option for such patients.
Expression of the MYB transcription factor gene BplMYB46 affects abiotic stress tolerance and secondary cell wall deposition in Betula platyphylla
Authors: Guo Huiyan , Wang Yucheng , Wang Liuqiang , Hu Ping , Wang Yanmin , Jia Yuanyuan , Zhang Chunrui , Zhang Yu , Zhang Yiming , Wang Chao , Yang Chuanping 
Published: July 2016

SummaryPlant MYB transcription factors control diverse biological processes, such as differentiation, development and abiotic stress responses. In this study, we characterized BplMYB46, an MYB gene from Betula platyphylla (birch) that is involved in both abiotic stress tolerance and secondary wall biosynthesis. BplMYB46 can act as a transcriptional activator in yeast and tobacco. We generated transgenic birch plants with overexpressing or silencing of BplMYB46 and subjected them to gain‐ or loss‐of‐function analysis. The results suggest that BplMYB46 improves salt and osmotic tolerance by affecting the expression of genes including SOD, POD and P5CS to increase both reactive oxygen species scavenging and proline levels. In addition, BplMYB46 appears to be involved in controlling stomatal aperture to reduce water loss. Overexpression of BplMYB46 increases lignin deposition, secondary cell wall thickness and the expression of genes in secondary cell wall formation. Further analysis indicated that BplMYB46 binds to MYBCORE and AC‐box motifs and may directly activate the expression of genes involved in abiotic stress responses and secondary cell wall biosynthesis whose promoters contain these motifs. The transgenic BplMYB46‐overexpressing birch plants, which have improved salt and osmotic stress tolerance, higher lignin and cellulose content and lower hemicellulose content than the control, have potential applications in the forestry industry.
CRISPR‐Cas9‐mediated efficient directed mutagenesis and RAD51‐dependent and RAD51‐independent gene targeting in the moss Physcomitrella patens
Authors: Collonnier Cécile , Epert Aline , Mara Kostlend , Maclot François , Guyon‐Debast Anouchka , Charlot Florence , White Charles , Schaefer Didier G. , Nogué Fabien 
Published: July 2016

SummaryThe ability to address the CRISPR‐Cas9 nuclease complex to any target DNA using customizable single‐guide RNAs has now permitted genome engineering in many species. Here, we report its first successful use in a nonvascular plant, the moss Physcomitrella patens. Single‐guide RNAs (sgRNAs) were designed to target an endogenous reporter gene, PpAPT, whose inactivation confers resistance to 2‐fluoroadenine. Transformation of moss protoplasts with these sgRNAs and the Cas9 coding sequence from Streptococcus pyogenes triggered mutagenesis at the PpAPT target in about 2% of the regenerated plants. Mainly, deletions were observed, most of them resulting from alternative end‐joining (alt‐EJ)‐driven repair. We further demonstrate that, in the presence of a donor DNA sharing sequence homology with the PpAPT gene, most transgene integration events occur by homology‐driven repair (HDR) at the target locus but also that Cas9‐induced double‐strand breaks are repaired with almost equal frequencies by mutagenic illegitimate recombination. Finally, we establish that a significant fraction of HDR‐mediated gene targeting events (30%) is still possible in the absence of PpRAD51 protein, indicating that CRISPR‐induced HDR is only partially mediated by the classical homologous recombination pathway.
Public School Consolidation: A Partial Observability Spatial Bivariate Probit Approach
Authors: Brasington David M. , Parent Olivier 
Published: July 2016

SummaryA pair of municipalities may consolidate services if they are contiguous. Traditional estimation methods assume that each voting process is independent. Instead we propose a new estimation procedure that allows the probability of consolidation to be influenced by neighbouring decisions. We extend a model of local interaction by allowing consolidation effort of neighbours to be either strategic substitutes or strategic complements. We disentangle direct effects arising from a change in one's own characteristics from indirect or spillover effects associated with a change in the other municipalities’ characteristics. Results reveal that the endogenous peer effect coming from neighbours is a primary determinant of willingness to consolidate.
Additive Model Building for Spatial Regression
Authors: Nandy Siddhartha , Lim Chae Young , Maiti Tapabrata 
Published: July 2016

SummarySpatial regression is an important predictive tool in many scientific applications and an additive model provides a flexible regression relationship between predictors and a response variable. We develop a regularized variable selection technique for building a spatial additive model. We find that the methods developed for independent data do not work well for spatially dependent data. This motivates us to propose a spatially weighted l2-error norm with a group lasso type of penalty to select additive components in spatial additive models. We establish the selection consistency of the approach proposed where the penalty parameter depends on several factors, such as the order of approximation of additive components, characteristics of the spatial weight and spatial dependence. An extensive simulation study provides a vivid picture of the effects of dependent data structure and choice of a spatial weight on selection results as well as the asymptotic behaviour of the estimators. As an illustrative example, the method is applied to lung cancer mortality data over the period of 2000–2005, obtained from the ‘Surveillance, epidemiology, and end results’ programme, National Cancer Institute, USA.
Is Cumulative Exposure to Suicide Attempts and Deaths a Risk Factor for Suicidal Behavior Among Firefighters? A Preliminary Study
Authors: Kimbrel Nathan A. , Pennington Michelle L. , Cammarata Claire M. , Leto Frank , Ostiguy William J. , Gulliver Suzy B. 
Published: July 2016

The association between cumulative exposure to suicide attempts and deaths and suicidal behavior was examined in a sample of 61 professional firefighters. On average, firefighters reported 13.1 (SD = 16.6) exposures over the course of their lifetime. Cumulative exposure to suicide attempts and deaths was positively correlated with suicidal behavior (r = .38, p = .004). Moreover, firefighters with 12+ exposures were more likely to screen positive for risk of suicidal behavior (OR = 7.885, p = .02). Additional research on the potential impact of cumulative exposure to suicide attempts and deaths on firefighters' health and safety is needed.
The Geography of Foreign Investments in the EU Neighbourhood
Authors: Ascani Andrea , Crescenzi Riccardo , Iammarino Simona 
Published: July 2016

AbstractThis paper aims at investigating the drivers of Multinational Enterprise (MNE) investment in countries linked to the ‘core’ of the European Union (EU 15) by different degrees of functional, economic and political integration: the EU ‘new’ Member States, accession and candidate countries, European Neighbourhood Policy countries, as well as Russia. Understanding the drivers of foreign direct investment (FDI) in these countries is highly relevant in consideration of their increasing integration into the global market and the strong influence exerted by the EU on this process. By employing data on individual greenfield investment projects for the period 2003 to 2008, this paper aims to disentangle the drivers of FDI in these countries for different industrial sectors, business functions and investment origins. The empirical results suggest that FDI in the area tends to follow market‐seeking and efficiency‐oriented strategies, and show path‐dependency and concentration patterns that may reinforce core‐periphery development trajectories in the EU neighbourhood.
Evidence of Naturalized Stress-Tolerant Strains of Escherichia coli in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants
Authors: Zhi Shuai , Banting Graham , Li Qiaozhi , Edge Thomas A. , Topp Edward , Sokurenko Mykola , Scott Candis , Braithwaite Shannon , Ruecker Norma J. , Yasui Yutaka , McAllister Tim , Chui Linda , Neumann Norman F. 
Published: July 2016

ABSTRACT

Escherichia coli
has been proposed to have two habitats—the intestines of mammals/birds and the nonhost environment. Our goal was to assess whether certain strains of
E. coli
have evolved toward adaptation and survival in wastewater. Raw sewage samples from different treatment plants were subjected to chlorine stress, and ∼59% of the surviving
E. coli
strains were found to contain a genetic insertion element (IS
30
) located within the
uspC-flhDC
intergenic region. The positional location of the IS
30
element was not observed across a library of 845
E. coli
isolates collected from various animal hosts or within GenBank or whole-genome reference databases for human and animal
E. coli
isolates (
n
= 1,177). Phylogenetics clustered the IS
30
element-containing wastewater
E. coli
isolates into a distinct clade, and biomarker analysis revealed that these wastewater isolates contained a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) biomarker pattern that was specific for wastewater. These isolates belonged to phylogroup A, possessed generalized stress response (RpoS) activity, and carried the locus of heat resistance, features likely relevant to nonhost environmental survival. Isolates were screened for 28 virulence genes but carried only the
fimH
marker. Our data suggest that wastewater contains a naturalized resident population of
E. coli
. We developed an endpoint PCR targeting the IS
30
element within the
uspC-flhDC
intergenic region, and all raw sewage samples (
n
= 21) were positive for this marker. Conversely, the prevalence of this marker in
E. coli
-positive surface and groundwater samples was low (≤5%). This simple PCR assay may represent a convenient microbial source-tracking tool for identification of water samples affected by municipal wastewater.

IMPORTANCE
The results of this study demonstrate that some strains of
E. coli
appear to have evolved to become naturalized populations in the wastewater environment and possess a number of stress-related genetic elements likely important for survival in this nonhost environment. The presence of non-host-adapted strains in wastewater challenges our understanding of using
E. coli
as a microbial indicator of wastewater treatment performance, suggesting that the
E. coli
strains present in human and animal feces may be very different from those found in treated wastewater.
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) Crown Galls Host Distinct Microbiota
Authors: Faist Hanna , Keller Alexander , Hentschel Ute , Deeken Rosalia 
Published: July 2016

ABSTRACTCrown gall disease of grapevine is caused by virulentAgrobacteriumstrains and establishes a suitable habitat for agrobacteria and, potentially, other bacteria. The microbial community associated with grapevine plants has not been investigated with respect to this disease, which frequently results in monetary losses. This study compares the endophytic microbiota of organs from grapevine plants with or without crown gall disease and the surrounding vineyard soil over the growing seasons of 1 year. Amplicon-based community profiling revealed that the dominating factor causing differences between the grapevine microbiota is the sample site, not the crown gall disease. The soil showed the highest microbial diversity, which decreased with the distance from the soil over the root and the graft union of the trunk to the cane. Only the graft union microbiota was significantly affected by crown gall disease. The bacterial community of graft unions without a crown gall hosted transient microbiota, with the three most abundant bacterial species changing from season to season. In contrast, graft unions with a crown gall had a higher species richness, which in every season was dominated by the same three bacteria (Pseudomonassp.,Enterobacteriaceaesp., andAgrobacterium vitis). Forin vitro-cultivated grapevine plantlets,A. vitisinfection alone was sufficient to cause crown gall disease. Our data show that microbiota in crown galls is more stable over time than microbiota in healthy graft unions and that the microbial community is not essential for crown gall disease outbreak.IMPORTANCEThe characterization of bacterial populations in animal and human diseases using high-throughput deep-sequencing technologies, such as 16S amplicon sequencing, will ideally result in the identification of disease-specific microbiota. We analyzed the microbiota of the crown gall disease of grapevine, which is caused by infection with the bacterial pathogenAgrobacterium vitis.All otherAgrobacteriumspecies were found to be avirulent, even though they lived together withA. vitisin the same crown gall tumor. As has been reported for human cancer, the crown gall tumor also hosted opportunistic bacteria that are adapted to the tumor microenvironment. Characterization of the microbiota in various diseases using amplicon sequencing may help in early diagnosis, to serve as a preventative measure of disease in the future.
A Diverse Soil Microbiome Degrades More Crude Oil than Specialized Bacterial Assemblages Obtained in Culture
Authors: Bell Terrence H. , Stefani Franck O. P. , Abram Katrina , Champagne Julie , Yergeau Etienne , Hijri Mohamed , St-Arnaud Marc 
Published: July 2016

ABSTRACTSoil microbiome modification may alter system function, which may enhance processes like bioremediation. In this study, we filled microcosms with gamma-irradiated soil that was reinoculated with the initial soil or cultivated bacterial subsets obtained on regular media (REG-M) or media containing crude oil (CO-M). We allowed 8 weeks for microbiome stabilization, added crude oil and monoammonium phosphate, incubated the microcosms for another 6 weeks, and then measured the biodegradation of crude oil components, bacterial taxonomy, and functional gene composition. We hypothesized that the biodegradation of targeted crude oil components would be enhanced by limiting the microbial taxa competing for resources and by specifically selecting bacteria involved in crude oil biodegradation (i.e., CO-M). Postincubation, large differences in taxonomy and functional gene composition between the three microbiome types remained, indicating that purposeful soil microbiome structuring is feasible. Although phylum-level bacterial taxonomy was constrained, operational taxonomic unit composition varied between microbiome types. Contrary to our hypothesis, the biodegradation of C10to C50hydrocarbons was highest when the original microbiome was reinoculated, despite a higher relative abundance of alkane hydroxylase genes in the CO-M microbiomes and of carbon-processing genes in the REG-M microbiomes. Despite increases in the relative abundances of genes potentially linked to hydrocarbon processing in cultivated subsets of the microbiome, reinoculation of the initial microbiome led to maximum biodegradation.IMPORTANCEIn this study, we show that it is possible to sustainably modify microbial assemblages in soil. This has implications for biotechnology, as modification of gut microbial assemblages has led to improved treatments for diseases likeClostridium difficileinfection. Although the soil environment determined which major phylogenetic groups of bacteria would dominate the assemblage, we saw differences at lower levels of taxonomy and in functional gene composition (e.g., genes related to hydrocarbon degradation). Further studies are needed to determine the success of such an approach in nonsterile environments. Although the biodegradation of certain crude oil fractions was still the highest when we inoculated with the diverse initial microbiome, the possibility of discovering and establishing microbiomes that are more efficient in crude oil degradation is not precluded.