bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Deficiency of CCAAT/enhancer‐binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) prevents diet‐induced aortic valve calcification in vivo
Authors: Cai Zhejun , Liu Baoqing , Wei Jia , Fu Zurong , Wang Yidong , Wang Yaping , Shen Jian , Jia Liangliang , Su Shengan , Wang Xiaoya , Lin Xiaoping , Chen Han , Li Fei , Wang Jian'an , Xiang Meixiang 
Published: September 2017

SummaryAortic valve (AoV) calcification is common in aged populations. Its subsequent aortic stenosis has been linked with increased morbidity, but still has no effective pharmacological intervention. Our previous data show endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is involved in AoV calcification. Here, we investigated whether deficiency of ER stress downstream effector CCAAT/enhancer‐binding protein homology protein (CHOP) may prevent development of AoV calcification. AoV calcification was evaluated in Apoe−/− mice (n = 10) or in mice with dual deficiencies of ApoE and CHOP (Apoe−/−CHOP−/−, n = 10) fed with Western diet for 24 weeks. Histological and echocardiographic analysis showed that genetic ablation of CHOP attenuated AoV calcification, pro‐calcification signaling activation, and apoptosis in the leaflets of Apoe−/− mice. In cultured human aortic valvular interstitial cells (VIC), we found oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (oxLDL) promoted apoptosis and osteoblastic differentiation of VIC via CHOP activation. Using conditioned media (CM) from oxLDL‐treated VIC, we further identified that oxLDL triggered osteoblastic differentiation of VIC via paracrine pathway, while depletion of apoptotic bodies (ABs) in CM suppressed the effect. CM from oxLDL‐exposed CHOP‐silenced cells prevented osteoblastic differentiation of VIC, while depletion of ABs did not further enhance this protective effect. Overall, our study indicates that CHOP deficiency protects against Western diet‐induced AoV calcification in Apoe−/− mice. CHOP deficiency prevents oxLDL‐induced VIC osteoblastic differentiation via preventing VIC‐derived ABs releasing.
Review article: the diagnostic approach and current management of chylous ascites
Authors: Lizaola B. , Bonder A. , Trivedi H. D. , Tapper E. B. , Cardenas A. 
Published: September 2017

SummaryBackgroundChylous ascites is rare, accounting for less than 1% of cases. An appropriate and stepwise approach to its diagnosis and management is of key importance.AimTo review the current diagnostic approach and management of chylous ascites.MethodsA literature search was conducted using PubMed using the key words ‘chylous’, ‘ascites’, ‘cirrhosis’, ‘pathophysiology’, ‘nutritional therapy’, ‘paracentesis”, “transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt” and “TIPSS’. Only articles in English were included.ResultsChylous ascites is caused by the traumatic or obstructive disruption of the lymphatic system that leads to extravasation of thoracic or intestinal lymph into the abdominal space and the accumulation of a milky fluid rich in triglycerides. The most common causes are malignancy, cirrhosis and trauma after abdominal surgery. This condition can lead to chyle depletion, which results in nutritional, immunologic and metabolic deficiencies. An ascitic triglyceride concentration above 200 mg/dL is consistent with chylous ascites. Treatment is based on management of the underlying cause and nutritional support.ConclusionsChylous ascites is mostly due to malignancy and cirrhosis in adults, and congenital lymphatic disorders in children. Treatment with nutritional optimization and management of the underlying etiology are the cornerstones of therapy. When conservative measures fail, other interventions such as octreotide/somatostatin analogues, surgical ligation, embolization and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt in patients with cirrhosis can be considered.
Exfoliation rate of mammary epithelial cells in milk on bovine mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus is associated with bacterial load
Authors: Nagasawa Yuya , Kiku Yoshio , Sugawara Kazue , Tanabe Fuyuko , Hayashi Tomohito 
Published: September 2017

AbstractThe exfoliation rate of mammary epithelial cells (MECs) in milk is affected by physiological, breeding and environmental factors. Little is known about the relationship between the MEC exfoliation into milk and mammary‐infected Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) load on bovine mastitis caused by S. aureus. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between S. aureus load and the proportion of MEC exfoliation in milk using five substantial bovine mastitis models. In 64 randomly extracted milk samples from udders at 3–21 days after S. aureus infusion, there were various samples with different numbers of S. aureus counts and somatic cell counts. No significant correlations were found between the S. aureus counts and somatic cell count (r = 0.338). In contrast, a significant correlation was noted between S. aureus counts and the proportion of cytokeratin‐positive cells in the milk from the infused udders (r = 0.734, P < 0.01). In conclusion, the increasing MEC exfoliation rate in milk from mastitis udders caused by S. aureus may contribute to reduced milk yield.
Global population pharmacokinetics of the investigational Aurora A kinase inhibitor alisertib in cancer patients: rationale for lower dosage in Asia
Authors: Zhou Xiaofei , Mould Diane R. , Takubo Takatoshi , Sheldon‐Waniga Emily , Huebner Dirk , Milton Ashley , Venkatakrishnan Karthik 
Published: September 2017

AimsThis population pharmacokinetic analysis was conducted to describe quantitatively the regional differences and sources of interpatient variability on the apparent oral clearance of alisertib.MethodsA population pharmacokinetic analysis was performed on data from 671 cancer patients in Western countries and in Japan/East Asia to whom alisertib 5–150 mg once or twice daily (b.i.d.) was administered in multiple dosing schedules. The final model was used to simulate alisertib pharmacokinetics in patients in the West and East Asian regions in the single‐agent schedule of 7 days of dosing in a 21‐day cycle. Exposure–safety relationships for mechanism‐related antiproliferative toxicities (neutropenia, mucositis and diarrhoea) were estimated by logistic regression.ResultsAlisertib pharmacokinetics were described by a two‐compartment model with four‐transit compartment absorption and linear elimination. The final model included a covariate effect of region on relative bioavailability, with patients in the East Asian region estimated to have a 52% higher bioavailability compared with Western patients. Population simulated exposure at 30 mg b.i.d. in patients in Asia was similar to that at 50 mg b.i.d. in Western patients [geometric mean (coefficient of variation) steady state area under the concentration‐time curve over the dosing interval (AUC(0–τ)): 21.4 μM.h (52.3%) and 24.1 μM.h (53.6%), respectively]. Exposure–AE relationships could be described for neutropenia, stomatitis and diarrhoea, supporting the lower dosage of alisertib in Asia for global clinical development.ConclusionsModel‐based simulations support the achievement of similar alisertib exposures in patients in Asia who are administered a 40% lower dose compared with the Western population, thereby providing a quantitative clinical pharmacology bridging and regional dosing rationale for global drug development.
Expression in Escherichia coli of fusion protein comprising α‐conotoxin TxIB and preservation of selectivity to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the purified product
Authors: Yu Jinpeng , Zhu Xiaopeng , Yang Yang , Luo Sulan , Zhangsun Dongting 
Published: September 2017

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand‐gated ion channels, which are widely distributed in the central and peripheral nervous system. The α6β2* nAChR is an important subtype, which is closely associated with nicotine addiction and movement disorders etc. α‐conotoxin TxIB with 16‐amino acid residues specifically targets α6β2* nAChR with no obvious effect on other nAChR subtypes. However, chemical synthesis of TxIB is expensive, and the quantity of native TxIB extracted from cone snail is limited. In the present study, we attempted to obtain TxIB using biological method based on the recombinant expression in Escherichia coli (E. coli). The synthetic gene encoding mature peptide of TxIB was inserted in pET‐31b(+) vector and transformed into E. coli strain BLR(DE3)pLysS for expression. The recombinant fusion protein KSI‐TxIB‐His6 (KSI, ketosteroid isomerase) was expressed successfully as inclusion body in E. coli, which was purified by Ni‐NTA affinity chromatography column and cleaved by cyanogen bromide (CNBr) to release recombinant α‐conotoxin TxIB (rTxIB). Then, rTxIB was purified by reverse‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography (RP‐HPLC) and was identified by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS). Pharmacological activity of rTxIB was assessed by electrophysiological approaches. The results indicated that it preserved about 50% of potency, but, was even more important, had the same selectivity as the natural conotoxin which may provide an alternative method for quantity production of small peptides with low cost on the premise of not changing their potency.
Prevalence of synchronous bilateral tonsil squamous cell carcinoma: A retrospective study
Authors: Rokkjaer M.S. , Klug T.E. 
Published: September 2017

ObjectivesThe prevalence of synchronous bilateral tonsil cancer remains unexplored. To date, only 38 cases have been described in the literature. With an aim to substantiate the Danish recommendation of performing bilateral tonsillectomy in patients with suspected or proven tonsil cancer and in patients with cervical carcinoma metastasis from an unknown primary tumour, this study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of synchronous bilateral tonsil cancer.DesignA retrospective review of all patients diagnosed with tonsil cancer in the period 2000‐2015, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, was performed.ResultsSeven of 211 (3.3%) consecutive patients with tonsil cancer, who had undergone bilateral tonsillectomy (n = 180) or unilateral tonsillectomy (clinically normal side) combined with contralateral tonsil biopsy (side with suspected cancer) (n = 31), had synchronous bilateral tonsil cancer. Furthermore, dysplasia was found in the contralateral tonsil in two patients with unilateral tonsil cancer. Four of 171 (2.3%) patients with suspected unilateral tonsillar cancer had additional contralateral tonsil cancer. Three of 34 (8.8%) patients without clinical signs of tonsillar malignancy on any side (32 patients with carcinoma of unknown primary) had synchronous bilateral tonsil cancer. In none of the patients were bilateral tonsil cancer suspected. Patients with unilateral vs synchronous bilateral tonsil cancer had similar clinical and tumour characteristics.ConclusionKnowledge on additional contralateral synchronous tonsil cancer is crucial for avoidance of early recurrence of oropharyngeal cancer in patients with tonsil cancer. Based on our findings, we recommend bilateral tonsillectomy in all patients with suspected or proven tonsil cancer and carcinoma of unknown primary.
Surgeon‐performed thyroid ultrasound—proving utility and credibility in selecting patients for fine needle aspiration according to the American thyroid association guidelines. A retrospective study of 500 patients
Authors: Cohen O. , Raz Yarkoni T. , Lahav Y. , Azoulay O. , Halperin D. , Yehuda M. 
Published: September 2017

DesignCase series with chart review.SettingSingle academic centre.ParticipantsThe data of all patients who underwent surgeon‐performed ultrasound (SUS) between 7/2009 and 9/2012 were retrospectively reviewed.Main outcome measuresA correlation between sonographic features and a non‐benign cytology\malignant pathology.ResultsFour hundred ninety‐eight nodules were included. Solid texture, irregular margins, hypo‐echogenicity and intranodular vascularity were significantly associated with malignancy when benign to non‐benign cytology was compared, and when compared to malignant pathology. Lack of suspicious features was significantly associated with benign lesions, with a negative predictive value of 94%. Except for taller than wider shape, malignancy odds ratio was significantly higher for known suspicious features, reaching 4.81 for irregular borders (CI 2.42‐9.55, P < .001).ConclusionsSUS has proven to be a reliable and consistent tool to assess the thyroid nodule risk stratification. Surgeons should recognise the potential of this tool and its implementation.
The Role of Gesture in Supporting Mental Representations: The Case of Mental Abacus Arithmetic
Authors: Brooks Neon B. , Barner David , Frank Michael , Goldin‐Meadow Susan 
Published: September 2017

AbstractPeople frequently gesture when problem‐solving, particularly on tasks that require spatial transformation. Gesture often facilitates task performance by interacting with internal mental representations, but how this process works is not well understood. We investigated this question by exploring the case of mental abacus (MA), a technique in which users not only imagine moving beads on an abacus to compute sums, but also produce movements in gestures that accompany the calculations. Because the content of MA is transparent and readily manipulated, the task offers a unique window onto how gestures interface with mental representations. We find that the size and number of MA gestures reflect the length and difficulty of math problems. Also, by selectively interfering with aspects of gesture, we find that participants perform significantly worse on MA under motor interference, but that perceptual feedback is not critical for success on the task. We conclude that premotor processes involved in the planning of gestures are critical to mental representation in MA.
The missing explanation of the false‐belief advantage in bilingual children: a longitudinal study
Authors: Diaz Vanessa , Farrar M. Jeffrey 
Published: September 2017

AbstractBilingual preschoolers often perform better than monolingual children on false‐belief understanding. It has been hypothesized that this is due to their enhanced executive function skills, although this relationship has rarely been tested or supported. The current longitudinal study tested whether metalinguistic awareness was responsible for this advantage. Further, we examined the contributions of both executive functioning and language ability to false‐belief understanding by including multiple measures of both. Seventy‐eight children (n = 40 Spanish‐English bilingual; age M = 49.29, SD = 7.38 and, n = 38 English monolingual; age M = 47.75, SD = 6.86) were tested. A year later the children were tested again (n = 22 bilingual, n = 25 monolingual). The results indicated that language and executive function (inhibitory control) at time 1 were related to false belief in monolinguals at time 2. In contrast, bilinguals' metalinguistic performance at time 1 was the sole predictor of false belief at time 2. The different linguistic and cognitive profiles of monolinguals and bilinguals may create different pathways for their development of false‐belief understanding. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/vILn2gKjFxw
Analysis of climate signals in the crop yield record of sub‐Saharan Africa
Authors: Hoffman Alexis L. , Kemanian Armen R. , Forest Chris E. 
Published: September 2017

AbstractFood security and agriculture productivity assessments in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) require a better understanding of how climate and other drivers influence regional crop yields. In this paper, our objective was to identify the climate signal in the realized yields of maize, sorghum, and groundnut in SSA. We explored the relation between crop yields and scale‐compatible climate data for the 1962–2014 period using Random Forest, a diagnostic machine learning technique. We found that improved agricultural technology and country fixed effects are three times more important than climate variables for explaining changes in crop yields in SSA. We also found that increasing temperatures reduced yields for all three crops in the temperature range observed in SSA, while precipitation increased yields up to a level roughly matching crop evapotranspiration. Crop yields exhibited both linear and nonlinear responses to temperature and precipitation, respectively. For maize, technology steadily increased yields by about 1% (13 kg/ha) per year while increasing temperatures decreased yields by 0.8% (10 kg/ha) per °C. This study demonstrates that although we should expect increases in future crop yields due to improving technology, the potential yields could be progressively reduced due to warmer and drier climates.
Regional Growth Dynamics in the Service Sector: The Determinants of Employment Change in UK Regions, 1971–2005
Authors: Johnston Andrew , Huggins Robert 
Published: September 2017

AbstractThere is a need to better understand the dynamics relating to the evolving economic structure of regions, in particular factors concerning deindustrialisation and the growth of services. In order to unpick the dynamics relating to contemporary regional evolution, this paper examines regional employment in the UK's services sectors from 1971 to 2005. The analysis utilises the statistical technique of multi‐factor partitioning to examine the evolutionary dynamics of employment change in the UK service sector. Overall, differing growth trajectories in services employment across regions appear to be the result of the different underlying industrial structures observed within the regions themselves. The findings indicate that the industrial structure of a region has a significant influence on employment change in services, with related variety being of greater consequence than specialisation. This suggests that diversity, or urbanisation, effects have a greater influence than specialisation effects on “lighter” industries than “heavier” industries. Spatio‐temporal variations within the development of services are evident in the analysis, and there is evidence of convergence across the regions for all sub‐sectors examined. It concludes that in an increasingly services‐dominated economy, diversity and related variety have some weight in explaining regional development paths.
Pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori infection
Authors: Camilo Vania , Sugiyama Toshiro , Touati Eliette 
Published: September 2017

AbstractHelicobacter pylori is responsible for the most commonly found infection in the world's population. It is the major risk factor for gastric cancer development. Numerous studies published over the last year provide new insights into the strategies employed by H. pylori to adapt to the extreme acidic conditions of the gastric environment, to establish persistent infection and to deregulate host functions, leading to gastric pathogenesis and cancer. In this review, we report recent data on the mechanisms involved in chemotaxis, on the essential role of nickel in acid resistance and gastric colonization, on the importance of adhesins and Hop proteins and on the role of CagPAI‐components and CagA. Among the host functions, a special focus has been made on the escape from immune response, the ability of bacteria to induce genetic instability and modulate telomeres, the mechanism of autophagy and the deregulation of micro RNAs.
Gastric cancer: Basic aspects
Authors: Molina‐Castro Silvia , Pereira‐Marques Joana , Figueiredo Ceu , Machado Jose C. , Varon Christine 
Published: September 2017

AbstractGastric cancer is one of the most incident and deadliest malignancies in the world. Gastric cancer is a heterogeneous disease and the end point of a long and multistep process, which results from the stepwise accumulation of numerous (epi)genetic alterations, leading to dysregulation of oncogenic and tumor suppressor pathways. Gastric cancer stem cells have emerged as fundamental players in cancer development and as contributors to gastric cancer heterogeneity. For this special issue, we will report last year's update on the gastric cancer molecular classification, and in particular address the gastric cancer groups who could benefit from immune checkpoint therapy. We will also review the latest advances on gastric cancer stem cells, their properties as gastric cancer markers and therapeutic targets, and associated signaling pathways. The understanding of the molecular basis underlying gastric cancer heterogeneity and of the role played by gastric cancer stem cells in cancer development and heterogeneity is of major significance, not only for identifying novel targets for cancer prevention and treatment, but also for clinical management and patient stratification for targeted therapies.
Spatial, biogeographic and environmental predictors of diversity in Amazonian Zygoptera
Authors: Brasil Leandro S. , Oliveira‐Júnior José M. , Calvão Lenize B. , Carvalho Fernando G. , Monteiro‐Júnior Claudio S. , Dias‐Silva Karina , Juen Leandro 
Published: September 2017

Abstract

Our objectives were to assess how turnover and nestedness contribute to beta‐diversity patterns of the Zygoptera in Amazonian streams, and to relate these components of beta diversity to environmental, spatial and biogeographic predictors. Our first hypothesis is that the turnover is the most important component of beta‐diversity patterns due to the historical isolation of all or part of the areas located in the interfluves of the major Amazonian rivers. Our second hypothesis is that the interaction between environmental conditions and the area of endemism (biogeography) would be the most important predictor of beta‐diversity patterns.

To test these hypotheses, we compiled data on the Zygoptera communities from 172 Amazonian streams. We used three sets of predictor variables: (i) environmental variables, (ii) area of endemism (biogeographic) and (iii) spatial filters.

The turnover explained 99.36% of the beta diversity, corroborating our first hypothesis. Together, environmental and biogeographic variables were the best predictors of beta‐diversity patterns. For turnover, however, the biogeographic variables were the best predictors, contrary to our second hypothesis.

We found high gamma diversity, but low alpha diversity in the Zygoptera communities. This paradox is explained by the high turnover among sites within the study landscape. This pattern of diversity is related to both historical biogeographic factors and the spatial structuring of environmental conditions in the Amazon region. In the light of our results (high turnover and beta diversity), and their correspondence with areas of endemism, adequate conservation of Amazonian Zygoptera diversity will depend on the establishment of so‐called mega‐reserves throughout the major Amazonian interfluves and, whenever possible, in the areas with adequate environmental conditions for the greatest possible number of species, otherwise, most species may be at a constant risk of extinction.