bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Influence of rigid segment content on the piezoresistive behavior of multiwall carbon nanotube/segmented polyurethane composites
Authors: Lozano‐Pérez C. , Cauich‐Rodríguez J. V. , Avilés F. 
Published: September 2016

ABSTRACTTensile piezoresistive properties of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/segmented polyurethane (SPU) composites comprising 15, 30, and 50 wt % rigid segment (RS) contents and 2, 4, and 6 wt % MWCNT contents are investigated. The physicochemical properties of such composites are used to better understand their mechanical and piezoresistive behavior. Infrared spectra shows that for 15 and 30 wt % RS composites the addition of MWCNTs promotes a more structured RS domain which increases the phase separation, while for 50 wt % RS composites the MWCNTs disrupt the RS domains of the polymer with a high phase separation. Overall, MWCNT content has less effect on the phase separation than RS content. The composites with 6 wt % MWCNT content reached electrical conductivities of the order of ∼10−1 S/m using 15 and 50 wt % RS polymers. Upon deformation, composites with 15 wt % RS and 4 wt % MWCNT achieved changes in electrical resistance of the order of 5000 times their unstrained value, which are outstanding values that can be exploited for applications such as human motion detection. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44448.
The Policy and Politics of Reform of the Australian Goods and Services Tax
Authors: Pearl David 
Published: September 2016

AbstractIn February this year, Prime Minister Turnbull took Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform off the table, but history would suggest it will come into play again. Consumption is simply too important a tax base to ignore if we want to improve our tax system. With that in mind, and in light of the recent GST debate, this article offers a dispassionate examination of the economics and politics of this tax. The popular myths and misconceptions about the GST are highlighted. The point is made that fairness objectives are better achieved in other ways, including through our progressive personal income tax system. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the barriers to GST reform. It suggests that there may be sound psychological reasons for resistance to change. The importance of trust is stressed in this connection. This is not a matter of keeping promises, but requires effective, credible and patient advocacy from would‐be reformers.
Influence of Safety Risk Perception on Post‐Fukushima Generation Mix and its Policy Implications in Japan
Authors: Iimura Akiko , Cross Jeffrey Scott 
Published: September 2016

AbstractFour years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, a future portfolio of the electrical power generation mix was finally and officially determined by the Japanese Government. Opposition to nuclear power generation remains high in the Japanese public to accept the need for nuclear power given the potential for a nuclear accident in the future. In this paper, we introduce an Analytical Hierarchy Process model to evaluate the influence of two opposing risk perceptions relating to public opinion versus scientific risk measures related to the electrical generation mix. This study revealed that opposing viewpoints on safety results in choosing different generation mixes. It should be noted that the public in large chooses the nuclear‐free preference that actually results in a higher number of human fatalities in the energy sector because of the statistically low accident rate in the nuclear energy generation sector, which is contrary to public sentiment in Japan.
Towards a Lifelong Active Society: Coping with Japan's Changing Population
Authors: Seike Atsushi 
Published: September 2016

AbstractIn order to cope with Japan's globally unprecedented ageing population, it is extremely important to promote the employment of older people. By taking advantage of the strong motivation among Japanese older people to continue working, Japan will be able to establish a lifelong active society in which the will and ability of older people can be fully utilized. In order to promote a lifelong active society we need to revise our public pension scheme so as not to discourage older workers to continue working. The mandatory retirement practice should also be revised along with the seniority based wage system to promote the employment of older workers. The creation of a lifelong active society should substantially reduce the burden on future generations, and in particular the social security burden. If Japan can establish a lifelong active society, it will have valuable implications for other countries facing population ageing.
FX knockout CHO hosts can express desired ratios of fucosylated or afucosylated antibodies with high titers and comparable product quality
Authors: Louie Salina , Haley Benjamin , Marshall Brett , Heidersbach Amy , Yim Mandy , Brozynski Martina , Tang Danming , Lam Cynthia , Petryniak Bronislawa , Shaw David , Shim Jeongsup , Miller Aaron , Lowe John B. , Snedecor Brad , Misaghi Shahram 
Published: September 2016

ABSTRACTDuring antibody dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) the target cells are killed by monocytes and natural killer cells. ADCC is enhanced when the antibody heavy chain's core N‐linked glycan lacks the fucose molecule(s). Several strategies have been utilized to generate fully afucosylated antibodies. A commonly used and efficient approach has been knocking out the FUT8 gene of the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) host cells, which results in expression of antibody molecules with fully afucosylated glycans. However, a major drawback of the FUT8‐KO host is the requirement for undertaking two separate cell line development (CLD) efforts in order to obtain both primarily fucosylated and fully afucosylated antibody species for comparative studies in vitro and in vivo. Even more challenging is obtaining primarily fucosylated and FUT8‐KO clones with similar enough product quality attributes to ensure that any observed ADCC advantage(s) can be strictly attributed to afucosylation. Here, we report generation and use of a FX knockout (FXKO) CHO host cell line that is capable of expressing antibody molecules with either primarily fucosylated or fully afucosylated glycan profiles with otherwise similar product quality attributes, depending on addition of fucose to the cell culture media. Hence, the FXKO host not only obviates the requirement for undertaking two separate CLD efforts, but it also averts the need for screening many colonies to identify clones with comparable product qualities. Finally, FXKO clones can express antibodies with the desired ratio of primarily fucosylated to afucosylated glycans when fucose is titrated into the production media, to allow achieving intended levels of FcγRIII‐binding and ADCC for an antibody. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 632–644. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Introducing the concept of biocatalysis in the classroom: The conversion of cholesterol to provitamin D3
Authors: De Luca Belén M. , Nudel Clara B. , Gonzalez Rodrigo H. , Nusblat Alejandro D. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractBiocatalysis is a fundamental concept in biotechnology. The topic integrates knowledge of several disciplines; therefore, it was included in the course “design and optimization of biological systems” which is offered in the biochemistry curricula. We selected the ciliate tetrahymena as an example of a eukaryotic system with potential for the biotransformation of sterol metabolites of industrial interest; in particular, we focused on the conversion of cholesterol to provitamin D3. The students work with wild type and recombinant strains and learn how sterol pathways could be modified to obtain diverse sterol moieties. During the course the students identify and measure the concentration of sterols. They also search for related genes by bioinformatic analysis. Additionally, the students compare biotransformation rates, growing the ciliate in plate and in a bioreactor. Finally, they use fluorescence microscopy to localize an enzyme involved in biotransformation. The last day each team makes an oral presentation, explaining the results obtained and responds to a series of key questions posed by the teachers, which determine the final mark. In our experience, this course enables undergraduate students to become acquainted with the principles of biocatalysis as well as with standard and modern techniques, through a simple and robust laboratory exercise, using a biological system for the conversion of valuable pharmaceutical moieties. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(2):105–114, 2017.
A laboratory practical illustrating the use of the ChIP‐qPCR method in a robust model: Estrogen receptor alpha immunoprecipitation using Mcf‐7 culture cells
Authors: Lacazette Eric 
Published: September 2016

AbstractChromatin immunoprecipitation followed by qPCR analysis (ChIP‐qPCR) is a widely used technique to study gene expression. A large number of students in molecular biology and more generally in life sciences will be confronted with the use of this technique, which is quite difficult to set up and can lead to misinterpretation if not carefully managed. This article describes a four‐session laboratory practical designed for Masters students to introduce this technique. During the practical, students work in pairs. They extract chromatin from MCF‐7 culture cells stimulated or not by estrogens, then immunoprecipitate the transcription factor estrogen receptor alpha using an antibody directed against it. Students then measure the enrichment of promoter DNA target sequences from the chromatin that coprecipitates by qPCR. These are two estrogen responsive genes, pS2 (trefoil factor one) and PGR (the progesterone receptor). They learn how to analyze their ChIP‐qPCR data by two methods: percent input and fold enrichment, and are taught about the interpretation limits of these two calculation methods. Thus, this practical is a good framework for an in‐depth discussion of how this technique can be used to study gene expression and for raising awareness of the importance of careful interpretation of results. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(2):152–160, 2017.
Mentor‐mentee interaction and laboratory social environment: Do they matter in doctoral students' publication productivity?
Authors: Ynalvez Marcus Antonius , Ynalvez Ruby A. , Ramírez Enrique 
Published: September 2016

AbstractWe explored the social shaping of science at the micro‐level reality of face‐to‐face interaction in one of the traditional places for scientific activities—the scientific lab. We specifically examined how doctoral students' perception of their: (i) interaction with doctoral mentors (MMI) and (ii) lab social environment (LSE) influenced productivity. Construed as the production of peer‐reviewed articles, we measured productivity using total number of articles (TOTAL), number of articles with impact factor greater than or equal to 4.00 (IFGE4), and number of first‐authored articles (NFA). Via face‐to‐face interviews, we obtained data from n = 210 molecular biology Ph.D. students in selected universities in Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. Additional productivity data (NFA) were obtained from online bibliometric databases. To summarize the original 13 MMI and 13 LSE semantic‐differential items which we used to measure students' perceptions, principal component (PC) analyses were performed. The results were smaller sets of 4 MMI PCs and 4 LSE PCs. To identify which PCs influenced publication counts, we performed Poisson regression analyses. Although perceived MMI was not linked to productivity, perceived LSE was linked: Students who perceived their LSE as intellectually stimulating reported high levels of productivity in both TOTAL and IFGE4, but not in NFA. Our findings not only highlight how students' perception of their training environment factors in the production of scientific output, our findings also carry important implications for improving mentoring programs in science. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(2):130–144, 2017.
CCL2 as a potential therapeutic target for clear cell renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Arakaki Ryuichiro , Yamasaki Toshinari , Kanno Toru , Shibasaki Noboru , Sakamoto Hiromasa , Utsunomiya Noriaki , Sumiyoshi Takayuki , Shibuya Shinsuke , Tsuruyama Tatsuaki , Nakamura Eijiro , Ogawa Osamu , Kamba Tomomi 
Published: September 2016

AbstractWe previously reported that the pVHL‐atypical PKC‐JunB pathway contributed to promotion of cell invasiveness and angiogenesis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), and we detected chemokine (C‐C motif) ligand‐2 (CCL2) as one of downstream effectors of JunB. CCL2 plays a critical role in tumorigenesis in other types of cancer, but its role in ccRCC remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the roles and therapeutic potential of CCL2 in ccRCC. Immunohistochemical analysis of CCL2 expression for ccRCC specimens showed that upregulation of CCL2 expression correlated with clinical stage, overall survival, and macrophage infiltration. For functional analysis of CCL2 in ccRCC cells, we generated subclones of WT8 cells that overexpressed CCL2 and subclones 786‐O cells in which CCL2 expression was knocked down. Although CCL2 expression did not affect cell proliferation in vitro, CCL2 overexpression enhanced and CCL2 knockdown suppressed tumor growth, angiogenesis, and macrophage infiltration in vivo. We then depleted macrophages from tumor xenografts by administration of clodronate liposomes to confirm the role of macrophages in ccRCC. Depletion of macrophages suppressed tumor growth and angiogenesis. To examine the effect of inhibiting CCL2 activity in ccRCC, we administered CCL2 neutralizing antibody to primary RCC xenografts established from patient surgical specimens. Inhibition of CCL2 activity resulted in significant suppression of tumor growth, angiogenesis, and macrophage infiltration. These results suggest that CCL2 is involved in angiogenesis and macrophage infiltration in ccRCC, and that CCL2 could be a potential therapeutic target for ccRCC.
Evaluating IPMN and pancreatic carcinoma utilizing quantitative histopathology
Authors: Glazer Evan S. , Zhang Hao Helen , Hill Kimberly A. , Patel Charmi , Kha Stephanie T. , Yozwiak Michael L. , Bartels Hubert , Nafissi Nellie N. , Watkins Joseph C. , Alberts David S. , Krouse Robert S. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractIntraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) are pancreatic lesions with uncertain biologic behavior. This study sought objective, accurate prediction tools, through the use of quantitative histopathological signatures of nuclear images, for classifying lesions as chronic pancreatitis (CP), IPMN, or pancreatic carcinoma (PC). Forty‐four pancreatic resection patients were retrospectively identified for this study (12 CP; 16 IPMN; 16 PC). Regularized multinomial regression quantitatively classified each specimen as CP, IPMN, or PC in an automated, blinded fashion. Classification certainty was determined by subtracting the smallest classification probability from the largest probability (of the three groups). The certainty function varied from 1.0 (perfectly classified) to 0.0 (random). From each lesion, 180 ± 22 nuclei were imaged. Overall classification accuracy was 89.6% with six unique nuclear features. No CP cases were misclassified, 1/16 IPMN cases were misclassified, and 4/16 PC cases were misclassified. Certainty function was 0.75 ± 0.16 for correctly classified lesions and 0.47 ± 0.10 for incorrectly classified lesions (P = 0.0005). Uncertainty was identified in four of the five misclassified lesions. Quantitative histopathology provides a robust, novel method to distinguish among CP, IPMN, and PC with a quantitative measure of uncertainty. This may be useful when there is uncertainty in diagnosis.
Sensitised LnIII Emission and Excited‐State Dynamics of Cofacial ‘Pacman’ Porphyrin Terpyridine Complexes
Authors: Liew Jane Y. , Brown Joshua J. , Moore Evan G. , Schwalbe Matthias 
Published: September 2016

AbstractAn asymmetric ‘Pacman’ metalloligand, [Zn(PXT)], which features a cofacial ZnII–porphyrin unit (P) covalently attached to a terpyridine (T) chelating group via a rigid xanthene (X) moiety has been prepared, and its interactions with several different trivalent LnIII cations (NdIII, GdIII, YbIII and LuIII) have been examined. The formation of 1:1 metal–ligand complexes was monitored by 1H NMR spectroscopy and corroborated by HRMS data. Solution‐stability constants were determined by UV/Vis titration, and the resulting complexes with NdIII or YbIII demonstrated sensitised emission in the NIR region due to energy transfer from the ZnII–porphyrin donor to LnIII acceptor. The energy transfer was investigated by transient absorption techniques, which provided insight into the kinetics and efficiency of the antenna effect.
Prenucleation Self‐Assembly and Chiral Discrimination Mechanisms during Solution Crystallisation of Racemic Diprophylline
Authors: Brandel Clément , Cartigny Yohann , Coquerel Gérard , ter Horst Joop H. , Petit Samuel 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThe crystallisation behaviour of (RS)‐diprophylline (DPL) in two different solvents is investigated to assess the incidence of solvated pre‐associations on nucleation, crystal growth and chiral discrimination. In the solvated state, Raman spectroscopy shows that dimeric associations similar to those depicted in the crystalline solid solution (ssRII) predominate in isopropanol (IPA), which may account for the systematic spontaneous nucleation of this crystal form from this solvent. By contrast, spontaneous nucleation in DMF yields the stable racemic compound RI, consistently with the distinct features of the Raman spectrum collected in this solvent. A crystal growth study of ssRII in IPA reveals that the crystal habitus is impacted by the solution enantiomeric excess; this is explained by increased competition between homo‐ and heterochiral pre‐associations. This is supported by a molecular modelling study on the enantiomeric selectivity of the DPL crystal lattices. The combination of assessment methods on solution chemistry, nucleation and chiral discrimination provides methodological tools from which the occurrence of solid solutions can be rationalised.
Understanding the Subtleties of Frustrated Lewis Pair Activation of Carbonyl Compounds by N‐Heterocyclic Carbene/Alkyl Gallium Pairings
Authors: Uzelac Marina , Armstrong David R. , Kennedy Alan R. , Hevia Eva 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThis study reports the use of the trisalkylgallium GaR3 (R=CH2SiMe3), containing sterically demanding monosilyl groups, as an effective Lewis‐acid component for frustrated Lewis pair activation of carbonyl compounds, when combined with the bulky N‐heterocyclic carbene 1,3‐bis(tert‐butyl)imidazol‐2‐ylidene (ItBu) or 1,3‐bis(tert‐butyl)imidazolin‐2‐ylidene (SItBu). The reduction of aldehydes can be achieved by insertion into the C=O functionality at the C2 (so‐called normal) position of the carbene affording zwitterionic products [ItBuCH2OGaR3] (1) or [ItBuCH(p‐Br‐C6H4)OGaR3] (2), or alternatively, at its abnormal (C4) site yielding [aItBuCH(p‐Br‐C6H4)OGaR3] (3). As evidence of the cooperative behaviour of both components, ItBu and GaR3, neither of them alone are able to activate any of the carbonyl‐containing substrates included in this study NMR spectroscopic studies of the new compounds point to complex equilibria involving the formation of kinetic and thermodynamic species as implicated through DFT calculations. Extension to ketones proved successful for electrophilic α,α,α‐trifluoroacetophenone, yielding [aItBuC(Ph)(CF3)OGaR3] (7). However, in the case of ketones and nitriles bearing acidic hydrogen atoms, C−H bond activation takes place preferentially, affording novel imidazolium gallate salts such as [{ItBuH}+{(p‐I‐C6H4)C(CH2)OGaR3}−] (8) or [{ItBuH}+{Ph2C=C=NGaR3}−] (12).
Different cardiometabolic effects of atorvastatin in men with normal vitamin D status and vitamin D insufficiency
Authors: Krysiak Robert , Gilowska Małgorzata , Okopień Bogusław 
Published: September 2016

BackgroundVitamin D is suggested to reduce cardiovascular risk.HypothesisCirculating levels of plasma lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors may differ between statin‐treated patients with different vitamin D status.MethodsWe studied 3 age‐ and weight‐matched groups of men with elevated low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) levels: vitamin D–naïve men with vitamin D insufficiency (group A, n = 18), men with vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency effectively treated with vitamin D preparations (group B, n = 16), and vitamin D–naïve men with normal vitamin D status (group C, n = 16). All patients were then treated with atorvastatin (20 mg daily) for 4 months. Plasma lipids, glucose homeostasis markers, and plasma levels of uric acid, high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hsCRP), homocysteine, and fibrinogen were assessed before and at the end of atorvastatin therapy.ResultsStudy groups did not differ in baseline levels of plasma lipids. Men with vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency effectively treated with vitamin D preparations were characterized by decreased insulin sensitivity and higher circulating levels of hsCRP, homocysteine, and fibrinogen in comparison with the remaining groups of patients. Although atorvastatin decreased plasma levels of total cholesterol and LDL‐C to a similar extent in all study groups, its effect on uric acid, hsCRP, homocysteine, and fibrinogen was more pronounced in patients from groups B and C than in men from group A. Moreover, in patients with vitamin D insufficiency, atorvastatin impaired insulin sensitivity.ConclusionsThe obtained results indicate that the strength of pleiotropic effects of atorvastatin depends on vitamin D status.