bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of TGF‐β1 on mineralization mediated by rat calvaria‐derived osteogenic cells
Authors: Donato Tatiani A. G. , Martinez Elizabeth F. , Arana‐Chavez Victor E. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn this study, we have analyzed the viability and cell growth, as well as, the mineralization of extracellular matrix (ECM) by alizarin red and von Kossa staining of calvaria‐derived osteogenic cultures, treated with TGF‐β1 alone or associated with Dex comparing with acid ascorbic (AA) + β‐glicerophosphate (βGP) (positive mineralization control). The expression of the noncollagenous proteins bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteopontin (OPN) and fibronectin (FN) were evaluated by indirect immunofluorescence. In addition, the main ultrastructural morphological findings were assessed by transmission electron microscopy. Osteogenic cells were isolated of calvaria bone from newborn (2‐day‐old) Wistar rats were treated with TGF‐β1 alone or with dexamethasone for 7, 10, and 14 days. As positive mineralization control, the cells were supplemented only with AA+ βGP. As negative control, the cells were cultured with basal medium (α‐MEM + 10%FBS + 1%gentamicin). The treatment with TGF‐β1, even when combined with Dex, decreased the viability and cell growth when compared with the positive control. Osteoblastic cell cultures were positive to alizarin red and von Kossa stainings after AA + βGP and Dex alone treatments. Positive immunoreaction was found for BSP, OPN and FN in all studied treatments. Otherwise, when the cell cultures were supplemented with TGF‐β1 and TGF‐β1 + Dex, no mineralization was observed in any of the studied periods. These present findings suggest that TGF‐β1, in the studied in vitro doses, inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblastic cells by impairment of nodule formation.
How human IgGs against DNA recognize oligonucleotides and DNA
Authors: Andreev Sergey L. , Buneva Valentina N. , Nevinsky Georgy A. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIn the literature, there are no available data on how anti‐DNA antibodies recognize DNA. In the present work, to study the molecular mechanism of DNA recognition by antibodies, we have used anti‐DNA IgGs from blood sera of patients with multiple sclerosis. A stepwise increase in ligand complexity approach was used to estimate the relative contributions of virtually every nucleotide unit of different single‐ (ss) and double‐stranded (ds) oligonucleotides to their affinity for IgG fraction having high affinity to DNA‐cellulose. DNA‐binding site disposed on the heavy chain demonstrates higher affinity to different dNMPs (Kd = 0.63μM‐3.8μM) than the site located on the light chain (28μM‐170μM). The heavy and light chains interact independently forming relatively strong contacts with 2 to 4 nucleotides of short homo‐ and hetero‐d(pN)2‐9. Then the increase in the affinity of different d(pN)n became minimal, and at n ≥ 8 to 9, all dependencies reached plateaus: approximately 3.2nM to 20nM and approximately 200nM to 460nM for the heavy and light chains, respectively. A similar situation was observed for different ribooligonucleotides, in which their affinity is 6‐fold to 100‐fold lower than that for d(pN)n. Transition from ss to ds d(pN)n leads to a moderate increase in affinity of ligands to DNA‐binding site of heavy chains, while light chains demonstrate the same affinity for ss and ds d(pN)n. Long supercoiled DNA interacts with both heavy and light chains with affinity of approximately 10‐fold higher than that for short oligonucleotides. The thermodynamic models were constructed to describe the interactions of IgGs light and heavy chains with DNA.
Assessing reference evapotranspiration estimation from reanalysis weather products. An application to the Iberian Peninsula
Authors: Martins Diogo S. , Paredes Paula , Raziei Tayeb , Pires Carlos , Cadima Jorge , Pereira Luis S. 
Published: August 2016

ABSTRACTComputing crop reference evapotranspiration (ETo) with the FAO Penman–Monteith method (PM‐ETo) requires maximum and minimum air temperature, shortwave radiation, relative air humidity and wind speed. These data are often not available, thus requiring alternative computation procedures. Although some proposed approximations may provide ETo values with small estimation errors, the physics of the ET processes may then not be well described. The use of reanalysis data, which is common in climate studies, represents an alternative to observation data for the weather variables referred above, when these are not available. This study focuses on the use of the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) blended reanalysis products with gridded data sets for the computation of PM‐ETo in the Iberian Peninsula. A monthly time step was adopted. The PM‐ETo time series computed with the blended reanalysis data sets were compared with those obtained using observations for 130 weather stations in the Iberian Peninsula. Results show that the PM‐ETo computed with blended reanalysis compares well with the series computed from observation data (average root mean square error, RMSE = 0.49 mm day−1). The weather variables derived from reanalysis were also compared with observation data. Results supported the quality of ETo computations because, overall, there was a good match between solar radiation (average RMSE = 1.76 MJm−2 day−1) and maximum temperature (average RMSE = 1.48 °C) derived from reanalysis and in situ observations. By contrast, the wind speed from reanalysis highly overestimated observations and this is likely a reason for the slight overestimation of ETo computed from reanalysis (percentage bias, PBIAS>20% in 89% of cases). In addition, the reanalysis products are apparently influenced by modelled warming, which contributes to overestimation of the minimum temperature and, to a lesser extent, of the relative humidity. The spatial pattern of accuracy indicators reveals that poorer results correspond to the southern and south‐eastern coastal areas of Iberia, where climate is semi‐arid. The compatibility of the PM‐ETo computed with monthly inputs and of the daily ETo cumulated to the month using the PM‐ETo equation was confirmed, thus allowing to extend conclusions of this study to daily computations. Alternative reanalysis products were also assessed. Tests for ERA‐Interim reanalysis products revealed overestimation of ETo and those for NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis II have shown large underestimation. Results suggest that the blended reanalysis products are suitable for the estimation of ETo in Iberia since they integrate an appropriate correction of radiation and temperature, which proved essential for the good estimation results obtained.
Discrimination of botanical origins for Chinese honey according to free amino acids content by high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection with chemometric approaches
Authors: Chen Hui , Jin Linghe , Chang Qiaoying , Peng Tao , Hu Xueyan , Fan Chunlin , Pang Guofang , Lu Meiling , Wang Wenwen 
Published: August 2016

AbstractBACKGROUNDThe contents of 18 free amino acids in 87 Chinese honey samples from four botanical origins (linden, acacia, vitex and rape) were determined by developing a high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector (HPLC‐FLD) method with an in‐loop automated pre‐column derivatization. The free amino acid profiles of these samples were used to construct a statistical model to distinguish honeys from various floral origins.RESULTSThe average contents of all free amino acids in linden honey were lower than in the other three types of honey. Phenylalanine was particularly useful in the present study because its average content in vitex honey was far higher than in any other honey samples. There is no doubt that both phenylalanine and tyrosine can be considered as the marker free amino acid in Chinese vitex honey. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted based on 15 free amino acids and showed significant differences among the honey samples. The cumulative variance for the first two components was 80.62%, and the four principal components can explain 94.18% of the total variance. In the two first component scores, the honey samples can be separated according to their botanical origins. Cluster analysis of amino acid data also revealed that the botanical origins of honey samples correlated with their amino acid content. Back‐propagation artificial neural network (BP‐ANN) and naïve Bayes methods were employed to construct the classification models. The results revealed an excellent separation among honey samples according to their botanical origin with 100% accuracy in model training for both BP‐ANN and naïve Bayes.CONCLUSIONIt indicated that the free amino acid profile determined by HPLC‐FLD can provide sufficient information to discriminate honey samples according to their botanical origins. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry
Origin of Chemical Composition of Ethylene/Propylene Copolymer Produced with Ziegler–Natta Catalyst
Authors: Takahashi Shougo , Wada Toru , Chammingkwan Patchanee , Taniike Toshiaki , Terano Minoru 
Published: August 2016

The origin of the chemical composition of ethylene/propylene copolymer produced with Ziegler–Natta catalysts is investigated in terms of the active site nature and transient monomer concentration during polymerization. Using various catalysts including TiCl3/MgCl2 model catalysts with controlled Ti dispersion and TiCl4/internal donor/MgCl2 traditional catalysts, normal‐pressure and pressurized slurry copolymerization is conducted at various ethylene/propylene feed ratios. This study finds that the copolymer composition strongly depends on the copolymerization yield rather than the active site nature for both of the normal‐pressure and pressurized copolymerization. The ethylene concentration becomes smaller than its equilibrium concentration during copolymerization primarily due to the great activity enhancement in the copolymerization and secondarily due to the high reactivity and low solubility of ethylene. It is shown that the decrease in the ethylene concentration during copolymerization causes the variation of the copolymer composition in a way dependent on the kinetic profile of employed catalysts, thus broadening the chemical composition distribution.image
Optimal anthropometric measures and thresholds to identify undiagnosed type 2 diabetes in three major Asian ethnic groups
Authors: Alperet Derrick Johnston , Lim Wei‐Yen , Mok‐Kwee Heng Derrick , Ma Stefan , van Dam Rob M. 
Published: August 2016

ObjectiveTo identify optimal anthropometric measures and cutoffs to identify undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (UDM) in three major Asian ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays, and Asian‐Indians).MethodsCross‐sectional data were analyzed from 14,815 ethnic Chinese, Malay, and Asian‐Indian participants of the Singapore National Health Surveys, which included anthropometric measures and an oral glucose tolerance test. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were used with calculation of the area under the curve (AUC) to evaluate the performance of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), and waist‐to‐height ratio (WHTR) for the identification of UDM.ResultsBMI performed significantly worse (AUCMEN = 0.70; AUCWOMEN = 0.75) than abdominal measures, whereas WHTR (AUCMEN = 0.76; AUCWOMEN = 0.79) was among the best performing measures in both sexes and all ethnic groups. Anthropometric measures performed better in Chinese than in Asian‐Indian participants for the identification of UDM. A WHTR cutoff of 0.52 appeared optimal with a sensitivity of 76% in men and 73% in women and a specificity of 63% in men and 70% in women.ConclusionsAlthough ethnic differences were observed in the performance of anthropometric measures for the identification of UDM, abdominal adiposity measures generally performed better than BMI, and WHTR performed best in all Asian ethnic groups.
Household‐level correlates of children's physical activity levels in and across 12 countries
Authors: Harrington Deirdre M. , Gillison Fiona , Broyles Stephanie T. , Chaput Jean‐Philippe , Fogelholm Mikael , Hu Gang , Kuriyan Rebecca , Kurpad Anura , LeBlanc Allana G. , Maher Carol , Maia Jose , Matsudo Victor , Olds Timothy , Onywera Vincent , Sarmiento Olga L. , Standage Martyn , Tremblay Mark S. , Tudor‐Locke Catrine , Zhao Pei , Katzmarzyk Peter T. ,   for the ISCOLE Research Group
Published: August 2016

ObjectiveHousehold factors (electronic media equipment, play equipment, physical activity in the home, and social support) have been associated with childhood moderate‐ to vigorous‐intensity physical activity (MVPA), but little is known about how these factors differ across diverse countries. The objective was to explore household correlates of objective MVPA in children from 12 countries.MethodsOverall, 5,859 nine‐ to eleven‐year‐old children from 12 countries representing a range of human and socioeconomic development indicators wore an accelerometer for 7 days and parents reported on household factors. Multilevel general linear models explored associations among household factors and MVPA variables controlling for age, sex, and parental education.ResultsAcross sites, children with at least one piece of bedroom electronic media had lower MVPA (∼4 min/day; P < 0.001) than those who did not. More frequent physical activity in the home and yard, ownership of more frequently used play equipment, and higher social support for physical activity were associated with more MVPA (all P < 0.001). The association between play equipment ownership and MVPA was inconsistent across countries (interaction P < 0.01).ConclusionsWith the exception of play equipment ownership, modifiable household factors showed largely consistent and important associations with MVPA across high‐, mid‐, and low‐income countries.
Serum protein profiling in diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma
Authors: Riby Jacques , Mobley James , Zhang Jianqing , Bracci Paige M. , Skibola Christine F. 
Published: August 2016

PurposeThe aim of this pilot study was to conduct a nontargeted exploratory proteomics profiling analysis on sera obtained from patients diagnosed with diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with the goal of identifying disease‐specific biomarkers.Experimental designSera from 87 participants (57 chemotherapy‐naïve diffuse DLBCL patients, 30 controls frequency‐matched by age group and World Health Organization (WHO) BMI categories) that were part of a large San Francisco Bay Area case‐control study of non‐Hodgkin lymphoma were analyzed by liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry.ResultsThirty‐five proteins (p‐adjusted <0.05) were identified as differentially abundant between the DLBCL patients at various disease stages as compared to the controls. Of these, five proteins were randomly selected for further confirmation by ELISA: adiponectin (AdipoQ), cluster of differentiation 14 (CD14), heparin sulfate proteoglycan core protein (HSPG2), extracellular matrix 1 (ECM1), and alpha‐1‐antichymotrypsin (ACT). These proteins were statistically significantly elevated by 68.8, 37.0, 61.6, 68.0, and 32.0%, respectively, in DLBCL patient sera as compared to controls.Conclusion and clinical relevanceThese preliminary data when combined with other cancer‐related data regarding these proteins warrant continued research in clinical and large prospective studies to clarify the role for these biomarkers in DLBCL pathogenesis and/or prognosis.
Efficient and provably secure random oracle‐free adaptive identity‐based encryption with short‐signature scheme
Authors: Karati Arijit , Biswas G. P. 
Published: August 2016

AbstractIdentity‐based encryption (IBE) is one of the important public key encryption techniques where not only the identity of the receiver is used for secure and efficient encryption, but it also has several merits over other traditional public‐key ones. However, two main disadvantages of many such IBE‐based systems are the requirement of a large number of public parameters and different random oracle operations, where it is known that a random oracle due to improper implementation is vulnerable under chosen ciphertext attack. This paper designs an efficient IBE scheme (ROFIBE) with recipient anonymity, reduction in public parameters and random oracle‐free operation. The scheme is developed based on a proposed hard problem, named as decisional extended bilinear Diffie‐Hellman assumption (DEBDH) and on analysis it is found to be secured under standard security model. In addition, a new short‐signature scheme based on the proposed IBE is developed under the difficulty of solving proposed q−extended bilinear strong Diffie–Hellman assumption (q‐EBSDH). As performance analysis, we compare both the proposed schemes with other existing related ones and find that our schemes are computationally and communicationally efficient and effectively usable in real life applications. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Implicit learning with certificate warning messages on SSL web pages: what are they teaching?
Authors: Bostan Atila 
Published: August 2016

AbstractSSL‐based web services are the most common technology in secure transactions on the Internet today. The security level of these services is inevitably related with that of digital certificates and user awareness. With the high number of nonconforming digital certificate usage, which eventually invokes warning messages on the Internet, users are implicitly forced to develop unsecure usage habits. In this study, we have studied the implicit learning effect of certificate warning messages on the SSL web pages. We have conducted two different experimental studies on university students and on instructors in IT departments. The results point to acquired indifference towards these warnings in users. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Impact of holoprosencephaly, exomphalos, megacystis and increased nuchal translucency on first‐trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities
Authors: Syngelaki A. , Guerra L. , Ceccacci I. , Efeturk T. , Nicolaides K. H. 
Published: August 2016

ABSTRACTObjectivesTo examine the prevalence of alobar holoprosencephaly, exomphalos, megacystis and nuchal translucency thickness (NT) ≥ 3.5 mm, the incidence and types of chromosomal abnormalities associated with these conditions and their overall impact on the rate of invasive testing and performance of screening at 11–14 weeks.MethodsThis was a prospective screening study for trisomies 21, 18 and 13 by the first‐trimester combined test at three maternity units in England.ResultsIn the study population of 108 982 singleton pregnancies, 870 (0.8%) had abnormal karyotype, including 654 (75.2%) with trisomies 21, 18 or 13 and 216 (24.8%) with other chromosomal abnormalities. The prevalence of alobar holoprosencephaly, exomphalos, megacystis and NT ≥ 3.5 mm was 1 in 2945, 1 in 419, 1 in 1345 and 1 in 119, respectively. Chromosomal abnormalities were observed in 78.4% of cases of holoprosencephaly, 40.8% of exomphalos, 18.5% of megacystis and 48.5% of those with NT ≥ 3.5 mm. The most common chromosomal abnormality associated with holoprosencephaly was trisomy 13, with exomphalos and megacystis was trisomy 18 and with increased NT was trisomy 21. Fetal karyotyping of cases with major fetal defects or increased NT would potentially detect 57% of all chromosomal abnormalities at an invasive testing rate of 1.1%.ConclusionMajor fetal defects and increased NT at 11–13 weeks' gestation are associated with a high risk of chromosomal abnormalities and merit invasive fetal testing. Copyright © 2016 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Research on Primary Biodegradation of Alkyl Ethoxy Glucoside
Authors: Dong Qingbin , Zhao Yonghong , Zhang Guangliang , Ren Yingjie 
Published: August 2016

AbstractThis investigation was performed to determine the anaerobic biodegradation of alkyl ethoxy glucoside (AEG) nonionic surfactants using the OECD 311 method. The influence of different initial concentrations of AEG on the primary biodegradation rate was investigated using the anthrone analysis method. The results show that different initial concentrations have similar good biodegradability and the biodegradation rate can reach more than 90 % even at the highest initial concentration of 100 mg/l. Alkyl polyglucoside (APG) surfactants have previously been confirmed as readily biodegradable. The profile of concentration changes over the incubation time of AEG and APG had similar trends. Therefore, AEG are also considered as readily biodegradable. The gas chromatograph‐mass spectrometer analytical method was used to identify the metabolites. The content of alcohol ethoxylate (AEO) increased with decrease in the number of AEG at the initial stage of degradation. It was found that AEO with longer EO chains disappeared first. Accordingly, a degradation pathway that accounts for the experiment results was proposed.
An Automated Approach for Localizing Retinal Blood Vessels in Confocal Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy Fundus Images
Authors: Kromer Robert , Shafin Rahman , Boelefahr Sebastian , Klemm Maren 
Published: August 2016

Abstract
In this work, we present a rules-based method for localizing retinal blood vessels in confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO) images and evaluate its feasibility. A total of 31 healthy participants (17 female; mean age: 64.0 ± 8.2 years) were studied using manual and automatic segmentation. High-resolution peripapillary scan acquisition cSLO images were acquired. The automated segmentation method consisted of image pre-processing for gray-level homogenization and blood vessel enhancement (morphological opening operation, Gaussian filter, morphological Top-Hat transformation), binary thresholding (entropy-based thresholding operation), and removal of falsely detected isolated vessel pixels. The proposed algorithm was first tested on the publically available dataset DRIVE, which contains color fundus photographs, and compared to performance results from the literature. Good results were obtained. Monochromatic cSLO images segmented using the proposed method were compared to those manually segmented by two independent observers. For the algorithm, a sensitivity of 0.7542, specificity of 0.8607, and accuracy of 0.8508 were obtained. For the two independent observers, a sensitivity of 0.6579, specificity of 0.9699, and accuracy of 0.9401 were obtained. The results demonstrate that it is possible to localize vessels in monochromatic cSLO images of the retina using a rules-based approach. The performance results are inferior to those obtained using fundus photography, which could be due to the nature of the technology.