bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Synthesis, adenosine receptor binding and molecular modelling studies of novel thieno[2,3‐d]pyrimidine derivatives
Authors: Deb Pran Kishore , Mailavaram Raghuprasad , Chandrasekaran Balakumar , Kaki Venkata Rao , Kaur Rajwinder , Kachler Sonja , Klotz Karl‐Norbert , Akkinepally Raghuram Rao 
Published: December 2017

A series of new molecules containing a thieno[2,3‐d]pyrimidine scaffold was synthesized and characterized by adopting an efficient synthetic scheme. The effect of a free or substituted amino group at 2‐position as well as an oxo‐group, imidazole or 1,2,4‐triazole ring at 4‐position of the scaffold on the affinity and selectivity towards adenosine receptors (ARs) was evaluated. Compounds 17–19 with a free amino group at 2‐position along with the presence of an imidazole/1,2,4‐triazole ring at 4‐position of the scaffold showed selective binding affinities for hA2A AR, whereas carbamoylation of the amino group at 2‐position (in the presence of an oxo‐group at 4‐position of the scaffold) increased the affinity and selectivity of certain compounds (7–10) for hA3 AR. Molecular dynamic simulation study of one of the most active compound 8 (Ki hA1 > 30 μm, hA2A = 0.65 μm, and hA3 = 0.124 μm) revealed the role of important amino acid residues for imparting good affinity towards hA3 and hA2A ARs. Molecular docking studies were carried out for other compounds using the crystal structure of hA2A AR and a homology model of hA3 AR to rationalize their structure–activity relationships. The molecular docking results were in agreement with the experimental binding affinity data of ARs.
Computer guided sinus floor elevation through lateral window approach with simultaneous implant placement
Authors: Osman Ahmed H. , Mansour Hesham , Atef Mohammed , Hakam Maha 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBackgroundThe introduction of CAD/CAM technology in implant dentistry has marked a new era, allowing various procedures to be carried out with a level of great precision and accuracy.PurposeThe aim of the present study is to compare the efficacy of a CAD/CAM generated surgical cutting guide in the reduction of incidence of membrane perforation during maxillary sinus floor elevation in relation to the standard lateral window approach technique.Materials and MethodsTwenty cases of maxillary sinus elevation were randomly divided into 2 groups. The first group received computer guided sinus floor elevation through lateral window approach and simultaneous implant placement while the second group received standard sinus elevation procedure through lateral window approach with simultaneous implant placement.ResultsIn the computer guided group, 3 out of 10 cases presented with sinus septa, only 1 case suffered from membrane perforation during the elevation process. In the non‐guided group, 3 cases suffered from membrane perforation, 2 of which were complicated by sinus septa.ConclusionWithin the limits of this study, computer guided sinus floor elevation showed promising results in accurately modifying the lateral window osteotomy and presents as a safe alternative to the standard technique.
Relationship between implant stability measurements obtained by insertion torque and resonance frequency analysis: A systematic review
Authors: Lages Frederico Santos , Douglas‐de Oliveira Dhelfeson Willya , Costa Fernando Oliveira 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBackgroundThe primary stability of dental implants can be evaluated by insertion torque (IT) and resonance frequency analysis (RFA).ObjectiveAssess the supposed relationship between the IT and RFA.Materials and methodsA systematic review was performed based on the PRISMA. The electronic search was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library electronic, OVID, and Scielo databases. Manual searches were also performed. There was no restrictions regarding year of publication or language. The articles identified were assessed independently by 3 trained researchers. Clinical trials reporting the RFA values by means of implant stability quotient (ISQ) and IT were included.ResultsThe electronic and manual searches yielded 2017 studies. Twelve studies were included in the systematic review. There was no statistically significant correlation between ISQ and IT (rs = .366; P = .079). The quality of the evidence was downgraded by risk of bias and indirectness; and the certainty of the evidence was low.ConclusionIT and RFA are independent and incomparable methods of measuring primary stability. Is important for clinicians to define only one method of evaluation for each implant.
Combining point‐process and landscape vegetation models to predict large herbivore distributions in space and time—A case study of Rupicapra rupicapra
Authors: Thuiller Wilfried , Guéguen Maya , Bison Marjorie , Duparc Antoine , Garel Mathieu , Loison Anne , Renaud Julien , Poggiato Giovanni 
Published: December 2017

AbstractAimWhen modelling the distribution of animals under current and future conditions, both their response to environmental constraints and their resources’ response to these environmental constraints need to be taken into account. Here, we develop a framework to predict the distribution of large herbivores under global change, while accounting for changes in their main resources. We applied it to Rupicapra rupicapra, the chamois of the European Alps.LocationThe Bauges Regional Park (French Alps).MethodsWe built sixteen plant functional groups (PFGs) that account for the chamois’ diet (estimated from sequenced environmental DNA found in the faeces), climatic requirements, dispersal limitations, successional stage and interaction for light. These PFGs were then simulated using a dynamic vegetation model, under current and future climatic conditions up to 2100. Finally, we modelled the spatial distribution of the chamois under both current and future conditions using a point‐process model applied to either climate‐only variables or climate and simulated vegetation structure variables.ResultsBoth the climate‐only and the climate and vegetation models successfully predicted the current distribution of the chamois species. However, when applied into the future, the predictions differed widely. While the climate‐only models predicted an 80% decrease in total species occupancy, including vegetation structure and plant resources for chamois in the model provided more optimistic predictions because they account for the transient dynamics of the vegetation (−20% in species occupancy).Main conclusionsApplying our framework to the chamois shows that the inclusion of ecological mechanisms (i.e., plant resources) produces more realistic predictions under current conditions and should prove useful for anticipating future impacts. We have shown that discounting the pure effects of vegetation on chamois might lead to overpessimistic predictions under climate change. Our approach paves the way for improved synergies between different fields to produce biodiversity scenarios.
Using connectivity to identify climatic drivers of local adaptation
Authors: Macdonald Stewart L. , Llewelyn John , Phillips Ben L. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractUnderstanding the climatic drivers of local adaptation is vital. Such knowledge is not only of theoretical interest but is critical to inform management actions under climate change, such as assisted translocation and targeted gene flow. Unfortunately, there are a vast number of potential trait–environment combinations, and simple relationships between trait and environment are ambiguous: representing either plastic or evolved variation. Here, we show that by incorporating connectivity as an index of gene flow, we can differentiate trait–environment relationships reflecting genetic variation vs. phenotypic plasticity. In this way, we rapidly shorten the list of trait–environment combinations that are of significance. Our analysis of an existing data set on geographic variation in a tropical lizard shows that we can effectively rank climatic variables by the strength of their role in local adaptation. The promise of our method is a rapid and general approach to identifying the environmental drivers of local adaptation.
The current crisis of Europe: Refugees, colonialism, and the limits of cosmopolitanism
Authors: Bhambra Gurminder K. 
Published: December 2017

Abstract‘Cosmopolitan Europe’, the normative commitment that is widely understood to undergird the project of the European Union, is under threat as never before. This is manifest perhaps most prominently in Europe's collective failure to respond to the refugee crisis. As people flee war and destruction, we, in Europe, debate whether now is the time to give up on our human rights commitments. France is under a state of emergency and the UK in the process of withdrawing from the European Union and its associated institutions (including the European Convention on Human Rights). Voices have been raised against the burdens, financial and social, placed upon us by those we see as Other, with few public voices calling for Europe to remember its traditions of hospitality and stated commitments to human rights. In this article, I discuss the growing distance between the claims and practices of European cosmopolitanism, its roots in our shared colonial past, and the implications for the future.
Pharmacokinetics of tiludronate in horses: A field population study
Authors: Popot M. A. , Jacobs M. , Garcia P. , Loup B. , Guyonnet J. , Toutain P. L. , Bailly‐Chouriberry L. , Bonnaire Y. 
Published: December 2017

SummaryBackgroundTiludronate is a bisphosphonate drug marketed to treat different bone conditions in horses.ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to measure the plasma concentrations of tiludronate in a population of race and sport horses under field conditions, and using pharmacokinetic population modelling, to estimate detection times for doping control.Study designProspective cohort.MethodsThis study was conducted under field conditions on 39 race or sport horses diagnosed with bone conditions based on a lameness examination and treated with tiludronate. Each horse received 1 mg/kg of tiludronate (Tildren®) intravenously (i.v.). Blood samples (from 1 to 4 per horse with a total of 93 samples) were collected around 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 days after tiludronate administration. Tiludronate was quantified by HPLC/ESI‐MSn. Tiludronate concentrations were analysed using nonlinear mixed‐effects modelling (population approach). Monte Carlo simulations were then used to compute a prediction interval to estimate the corresponding quantile of horses predicted to have concentrations below some potential screening limits.ResultsThis study highlighted pharmacokinetic differences between healthy experimental horses and the population of horses being treated in the field as well as the effect of level of training on plasma tiludronate. Different detection times were computed corresponding to different possible screening limits.Main limitationsThe number of horses in each group was limited, and the specific disease being treated with tiludronate is unknown.ConclusionsThis population pharmacokinetic study on tiludronate will enable racing and other sports authorities to provide a detection time reflecting field conditions for the medication control of tiludronate. More generally, our study design and the data modelling serve as an example of how to generate detection times directly from the target horse population rather than from experimental horses.
A comparison of fatigue crack growth performance of two aerospace grade aluminium alloys reinforced with bonded crack retarders
Authors: Syed A.K. , Zhang X. , Fitzpatrick M.E. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractTo improve the fail‐safety performance of integral metallic structures, the bonded crack retarder concept has been developed in recent years. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the effectiveness of bonded crack retarder on fatigue crack growth life in two aerospace aluminium alloys: 2624‐T351 and 7085‐T7651. M(T) specimens bonded with a pair of straps made of GLARE fibre‐metal laminate were tested under the constant amplitude load. Although the bonded crack retarders increased the crack growth life in both alloys, the magnitude of life improvement is very different between them. Compared to unreinforced specimens, application of crack retarders has resulted in 90% increase in fatigue life in AA7085, but only 27% increase in AA2624. The significant difference in fatigue life improvement is owing to the material's intrinsic fatigue crack growth rate property, ie, the Paris law constants C and n. Value of n for AA7085 is 1.8 times higher than that for AA2624. Therefore, AA7085 is much more sensitive to reductions in the effective stress intensity factor brought by the crack retarders, hence better life improvement.
Peak season plant activity shift towards spring is reflected by increasing carbon uptake by extratropical ecosystems
Authors: Gonsamo Alemu , Chen Jing M. , Ooi Ying W. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractClimate change is lengthening the growing season of the Northern Hemisphere extratropical terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known regarding the timing and dynamics of the peak season of plant activity. Here, we use 34‐year satellite normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) observations and atmospheric CO2 concentration and δ13C isotope measurements at Point Barrow (Alaska, USA, 71°N) to study the dynamics of the peak of season (POS) of plant activity. Averaged across extratropical (>23°N) non‐evergreen‐dominated pixels, NDVI data show that the POS has advanced by 1.2 ± 0.6 days per decade in response to the spring‐ward shifts of the start (1.0 ± 0.8 days per decade) and end (1.5 ± 1.0 days per decade) of peak activity, and the earlier onset of the start of growing season (1.4 ± 0.8 days per decade), while POS maximum NDVI value increased by 7.8 ± 1.8% for 1982–2015. Similarly, the peak day of carbon uptake, based on calculations from atmospheric CO2 concentration and δ13C data, is advancing by 2.5 ± 2.6 and 4.3 ± 2.9 days per decade, respectively. POS maximum NDVI value shows strong negative relationships (p < .01) with the earlier onset of the start of growing season and POS days. Given that the maximum solar irradiance and day length occur before the average POS day, the earlier occurrence of peak plant activity results in increased plant productivity. Both the advancing POS day and increasing POS vegetation greenness are consistent with the shifting peak productivity towards spring and the increasing annual maximum values of gross and net ecosystem productivity simulated by coupled Earth system models. Our results further indicate that the decline in autumn NDVI is contributing the most to the overall browning of the northern high latitudes (>50°N) since 2011. The spring‐ward shift of peak season plant activity is expected to disrupt the synchrony of biotic interaction and exert strong biophysical feedbacks on climate by modifying the surface albedo and energy budget.
A unified materials approach to mitigating optical nonlinearities in optical fiber. III. Canonical examples and materials road map
Authors: Cavillon Maxime , Kucera Courtney , Hawkins Thomas , Dawson Jay , Dragic Peter D. , Ballato John 
Published: December 2017

AbstractThis paper, Part III in the Trilogy (Ballato, Cavillon, Dragic, 2018; Dragic, Cavillon, Ballato, et al., 2018a,b), provides a road map for the development of simple core/clad optical fibers whose enhanced performance—in particular, marked reductions in optical nonlinearities—is achieved materially and not through the more conventional present routes of geometrically complex fiber design. More specifically, the material properties that give rise to Brillouin, Raman and Rayleigh scattering, transverse mode instabilities (TMI), and n2‐mediated nonlinear effects are compiled and results on a wide range of optical fibers are discussed with a focus on trends in performance with glass composition. Furthermore, optical power scaling estimations as well as binary and ternary property diagrams associated with Rayleigh scattering, the Brillouin gain coefficient (BGC) and the thermo‐optic coefficient (dn/dT) are developed and employed to graphically represent general trends with composition along with compositional targets for a single intrinsically low nonlinearity, silica‐based optical fiber that can achieve the power scaling goals of future high energy fiber laser applications. A foundational finding of this work is that the high‐silica content optical fibers fabricated using conventional chemical vapor deposition methods will not suffice to meet the power scaling demands of future high‐power and high‐energy fiber lasers.
Variable neighborhood search based approaches to a vehicle scheduling problem in agriculture
Authors: Anokić Ana , Stanimirović Zorica , Davidović Tatjana , Stakić Đorđe 
Published: December 2017

AbstractA vehicle scheduling problem (VSP) that arises from sugar beet transportation within minimum working time under the set of constraints reflecting a real‐life situation is considered. A mixed integer quadratically constrained programming (MIQCP) model of the considered VSP and reformulation to a mixed integer linear program (MILP) are proposed and used within the framework of Lingo 17 solver, producing optimal solutions only for small‐sized problem instances. Two variants of the variable neighborhood search (VNS) metaheuristic—basic VNS (BVNS) and skewed VNS (SVNS) are designed to efficiently deal with large‐sized problem instances. The proposed VNS approaches are evaluated and compared against Lingo 17 and each other on the set of real‐life and generated problem instances. Computational results show that both BVNS and SVNS reach all known optimal solutions on small‐sized instances and are comparable on medium‐ and large‐sized instances. In general, SVNS significantly outperforms BVNS in terms of running times.
Associations between air pollution, climate factors and outpatient visits for eczema in West China Hospital, Chengdu, south‐western China: a time series analysis
Authors: Li A. , Fan L. , Xie L. , Ren Y. , Li L. 
Published: December 2017

AbstractBackgroundEczema is one of the most common inflammatory dermatoses that can be provoked as a result of external and internal factors. With dense population and rapid economic development of China, air pollution is still a serious problem and the prevalence of eczema has been elevating.ObjectiveTo determine the association and lagged effects between environmental factors and the outpatient visits for eczema.MethodsData of daily outpatient visits for eczema at the clinics of dermatology in West China Hospital within the last 5 years were collected. Data of environmental factors of Chengdu during the same period, including temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and air pollutants concentrations like sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particular matter (PM10), were gathered. The distributed lag nonlinear model was used to statistically examine the relationship between eczema and environmental factors and their lagged effects.ResultsCorrelation analysis showed that eczema outpatient visits were positively correlated with the air pollutants and were negatively correlated with relative humidity. The barometric pressure and wind speed influenced the outpatient visits in association with air pollutants.ConclusionThis study provides evidence that environmental factors like relative humidity and multiple air pollutants influence the incidence and prevalence of eczema and have lagged effects.
Multilevel Cognitive Diagnosis Models for Assessing Changes in Latent Attributes
Authors: Huang Hung‐Yu 
Published: December 2017

AbstractCognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) have been developed to evaluate the mastery status of individuals with respect to a set of defined attributes or skills that are measured through testing. When individuals are repeatedly administered a cognitive diagnosis test, a new class of multilevel CDMs is required to assess the changes in their attributes and simultaneously estimate the model parameters from the different measurements. In this study, the most general CDM of the generalized deterministic input, noisy “and” gate (G‐DINA) model was extended to a multilevel higher order CDM by embedding a multilevel structure into higher order latent traits. A series of simulations based on diverse factors was conducted to assess the quality of the parameter estimation. The results demonstrate that the model parameters can be recovered fairly well and attribute mastery can be precisely estimated if the sample size is large and the test is sufficiently long. The range of the location parameters had opposing effects on the recovery of the item and person parameters. Ignoring the multilevel structure in the data by fitting a single‐level G‐DINA model decreased the attribute classification accuracy and the precision of latent trait estimation. The number of measurement occasions had a substantial impact on latent trait estimation. Satisfactory model and person parameter recoveries could be achieved even when assumptions of the measurement invariance of the model parameters over time were violated. A longitudinal basic ability assessment is outlined to demonstrate the application of the new models.
Rational decision making in medicine: Implications for overuse and underuse
Authors: Djulbegovic Benjamin , Elqayam Shira , Dale William 
Published: December 2017

AbstractIn spite of substantial spending and resource utilization, today's health care remains characterized by poor outcomes, largely due to overuse (overtesting/overtreatment) or underuse (undertesting/undertreatment) of health services. To a significant extent, this is a consequence of low‐quality decision making that appears to violate various rationality criteria. Such suboptimal decision making is considered a leading cause of death and is responsible for more than 80% of health expenses. In this paper, we address the issue of overuse or underuse of health care interventions from the perspective of rational choice theory. We show that what is considered rational under one decision theory may not be considered rational under a different theory. We posit that the questions and concerns regarding both underuse and overuse have to be addressed within a specific theoretical framework. The applicable rationality criterion, and thus the “appropriateness” of health care delivery choices, depends on theory selection that is appropriate to specific clinical situations. We provide a number of illustrations showing how the choice of theoretical framework influences both our policy and individual decision making. We also highlight the practical implications of our analysis for the current efforts to measure the quality of care and link such measurements to the financing of health care services.