bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Seedling emergence and activity of some antioxidant enzymes of canola (Brassica napus) can be increased by seed priming
Authors: ABOUTALEBIAN M. A. , NAZARI S. 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYLate sowing causes substantial yield reduction in canola. This yield reduction is principally due to lower emergence and poor crop establishment because of prevailing low temperatures. A field experiment was conducted using five sowing dates over two growing seasons (2014/15 and 2015/16). The effect of two seed-priming strategies (hydropriming and osmopriming with zinc sulphate, ZnSO4) was measured in three canola cultivars (Okapi, Zarfam and Talayeh). Results showed that both seed-priming treatments were effective in improving emergence percentage (EP) of canola cultivars. The highest EP occurred in the earlier sowing in both years. On 5 September, EP for the hydropriming, osmopriming and no-primed treatments were 89, 93 and 73% in Okapi, 83, 89 and 69% in Zarfam, and 81, 89 and 72% in Talayeh, respectively (data averaged across both years). Delay in sowing date compared with 5 September caused a sharp reduction in EP in primed seed and control conditions. Maximum seedling emergence rate and coefficient of uniformity of emergence were seen in early sowing for Okapi cultivar with ZnSO4 osmopriming. Experimental evidence showed that in canola cultivars the activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and catalase were higher in the leaves of plants from seed primed with ZnSO4 compared with seed from hydroprimed plants. Cultivar analysis of total antioxidant content activities indicated, the maximum increase was observed in the Okapi and Talayeh cultivars.
WOMEN’S EDUCATION AND UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES IN AFRICA: A MULTI-COUNTRY AND SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ANALYSIS
Authors: Tsala Dimbuene Zacharie , Amo-Adjei Joshua , Amugsi Dickson , Mumah Joyce , Izugbara Chimaraoke O. , Beguy Donatien 
Published: November 2017

SummaryThere is an abundant literature on the relationship between women’s education and maternal and child outcomes, including antenatal and postnatal care, onset of antenatal care and skilled birth attendance. However, few studies have adopted the ‘equity’ lens, despite increasing evidence that inequities between rich and poor are increasing although maternal and child mortality is declining. This study examined the differential effects of women’s education within different socioeconomic strata in Africa. The most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe were used. In each country, the original sample was stratified into three socioeconomic groups: poor, middle and rich. For each maternal health service utilization variable, the gross and net effects of women’s education, controlling for age, parity, religion, marital status, health insurance, access to health facilities, partner’s education and current place of residence, were estimated using logistic regression, taking into account the complex sampling design of the DHS. The findings revealed country-specific variations in maternal health service utilization, and for most indicators there was a clear gradient among socioeconomic strata: women living in better-off households exhibited greater access to, and utilization of, maternal health services. Multivariate analyses revealed that women’s education had a positive association with type of antenatal care provider, timing and frequency of antenatal care visits, place of delivery and presence of a skilled birth attendant at delivery. Many other factors were found to be significantly associated with maternal health service utilization. For instance, parity had a negative and significant association with timing of first antenatal care visit. Likewise, partner’s education was positively and statistically associated with timing of first antenatal care visit. It is argued that an over-generalization of the association between women’s education and maternal health service utilization can be misleading. Efforts to improve maternal health service utilization in Africa must adopt an ‘equity’ approach, taking into account the specific needs of sub-populations.
Genetic characterization of Echinococcus granulosus strains isolated from humans based on nad1 and cox1 gene analysis in Isfahan, central Iran
Authors: Jafari R. , Sanei B. , Baradaran A. , Spotin A. , Bagherpour B. , Darani H. Yousofi 
Published: November 2017

AbstractCystic echinococcosis (CE) is a medically important parasite-caused human disease. Humans may acquire the infection accidentally by ingestion of E. granulosus eggs. The parasite has a broad range of hosts and genotypes, which may affect its aetiological and biological characteristics. The present study aimed to determine the genetic characteristics of human isolates of E. granulosus in Isfahan, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 50 surgically removed hydatid cysts were collected from hospitalized patients in Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, over a period of 2 years (2015–2017). DNA was extracted from cyst material, and polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were performed targeting cox1 and nad1 genes. Amplicons were sequenced directly and the resulting sequences were aligned and analysed. Phylogenetic and genetic diversity analyses were also performed. Among the isolates, 43 (86%), 3 (6%) and 4 (8%) out of 50 were E. granulosus (G1), E. granulosus (G3) and E. intermedius (G6), respectively. In total, nine and eight haplotypes were identified by nad1 and cox1 gene analysis, respectively. The haplotype diversity index was higher by cox1 gene analysis (0.547) in G1 strains compared with nad1 (0.433). The G1 genotype was the most predominant isolate from human cases of CE, and the presence of G6 is indicative of an important role of camels in the development of human CE in Isfahan. This is the first report of the G3 genotype causing human CE in Isfahan. Moreover, cox1 gene analysis enables a higher resolution of the genetic diversity of the E. granulosus population compared with nad1 gene analysis.
How to avoid life-threatening complications following head and neck space infections: an algorithm-based approach to apply during times of emergency. When and why to hospitalise a neck infection patient
Authors: Gallo O , Mannelli G , Lazio M S , Santoro R 
Published: November 2017

AbstractBackground:Head and neck space infections present with a potential mortality rate of 40–50 per cent. This paper proposes an algorithm-based management of head and neck space infection to prevent life-threatening events.Methods:A total of 225 patients with head and neck space infection were prospectively analysed at our institution. An experimental scoring system determined the level of clinical risk for the development of major complications. Accordingly, patients were classified into three risk groups: low-, intermediate- and high-risk.Results:Only intermediate- and high-risk patients were hospitalised. Intermediate-risk patients received intravenous medical therapy with daily re-evaluation; 18 of them required delayed surgery. Of the high-risk patients, three required immediate surgical treatment and five received delayed surgery, while in five cases medical therapy was the only treatment received. Low-risk patients were treated in an out-patient setting.Conclusion:The algorithm-based management of head and neck space infection was successful in enabling the avoidance of lethal complications onset.
Kinetics of the Raman scattering in a laser corona using a transform method
Authors: Mašek M. , Rohlena K. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThis paper is an extension of our previous paper (Mašek and Rohlena, 2015), where we applied a transform method for the solution of Vlasov–Maxwell set of equations in a one-dimensional geometry to describe the Raman backscattering of the heating ns laser wave in the external corona of the generated laser plasma in a strongly non-linear regime. The method is stabilized by a simplified Fokker–Planck collision term, which, in turn, is used for a study of the influence of collisional and collisionless damping mechanisms of the daughter electron plasma wave (EPW) on the instability development and their competition resulting in a different instability behavior in various plasma configurations. The physics of trapped electrons is studied in detail and compared to the resulting Raman reflectivity. The Raman reflectivity was found to depend strongly on the intensity of laser irradiation in the different regions of the plasma corona. This is discussed in detail from the point of view of trapped electrons behavior in the EPW. Moreover, a study of the Raman reflectivity dependence on the electron–ion collision frequency (average plasma ionization) is presented, too. The results supplement the physical picture of the collision and collisionless processes influencing the Raman instability non-linear development.
Joint trajectory generator for powered orthosis based on gait modelling using PCA and FFT
Authors: Melo Nicholas B. , Dórea Carlos E. T. , Alsina Pablo J. , Araújo Márcio V. 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYIn this work, we propose a method able to find user-oriented gait trajectories that can be used in powered lower limb orthosis applications. Most research related to active orthotic devices focuses on solving hardware issues. However, the problem of generating a set of joint trajectories that are user-oriented still persists. The proposed method uses principal component analysis to extract shared features from a gait dataset, taking into consideration gait-related variables such as joint angle information and the user's anthropometric features, used directly in an orthosis application. The trajectories of joint angles used by the model are represented by a given number of harmonics according to their respective Fourier series analyses. This representation allows better performance of the model, whose capability to generate gait information is validated through experiments using a real active orthotic device, analysing both joint motor energy consumption and user metabolic effort.
A note on pointwise convergence for the Schrödinger equation
Authors: LUCÀ RENATO , ROGERS KEITH M. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractWe consider Carleson's problem regarding pointwise convergence for the Schrödinger equation. Bourgain proved that there is initial data, in Hs(ℝn) with $s<\frac{n}{2(n+1)}$, for which the solution diverges on a set of nonzero Lebesgue measure. We provide a different example enabling the generalisation to fractional Hausdorff measure.
Survival ofNeisseria meningitidisoutside of the host: environmental effects and differences among strains
Authors: SWAIN C. L. , MARTIN D. R. , SIM D. , JORDAN T. W. , MACKICHAN J. K. 
Published: November 2017

SUMMARYNeisseria meningitidisis a gram-negative bacterium that lives as a commensal in the human nasopharynx. Meningococci are generally non-invasive, but can invade the nasopharyngeal epithelia and enter the bloodstream causing life-threatening illnesses. It is generally thought that meningococci do not survive for long outside the host, and that transmission requires relatively close contact between hosts. There are some reports, however, that meningococci can survive drying on surfaces, including glass, plastic and cloth. Our examination ofN. meningitidisstrains dried on glass showed differences in survival of isolates belonging to serogroups B, C and W135, including persistence of Cuban, New Zealand, and Norwegian epidemic strains up to 8 days, depending on temperature and humidity. Survival of a New Zealand epidemic strain isolate NZ98/254 under ambient conditions in the laboratory was greatest in winter suggesting that environmental factors impacted survival. For most isolates, including NZ98/254, survival under controlled conditions at 30 °C was greater at 22% than 30% relative humidity. There were also some differences in survival between carriage and invasive strains. The results suggest thatN. meningitidiscould be transmitted through contact with surfaces outside the host, potentially including contact through shared drinking vessels.
The CERAD Neuropsychological Assessment Battery Is Sensitive to Alcohol-Related Cognitive Deficiencies in Elderly Patients: A Retrospective Matched Case-Control Study
Authors: Kaufmann Liane , Huber Stefan , Mayer Daniel , Moeller Korbinian , Marksteiner Josef 
Published: November 2017

AbstractObjectives: Adverse effects of heavy drinking on cognition have frequently been reported. In the present study, we systematically examined for the first time whether clinical neuropsychological assessments may be sensitive to alcohol abuse in elderly patients with suspected minor neurocognitive disorder. Methods: A total of 144 elderly with and without alcohol abuse (each group n=72; mean age 66.7 years) were selected from a patient pool of n=738 by applying propensity score matching (a statistical method allowing to match participants in experimental and control group by balancing various covariates to reduce selection bias). Accordingly, study groups were almost perfectly matched regarding age, education, gender, and Mini Mental State Examination score. Neuropsychological performance was measured using the CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease). Classification analyses (i.e., decision tree and boosted trees models) were conducted to examine whether CERAD variables or total score contributed to group classification. Results: Decision tree models disclosed that groups could be reliably classified based on the CERAD variables “Word List Discriminability” (tapping verbal recognition memory, 64% classification accuracy) and “Trail Making Test A” (measuring visuo-motor speed, 59% classification accuracy). Boosted tree analyses further indicated the sensitivity of “Word List Recall” (measuring free verbal recall) for discriminating elderly with versus without a history of alcohol abuse. Conclusions: This indicates that specific CERAD variables seem to be sensitive to alcohol-related cognitive dysfunctions in elderly patients with suspected minor neurocognitive disorder. (JINS, 2018, 24, 360–371)
Bright-Field Microscopy of Transparent Objects: A Ray Tracing Approach
Authors: Khitrin Anatoly K. , Petruccelli Jonathan C. , Model Michael A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe formation of a bright-field microscopic image of a transparent phase object is described in terms of elementary geometrical optics. Our approach is based on the premise that the image replicates the intensity distribution (real or virtual) at the front focal plane of the objective. The task is therefore reduced to finding the change in intensity at the focal plane caused by the object. This can be done by ray tracing complemented with the requirement of energy conservation. Despite major simplifications involved in such an analysis, it reproduces some results from the paraxial wave theory. In addition, our analysis suggests two ways of extracting quantitative phase information from bright-field images: by vertically shifting the focal plane (the approach used in the transport-of-intensity analysis) or by varying the angle of illumination. In principle, information thus obtained should allow reconstruction of the object morphology.
Should Fundamental Rights to Privacy and Data Protection be a Part of the EU's International Trade ‘Deals’?
Authors: YAKOVLEVA SVETLANA 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThis article discusses ways in which the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and post-GATS free trade agreements may limit the EU's ability to regulate privacy and personal data protection as fundamental rights. After discussing this issue in two dimensions – the vertical relationship between trade and national and European Union (EU) law, and the horizontal relationship between trade and human rights law – the author concludes that these limits are real and pose serious risks.Inspired by recent developments in safeguarding labour, and environmental standards and sustainable development, the article argues that privacy and personal data protection should be part of, and protected by, international trade deals made by the EU. The EU should negotiate future international trade agreements with the objective of allowing them to reflect the normative foundations of privacy and personal data protection. This article suggests a specific way to achieve this objective.
Looks and Sounds Like a Winner: Perceptions of Competence in Candidates’ Faces and Voices Influences Vote Choice
Authors: Klofstad Casey A. 
Published: November 2017

AbstractVoters are more likely to support candidates whose faces and voices are perceived as competent. However, what is the simultaneous influence of these two characteristics? Here this question is examined with an observational study and an experiment. In the observational study, subjects rated the facial competence of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The most and least competent faces identified were paired with recordings of competent (i.e., lower pitched) and incompetent (i.e., higher pitched) voices to create simulated candidates. For the experiment, a separate set of subjects voted between randomly generated pairs of these simulated candidates. The results show that candidates with competent faces or competent voices won more votes, but the influence of facial competence was nearly three times that of vocal competence.
Specific mutations in the D1–D2 linker region of VCP/p97 enhance ATPase activity and confer resistance to VCP inhibitors
Authors: Bastola Prabhakar , Wang Feng , Schaich Matthew A , Gan Taiping , Freudenthal Bret D , Chou Tsui-Fen , Chien Jeremy 
Published: November 2017

AbstractValosin-containing protein (VCP), together with several partner proteins, extracts ubiquitinated client proteins from E3 ligase complex and facilitates their degradation through ubiquitin–proteasome system. Therefore, it plays an important role in regulating protein quality control and various cellular pathways. Recent studies also identified VCP as a lineage-specific essential gene in ovarian cancer. An orally bioavailable VCP inhibitor, CB-5083, is currently in Phase I clinical trials because it shows therapeutic effects in multiple tumor xenograft models. However, the mechanism of resistance to CB-5083 is unknown. Here, we characterized molecular mechanism of resistance to CB-5083. Using incremental exposure to CB-5083, we established CB-5083-resistant ovarian cancer cells that showed five- to six-fold resistancein vitrocompared with parental cells. Genomic and complementary DNA sequencing of theVCPcoding region revealed a pattern of co-selected mutations: (1) missense mutations at codon 470 in one copy resulting in increased ATPase activity and (2) nonsense or frameshift mutations at codon 606 or codon 616 in another copy causing the loss of allele-specific expression. Unbiased molecular docking studies showed codon 470 as a putative binding site for CB-5083. Furthermore, the analysis of somatic mutations in cancer genomes from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) indicated that codon 616 contains hotspot mutations inVCP. Thus, identification of these mutations associated within vitroresistance to VCP inhibitors may be useful as potential theranostic markers while screening for patients to enroll in clinical trials. VCP has emerged as a viable therapeutic target for several cancer types, and therefore targeting such hyperactive VCP mutants should aid in improving the therapeutic outcome in cancer patients.
Prototype chemical synapse chip for spatially patterned neurotransmitter stimulation of the retina ex vivo
Authors: Rountree Corey M. , Raghunathan Ashwin , Troy John B. , Saggere Laxman 
Published: November 2017

AbstractBiomimetic stimulation of the retina with neurotransmitters, the natural agents of communication at chemical synapses, could be more effective than electrical stimulation for treating blindness from photoreceptor degenerative diseases. Recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of neurotransmitter stimulation by injecting glutamate, a primary retinal neurotransmitter, into the retina at isolated single sites. Here, we demonstrate spatially patterned multisite stimulation of the retina with glutamate, offering the first experimental evidence for applicability of this strategy for translating visual patterns into afferent neural signals. To accomplish pattern stimulation, we fabricated a special microfluidic device comprising an array of independently addressable microports connected to tiny on-chip glutamate reservoirs via microchannels. The device prefilled with glutamate was interfaced with explanted rat retinas placed over a multielectrode array (MEA) with the retinal ganglion cells (RGC) contacting the electrodes and photoreceptor surface contacting the microports. By independently and simultaneously activating a subset of the microports with modulated pressure pulses, small boluses of glutamate were convectively injected at multiple sites in alphabet patterns over the photoreceptor surface. We found that the glutamate-driven RGC responses recorded through the MEA system were robust and spatially laid out in patterns strongly resembling the injection patterns. The stimulations were also highly localized with spatial resolutions comparable to or better than electrical retinal prostheses. Our findings suggest that surface stimulation of the retina with neurotransmitters in pixelated patterns of visual images is feasible and an artificial chemical synapse chip based on this approach could potentially circumvent the limitations of electrical retinal prostheses.
Optical focal plane based on MEMS light lead-in for geometric camera calibration
Authors: Li Jin , Liu Zilong 
Published: November 2017

AbstractThe focal plane of a collimator used for the geometric calibration of an optical camera is a key element in the calibration process. The traditional focal plane of the collimator has only a single aperture light lead-in, resulting in a relatively unreliable calibration accuracy. Here we demonstrate a multi-aperture micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) light lead-in device that is located at the optical focal plane of the collimator used to calibrate the geometric distortion in cameras. Without additional volume or power consumption, the random errors of this calibration system are decreased by the multi-image matrix. With this new construction and a method for implementing the system, the reliability of high-accuracy calibration of optical cameras is guaranteed.