bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Antimicrobial Stewardship in a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Using Offsite Electronic Medical Record Audit
Authors: Beaulac Kirthana , Corcione Silvia , Epstein Lauren , Davidson Lisa E. , Doron Shira 
Published: January 2016

OBJECTIVETo offer antimicrobial stewardship to a long-term acute care hospital using telemedicine.METHODSWe conducted an uninterrupted time-series analysis to measure the impact of antimicrobial stewardship on hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates and antimicrobial use. Simple linear regression was used to analyze changes in antimicrobial use; Poisson regression was used to estimate the incidence rate ratio in CDI rates. The preimplementation period was April 1, 2010–March 31, 2011; the postimplementation period was April 1, 2011–March 31, 2014.RESULTSDuring the preimplementation period, total antimicrobial usage was 266 defined daily doses (DDD)/1,000 patient-days (PD); it rose 4.54 (95% CI, −0.19 to 9.28) per month then significantly decreased from preimplementation to postimplementation (−6.58 DDD/1,000 PD [95% CI, −11.48 to −1.67]; P=.01). The same trend was observed for antibiotics against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (−2.97 DDD/1,000 PD per month [95% CI, −5.65 to −0.30]; P=.03). There was a decrease in usage of anti-CDI antibiotics by 50.4 DDD/1,000 PD per month (95% CI, −71.4 to −29.2; P<.001) at program implementation that was maintained afterwards. Anti-Pseudomonas antibiotics increased after implementation (30.6 DDD/1,000 PD per month [95% CI, 4.9–56.3]; P=.02) but with ongoing education this trend reversed. Intervention was associated with a decrease in hospital-acquired CDI (incidence rate ratio, 0.57 [95% CI, 0.35–0.92]; P=.02).CONCLUSIONAntimicrobial stewardship using an electronic medical record via remote access led to a significant decrease in antibacterial usage and a decrease in CDI rates.Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2016;37(4):433–439
CHRISTIANITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS: PAST CONTRIBUTIONS AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
Authors: Witte John , Latterell Justin J. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThis article analyzes the historical sources and forms of human rights in Western legal and Christian traditions, and it identifies key questions about the intersections of Christianity and human rights in modern contexts. The authors identify nine distinctions between different conceptions of rights correlating with at least four types of jural relationships, and they argue that leading historical accounts of human rights attribute “subjective” rights too narrowly to Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment legal thought. Earlier forms of classical Roman law and medieval canon law, and legal norms developed by Protestant reformers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries shaped Western human rights regimes in historically important ways, anticipating most of the rights formulation of modern liberals. In response to contemporary scholars who criticize human rights paradigms as inadequate or incompatible with Christian faith and practice, the authors argue that rights should remain a part of Christian moral, legal, and political discourse, and that Christians should remain a part of pluralistic public debates about the appropriate scope and substance of human rights protections.
Molecular identification ofAncylostomaspecies from dogs and an assessment of zoonotic risk in low-income households, São Paulo State, Brazil
Authors: Oliveira-Arbex A.P. , David E.B. , Oliveira-Sequeira T.C.G. , Katagiri S. , Coradi S.T. , Guimarães S. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractHookworm infection stands out for its worldwide distribution and for its veterinary and public health relevance. Based on copromicroscopic examinations and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the ITS1–5.8S–ITS2 region, we assessed, respectively, the prevalence of intestinal parasites and the identification of canine hookworm species in faeces recovered from 278 dogs living in households of an inland municipality of São Paulo State, Brazil. Intestinal parasites were found in 67.3% of dogs and hookworm infection was found at the highest prevalence rate (56.6%), followed byToxocara canis(11.9%),Isosporaspp. (11.9%),Giardiaspp. (5.8%),Sarcocystisspp. (4.0%), ‘Hammondia-like’ (1.4%),Dipylidium caninum(1.1%) andTrichuris vulpis(0.7%). Of 158 samples positive for hookworm eggs, 106 (67.1%) were amplified by PCR and, of those, 88 (55.7%) were successfully sequenced for species identification. Single infections withAncylostoma caninumandAncylostoma braziliensewere recorded in 61.4% and 12.5%, respectively, and mixed infections were found in 26.1%. The nucleotide sequences of both species showed high identity rates (98–100%) when compared with reference sequences. AlthoughA. caninumwas the most prevalent hookworm in the dogs assessed, the occurrence of bothA. caninumandA. braziliensein single and/or mixed infections poses a potential risk for the local population in a low-income area, especially children, to acquire cutaneous larva migrans (CLM).
Therapeutic Politics: Rawls's Respect for Rousseau
Authors: Warner John M. , Zink James R. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractFor nearly half a century democratic citizens have been preoccupied with the search for self-respect. Though classical liberalism places this question outside its purview and many commentators see in such a concern evidence of a “thin-skinned” political culture, John Rawls has recently provided serious arguments for the political relevance of self-respect. These arguments, we claim, are deeply indebted to the social and political theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose deep albeit underexamined influence on Rawls shows itself both in Rawls's conception of the social problem as well as in his solution to it. Rawls's belief that the provision of self-respect can solve the social problem is uniquely Rousseauan not only because of its emphasis on equality but also because it suggests political life can and must reconcile the conflicts between self and society at a fundamental level.
Knock-down of ZBED6 in insulin-producing cells promotes N-cadherin junctions between beta-cells and neural crest stem cells in vitro
Authors: Wang Xuan , Xie Beichen , Qi Yu , Wallerman Ola , Vasylovska Svitlana , Andersson Leif , Kozlova Elena Nickolaevna , Welsh Nils 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe role of the novel transcription factor ZBED6 for the adhesion/clustering of insulin-producing mouse MIN6 and βTC6 cells was investigated. Zbed6-silencing in the insulin producing cells resulted in increased three-dimensional cell-cell clustering and decreased adhesion to mouse laminin and human laminin 511. This was paralleled by a weaker focal adhesion kinase phosphorylation at laminin binding sites. Zbed6-silenced cells expressed less E-cadherin and more N-cadherin at cell-to-cell junctions. A strong ZBED6-binding site close to the N-cadherin gene transcription start site was observed. Three-dimensional clustering in Zbed6-silenced cells was prevented by an N-cadherin neutralizing antibody and by N-cadherin knockdown. Co-culture of neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) with Zbed6-silenced cells, but not with control cells, stimulated the outgrowth of NCSC processes. The cell-to-cell junctions between NCSCs and βTC6 cells stained more intensely for N-cadherin when Zbed6-silenced cells were co-cultured with NCSCs. We conclude that ZBED6 decreases the ratio between N- and E-cadherin. A lower N- to E-cadherin ratio may hamper the formation of three-dimensional beta-cell clusters and cell-to-cell junctions with NCSC and instead promote efficient attachment to a laminin support and monolayer growth. Thus, by controlling beta-cell adhesion and cell-to-cell junctions, ZBED6 might play an important role in beta-cell differentiation, proliferation and survival.
Selective pressure against horizontally acquired prokaryotic genes as a driving force of plastid evolution
Authors: Llorente Briardo , de Souza Flavio S. J. , Soto Gabriela , Meyer Cristian , Alonso Guillermo D. , Flawiá Mirtha M. , Bravo-Almonacid Fernando , Ayub Nicolás D. , Rodríguez-Concepción Manuel 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe plastid organelle comprises a high proportion of nucleus-encoded proteins that were acquired from different prokaryotic donors via independent horizontal gene transfers following its primary endosymbiotic origin. What forces drove the targeting of these alien proteins to the plastid remains an unresolved evolutionary question. To better understand this process we screened for suitable candidate proteins to recapitulate their prokaryote-to-eukaryote transition. Here we identify the ancient horizontal transfer of a bacterial polyphenol oxidase (PPO) gene to the nuclear genome of an early land plant ancestor and infer the possible mechanism behind the plastidial localization of the encoded enzyme. Arabidopsis plants expressing PPO versions either lacking or harbouring a plastid-targeting signal allowed examining fitness consequences associated with its subcellular localization. Markedly, a deleterious effect on plant growth was highly correlated with PPO activity only when producing the non-targeted enzyme, suggesting that selection favoured the fixation of plastid-targeted protein versions. Our results reveal a possible evolutionary mechanism of how selection against heterologous genes encoding cytosolic proteins contributed in incrementing plastid proteome complexity from non-endosymbiotic gene sources, a process that may also impact mitochondrial evolution.
Length of intact plasma membrane determines the diffusion properties of cellular water
Authors: Eida Sato , Van Cauteren Marc , Hotokezaka Yuka , Katayama Ikuo , Sasaki Miho , Obara Makoto , Okuaki Tomoyuki , Sumi Misa , Nakamura Takashi 
Published: January 2016

AbstractMolecular diffusion in a boundary-free medium depends only on the molecular size, the temperature and medium viscosity. However, the critical determinant of the molecular diffusion property in inhomogeneous biological tissues has not been identified. Here, using an in vitro system and a high-resolution MR imaging technique, we show that the length of the intact plasma membrane is a major determinant of water diffusion in a controlled cellular environment and that the cell perimeter length (CPL) is sufficient to estimate the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of water in any cellular environment in our experimental system (ADC = −0.21 × CPL + 1.10). We used this finding to further explain the different diffusion kinetics of cells that are dying via apoptotic or non-apoptotic cell death pathways exhibiting characteristic changes in size, nuclear and cytoplasmic architectures and membrane integrity. These results suggest that the ADC value can be used as a potential biomarker for cell death.
Strong association of the polymorphisms in PBEF1 and knee OA risk: a two-stage population-based study in China
Authors: Chu Minjie , Rong Jiesheng , Wang Yidan , Zhu Lin , Xing Baifen , Tao Yuchun , Zhuang Xun , Zhao Yashuang , Jiang Liying 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe association of Pre-B cell colony enhancing factor 1 (PBEF1) with obesity, together with its pro-inflammatory properties suggests that PBEF1 might be another crucial mediator that links inflammation with obesity and primary osteoarthritis (OA). We hypothesized that polymorphisms in PBEF1 may modify the risk of developing OA. Thus we systematically screened 4 tagging polymorphisms (rs4730153, rs2058540, rs3801267 and rs16872158) in PBEF1 and evaluated the association between the genetic variants and OA risk in a two-stage case-control study including 196 cases and 442 controls in the first stage and 143 cases and 238 controls in the second stage. In the first stage, two SNPs (rs4730153 and rs16872158) were found to be potentially associated with OA risk (P < 0.05), which were further confirmed in the second stage with similar effects. After combining the two stages, we found that rs4730153 was significantly associated with decreased risk of OA in an additive genetic model (P < 0.05), while rs16872158 showed increased risk of developing OA (P < 0.05). Combined analysis of these 2 SNPs showed a significant allele-dosage association between the number of risk alleles and OA risk (Ptrend = 5.25 × 10−5). These findings indicate that genetic variants in PBEF1 gene may modify individual susceptibility to OA in the Chinese population.
3D tumor spheroid models for in vitro therapeutic screening: a systematic approach to enhance the biological relevance of data obtained
Authors: Zanoni Michele , Piccinini Filippo , Arienti Chiara , Zamagni Alice , Santi Spartaco , Polico Rolando , Bevilacqua Alessandro , Tesei Anna 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe potential of a spheroid tumor model composed of cells in different proliferative and metabolic states for the development of new anticancer strategies has been amply demonstrated. However, there is little or no information in the literature on the problems of reproducibility of data originating from experiments using 3D models. Our analyses, carried out using a novel open source software capable of performing an automatic image analysis of 3D tumor colonies, showed that a number of morphology parameters affect the response of large spheroids to treatment. In particular, we found that both spheroid volume and shape may be a source of variability. We also compared some commercially available viability assays specifically designed for 3D models. In conclusion, our data indicate the need for a pre-selection of tumor spheroids of homogeneous volume and shape to reduce data variability to a minimum before use in a cytotoxicity test. In addition, we identified and validated a cytotoxicity test capable of providing meaningful data on the damage induced in large tumor spheroids of up to diameter in 650 μm by different kinds of treatments.
Future Warming Patterns Linked to Today’s Climate Variability
Authors: Dai Aiguo 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThe reliability of model projections of greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced future climate change is often assessed based on models’ ability to simulate the current climate, but there has been little evidence that connects the two. In fact, this practice has been questioned because the GHG-induced future climate change may involve additional physical processes that are not important for the current climate. Here I show that the spatial patterns of the GHG-induced future warming in the 21st century is highly correlated with the patterns of the year-to-year variations of surface air temperature for today’s climate, with areas of larger variations during 1950–1979 having more GHG-induced warming in the 21st century in all climate models. Such a relationship also exists in other climate fields such as atmospheric water vapor and it is evident in observed temperatures from 1950–2010. The results suggest that many physical processes may work similarly in producing the year-to-year climate variations in the current climate and the GHG-induced long-term changes in the 21st century in models and in the real world. They support the notion that models that simulate present-day climate variability better are likely to make more reliable predictions of future climate change.
REPLACR-mutagenesis, a one-step method for site-directed mutagenesis by recombineering
Authors: Trehan Ashutosh , Kiełbus Michał , Czapinski Jakub , Stepulak Andrzej , Huhtaniemi Ilpo , Rivero-Müller Adolfo 
Published: January 2016

AbstractMutagenesis is an important tool to study gene regulation, model disease-causing mutations and for functional characterisation of proteins. Most of the current methods for mutagenesis involve multiple step procedures. One of the most accurate methods for genetically altering DNA is recombineering, which uses bacteria expressing viral recombination proteins. Recently, the use of in vitro seamless assembly systems using purified enzymes for multiple-fragment cloning as well as mutagenesis is gaining ground. Although these in vitro isothermal reactions are useful when cloning multiple fragments, for site-directed mutagenesis it is unnecessary. Moreover, the use of purified enzymes in vitro is not only expensive but also more inaccurate than the high-fidelity recombination inside bacteria. Here we present a single-step method, named REPLACR-mutagenesis (Recombineering of Ends of linearised PLAsmids after PCR), for creating mutations (deletions, substitutions and additions) in plasmids by in vivo recombineering. REPLACR-mutagenesis only involves transformation of PCR products in bacteria expressing Red/ET recombineering proteins. Modifications in a variety of plasmids up to bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs; 144 kb deletion) have been achieved by this method. The presented method is more robust, involves fewer steps and is cost-efficient.
Picosecond x-ray strain rosette reveals direct laser excitation of coherent transverse acoustic phonons
Authors: Lee Sooheyong , Williams G. Jackson , Campana Maria I. , Walko Donald A. , Landahl Eric C. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractUsing a strain-rosette, we demonstrate the existence of transverse strain using time-resolved x-ray diffraction from multiple Bragg reflections in laser-excited bulk gallium arsenide. We find that anisotropic strain is responsible for a considerable fraction of the total lattice motion at early times before thermal equilibrium is achieved. Our measurements are described by a new model where the Poisson ratio drives transverse motion, resulting in the creation of shear waves without the need for an indirect process such as mode conversion at an interface. Using the same excitation geometry with the narrow-gap semiconductor indium antimonide, we detected coherent transverse acoustic oscillations at frequencies of several GHz.
Nutritional conditions regulate transcriptional activity of SF-1 by controlling sumoylation and ubiquitination
Authors: Lee Jiwon , Yang Dong Joo , Lee Syann , Hammer Gary D. , Kim Ki Woo , Elmquist Joel K. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractSteroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) is a transcription factor expressed in the ventral medial nucleus of the hypothalamus that regulates energy homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanisms of SF-1 in the control of energy balance are largely unknown. Here, we show that nutritional conditions, such as the presence or absence of serum, affect SF-1 action. Serum starvation significantly decreased hypothalamic SF-1 levels by promoting ubiquitin-dependent degradation and sumoylation was required for this process. SF-1 transcriptional activity was also differentially regulated by nutritional status. Under normal conditions, the transcriptional activity of hypothalamic SF-1 was activated by SUMO, but this was attenuated during starvation. Taken together, these results indicate that sumoylation and ubiquitination play crucial roles in the regulation of SF-1 function and that these effects are dependent on nutritional conditions, further supporting the importance of SF-1 in the control of energy homeostasis.
Forests as a natural seismic metamaterial: Rayleigh wave bandgaps induced by local resonances
Authors: Colombi Andrea , Roux Philippe , Guenneau Sebastien , Gueguen Philippe , Craster Richard V. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractWe explore the thesis that resonances in trees result in forests acting as locally resonant metamaterials for Rayleigh surface waves in the geophysics context. A geophysical experiment demonstrates that a Rayleigh wave, propagating in soft sedimentary soil at frequencies lower than 150 Hz, experiences strong attenuation, when interacting with a forest, over two separate large frequency bands. This experiment is interpreted using finite element simulations that demonstrate the observed attenuation is due to bandgaps when the trees are arranged at the sub-wavelength scale with respect to the incident Rayleigh wave. The repetitive bandgaps are generated by the coupling of the successive longitudinal resonances of trees with the vertical component of the Rayleigh wave. For wavelengths down to 5 meters, the resulting bandgaps are remarkably large and strongly attenuating when the acoustic impedance of the trees matches the impedance of the soil. Since longitudinal resonances of a vertical resonator are inversely proportional to its length, a man-made engineered array of resonators that attenuates Rayleigh waves at frequency ≤10 Hz could be designed starting from vertical pillars coupled to the ground with longitudinal resonance ≤10 Hz.
Polarization-sensitive optical projection tomography for muscle fiber imaging
Authors: Fang Mengjie , Dong Di , Zeng Chaoting , Liang Xiao , Yang Xin , Arranz Alicia , Ripoll Jorge , Hui Hui , Tian Jie 
Published: January 2016

AbstractOptical projection tomography (OPT) is a tool used for three-dimensional imaging of millimeter-scale biological samples, with the advantage of exhibiting isotropic resolution typically in the micron range. OPT can be divided into two types: transmission OPT (tOPT) and emission OPT (eOPT). Compared with eOPT, tOPT discriminates different tissues based on their absorption coefficient, either intrinsic or after specific staining. However, it fails to distinguish muscle fibers whose absorption coefficients are similar to surrounding tissues. To circumvent this problem, in this article we demonstrate a polarization sensitive OPT system which improves the detection and 3D imaging of muscle fibers by using polarized light. We also developed image acquisition and processing protocols that, together with the system, enable the clear visualization of muscles. Experimental results show that the muscle fibers of diaphragm and stomach, difficult to be distinguished in regular tOPT, were clearly displayed in our system, proving its potential use. Moreover, polarization sensitive OPT was fused with tOPT to investigate the stomach tissue comprehensively. Future applications of polarization sensitive OPT could be imaging other fiber-like structures such as myocardium or other tissues presenting high optical anisotropy.
On the Linguistic Ideas Underlying the Work of 16th-Century Mesoamerican Missionaries
Authors: Esparza Torres Miguel Ángel 
Published: January 2016

Summary
The purpose of these pages is to present the set of ideas regarding language and languages on which the work of the linguist missionaries was based. A corpus of works written in Mesoamerica, most of them in the 16th century, was selected, and authors and works of the Nahuatl, Purépecha and Zapotec linguistic traditions are examined. For the analysis of the texts, a historiographic approach was used that emphasizes the importance of the agent (the linguist missionary) in linguistic production and the epistemological importance of the phenomena of transtextuality, focussing particularly on the study of the authorial paratext of grammars and dictionaries. The analysis of the ideas of a general nature on language and the assessment of the indigenous languages that is induced from these ideas, documented in the texts that are analysed, leads to the establishment of a series of criteria shared by the missionaries that are presented, as a concluding statement, with their main arguments. The sources of these arguments are, above all, certain passages from the Bible, in particular texts of Saint Paul that the linguist missionaries cite and comment on repeatedly. They are further supported by biblical images that are used in a metaphorical sense and, occasionally, by historical figures that are presented as examples.