bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The relationship between diet and body mass in terrestrial mammals
Authors: Pineda-Munoz Silvia , Evans Alistair R. , Alroy John 
Published: April 2016

AbstractDiet and body mass are highly important factors in mammalian ecology, and they have also proven to be powerful paleoecological indicators. Our previous research has proposed a new classification scheme for mammals with more dietary divisions that emphasizes the primary resource in a given diet. We analyzed a database summarizing the dietary preferences of 139 species of marsupial and placental terrestrial mammals (including 14 orders) and their average body masses in order to explore whether this new classification better highlights ecomorphological differences between species. Additionally, the dietary diversity of every species in the data set was quantified by applying the inverse Simpson index to stomach content percentages. We observed a decrease in maximum dietary diversity with increasing body mass. Having lower requirements for energy and nutrients per unit of body weight or ecological advantages such as larger home ranges allows larger mammals to feed on less nutritive feeding resources (i.e., structural plant material). Our results also suggest that body-size ranges are different across dietary specializations. Smaller mammals (<1 kg) are mainly insectivores, granivores, or mixed feeders, while bigger animals (>30 kg) are usually either carnivores or herbivores that feed specifically on grasses and leaves. The medium-size range (1–30 kg) is mostly composed of frugivorous species that inhabit tropical and subtropical rain forests. Thus, the near absence of medium-sized mammals in open environments such as savannas can be linked to the decreasing density of fruit trees needed to support a pure frugivorous diet year-round. In other words, seasonality of precipitation prevents species from specializing on a totally frugivorous diet. Our results suggest that this new classification scheme correlates well with body mass, one of the most studied morphological variables in paleoecology and ecomorphology. Therefore, the classification should serve as a useful basis for future paleoclimatological studies.
The Bright Side of the Economic Crisis: The Attribution of Political Responsibilities in Hard Times
Authors: Cordero Guillermo , Lago Ignacio 
Published: April 2016

AbstractWe examine the impact of the current economic crisis on the accuracy of responsibility attribution between levels of government within states. Using individual-level data from Spain, we show that learning about responsibility attribution depends on the saliency of the issue (in our study, unemployment) and economic self-interest. The (unintended) positive consequence of economic crisis is that citizens are now more able to accurately attribute the responsibility for political decisions than some years ago. Learning is particularly significant among those individuals more affected by the economic crisis.
Judicial Independence and Political Uncertainty: How the Risk of Override Affects the Court of Justice of the EU
Authors: Larsson Olof , Naurin Daniel 
Published: April 2016

AbstractThere is broad agreement in the literature that international courts (ICs) make decisions with bounded discretion in relation to state governments. However, the scope of this discretion, and the determinants of its boundaries, are highly contested. In particular, the central mechanism in separation-of-powers models of judicial politics—the possibility of legislative override—has raised controversy. We argue that the uncertainty that judges face regarding the political reactions to their decisions has important and undertheorized implications for their behavior. On the one hand, cautious judges are likely to be attentive to signals that contain information about the probability of an unfavorable override. On the other hand, misjudgments of the political risks are likely to be made. Thus, the possibility of override is a significant factor affecting judicial behavior, but it is also a fairly blunt mechanism for balancing the independence and accountability of courts. The empirical study focuses on the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which has long been at the center of theory development regarding the legalization of world politics and the rise of international courts. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between the CJEU's rulings and the political signals it receives, in a pattern that goes beyond legal merit, and that fits with the override mechanism. State governments are crucial parts of the broader audience that defines the political boundaries of judicial discretion.
RNA structure through multidimensional chemical mapping
Authors: Tian Siqi , Das Rhiju 
Published: April 2016

AbstractThe discoveries of myriad non-coding RNA molecules, each transiting through multiple flexible states in cells or virions, present major challenges for structure determination. Advances in high-throughput chemical mapping give new routes for characterizing entire transcriptomesin vivo, but the resulting one-dimensional data generally remain too information-poor to allow accuratede novostructure determination. Multidimensional chemical mapping (MCM) methods seek to address this challenge. Mutate-and-map (M2), RNA interaction groups by mutational profiling (RING-MaP and MaP-2D analysis) and multiplexed •OH cleavage analysis (MOHCA) measure how the chemical reactivities of every nucleotide in an RNA molecule change in response to modifications at every other nucleotide. A growing body ofin vitroblind tests and compensatory mutation/rescue experiments indicate that MCM methods give consistently accurate secondary structures and global tertiary structures for ribozymes, ribosomal domains and ligand-bound riboswitch aptamers up to 200 nucleotides in length. Importantly, MCM analyses provide detailed information on structurally heterogeneous RNA states, such as ligand-free riboswitches that are functionally important but difficult to resolve with other approaches. The sequencing requirements of currently available MCM protocols scale at least quadratically with RNA length, precluding general application to transcriptomes or viral genomes at present. We propose a modify-cross-link-map (MXM) expansion to overcome this and other current limitations to resolving thein vivo ‘RNA structurome’.
Conditioned by Race: How Race and Religion Intersect to Affect Candidate Evaluations
Authors: McLaughlin Bryan , Thompson Bailey A. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractWhile it is becoming increasingly clear that religious cues influence voter evaluations in the United States, work examining religious cues has largely overlooked the conditioning role of race. We employed a 2 × 2 (White candidate vs. Black candidate) × (racial cues vs. no racial cues) online experiment with a national sample (N= 397; 56% white, 46% black) where participants were exposed to a fictitious congressional candidate's webpage. Results show that White participants expected the religious candidate to be more conservative, regardless of race, while Black participants did not perceive a difference in ideology between the religious and non-religious Black candidates. Additionally, when it comes to candidate favorability, religious cues matter more to White participants, while racial cues are most important to Black participants. These findings provide evidence that religious and racial cues activate different assumptions among White and Black citizens.
The use of nuclear weapons and human rights
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart 
Published: April 2016

AbstractInternational human rights law is an as-yet underused branch of international law when assessing the legality of nuclear weapons and advocating for their elimination. It offers a far greater range of implementation mechanisms than does international humanitarian law (IHL), and arguably strengthens the protections afforded to civilians and combatants under IHL, particularly in non-international armed conflict. Of particular relevance are the rights to life, to humane treatment, to health and to a healthy environment, associated with the right to a remedy for violations of any human rights.
Resilienzprozesse bei hochbelasteten Kindern psychisch kranker Eltern
Authors: Pretis Manfred , Dimova Aleksandra 
Published: April 2016

Zusammenfassung. Die Studie erhebt vorhandene Resilienzfaktoren bei Hochrisikokindern psychisch kranker Eltern. 123 Mütter und 29 Väter mit psychiatrischen Diagnosen (F60.3: 57,7 %) wurden mit ihren Kindern (n = 125, Durchschnittsalter 87,7 Monate) durch Jugendämter an einen interdisziplinären Screeningdienst überwiesen, um mögliche Kindeswohlgefährdungen abzuklären, auf der Basis von 23 evidenzbasierten Resilienzmerkmalen. Verfügbare und in Anspruch genommene Hilfen für das Kind selbst, gefolgt von Kontaktmöglichkeiten zu nicht-auffälligen Peers und Selbsthilfepotentialen, wurden als häufigste Schutzfaktoren vonseiten der Kinder identifiziert. Die Inanspruchnahme von Unterstützung durch die Eltern konnte zwar als Unterstützung für das Kind angesehen werden, unterlag jedoch hoher Bewertungsunsicherheit. Eine ausgeprägte elterliche Symptomatik, ein „schwieriges Temperament“ bzw. Probleme beim kindlichen Durchhaltevermögen wurden als Hauptbelastungen beobachtet. Je jünger die Kinder beim Screening waren, desto eher verfügten sie über Ressourcen. Je eher bei Müttern eine Diagnose F70 vorlag oder beide Elternteile erkrankt waren, desto geringer wurden Resilienzfaktoren eingeschätzt. Die Daten verweisen darauf, dass Hilfsangebote so früh wie möglich organisiert werden und auch auf stabile Inanspruchnahme von Hilfe durch Eltern abzielen sollten.
p53 downregulates the Fanconi anaemia DNA repair pathway
Authors: Jaber Sara , Toufektchan Eléonore , Lejour Vincent , Bardot Boris , Toledo Franck 
Published: April 2016

AbstractGermline mutations affecting telomere maintenance or DNA repair may, respectively, cause dyskeratosis congenita or Fanconi anaemia, two clinically related bone marrow failure syndromes. Mice expressing p53Δ31, a mutant p53 lacking the C terminus, model dyskeratosis congenita. Accordingly, the increased p53 activity in p53Δ31/Δ31 fibroblasts correlated with a decreased expression of 4 genes implicated in telomere syndromes. Here we show that these cells exhibit decreased mRNA levels for additional genes contributing to telomere metabolism, but also, surprisingly, for 12 genes mutated in Fanconi anaemia. Furthermore, p53Δ31/Δ31 fibroblasts exhibit a reduced capacity to repair DNA interstrand crosslinks, a typical feature of Fanconi anaemia cells. Importantly, the p53-dependent downregulation of Fanc genes is largely conserved in human cells. Defective DNA repair is known to activate p53, but our results indicate that, conversely, an increased p53 activity may attenuate the Fanconi anaemia DNA repair pathway, defining a positive regulatory feedback loop.
Capillarity ion concentration polarization as spontaneous desalting mechanism
Authors: Park Sungmin , Jung Yeonsu , Son Seok Young , Cho Inhee , Cho Youngrok , Lee Hyomin , Kim Ho-Young , Kim Sung Jae 
Published: April 2016

AbstractTo overcome a world-wide water shortage problem, numerous desalination methods have been developed with state-of-the-art power efficiency. Here we propose a spontaneous desalting mechanism referred to as the capillarity ion concentration polarization. An ion-depletion zone is spontaneously formed near a nanoporous material by the permselective ion transportation driven by the capillarity of the material, in contrast to electrokinetic ion concentration polarization which achieves the same ion-depletion zone by an external d.c. bias. This capillarity ion concentration polarization device is shown to be capable of desalting an ambient electrolyte more than 90% without any external electrical power sources. Theoretical analysis for both static and transient conditions are conducted to characterize this phenomenon. These results indicate that the capillarity ion concentration polarization system can offer unique and economical approaches for a power-free water purification system.
Predegenerated Schwann cells–a novel prospect for cell therapy for glaucoma: neuroprotection, neuroregeneration and neuroplasticity
Authors: Smedowski Adrian , Liu Xiaonan , Pietrucha-Dutczak Marita , Matuszek Iwona , Varjosalo Markku , Lewin-Kowalik Joanna 
Published: April 2016

AbstractGlaucoma is an optic neuropathy that leads to irreversible blindness. Because the current therapies are not sufficient to protect against glaucoma-induced visual impairment, new treatment approaches are necessary to prevent disease progression. Cell transplantation techniques are currently considered to be among the most promising opportunities for nervous system damage treatment. The beneficial effects of undifferentiated cells have been investigated in experimental models of glaucoma, however experiments were accompanied by various barriers, which would make putative treatment difficult or even impossible to apply in a clinical setting. The novel therapy proposed in our study creates conditions to eliminate some of the identified barriers described for precursor cells transplantation and allows us to observe direct neuroprotective and pro-regenerative effects in ongoing optic neuropathy without additional modifications to the transplanted cells. We demonstrated that the proposed novel Schwann cell therapy might be promising, effective and easy to apply and is safer than the alternative cell therapies for the treatment of glaucoma.
Amino Compounds as Inhibitors of De Novo Synthesis of Chlorobenzenes
Authors: Wang Si-Jia , He Pin-Jing , Lu Wen-Tao , Shao Li-Ming , Zhang Hua 
Published: April 2016

AbstractThe inhibitory effects of four amino compounds on the formation of chlorobenzenes (CBzs) - dioxin precursors and indicators, and the inhibitory mechanisms were explored. The results show NH4H2PO4 can decrease the total yields of CBzs (1,2di-CBz, 1,3di-CBz, 1,4di-CBz, penta-CBz and hexa-CBz) by 98.1%±1.6% and 96.1%±0.7% under air and nitrogen flow. The inhibitory effects indicated by the total yields of CBzs follow the order NH4H2PO4 > NH4HF2 > (NH4)2SO4 > NH4Br under air flow and NH4H2PO4 ≈ (NH4)2SO4 ≈ NH4HF2 >NH4Br under nitrogen flow. The inhibition mechanism revealed by thermal analysis that CuCl2 was converted to CuPO3 by reacting with NH4H2PO4 below 200 °C, which can block the transfer of chlorine and formation of C–Cl bonds at 350 °C. The effects of the other three inhibitors were weaker because their reactions with CuCl2, which form other copper compounds, and the reaction of CuCl2 with carbon, which forms C–Cl bonds, were almost simultaneous and competitive. Oxygen influenced the yield of CBzs obviously, and the total yield of five CBzs sharply increased with oxygen. Because of their high efficiency, low environmental impact, low cost, and availability, amino compounds - especially NH4H2PO4 - can be utilized as inhibitors of CBzs during incineration.
Disentangling effects of abiotic factors and biotic interactions on cross-taxon congruence in species turnover patterns of plants, moths and beetles
Authors: Duan Meichun , Liu Yunhui , Yu Zhenrong , Baudry Jacques , Li Liangtao , Wang Changliu , Axmacher Jan C. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractHigh cross-taxon congruence in species diversity patterns is essential for the use of surrogate taxa in biodiversity conservation, but presence and strength of congruence in species turnover patterns and the relative contributions of abiotic environmental factors and biotic interaction towards this congruence, remain poorly understood. In our study, we used variation partitioning in multiple regressions to quantify cross-taxon congruence in community dissimilarities of vascular plants, geometrid and arciinid moths and carabid beetles, subsequently investigating their respective underpinning by abiotic factors and biotic interactions. Significant cross-taxon congruence observed across all taxon pairs was linked to their similar responses towards elevation change. Changes in the vegetation composition were closely linked to carabid turnover, with vegetation structure and associated microclimatic conditions proposed causes of this link. In contrast, moth assemblages appeared to be dominated by generalist species whose turnover was weakly associated with vegetation changes. Overall, abiotic factors exerted a stronger influence on cross-taxon congruence across our study sites than biotic interactions. The weak congruence in turnover observed particularly between plants and moths highlights the importance of multi-taxon approaches based on groupings of taxa with similar turnovers, rather than the use of single surrogate taxa or environmental proxies, in biodiversity assessments.
DNA damage regulation and its role in drug-related phenotypes in the malaria parasites
Authors: Gupta Devendra Kumar , Patra Alok Tanala , Zhu Lei , Gupta Archana Patkar , Bozdech Zbynek 
Published: April 2016

AbstractDNA of malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, is subjected to extraordinary high levels of genotoxic insults during its complex life cycle within both the mosquito and human host. Accordingly, most of the components of DNA repair machinery are conserved in the parasite genome. Here, we investigated the genome-wide responses of P. falciparum to DNA damaging agents and provided transcriptional evidence of the existence of the double strand break and excision repair system. We also showed that acetylation at H3K9, H4K8 and H3K56 play a role in the direct and indirect response to DNA damage induced by an alkylating agent, methyl methanesulphonate (MMS). Artemisinin, the first line antimalarial chemotherapeutics elicits a similar response compared to MMS which suggests its activity as a DNA damaging agent. Moreover, in contrast to the wild-type P. falciparum, two strains (Dd2 and W2) previously shown to exhibit a mutator phenotype, fail to induce their DNA repair upon MMS-induced DNA damage. Genome sequencing of the two mutator strains identified point mutations in 18 DNA repair genes which may contribute to this phenomenon.
Structural and activity characterization of human PHPT1 after oxidative modification
Authors: Martin Daniel R. , Dutta Priyanka , Mahajan Shikha , Varma Sameer , Stevens Stanley M. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractPhosphohistidine phosphatase 1 (PHPT1), the only known phosphohistidine phosphatase in mammals, regulates phosphohistidine levels of several proteins including those involved in signaling, lipid metabolism, and potassium ion transport. While the high-resolution structure of human PHPT1 (hPHPT1) is available and residues important for substrate binding and catalytic activity have been reported, little is known about post-translational modifications that modulate hPHPT1 activity. Here we characterize the structural and functional impact of hPHPT1 oxidation upon exposure to a reactive oxygen species, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Specifically, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify site-specific oxidation of redox-sensitive residues of hPHPT1. Results from this study revealed that H2O2 exposure induces selective oxidation of hPHPT1 at Met95, a residue within the substrate binding region. Explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations, however, predict only a minor effect of Met95 oxidation in the structure and dynamics of the apo-state of the hPHPT1 catalytic site, suggesting that if Met95 oxidation alters hPHPT1 activity, then it will do so by altering the stability of an intermediate state. Employing a novel mass spectrometry-based assay, we determined that H2O2–induced oxidation does not impact hPHPT1 function negatively; a result contrary to the common conception that protein oxidation is typically a loss-of-function modification.
Modelling intracellular competition for calcium: kinetic and thermodynamic control of different molecular modes of signal decoding
Authors: Antunes Gabriela , Roque Antonio C. , Simoes de Souza Fabio M. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractFrequently, a common chemical entity triggers opposite cellular processes, which implies that the components of signalling networks must detect signals not only through their chemical natures, but also through their dynamic properties. To gain insights on the mechanisms of discrimination of the dynamic properties of cellular signals, we developed a computational stochastic model and investigated how three calcium ion (Ca2+)-dependent enzymes (adenylyl cyclase (AC), phosphodiesterase 1 (PDE1), and calcineurin (CaN)) differentially detect Ca2+ transients in a hippocampal dendritic spine. The balance among AC, PDE1 and CaN might determine the occurrence of opposite Ca2+-induced forms of synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). CaN is essential for LTD. AC and PDE1 regulate, indirectly, protein kinase A, which counteracts CaN during LTP. Stimulations of AC, PDE1 and CaN with artificial and physiological Ca2+ signals demonstrated that AC and CaN have Ca2+ requirements modulated dynamically by different properties of the signals used to stimulate them, because their interactions with Ca2+ often occur under kinetic control. Contrarily, PDE1 responds to the immediate amplitude of different Ca2+ transients and usually with the same Ca2+ requirements observed under steady state. Therefore, AC, PDE1 and CaN decode different dynamic properties of Ca2+ signals.
Phonon-mediated generation of quantum correlations between quantum dot qubits
Authors: Krzywda Jan , Roszak Katarzyna 
Published: April 2016

AbstractWe study the generation of quantum correlations between two excitonic quantum dot qubits due to their interaction with the same phonon environment. Such generation results from the fact that during the pure dephasing process at finite temperatures, each exciton becomes entangled with the phonon environment. We find that for a wide range of temperatures quantum correlations are created due to the interaction. The temperature-dependence of the level of correlations created displays a trade-off type behaviour; for small temperatures the phonon-induced distrubance of the qubit states is too small to lead to a distinct change of the two-qubit state, hence, the level of created correlations is small, while for large temperatures the pure dephasing is not accompanied by the creation of entanglement between the qubits and the environment, so the environment cannot mediate qubit-qubit quantum correlations.
Imbalance in chemical space: How to facilitate the identification of protein-protein interaction inhibitors
Authors: Kuenemann Mélaine A. , Labbé Céline M. , Cerdan Adrien H. , Sperandio Olivier 
Published: April 2016

AbstractProtein-protein interactions (PPIs) play vital roles in life and provide new opportunities for therapeutic interventions. In this large data analysis, 3,300 inhibitors of PPIs (iPPIs) were compared to 17 reference datasets of collectively ~566,000 compounds (including natural compounds, existing drugs, active compounds on conventional targets, etc.) using a chemoinformatics approach. Using this procedure, we showed that comparable classes of PPI targets can be formed using either the similarity of their ligands or the shared properties of their binding cavities, constituting a proof-of-concept that not only can binding pockets be used to group PPI targets, but that these pockets certainly condition the properties of their corresponding ligands. These results demonstrate that matching regions in both chemical space and target space can be found. Such identified classes of targets could lead to the design of PPI-class-specific chemical libraries and therefore facilitate the development of iPPIs to the stage of drug candidates.