bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
C19, a C-terminal peptide of CKLF1, decreases inflammation and proliferation of dermal capillaries in psoriasis
Authors: Zheng Yi , Wang Yixuan , Zhang Xuan , Tan Yaqi , Peng Shiguang , Chen Le , He Yanling 
Published: October 2017

AbstractPsoriasis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with undefined etiology. Chemokine-like factor 1 (CKLF1), a human cytokine that is a functional ligand for CCR4, displays chemotactic activities in a wide spectrum of leukocytes and plays an important role in psoriasis development. In previous study, our laboratory found that the expression of CKLF1 increased in psoriatic lesions. C19 as a CKLF1’s C-terminal peptide has been reported to exert inhibitory effects on a variety of diseases. However, the protective roles of C19 in endothelial cells proliferation and inflammatory cells chemotaxis remain elusive in psoriasis. In this study we examined the protective effect of C19 on both the cellular model and the animal model. The effects of C19 on endothelial cells proliferation and inflammatory cells chemotaxis were investigated in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and imiquimod-induced psoriasiform inflammation of BALB/c mice based on techniques including immunohistochemical analysis, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), western blot, transwell, and EdU assay. This study shows that CKLF1-C19 significantly protects against psoriasis by inhibiting the infiltration of inflammatory cells and proliferation of microvascular cells, possibly via inhibiting MAPK pathways.
Blue-light induced biosynthesis of ROS contributes to the signaling mechanism of Arabidopsis cryptochrome
Authors: El-Esawi Mohamed , Arthaut Louis-David , Jourdan Nathalie , d’Harlingue Alain , Link Justin , Martino Carlos F. , Ahmad Margaret 
Published: October 2017

AbstractCryptochromes are evolutionarily conserved blue light receptors with many roles throughout plant growth and development. They undergo conformational changes in response to light enabling interaction with multiple downstream signaling partners. Recently, it has been shown that cryptochromes also synthesize reactive oxygen species (ROS) in response to light, suggesting the possibility of an alternate signaling mechanism. Here we show by fluorescence imaging and microscopy that H202and ROS accumulate in the plant nucleus after cryptochrome activation. They induce ROS-regulated transcripts including for genes implicated in pathogen defense, biotic and abiotic stress. Mutant cryptochrome alleles that are non-functional in photomorphogenesis retain the capacity to induce ROS-responsive phenotypes. We conclude that nuclear biosynthesis of ROS by cryptochromes represents a new signaling paradigm that complements currently known mechanisms. This may lead to novel applications using blue light induced oxidative bursts to prime crop plants against the deleterious effects of environmental stresses and toxins.
Unusual Electromagnetic Signatures of European North Atlantic Winter Thunderstorms
Authors: Santolík Ondřej , Kolmašová Ivana 
Published: October 2017

AbstractAll lightning strokes generate electromagnetic pulses –atmospherics– which can travel over distances of thousands of kilometers. Night-side atmospherics show typical frequency dispersion signatures caused by sub-ionospheric propagation. Their analysis can be used to determine the distance to the source lightning, and therefore it represents a safe tool for investigation of distant thunderstorms, as well as for indirect observations of the lower ionosphere. However, such analysis has never been done on the dayside. Here we present the first results which show unusual daytime atmospherics with dispersion signatures originating from strong thunderstorms which occurred during winter months 2015 in the North Atlantic region. Using newly developed analysis techniques for 3-component electromagnetic measurements we are able to determine the source azimuth and to attribute these rare atmospherics to both positive and negative lightning strokes in northern Europe. We consistently find unusually large heights of the reflective ionospheric layer which are probably linked to low fluxes of solar X rays and which make the dayside subionospheric propagation possible. Although the atmospherics are linearly polarized, their dispersed parts exhibit left handed polarization, consistent with the anticipated continuous escape of the right-hand polarized power to the outer space in the form of whistlers.
Functional classification of protein toxins as a basis for bioinformatic screening
Authors: Negi Surendra S. , Schein Catherine H. , Ladics Gregory S. , Mirsky Henry , Chang Peter , Rascle Jean-Baptiste , Kough John , Sterck Lieven , Papineni Sabitha , Jez Joseph M. , Pereira Mouriès Lucilia , Braun Werner 
Published: October 2017

AbstractProteins are fundamental to life and exhibit a wide diversity of activities, some of which are toxic. Therefore, assessing whether a specific protein is safe for consumption in foods and feeds is critical. Simple BLAST searches may reveal homology to a known toxin, when in fact the protein may pose no real danger. Another challenge to answer this question is the lack of curated databases with a representative set of experimentally validated toxins. Here we have systematically analyzed over 10,000 manually curated toxin sequences using sequence clustering, network analysis, and protein domain classification. We also developed a functional sequence signature method to distinguish toxic from non-toxic proteins. The current database, combined with motif analysis, can be used by researchers and regulators in a hazard screening capacity to assess the potential of a protein to be toxic at early stages of development. Identifying key signatures of toxicity can also aid in redesigning proteins, so as to maintain their desirable functions while reducing the risk of potential health hazards.
Persistent elevation of postoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio: A better predictor of survival in gastric cancer than elevated preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio
Authors: Min Kyueng-Whan , Kwon Mi Jung , Kim Dong-Hoon , Son Byoung Kwan , Kim Eun-Kyung , Oh Young Ha , Wi Young Chan 
Published: October 2017

AbstractPostoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio change (NLRc) reflects the dynamic change of balance between host inflammatory response and immune response after treatment. In gastric cancer, an elevated initial NLR (iNLR) is reported to be a prognostic predictor, but the clinical application of the NLRc remains unclear. The NLRc was assessed in 734 patients undergoing total/subtotal gastrectomy and endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastric adenocarcinoma. The iNLR and NLRc were recorded within 10 days of the first diagnosis and 3–6 months after surgery, respectively. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, we investigated the relationship between NLRc or iNLR and patient survival. The analysis revealed a higher predictive power for correlating patient survival with the NLRc compared with iNLR. NLRc was defined as negative (lower than iNLR) and positive (higher than iNLR). A positive NLRc was frequently observed in patients with advanced AJCC stage, local recurrence, distant metastasis, perineural invasion, and adjuvant chemotherapy (allp < 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed a significant relationship between patient survival and NLRc (allp < 0.05) but no association between survival and iNLR. The NLRc could be a better indicator than iNLR for predicting survival in patients with gastric cancer.
Nanoscale Dynamics of Protein Assembly Networks in Supersaturated Solutions
Authors: Matsushita Y. , Sekiguchi H. , Wong C. Jae , Nishijima M. , Ikezaki K. , Hamada D. , Goto Y. , Sasaki Y. C. 
Published: October 2017

AbstractProteins in solution are conventionally considered macromolecules. Dynamic microscopic structures in supersaturated protein solutions have received increasing attention in the study of protein crystallisation and the formation of misfolded aggregates. Here, we present a method for observing rotational dynamic structures that can detect the interaction of nanoscale lysozyme protein networks via diffracted X-ray tracking (DXT). Our DXT analysis demonstrated that the rearrangement behaviours of lysozyme networks or clusters, which are driven by local density and concentration fluctuations, generate force fields on the femtonewton to attonewton (fN – aN) scale. This quantitative parameter was previously observed in our experiments on supersaturated inorganic solutions. This commonality provides a way to clarify the solution structures of a variety of supersaturated solutions as well as to control nucleation and crystallisation in supersaturated solutions.
Soloxolone methyl inhibits influenza virus replication and reduces virus-induced lung inflammation
Authors: Markov Andrey V. , Sen’kova Alexandra V. , Warszycki Dawid , Salomatina Oksana V. , Salakhutdinov Nariman F. , Zenkova Marina A. , Logashenko Evgeniya B. 
Published: October 2017

AbstractHighly pathogenic influenza viruses pose a serious public health threat to humans. Although vaccines are available, new antivirals are needed to efficiently control disease progression and virus transmission due to the emergence of drug-resistant viral strains. In this study, we describe the anti-viral properties of Soloxolone methyl (SM) (methyl 2-cyano-3,12-dioxo-18βH-olean-9(11),1(2)-dien-30-oate, a chemical derivative of glycyrrhetinic acid) against the flu virus. Anti-flu efficacy studies revealed that SM exhibits antiviral activity against the H1N1 influenza A virus in a dose-dependent manner causing a more than 10-fold decrease in virus titer and a reduction in the expression of NP and M2 viral proteins. In a time-of-addition study, SM was found to act at an early stage of infection to exhibit an inhibitory effect on both the attachment step and virus uptake into cells. Also, in infected cells SM downregulates the expression of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α. In infected mice, SM administered intranasally prior to and after infection significantly decreases virus titers in the lung and prevents post-challenge pneumonia. Together, these results suggest that Soloxolone methyl might serve as an effective therapeutic agent to manage influenza outbreaks and virus-associated complications, and further preclinical and clinical investigation may be warranted.
Highlighting the crucial role of Hangzhou in HIV-1 transmission among men who have sex with men in Zhejiang, China
Authors: Zhang Jiafeng , Guo Zhihong , Pan Xiaohong , Zhang Wenjun , Yang Jiezhe , Ding Xiaobei , Xu Yun , Xia Yan , Jiang Jianmin 
Published: October 2017

AbstractIn recent years, the population of men who have sex with men (MSM) constitute a major group for HIV transmission in China. A total of 340 newly reported HIV-infected MSM were recruited proportionally from ten prefectures across Zhejiang province between January and December in 2013. Partial pol gene was amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic relationship, transmission network and genotypic drug resistance analyses were performed on 311 sequences. HIV-1 subtypes including CRF01_AE (55.9%), CRF07_BC (37.6%), subtype B (1.9%), CRF55_01B (1.3%), CRF68_01B (0.3%), CRF08_BC (0.3%) and URFs (2.6%) were identified. A higher proportion of CRF07_BC and other subtypes existed in the >35 years group, while a higher proportion of CRF01_AE was present in the young group (<35 years). Low prevalence of transmitted drug resistance was found (3.9%, 12/311). Strains with Hangzhou imprints were diffused across the full phylogenetic tree. Moreover, Hangzhou represented the dominant proportion of local HIV transmission (72.0%) and cross-regional transmission (62.4%) based on the provincial transmission network and possessed the largest number of nodes with ≥50 edges, accounting for 50.0% (10/20). The complexity of HIV subtypes and an intertwined network was noticed in MSM in Zhejiang province. Hangzhou likely plays a central regional role in the intra-provincial spread of HIV.
Evaluation of Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)n as bone imaging agents: D-aspartic acid peptides as carriers to bone
Authors: Ogawa Kazuma , Ishizaki Atsushi , Takai Kenichiro , Kitamura Yoji , Makino Akira , Kozaka Takashi , Kiyono Yasushi , Shiba Kazuhiro , Odani Akira 
Published: October 2017

Abstract67Ga-DOTA-(L-Asp)11 and 67Ga-DOTA-(L-Asp)14, which have been developed as bone imaging agents, showed a high accumulation in bone and a rapid blood clearance in mice. However, peptides composed of D-amino acids are more stable in vivo than those composed of their L-equivalents. In this study, 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)n (n = 2, 5, 8, 11, or 14) were synthesized using the Fmoc-based solid-phase methodology and evaluated. In hydroxyapatite binding assay, binding of 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)n tended to increase with increasing length of the amino acid chain. 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)11 and 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)14 caused a high accumulation of radioactivity in the bones of the mice. However, the results for 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)n and 67Ga-DOTA-(L-Asp)n were comparable. In urine analyses, the proportion of intact complex after injection of 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)14 was significantly higher than that of 67Ga-DOTA-(L-Asp)14. Although 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)14 was more stable than 67Ga-DOTA-(L-Asp)14, the properties of 67Ga-DOTA-(D-Asp)n and 67Ga-DOTA-(L-Asp)n as bone imaging agents may be comparable.
Dynamic measurement of near-field radiative heat transfer
Authors: Lang S. , Sharma G. , Molesky S. , Kränzien P. U. , Jalas T. , Jacob Z. , Petrov A. Yu. , Eich M. 
Published: October 2017

AbstractSuper-Planckian near-field radiative heat transfer allows effective heat transfer between a hot and a cold body to increase beyond the limits long known for black bodies. Until present, experimental techniques to measure the radiative heat flow relied on steady-state systems. Here, we present a dynamic measurement approach based on the transient plane source technique, which extracts thermal properties from a temperature transient caused by a step input power function. Using this versatile method, that requires only single sided contact, we measure enhanced radiative conduction up to 16 times higher than the blackbody limit on centimeter sized glass samples without any specialized sample preparation or nanofabrication.
Canine dorsal root ganglia satellite glial cells represent an exceptional cell population with astrocytic and oligodendrocytic properties
Authors: Tongtako W. , Lehmbecker A. , Wang Y. , Hahn K. , Baumgärtner W. , Gerhauser I. 
Published: October 2017

AbstractDogs can be used as a translational animal model to close the gap between basic discoveries in rodents and clinical trials in humans. The present study compared the species-specific properties of satellite glial cells (SGCs) of canine and murine dorsal root ganglia (DRG) in situ and in vitro using light microscopy, electron microscopy, and immunostainings. The in situ expression of CNPase, GFAP, and glutamine synthetase (GS) has also been investigated in simian SGCs. In situ, most canine SGCs (>80%) expressed the neural progenitor cell markers nestin and Sox2. CNPase and GFAP were found in most canine and simian but not murine SGCs. GS was detected in 94% of simian and 71% of murine SGCs, whereas only 44% of canine SGCs expressed GS. In vitro, most canine (>84%) and murine (>96%) SGCs expressed CNPase, whereas GFAP expression was differentially affected by culture conditions and varied between 10% and 40%. However, GFAP expression was induced by bone morphogenetic protein 4 in SGCs of both species. Interestingly, canine SGCs also stimulated neurite formation of DRG neurons. These findings indicate that SGCs represent an exceptional, intermediate glial cell population with phenotypical characteristics of oligodendrocytes and astrocytes and might possess intrinsic regenerative capabilities in vivo.
Cardamonin inhibits colonic neoplasia through modulation of MicroRNA expression
Authors: James Shirley , Aparna Jayasekharan S. , Paul Aswathy Mary , Lankadasari Manendra Babu , Mohammed Sabira , Binu Valsalakumari S. , Santhoshkumar Thankayyan R. , Reshmi Girijadevi , Harikumar Kuzhuvelil B. 
Published: October 2017

AbstractColorectal cancer is currently the third leading cause of cancer related deaths. There is considerable interest in using dietary intervention strategies to prevent chronic diseases including cancer. Cardamonin is a spice derived nutraceutical and herein, for the first time we evaluated the therapeutic benefits of cardamonin in Azoxymethane (AOM) induced mouse model of colorectal cancer. Mice were divided into 4 groups of which three groups were given six weekly injections of AOM. One group served as untreated control and remaining groups were treated with either vehicle or Cardamonin starting from the same day or 16 weeks after the first AOM injection. Cardamonin treatment inhibited the tumor incidence, tumor multiplicity, Ki-67 and β-catenin positive cells. The activation of NF-kB signaling was also abrogated after cardamonin treatment. To elucidate the mechanism of action a global microRNA profiling of colon samples was performed. Computational analysis revealed that there is a differential expression of miRNAs between these groups. Subsequently, we extend our findings to human colorectal cancer and found that cardamonin inhibited the growth, induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human colorectal cancer cell lines. Taken together, our study provides a better understanding of chemopreventive potential of cardamonin in colorectal cancer.
Effect of population, collection year, after-ripening and incubation condition on seed germination of Stipa bungeana
Authors: Zhang Rui , Baskin J. M. , Baskin C. C. , Mo Qing , Chen Lijun , Hu Xiaowen , Wang Yanrong 
Published: October 2017

AbstractKnowledge of the germination behavior of different populations of a species can be useful in the selection of appropriate seed sources for restoration. The aim of this study was to test the effect of seed population, collection year, after-ripening and incubation conditions on seed dormancy and germination ofStipa bungeana, a perennial grass used for revegetation of degraded grasslands on the Loess Plateau, China. FreshS. bungeanaseeds were collected from eight locally-adapted populations in 2015 and 2016. Dormancy and germination characteristics of fresh and 6-month-old dry-stored seeds were determined by incubating them over a range of alternating temperature regimes in light. Effect of water stress on germination was tested for fresh and 6-month-old dry-stored seeds. Seed dormancy and germination ofS. bungeanadiffered with population and collection year. Six months of dry storage broke seed dormancy, broadened the temperature range for germination and increased among-population differences in germination percentage. The rank order of germination was not consistent in all germination tests, and it varied among populations. Thus, studies on comparing seed dormancy and germination among populations must consider year of collection, seed dormancy states and germination test conditions when selecting seeds for grassland restoration and management.
A platform for efficient identification of molecular phenotypes of brain-wide neural circuits
Authors: Jiang Tao , Long Ben , Gong Hui , Xu Tonghui , Li Xiangning , Duan Zhuonan , Li Anan , Deng Lei , Zhong Qiuyuan , Peng Xue , Yuan Jing 
Published: October 2017

AbstractA neural circuit is a structural-functional unit of achieving particular information transmission and processing, and have various inputs, outputs and molecular phenotypes. Systematic acquisition and comparative analysis of the molecular features of neural circuits are crucial to elucidating the operating mechanisms of brain function. However, no efficient, systematic approach is available for describing the molecular phenotypes of specific neural circuits at the whole brain scale. In this study, we developed a rapid whole-brain optical tomography method and devised an efficient approach to map brain-wide structural and molecular information in the same brain: rapidly imaging and sectioning the whole brain as well as automatically collecting all slices; conveniently selecting slices of interest through quick data browsing and then performing post hoc immunostaining of selected slices. Using this platform, we mapped the brain-wide distribution of inputs to motor, sensory and visual cortices and determined their molecular phenotypes in several subcortical regions. Our platform significantly enhances the efficiency of molecular phenotyping of neural circuits and provides access to automation and industrialization of cell type analyses for specific circuits.
Interfacial Reactions in the Li/Si diffusion couples: Origin of Anisotropic Lithiation of Crystalline Si in Li–Si batteries
Authors: Choi Yong-Seok , Park Jun-Hyoung , Ahn Jae-Pyoung , Lee Jae-Chul 
Published: October 2017

AbstractAs opposed to the common understanding that diffusion into a cubic-structured single crystal is independent of its crystalline orientation, the diffusion of Li to crystalline Si (c-Si) is anisotropic, which acts as the major cause for the fracture of Si anodes in Li-ion batteries. Here, by conducting comprehensive/multi-scale simulation studies based on molecular dynamics and density functional theory, we elucidate how and why Li diffusion in c-Si is anisotropic. We found that Li ions diffuse to c-Si by following a particular atomic-scale space corresponding to the lowest value of the valence orbital in c-Si, causing Li ions to take a tortuous diffusion pathway. The degree of the tortuosity of the pathway differs depending on the crystallographic orientation of Si, and it acts as the major cause for anisotropic lithiation. We also develop a structural parameter that can quantitatively evaluate the orientation dependency of the lithiation of c-Si.
Long tailed trions in monolayer MoS2: Temperature dependent asymmetry and resulting red-shift of trion photoluminescence spectra
Authors: Christopher Jason W. , Goldberg Bennett B. , Swan Anna K. 
Published: October 2017

AbstractMonolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has emerged as a model system for studying many-body physics because the low dimensionality reduces screening leading to tightly bound states stable at room temperature. Further, the many-body states possess a pseudo-spin degree of freedom that corresponds with the two direct-gap valleys of the band structure, which can be optically manipulated. Here we focus on one bound state, the negatively charged trion. Unlike excitons, trions can radiatively decay with non-zero momentum by kicking out an electron, resulting in an asymmetric trion photoluminescence (PL) peak with a long low-energy tail and peak position that differs from the zero momentum trion energy. The asymmetry of the trion PL peak and resulting peak red-shift depends both on the trion size and a temperature-dependent contribution. Ignoring the trion asymmetry will result in over estimating the trion binding energy by nearly 20 meV at room temperature. We analyze the temperature-dependent PL to reveal the effective trion size, consistent with the literature, and the temperature dependence of the band gap and spin-orbit splitting of the valence band. This is the first time the temperature-dependence of the trion PL has been analyzed with such detail in any system.