bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Osmotin attenuates LPS-induced neuroinflammation and memory impairments via the TLR4/NFκB signaling pathway
Authors: Badshah Haroon , Ali Tahir , Kim Myeong Ok 
Published: April 2016

AbstractToll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling in the brain mediates autoimmune responses and induces neuroinflammation that results in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The plant hormone osmotin inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TLR4 downstream signaling, including activation of TLR4, CD14, IKKα/β, and NFκB, and the release of inflammatory mediators, such as COX-2, TNF-α, iNOS, and IL-1β. Immunoprecipitation demonstrated colocalization of TLR4 and AdipoR1 receptors in BV2 microglial cells, which suggests that osmotin binds to AdipoR1 and inhibits downstream TLR4 signaling. Furthermore, osmotin treatment reversed LPS-induced behavioral and memory disturbances and attenuated LPS-induced increases in the expression of AD markers, such as Aβ, APP, BACE-1, and p-Tau. Osmotin improved synaptic functionality via enhancing the activity of pre- and post-synaptic markers, like PSD-95, SNAP-25, and syntaxin-1. Osmotin also prevented LPS-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration via inhibition of PARP-1 and caspase-3. Overall, our studies demonstrated that osmotin prevented neuroinflammation-associated memory impairment and neurodegeneration and suggest AdipoR1 as a therapeutic target for the treatment of neuroinflammation and neurological disorders, such as AD.
Hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase 1 (PHD1) deficiency promotes hepatic steatosis and liver-specific insulin resistance in mice
Authors: Thomas Amandine , Belaidi Elise , Aron-Wisnewsky Judith , van der Zon Gerard C. , Levy Patrick , Clement Karine , Pepin Jean-Louis , Godin-Ribuot Diane , Guigas Bruno 
Published: April 2016

AbstractObesity is associated with local tissue hypoxia and elevated hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) in metabolic tissues. Prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs) play an important role in regulating HIF-α isoform stability. In the present study, we investigated the consequence of whole-body PHD1 gene (Egln2) inactivation on metabolic homeostasis in mice. At baseline, PHD1−/− mice exhibited higher white adipose tissue (WAT) mass, despite lower body weight and impaired insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance when compared to age-matched wild-type (WT) mice. When fed a synthetic low-fat diet, PHD1−/− mice also exhibit a higher body weight gain and WAT mass along with glucose intolerance and systemic insulin resistance compared to WT mice. PHD1 deficiency led to increase in glycolytic gene expression, lipogenic proteins ACC and FAS, hepatic steatosis and liver-specific insulin resistance. Furthermore, gene markers of inflammation were also increased in the liver, but not in WAT or skeletal muscle, of PHD1−/− mice. As expected, high-fat diet (HFD) promoted obesity, hepatic steatosis, tissue-specific inflammation and systemic insulin resistance in WT mice but these diet-induced metabolic alterations were not exacerbated in PHD1−/− mice. In conclusion, PHD1 deficiency promotes hepatic steatosis and liver-specific insulin resistance but does not worsen the deleterious effects of HFD on metabolic homeostasis.
Levels of human platelet-derived soluble CD40 ligand depend on haplotypes of CD40LG-CD40-ITGA2
Authors: Aloui Chaker , Prigent Antoine , Tariket Sofiane , Sut Caroline , Fagan Jocelyne , Cognasse Fabrice , Chakroun Tahar , Garraud Olivier , Laradi Sandrine 
Published: April 2016

AbstractIncreased circulating soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) is commonly associated with inflammatory disorders. We aimed to investigate whether gene polymorphisms in CD40LG, CD40 and ITGA2 are associated with a propensity to secrete sCD40L; thus, we examined this issue at the level of human platelets, the principal source of sCD40L. We performed single polymorphism and haplotype analyses to test for the effect of twelve polymorphisms across the CD40LG, CD40 and ITGA2 genes in blood donors. ITGA2 presented a positive association with rs1126643, with a significant modification in sCD40L secretion (carriers of C allele, P = 0.02), unlike the investigated CD40LG and CD40 polymorphisms. One CD40LG haplotype (TGGC) showing rs975379 (C/T), rs3092952 (A/G), rs3092933 (A/G) and rs3092929 (A/C) was associated with increased sCD40L levels (1.906 μg/L (95% CI: 1.060 to 2.751); P = 0.000009). The sCD40L level was associated with the inter-chromosomal CD40LG/CD40/ITGA2 haplotype (ATC), displaying rs3092952 (A/G), rs1883832 (C/T) and rs1126643 (C/T), with increased sCD40L levels (P = 0.0135). Our results help to decipher the genetic role of CD40LG, CD40 and ITGA2 with regard to sCD40L levels found in platelet components. Given the crucial role of sCD40L, this haplotype study in a transfusion model may be helpful to further determine the role of haplotypes in inflammatory clinical settings.
Molecular Structures of Al/Si and Fe/Si Coprecipitates and the Implication for Selenite Removal
Authors: Chan Ya-Ting , Kuan Wen-Hui , Tzou Yu-Min , Chen Tsan-Yao , Liu Yu-Ting , Wang Ming-Kuang , Teah Heng-Yi 
Published: April 2016

AbstractAluminum and iron oxides have been often used in the coagulation processes during water purification due to their unique surface properties toward anions. In the presence of silica, the coprecipitation of Al/Si or Fe/Si might decrease the efficiency of wastewater purification and reuse. In this study, surface properties and molecular structures of Al/Si and Fe/Si coprecipitates were characterized using spectroscopic techniques. Also, the selenite removal efficiency of Al/Si and Fe/Si coprecipitates in relation to their surface and structural properties was investigated. While dissolved silicate increased with increasing pH from Fe/Si coprecipitates, less than 7% of silicate was discernible from Al/Si samples over the range from acidic to alkaline conditions. Our spectroscopic results showed that the associations between Al and Si were relatively stronger than that between Fe and Si in coprecipitates. In Al/Si coprecipitates, core-shell structures were developed with AlO6/AlO4 domains as the shells and Si frameworks polymerized from the SiO2 as the cores. However, Si framework remained relatively unchanged upon coprecipitation with Fe hydroxides in Fe/Si samples. The Si core with Al shell structure of Al/Si coprecipitates shielded the negative charges from SiO2 and thereby resulted in a higher adsorption capacity of selenite than Fe/Si coprecipitates.
Identification of a residue crucial for the angiostatic activity of human mini tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase by focusing on its molecular evolution
Authors: Nakamoto Terumasa , Miyanokoshi Miki , Tanaka Tomoaki , Wakasugi Keisuke 
Published: April 2016

AbstractHuman tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase (TrpRS) exists in two forms: a full-length TrpRS and a mini TrpRS. We previously found that human mini, but not full-length, TrpRS is an angiostatic factor. Moreover, it was shown that the interaction between mini TrpRS and the extracellular domain of vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin is crucial for its angiostatic activity. However, the molecular mechanism of the angiostatic activity of human mini TrpRS is only partly understood. In the present study, we investigated the effects of truncated (mini) form of TrpRS proteins from human, bovine, or zebrafish on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-stimulated chemotaxis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). We show that both human and bovine mini TrpRSs inhibited VEGF-induced endothelial migration, whereas zebrafish mini TrpRS did not. Next, to identify residues crucial for the angiostatic activity of human mini TrpRS, we prepared several site-directed mutants based on amino acid sequence alignments among TrpRSs from various species and demonstrated that a human mini K153Q TrpRS mutant cannot inhibit VEGF-stimulated HUVEC migration and cannot bind to the extracellular domain of VE-cadherin. Taken together, we conclude that the Lys153 residue of human mini TrpRS is a VE-cadherin binding site and is therefore crucial for its angiostatic activity.
Diffractive optics for combined spatial- and mode- division demultiplexing of optical vortices: design, fabrication and optical characterization
Authors: Ruffato Gianluca , Massari Michele , Romanato Filippo 
Published: April 2016

AbstractDuring the last decade, the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light has attracted growing interest as a new degree of freedom for signal channel multiplexing in order to increase the information transmission capacity in today’s optical networks. Here we present the design, fabrication and characterization of phase-only diffractive optical elements (DOE) performing mode-division (de)multiplexing (MDM) and spatial-division (de)multiplexing (SDM) at the same time. Samples have been fabricated with high-resolution electron-beam lithography patterning a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) resist layer spun over a glass substrate. Different DOE designs are presented for the sorting of optical vortices differing in either OAM content or beam size in the optical regime, with different steering geometries in far-field. These novel DOE designs appear promising for telecom applications both in free-space and in multi-core fibers propagation.
Reactive Transport Modeling of the Enhancement of Density-Driven CO2 Convective Mixing in Carbonate Aquifers and its Potential Implication on Geological Carbon Sequestration
Authors: Islam Akand , Sun Alexander Y. , Yang Changbing 
Published: April 2016

AbstractWe study the convection and mixing of CO2 in a brine aquifer, where the spread of dissolved CO2 is enhanced because of geochemical reactions with the host formations (calcite and dolomite), in addition to the extensively studied, buoyancy-driven mixing. The nonlinear convection is investigated under the assumptions of instantaneous chemical equilibrium and that the dissipation of carbonate rocks solely depends on flow and transport and chemical speciation depends only on the equilibrium thermodynamics of the chemical system. The extent of convection is quantified in term of the CO2 saturation volume of the storage formation. Our results suggest that the density increase of resident species causes significant enhancement in CO2 dissolution, although no significant porosity and permeability alterations are observed. Early saturation of the reservoir can have negative impact on CO2 sequestration.
The influence of climate on peatland extent in Western Siberia since the Last Glacial Maximum
Authors: Alexandrov G. A. , Brovkin V. A. , Kleinen T. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractBoreal and subarctic peatlands are an important dynamical component of the earth system. They are sensitive to climate change and could either continue to serve as a carbon sink or become a carbon source. Climatic thresholds for switching peatlands from sink to source are not well defined and therefore, incorporating peatlands into Earth system models is a challenging task. Here we introduce a climatic index, warm precipitation excess, to delineate the potential geographic distribution of boreal peatlands for a given climate and landscape morphology. This allows us to explain the present-day distribution of peatlands in Western Siberia, their absence during the Last Glacial Maximum, their expansion during the mid-Holocene and to form a working hypothesis about the trend to peatland degradation in the southern taiga belt of Western Siberia under an RCP 8.5 scenario for the projected climate in year 2100.
Matrix metalloproteinase gene polymorphisms and periodontitis susceptibility: a meta-analysis involving 6,162 individuals
Authors: Weng Hong , Yan Yan , Jin Ying-Hui , Meng Xiang-Yu , Mo Yuan-Yuan , Zeng Xian-Tao 
Published: April 2016

AbstractWe aimed to systematically investigate the potential association of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, -3, -2, and -8 gene polymorphisms with susceptibility to periodontitis using meta-analysis. A literature search in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Sciencewas conducted to obtain relevant publications. Finally a total of 16 articles with 24 case-control studies (nine on MMP-9-1562 C/T, seven on MMP-3-1171 A5/A6, four on MMP-2-753C/T, and four on MMP-8-799 C/T) were considered in this meta-analysis. The results based on 2,724 periodontitis patients and 3,438 controls showed that MMP-9-1562C/T, MMP-3-1171 A5/A6, and MMP-8-799C/T polymorphisms were associated with periodontitis susceptibility. No significant association was found between MMP-2-753 C/T and periodontitis susceptibility. Subgroup analyses suggested that the MMP-9-1562 C/T polymorphism reduced chronic periodontitis susceptibility and MMP-3-1171 A5/A6polymorphism increased chronic periodontitis susceptibility. In summary, current evidence demonstrated that MMP-9-753 C/Tpolymorphism reduced the risk of periodontitis, MMP-3-1171 5A/6A and MMP-8-799 C/Tpolymorphisms increased the risk of periodontitis, and MMP-2-753 C/T was not associated with risk of periodontitis.
The biochemical basis for thermoregulation in heat-producing flowers
Authors: Umekawa Yui , Seymour Roger S. , Ito Kikukatsu 
Published: April 2016

AbstractThermoregulation (homeothermy) in animals involves a complex mechanism involving thermal receptors throughout the body and integration in the hypothalamus that controls shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis. The flowers of some ancient families of seed plants show a similar degree of physiological thermoregulation, but by a different mechanism. Here, we show that respiratory control in homeothermic spadices of skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus renifolius) is achieved by rate-determining biochemical reactions in which the overall thermodynamic activation energy exhibits a negative value. Moreover, NADPH production, catalyzed by mitochondrial isocitrate dehydrogenase in a chemically endothermic reaction, plays a role in the pre-equilibrium reaction. We propose that a law of chemical equilibrium known as Le Châtelier’s principle governs the homeothermic control in skunk cabbage.
Early Preferential Responses to Fear Stimuli in Human Right Dorsal Visual Stream - A Meg Study
Authors: Meeren Hanneke K. M. , Hadjikhani Nouchine , Ahlfors Seppo P. , Hämäläinen Matti S. , de Gelder Beatrice 
Published: April 2016

AbstractEmotional expressions of others are salient biological stimuli that automatically capture attention and prepare us for action. We investigated the early cortical dynamics of automatic visual discrimination of fearful body expressions by monitoring cortical activity using magnetoencephalography. We show that right parietal cortex distinguishes between fearful and neutral bodies as early as 80-ms after stimulus onset, providing the first evidence for a fast emotion-attention-action link through human dorsal visual stream.
Thermal frequency shift and tunable microwave absorption in BiFeO3 family
Authors: Li Yong , Fang Xiaoyong , Cao Maosheng 
Published: April 2016

AbstractTunable frequency is highly sought-after task of researcher, because of the potential for applications in selecting frequency, absorber, imaging and biomedical diagnosis. Here, we report the original observation of thermal frequency shift of dielectric relaxation in La/Nd doped BiFeO3 (BFO) in X-band from 300 to 673 K. It exhibits an unexpected result: the relaxation shifts to lower frequency with increasing temperature. The relaxation maximally shifts about a quarter of X-band. The nonlinear term of lattice vibration plays an important role in the frequency shift. The frequency shift leads to tuning microwave absorption, which almost covers the whole X-band by changing temperature. Meanwhile, the great increase of dielectric loss of La/Nd doped BFO due to thermal excited electron hopping enhances microwave absorption above ~460 and ~480 K, respectively. The microwave absorption of La/Nd doped BFO surpasses −20 dB at 673 K and the minimum reflection loss of La doped BFO reaches −39 dB. These results open a new pathway to develop BFO-based materials in electromagnetic functional materials and devices for tunable frequency, stealth and thermal imaging at long wavelength.
Age-related fragmentation of the motor endplate is not associated with impaired neuromuscular transmission in the mouse diaphragm
Authors: Willadt Silvia , Nash Mark , Slater Clarke R. 
Published: April 2016

AbstractAs mammals age, their neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) gradually change their form, acquiring an increasingly fragmented appearance consisting of numerous isolated regions of synaptic differentiation. It has been suggested that this remodelling is associated with impairment of neuromuscular transmission, and that this contributes to age-related muscle weakness in mammals, including humans. The underlying hypothesis, that increasing NMJ fragmentation is associated with impaired transmission, has never been directly tested. Here, by comparing the structure and function of individual NMJs, we show that neuromuscular transmission at the most highly fragmented NMJs in the diaphragms of old (26–28 months) mice is, if anything, stronger than in middle-aged (12–14 months) mice. We suggest that NMJ fragmentation per se is not a reliable indicator of impaired neuromuscular transmission.
Feasibility of a Recasting and Auditory Bombardment Treatment With Young Cochlear Implant Users
Authors: Encinas Danielle , Plante Elena 
Published: April 2016

Purpose
There is little to guide clinicians in terms of evidence-based interventions for children with cochlear implants who demonstrate morpheme errors. This feasibility study tested the utility of a treatment targeting grammatical morpheme errors.

Method
Three children (ages 4–5 years) received Enhanced Conversational Recast treatment, a version of conversational recast treatment that focuses on a single morpheme error at a time, emphasizes attention to clinician input, and uses high linguistic variability with clinician input. A period of recasting was followed by 24 auditory presentations of the target morpheme in short sentences. After an initial baseline period, children were treated in individual sessions over 21–26 days.

Results
All children showed improved use of targeted grammatical morpheme use, both in elicited contexts and in terms of spontaneous use. Spontaneous use was best for the 2 children who were implanted earliest and whose audiograms showed the best hearing postimplant. Performance by a 3rd child diagnosed with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder was more variable but still showed positive change.

Conclusions
The results indicate that the treatment can be effective for children with cochlear implants. The pattern of results across children also suggests potential variables that may moderate treatment effects.
Joint representation of translational and rotational components of optic flow in parietal cortex
Authors: Sunkara Adhira , DeAngelis Gregory C. , Angelaki Dora E. 
Published: April 2016

Significance
As we navigate through the world, we experience both translations (changes in position) and rotations (changes in orientation). Although several studies have examined how the visual system represents the translational component of self-motion, few have evaluated the neural representation of rotations, especially when translations and rotations occur simultaneously. We measured responses of neurons in parietal cortex to visually simulated combinations of translations and rotations. We find that many parietal neurons jointly encode the translational and rotational components of self-motion in a multiplicatively separable fashion, which simplifies perceptual estimation of both components. These results suggest that the brain performs sophisticated processing of visual motion to extract both translation direction and rotation velocity, such that we may perform complex navigational tasks.
Characterization of the venom of the vermivorous cone snail Conus fulgetrum
Authors: Abdel-Wahab Mohammed , Miyashita Masahiro , Kitanaka Atsushi , Juichi Hironori , Sarhan Moustafa , Fouda Maged , Abdel-Rahman Mohamed , Saber Samy , Nakagawa Yoshiaki 
Published: April 2016

Abstract
Over 200 components with molecular mass ranging mainly from 400 to 4000 Da were characterized from the venom of the vermivorous cone snail Conus fulgetrum that inhabit Egyptian Red Sea. One major component having a molecular mass of 2946 Da was purified by HPLC, and its primary structure was determined by a combination of Edman degradation and MS/MS analysis.
The role of carbon and nitrogen on the H-mode confinement in ASDEX Upgrade with a metal wall
Authors: Beurskens M.N.A. , Dunne M.G. , Frassinetti L. , Bernert M. , Cavedon M. , Fischer R. , Järvinen A. , Kallenbach A. , Laggner F.M. , McDermott R.M. , Potzel S. , Schweinzer J. , Tardini G. , Viezzer E. , Wolfrum E. 
Published: April 2016

Abstract
Carbon (CD4) and nitrogen (N2) have been seeded in ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) with a tungsten wall and have both led to a 20–30% confinement improvement. The reference plasma is a standard target plasma with I
p /B
T  =  1 MA/2.5 T, total input power P
tot ~ 12 MW and normalized pressure of β
N ~ 1.8. Carbon and nitrogen are almost perfectly exchangeable for the core, pedestal and divertor plasma in this experiment where impurity concentrations of C and N of 2% are achieved and Z
eff only mildly increases from ~1.3 to ~1.7. As the radiation potentials of C and N are similar and peak well below 100 eV, both impurities act as divertor radiators and radiate well outside the pedestal region. The outer divertor is purposely kept in an attached state when C and N are seeded to avoid confinement degradation by detachment. As reported in earlier publications for nitrogen, carbon is also seen to reduce the high field side high density (the so-called HFSHD) in the scrape off layer above the inner divertor strike point by about 50%. This is accompanied by a confinement improvement for both low (δ ~ 0.25) and high (δ ~ 0.4) triangularity configurations for both seeding gases, due to an increase of pedestal temperature and stiff core temperature profiles. The electron density profiles show no apparent change due to the seeding. As an orthogonal effect, increasing the triangularity leads to an additionally increased pedestal density, independent of the impurity seeding. This experiment further closes the gap in understanding the confinement differences observed in carbon and metal wall devices; the absence of carbon can be substituted by nitrogen which leads to a similar confinement benefit. So far, no definite physics explanation for the confinement enhancement has been obtained, but the experimental observations in this paper provide input for further model development.