bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Progress and Application of CRISPR/Cas Technology in Biological and Biomedical Investigation
Authors: Lin Jiachen , Zhou Yangzhong , Liu Jiaqi , Chen Jia , Chen Weisheng , Zhao Sen , Wu Zhihong , Wu Nan 
Published: June 2017

ABSTRACTBased on the tremendous progress of the understanding on the CRISPR‐Cas systems, the application CRISPR/Cas technology has been extended into increasing scenarios in biological and biomedical investigation. The potency of gene editing has been greatly improved by the rapid development of engineered Cas9 variants and modified CRISPR platforms. As advanced sequencing technology identified vast causative genetic basis for human diseases, CRISPR toolkits are now able to mediate precise genetic disruption or correction in vitro and in vivo. In this review, we have discussed the recent development of the CRISPR/Cas gene‐editing technology and the extensive applications of the CRISPR platforms in biological and biomedical investigation, including disease modeling in animal and human cell line, development of gene therapy, as well as high‐throughput genetic screening. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 3061–3071, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Safety and efficacy of laryngeal mask airway ventilation in obese patients with airway stenosis
Authors: Pourciau D. Cole , Hotard D. Peter , Hayley Schuylor , Hayley Kasey , Sutton Collin , McWhorter Andrew J. , Fink Daniel S. 
Published: June 2017

ObjectiveTo assess the efficacy of laryngeal mask airway (LMA) ventilation in obese patients with airway stenosis.Study DesignA retrospective chart review was conducted in an academic practice in a tertiary care center.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed our experience using LMA ventilation in obese patients with airway stenosis. Lowest intraoperative O2 saturation and maximum‐end tidal carbon dioxide (CO2) levels were recorded. Complications including intubation, unplanned admission, re‐admission, postoperative pain, dysphonia, oral trauma, pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and tracheostomy were recorded.ResultsFourteen bronchoscopies with laser incisions and dilation were performed in patients with airway stenosis exclusively using LMA ventilation. Thirteen of 14 procedures were performed on patients who had body mass index (BMI) > 30 kg/m2. Mean BMI was noted to be 38 kg/m2 (range 25–54). All patients underwent successful laser incisions and dilation via LMA anesthesia without major or minor adverse events. The mean lowest O2 saturation level was noted to be 92%; the mean highest CO2 level was noted to be 56 mm Hg; and no patients required endotracheal intubation.ConclusionIn this small series of obese patients with airway stenosis, LMA anesthesia was effectively used without major or minor complications.Level of Evidence4. Laryngoscope, 127:2582–2584, 2017
Rapid sediment mapping and in situ geotechnical characterization in challenging aquatic areas
Authors: Albatal Ali , Stark Nina 
Published: June 2017

AbstractYakutat Bay, Southeast Alaska, is characterized by significant spatial variations in sediment type and dynamics. The northwestern side is supplied by sediments from the nearby glaciers, and is affected by longshore sediment transport processes, while the southeastern side has no direct sediment input, and is affected by human activities. In situ seabed investigations can be difficult, and expensive, due to logistical challenges in such remote locations. A portable free fall penetrometer (PFFP) was deployed 149 times along 16 transects in water depths of 2–48 m. The deceleration and pore pressure records during the probe's penetration into the seabed were used to characterize the surficial sediments. Equivalents of quasi‐static bearing capacity were determined using the deceleration‐depth signatures, and yielded strong variabilities ranging from 5 to 107 kPa at sediment depths of 10.3–41.9 cm. Correlating the PFFP results to visual field observations and literature, a regional classification scheme, and an updated sediment distribution map were derived. The pore pressure response was correlated to the different sediment types, and was used to assess the sediment's consolidation state. At the northwestern side, an increasing pore pressure trend indicated underconsolidated cohesive sediments. At the southeastern side, clayey sediments appeared to be more consolidated except of sediments of high organic content near the populated areas. The use of the pore pressure measurements represents a novel way for rapid sediment characterization using PFFP. The presented approach to create rapidly a regional sediment classification scheme offers a time‐ and cost‐effective method to derive seabed sediment maps in areas of difficult access and logistics.
Robust EPI Nyquist ghost removal by incorporating phase error correction with sensitivity encoding (PEC‐SENSE)
Authors: Xie Victor B. , Lyu Mengye , Liu Yilong , Feng Yanqiu , Wu Ed X. 
Published: June 2017

PurposeThe existing approach of Nyquist ghost correction by parallel imaging in echo planar imaging (EPI) can suffer from image noise amplification. We propose a method that estimates a phase error map from multi‐channel data itself and incorporates it into the sensitivity encoding (SENSE) reconstruction for Nyquist ghost correction without compromising the image SNR.MethodsThis method first reconstructs two ghost‐free images from positive and negative echoes using SENSE, respectively, from which the phase error map is computed. This map is then incorporated into the coil sensitivity maps for the negative echo image during the joint SENSE reconstruction of all k‐space data to obtain the final ghost‐free image. Phantom and in vivo EPI experiments at 7 T and 3 T were performed to evaluate the proposed method.ResultsNyquist ghost was effectively removed in all images even under oblique imaging and poor eddy current conditions. Resulting image signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) was comparable to that by the traditional linear phase error correction method and higher than that by a previous SENSE‐based parallel imaging correction approach.ConclusionThe proposed correction method can robustly eliminate Nyquist ghost while preserving the image SNR. This approach requires no additional calibration data beyond standard coil sensitivity maps and can be readily applied to all EPI applications. Magn Reson Med 79:943–951, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
Microscopic electronic and structural analysis of femtosecond laser sulfur hyperdoped silicon
Authors: Sickel J. , Ahrens A. , Baumann A. L. , Schade W. , Kontermann S. , Seibt M. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractSulfur hyperdoping by fs laser irradiation is a promising process for improving absorption properties of crystalline silicon which indicates its suitability for manufacturing intermediate band silicon solar cells. Here, first results of a novel approach to study the electrical and structural properties of sulfur hyperdoped regions of p‐type silicon substrates are presented. In addition to electron beam induced current (EBIC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in cross‐section geometry, shallow‐angle bevel polishing is used to employ surface sensitive techniques, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Kelvin force microscopy (KFM). The latter reveals high lateral electric fields in regions beneath the crests of the surface topography, while EBIC shows an enhanced recombination activity at the location of the voltage drops. Both these effects are related to extended defects revealed by TEM and a possible lateral variation of sulfur concentrations.AFM image (top) and KFM map (bottom) showing a voltage drop on the surface of a terrace produced by bevel polishing of sulfur hyperdoped silicon.
Ion exchange resin for PFAS removal and pilot test comparison to GAC
Authors: Woodard Steve , Berry John , Newman Brandon 
Published: June 2017

AbstractAmec Foster Wheeler and Emerging Compounds Treatment Technologies, Inc. tested pilot‐scale ex situ treatment technologies for treatment of poly‐ and perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in groundwater. The pilot test compared ion exchange resin to granular activated carbon (GAC) and evaluated in‐place regeneration of the resin to restore PFAS removal capacity. During the pilot test, both resin and GAC removed perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) health advisories (HAs) of 0.070 micrograms per liter (μg/L) combined. Compared at a common empty bed contact time (EBCT) of five minutes, the resin treated over eight times as many bed volumes (BVs) of groundwater as GAC before PFOS exceeded the USEPA HA and six times as many BVs for PFOA. On a mass‐to‐mass basis, resin removed over four times as much total PFAS per gram as GAC before breakthrough was observed at the USEPA HA. A solution of organic solvent and brine was used to regenerate the resin in the lead vessel, which had treated water up to the point of PFOS and PFOA breakthrough exceeding the USEPA HAs. The pilot test demonstrated successful in‐place regeneration of the resin to near‐virgin conditions. The regenerated resin was then used to treat the contaminated groundwater up to the same breakthrough point. Compared to the virgin resin loading cycles, PFAS removal results for the regenerated resin were consistent with virgin resin.
Semiconducting Conjugated Microporous Polymer: An Electrode Material for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting and Oxygen Reduction
Authors: Jayanthi Swetha , Muthu D. V. S. , Jayaraman N. , Sampath S. , Sood A. K. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractIntriguing structural design and inherent nanoporosity of conjugated microporous polymers (CMP) with extended π‐conjugation have stimulated research interest in exploring their applications to solve challenging environmental and energy problems. However, only few attempts are made so far to identify the semiconducting properties of these CMP networks having direct relevance to energy conversion, electronic devices and photocatalysis. The present study identifies the semiconducting properties of a conjugated microporous polymer, namely, poly(1,3,5‐triethynylbenzene) (PTEB) in detail using photoluminescence, UV‐Visible absorption, Kelvin probe force microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, Mott‐Schottky analysis and photoelectrochemical studies. Integration of heteroatoms such as nitrogen into the polymer network by post‐thermal treatment is shown to enhance significantly the activities towards oxygen reduction reaction. A drastic improvement in the activity of PTEB observed on nitrogen incorporation into the carbon skeleton is attributed to an increase in the number of electrochemical active sites and increase in its pore size. The systematic evaluation of conducting properties of CMP materials promises future development of electronic, electrochemical and photoelectrochemical devices.
Stress intensity factor for multiple inclined or curved cracks problem in circular positions in plane elasticity
Authors: Rafar R. A. , Nik Long N. M. A. , Senu N. , Noda N. A. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe problems of multiple inclined or curved cracks in circular positions is treated by using the hypersingular integral equation method. The cracks center are placed at the edge of a virtual circle with radius R. The first crack is fixed on the x‐axis while the second crack is located on the boundary of a circle with the varying angle, θ. A system of hypersingular integral equations is formulated and solved numerically for the stress intensity factor (SIF). Numerical examples demonstrate the effect of interaction between two cracks in circular positions are given. It is found that, the severity at the second crack tips are significant when the ratio length of the second to the first crack is small and it is placed at a small angle of θ.
Physiological effects of stress related to helicopter travel in Federal Emergency Management Agency search-and-rescue canines
Authors: Perry E. , Gulson N. , Liu Cross T.-W. , Swanson K. S. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractWorking canines are deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as part of a National Disaster Response Plan. Stress associated with helicopter flight and the resulting physical effects on the dog are unknown. Our objective was to test the hypotheses that (1) helicopter travel affects the physiology and faecal microbiota of working canines, but that (2) physiological consequences of helicopter travel will not negatively affect their work performance. A total of nine FEMA canines were loaded onto helicopters and flown for 30 min in July 2015. Rectal temperature, behavioural stress indicators and saliva swabs (for cortisol) were collected at baseline, loading, mid-flight and post-flight. After flight, canines completed a standardised search exercise to monitor work performance. Faecal samples were collected for microbial DNA extraction and Illumina sequencing. All canines were on a standardised diet (CANIDAE®Grain Free PURE Land®) for 3 weeks prior to the study. Visible indicators of stress were observed at loading and at mid-flight and corresponded with an increase (P < 0·05) in salivary cortisol from 5·4 µg/l (baseline) to 6·4 µg/l (loading). Additionally, rectal temperature increased (P< 0·05) from 38·61°C (baseline) to 39·33°C (mid-flight) and 39·72°C (post-flight). Helicopter travel did not affect search performance (P > 0·05). We found that α- and β-diversity measures of faecal microbiota were not affected (P > 0·05). Our data suggest that although helicopter travel may cause physiological changes that have been associated with stress in working dogs, it does not make an impact on their search performance or the stability of faecal microbiota.
Monuments of Ruination in Postwar Berlin and Warsaw: The Architectural Projects of Bohdan Lachert and Daniel Libeskind
Authors: Meng Michael 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThis essay provides an interpretation of parallel attempts to represent ruination in the cities of Warsaw and Berlin after the Holocaust—the architectural projects of Bohdan Lachert and Daniel Libeskind. Lachert strove to represent the ruination of Jewish life in Warsaw through a modernist housing project, whereas Libeskind sought to represent Jewish ruination in a museum. While these two projects might seem different, they come together around a shared aspiration: to represent absence and ruination. Both projects endeavored to create a new kind of memorial that moved away from the conventional form. Rather than turning away from ruination and suffering as the conventional monument has done, Libeskind and Lachert sought to develop a new, non-salvific kind of monument that would reflect on death, suffering, and emptiness. This essay emphasizes the novelty of their attempts to create a different relationship to the absence that is the past, while it also explores some of the central challenges—both historical and theoretical—that both architects faced in implementing their artistic visions.
Politics of Nationhood and the Displacement of the Founding Moment: Contending Histories of the Turkish Nation
Authors: Çinar Alev , Taş Hakki 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThis study examines the conception of nationhood developed by a political movement referred to as Ulusalcılık (nationalism), which emerged at the turn of the century. We focus on ways in which the Ulusalcı movement makes use of nation-building techniques to establish and propagate its own version of Turkish nationhood as one that is primordially secular and patriotic. This is expressed in its opposition to Islamism, Ottomanism, and what it sees as imperialist Western powers. We argue that the most significant technique Ulusalcı nationalists use to rebuild Turkish nationhood is a relocation of the nation's founding moment, from the official Kemalist one marked by the founding of the Republic in 1923 to the War of Independence fought against the European powers between 1919 and 1922. Our premise is that nationhood is ultimately the product of storytelling, and that the politics of nationhood involves the contentious production, dissemination, and negotiation of different stories and their corresponding founding moments. We analyze the story of Turkish nationhood told in the bestselling book Those Crazy Turks, which became the bible of the Ulusalcı movement. We argue that the Ulusalcı narration of Turkish nationhood interpellates a new national subject that is primordially secular, militaristically patriotic, and adamantly anti-Western. These are projected as essential qualities that must, at all cost, be upheld and defended against Islamist, Ottomanist, and Western powers that are conspiring to bring Turkey down.
Transplanted Slavery, Contested Freedom, and Vernacularization of Rights in the Reform Era Ottoman Empire
Authors: Karamursel Ceyda 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThis article focuses on the jurisdictional conflicts that emerged at the juncture of the transplanted legalities that followed the Caucasian expulsion in the 1850s and 1860s, the proclamation of the proto-constitution known as the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856, and the internationally enforced ban on trading in African slaves in 1857. Starting with the Caucasian expulsion, it traces how legal practices were carried over with Caucasian refugees to the Ottoman domains and how the judicial management of slavery-related conflicts determined not only the limits of slavery, but also how such liberal “fictions” as freedom or equality before the law were vernacularized by local agents in the Ottoman Empire. Navigating within a set of what were labeled as freedom suits (hürriyet davaları), I examine how enslaved refugees built their claims in relation to different legal terrains, problems, and concepts. I argue that while Caucasian-Ottoman slavery was economically marginal, it nonetheless posed serious challenges to the new political order the Ottomans aspired to establish, and the abolition that never came continued to bend categories of ethnicity, race, and gender in the decades after expulsion.
Constitutional bargaining and the quality of contemporary African institutions: a test of the incremental reform hypothesis
Authors: CONGLETON ROGER D. , YOO DONGWOO 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe incremental reform hypothesis implies that constitutions are rarely adopted whole cloth but instead emerge gradually from a series of reforms. The starting point, scope for bargaining, and number of reforms thus jointly determine the trajectory of constitutional history. We test the relevance of this theory for Africa by analysing the formation and reform of the independence constitutions negotiated and adopted during the 1950s and early 1960s. We provide historical evidence that independence occurred in a manner consistent with the incremental reform hypothesis. After independence, constitutional bargaining continued, although the alignment of interests inside and outside government initially favoured illiberal reforms. Liberal trends re-emerged a few decades later. We provide statistical evidence of incremental reform during both post-independence sub-periods. In general, the African countries that experienced the fewest constitutional moments and the narrowest domain of bargaining in the first decades of independence tend to have better contemporary institutions than states that began with less restrictive constitutional rules and experienced more constitutional moments.
The signalling receptor MCAM coordinates apical-basal polarity and planar cell polarity during morphogenesis
Authors: Gao Qian , Zhang Junfeng , Wang Xiumei , Liu Ying , He Rongqiao , Liu Xingfeng , Wang Fei , Feng Jing , Yang Dongling , Wang Zhaoqing , Meng Anming , Yan Xiyun 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe apical–basal (AB) polarity and planar cell polarity (PCP) provide an animal cell population with different phenotypes during morphogenesis. However, how cells couple these two patterning systems remains unclear. Here we providein vivoevidence that melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM) coordinates AB polarity-driven lumenogenesis and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/PCP-dependent ciliogenesis. We identify that MCAM is an independent receptor of fibroblast growth factor 4 (FGF4), a membrane anchor of phospholipase C-γ (PLC-γ), an immediate upstream receptor of nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) and a constitutive activator of JNK. We find that MCAM-mediated vesicular trafficking towards FGF4, while generating a priority-grade transcriptional response of NFAT determines lumenogenesis. We demonstrate that MCAM plays indispensable roles in ciliogenesis through activating JNK independently of FGF signals. Furthermore,mcam-deficient zebrafish andXenopusexhibit a global defect in left-right (LR) asymmetric establishment as a result of morphogenetic failure of their LR organizers. Therefore, MCAM coordination of AB polarity and PCP provides insight into the general mechanisms of morphogenesis.
Ultra-bright and highly efficient inorganic based perovskite light-emitting diodes
Authors: Zhang Liuqi , Yang Xiaolei , Jiang Qi , Wang Pengyang , Yin Zhigang , Zhang Xingwang , Tan Hairen , Yang Yang , Wei Mingyang , Sutherland Brandon R. , Sargent Edward H. , You Jingbi 
Published: June 2017

AbstractInorganic perovskites such as CsPbX3 (X=Cl, Br, I) have attracted attention due to their excellent thermal stability and high photoluminescence quantum efficiency. However, the electroluminescence quantum efficiency of their light-emitting diodes was <1%. We posited that this low efficiency was a result of high leakage current caused by poor perovskite morphology, high non-radiative recombination at interfaces and perovskite grain boundaries, and also charge injection imbalance. Here, we incorporated a small amount of methylammonium organic cation into the CsPbBr3 lattice and by depositing a hydrophilic and insulating polyvinyl pyrrolidine polymer atop the ZnO electron-injection layer to overcome these issues. As a result, we obtained light-emitting diodes exhibiting a high brightness of 91,000 cd m−2 and a high external quantum efficiency of 10.4% using a mixed-cation perovskite Cs0.87MA0.13PbBr3 as the emitting layer. To the best of our knowledge, this is the brightest and most-efficient green perovskite light-emitting diodes reported to date.
Antisense oligonucleotide-mediated Dnm2 knockdown prevents and reverts myotubular myopathy in mice
Authors: Tasfaout Hichem , Buono Suzie , Guo Shuling , Kretz Christine , Messaddeq Nadia , Booten Sheri , Greenlee Sarah , Monia Brett P. , Cowling Belinda S. , Laporte Jocelyn 
Published: June 2017

AbstractCentronuclear myopathies (CNM) are non-dystrophic muscle diseases for which no effective therapy is currently available. The most severe form, X-linked CNM, is caused by myotubularin 1 (MTM1) loss-of-function mutations, while the main autosomal dominant form is due to dynamin2 (DNM2) mutations. We previously showed that genetic reduction of DNM2 expression in Mtm1 knockout (Mtm1KO) mice prevents development of muscle pathology. Here we show that systemic delivery of Dnm2 antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) into Mtm1KO mice efficiently reduces DNM2 protein level in muscle and prevents the myopathy from developing. Moreover, systemic ASO injection into severely affected mice leads to reversal of muscle pathology within 2 weeks. Thus, ASO-mediated DNM2 knockdown can efficiently correct muscle defects due to loss of MTM1, providing an attractive therapeutic strategy for this disease.