bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
EGCG in Green Tea Induces Aggregation of HMGB1 Protein through Large Conformational Changes with Polarized Charge Redistribution
Authors: Meng Xuan-Yu , Li Baoyu , Liu Shengtang , Kang Hongsuk , Zhao Lin , Zhou Ruhong 
Published: February 2016

AbstractAs a major effective component in green tea, (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG)’s potential benefits to human health have been widely investigated. Recent experimental evidences indicate that EGCG can induce the aggregation of HMGB1 protein, a late mediator of inflammation, which subsequently stimulates the autophagic degradation and thus provides protection from lethal endotoxemia and sepsis. In this study, we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to explore the underlying molecular mechanism of this aggregation of HMGB1 facilitated by EGCG. Our simulation results reveal that EGCG firmly binds to HMGB1 near Cys106, which supports previous preliminary experimental evidence. A large HMGB1 conformational change is observed, where Box A and Box B, two homogenous domains of HMGB1, are repositioned and packed together by EGCG. This new HMGB1 conformation has large molecular polarity and distinctive electrostatic potential surface. We suggest that the highly polarized charge distribution leads to the aggregation of HMGB1, which differs from the previous hypothesis that two HMGB1 monomers are linked by the dimer of EGCG. Possible aggregating modes have also been investigated with potential of mean force (PMF) calculations. Finally, we conclude that the conformation induced by EGCG is more aggregation-prone with higher binding free energies as compared to those without EGCG.
Improved IIP3 double‐pole double‐throw switch with body and gate floated multi‐stack resonator in 65 nm CMOS for WiGig applications
Authors: Kim J.‐S. , Shin G.‐S. , Oh H.‐M. , Choi S. , Byeon C.W. , Son J. , Lee J.H. , Kim C.‐Y. 
Published: February 2016

A 60 GHz improved IIP3 double‐pole double‐throw (DPDT) switch using body and gate floated multi‐stack resonator implemented in 65 nm CMOS technology is presented. To improve the IIP3, multi‐stack and resistive body‐floating techniques are used. To decrease the insertion loss, the resistive body‐floating, gate‐floating and resonant inductor techniques are used. This DPDT switch is designed to have effective size using body and gate floated multi‐stack resonator. IIP3 is better than 27.5 dBm in 58.8–65.3 GHz. Insertion loss is <3.3 dB in 57–66 GHz. Return loss is better than 10 dB in 49–68 GHz.
Towards a situated view of language
Authors: Spivey Michael J. , Huette Stephanie 
Published: February 2016

By examining a brief history of psycholinguistics and its various approaches to research on sentence processing, we point to a general convergence toward evidence that multiple different linguistic constraints interact in real-time to allow for successful comprehension of a sentence. While some traditions emphasized the unique importance syntactic structure and others emphasized semantic content, a consensus appears to be forming that sentence processing may be best characterized as involving fluid interaction among a wide variety of information formats, including acoustic-phonetic processing, lexical statistics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and even visual environments, action affordances, and social contexts. Rather than searching for the “cognitive architecture” of the language system in the form of a box-an-arrow diagram that displays which processing module becomes operative before which other processing modules, this extensive array of findings suggests that the field of sentence processing may find clearer success by treating the process as a dynamical system composed of interactive processes, rather than domain-specific processors.
Attention and eye movement metrics in visual world eye tracking
Authors: Pyykkönen-Klauck Pirita , Crocker Matthew W. 
Published: February 2016

This chapter introduces the visual world paradigm, with the aim of identifying both the opportunities and challenges researchers are presented with when using overt visual attention as an index of the cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in a variety of language processing tasks. The chapter also provides an overview of the linking hypotheses that underlie the coordination of visual and linguistic information. Finally, the chapter discusses key properties of the eye-movement metrics used in the visual world studies – and different approaches to their analysis – in order to support sound interpretations with respect to the underlying theories of visually situated language comprehension that these studies are used to investigate.
Bayesian estimates of male and female African lion mortality for future use in population management
Authors: Barthold Julia A. , Loveridge Andrew J. , Macdonald David W. , Packer Craig , Colchero Fernando 
Published: February 2016

Summary

The global population size of African lions is plummeting, and many small fragmented populations face local extinction. Extinction risks are amplified through the common practice of trophy hunting for males, which makes setting sustainable hunting quotas a vital task.

Various demographic models evaluate consequences of hunting on lion population growth. However, none of the models use unbiased estimates of male age‐specific mortality because such estimates do not exist. Until now, estimating mortality from resighting records of marked males has been impossible due to the uncertain fates of disappeared individuals: dispersal or death.

We develop a new method and infer mortality for male and female lions from two populations that are typical with respect to their experienced levels of human impact.

We found that mortality of both sexes differed between the populations and that males had higher mortality across all ages in both populations. We discuss the role that different drivers of lion mortality may play in explaining these differences and whether their effects need to be included in lion demographic models.

Synthesis and applications. Our mortality estimates can be used to improve lion population management and, in addition, the mortality model itself has potential applications in demographically informed approaches to the conservation of species with sex‐biased dispersal.
Antimicrobial resistance in wildlife
Authors: Vittecoq Marion , Godreuil Sylvain , Prugnolle Franck , Durand Patrick , Brazier Lionel , Renaud Nicolas , Arnal Audrey , Aberkane Salim , Jean‐Pierre Hélène , Gauthier‐Clerc Michel , Thomas Frédéric , Renaud François 
Published: February 2016

Summary

The spread of antimicrobial resistance is of major concern for human health and leads to growing economic costs. While it is increasingly hypothesized that wildlife could play an important role in antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria dynamics, empirical data remain scarce.

The present work builds on a systematic review of the available data in order to highlight the main information we have and to suggest research pathways that should be followed if we aim to fill the gaps in our current knowledge.

To achieve this goal, we address four questions: (i) Which resistant bacteria are the most frequently observed in wildlife? (ii) How are resistant bacteria exchanged between wildlife and the other hosts involved? (iii) In which habitats are those resistant bacteria found? (iv) Are resistances associated with certain ecological traits of the host?

Synthesis and applications. We highlight the strong link existing between the impact of human activities on natural habitats and the carriage of antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria by wildlife. Furthermore, we underline that omnivorous, anthropophilic and carnivorous species are at high risk of being carriers and potentially spreaders of antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria. Identifying among those groups key sentinel species may be of particular interest to implement ecosystem contamination surveillance. Finally, we discuss possible exchange routes for antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria between humans and wildlife. Considering that water is of major importance in those exchanges, a critical way to control antimicrobial resistance spread may be to limit aquatic environment contamination by antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria and antibiotics.
Advancing environmentally explicit structured population models of plants
Authors: Ehrlén Johan , Morris William F. , von Euler Tove , Dahlgren Johan P. 
Published: February 2016

Summary

The relationship between the performance of individuals and the surrounding environment is fundamental in ecology and evolutionary biology. Assessing how abiotic and biotic environmental factors influence demographic processes is necessary to understand and predict population dynamics, as well as species distributions and abundances.

We searched the literature for studies that have linked abiotic and biotic environmental factors to vital rates and, using structured demographic models, population growth rates of plants.

We found 136 studies that had examined the environmental drivers of plant demography. The number of studies has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Based on the reviewed studies, we identify and discuss several major gaps in our knowledge of environmentally driven demography of plants. We argue that some drivers may have been underexplored and that the full potential of spatially and temporally replicated studies may not have been realized.

We also stress the need to employ relevant statistical methods and experiments to correctly identify drivers. Moreover, assessments of the relationship between drivers and vital rates need to consider interactive, nonlinear and indirect effects, as well as effects of intraspecific density dependence.

Synthesis. Much progress has already been made by using structured population models to link the performance of individuals to the surrounding environment. However, by improving the design and analyses of future studies, we can substantially increase our ability to predict changes in plant population dynamics, abundances and distributions in response to changes in specific environmental drivers. Future environmentally explicit demographic models should also address how genetic changes prompted by selection imposed by environmental changes will alter population trajectories in the face of continued environmental change and investigate the reciprocal feedback between plants and their biotic drivers.
Transients drive the demographic dynamics of plant populations in variable environments
Authors: McDonald Jenni L. , Stott Iain , Townley Stuart , Hodgson Dave J. 
Published: February 2016

Summary

The dynamics of structured plant populations in variable environments can be decomposed into the ‘asymptotic’ growth contributed by vital rates, and ‘transient’ growth caused by deviation from stable stage structure.

We apply this framework to a large, global data base of longitudinal studies of projection matrix models for plant populations. We ask, what is the relative contribution of transient boom and bust to the dynamic trajectories of plant populations in stochastic environments? Is this contribution patterned by phylogeny, growth form or the number of life stages per population and per species?

We show that transients contribute nearly 50% or more to the resulting trajectories, depending on whether transient and stable contributions are partitioned according to their absolute or net contribution to population dynamics.

Both transient contributions and asymptotic contributions are influenced heavily by the number of life stages modelled. We discuss whether the drivers of transients should be considered real ecological phenomena, or artefacts of study design and modelling strategy. We find no evidence for phylogenetic signal in the contribution of transients to stochastic growth, nor clear patterns related to growth form. We find a surprising tendency for plant populations to boom rather than bust in response to temporal changes in vital rates and that stochastic growth rates increase with increasing tendency to boom.

Synthesis. Transient dynamics contribute significantly to stochastic population dynamics but are often overlooked in ecological and evolutionary studies that employ stochastic analyses. Better understanding of transient responses to fluctuating population structure will yield better management strategies for plant populations, and better grasp of evolutionary dynamics in the real world.
An Examination of Hospital Nurse Staffing and Patient Experience with Care: Differences between Cross‐Sectional and Longitudinal Estimates
Authors: Martsolf Grant R. , Gibson Teresa B. , Benevent Richele , Jiang H. Joanna , Stocks Carol , Ehrlich Emily D. , Kandrack Ryan , Auerbach David I. 
Published: February 2016

ObjectiveTo study the association between hospital nurse staffing and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores.Data SourcesState hospital financial and utilization reports, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases, HCAHPS survey, and American Hospital Association Annual Survey of Hospitals.Study DesignRetrospective study using cross‐sectional and longitudinal models to estimate the effect of nurse staffing levels and skill mix on seven HCAHPS measures.Data Collection/Extraction MethodsHospital‐level data measuring nurse staffing, patient experience, and hospital characteristics from 2009 to 2011 for 341 hospitals (977 hospital years) in California, Maryland, and Nevada.Principal FindingsNurse staffing level (i.e., number of licensed practical nurses and registered nurses per 1,000 inpatient days) was significantly and positively associated with all seven HCAHPS measures in cross‐sectional models and three of seven measures in longitudinal models. Nursing skill mix (i.e., percentage of all staff who are registered nurses) was significantly and negatively associated with scores on one measure in cross‐sectional models and none in longitudinal models.ConclusionsAfter controlling for unobserved hospital characteristics, the positive influences of increased nurse staffing levels and skill mix were relatively small in size and limited to a few measures of patients' inpatient experience.
Rocuronium pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in the adductor pollicis and masseter muscles
Authors: Vega E. A. , Ibacache M. E. , Anderson B. J. , Holford N. H. G. , Nazar C. E. , Solari S. , Allende F. A. , Cortínez L. I. 
Published: February 2016

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to characterize the dose–effect relationship of rocuronium at the adductor pollicis and masseter muscles.MethodsTen, ASA I, adult patients, received a bolus dose of rocuronium 0.3 mg/kg during propofol based anesthesia. Train‐of‐four (TOF) was simultaneously monitored at the masseter and the adductor pollicis muscles until recovery. Rocuronium arterial serum concentrations were measured during 120 min. The first twitch of the TOF response was used to characterize the time–effect profile of both muscles using pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic analysis in NONMEM. A decrease in NONMEM objective function (∆OFV) of 3.84 points for an added parameter was considered significant at the 0.05 level.ResultsOnset time at the masseter (mean ± SD, 1.5 ± 0.9 min) was faster than at the adductor pollicis (2.7 ± 1.4 min, P < 0.05). Recovery, measured as the time to TOF ratio = 0.9 was similar between muscles 29.9 ± 6.7 (adductor pollicis) vs. 29.3 ± 8.1 (masseter). (P = 0.77). The estimated pharmacodynamic parameters [mean (95% CI)] of the adductor pollicis muscle and the masseter muscle were; plasma effect‐site equilibration half‐time (teq) 3.25 (2.34, 3.69) min vs. 2.86 (1.83, 3.29) min, (∆OFV 383.665); Ce50 of 1.24 (1.13, 1.56) mg/l vs. 1.19 (1.00, 1.21) mg/l, (∆OFV 184.284); Hill coefficient of 3.97 (3.82, 5.62) vs. 4.68 (3.83, 5.71), (∆OFV 78.906).ConclusionsWe found that the masseter muscle has faster onset of blockade and similar recovery profile than adductor pollicis muscle. These findings were best, explained by a faster plasma effect‐site equilibration of the masseter muscle to rocuronium.
Elevated Carboxyhaemoglobin Concentrations by Pulse CO‐Oximetry is Associated with Severe Aluminium Phosphide Poisoning
Authors: Mashayekhian Mohammad , Hassanian‐Moghaddam Hossein , Rahimi Mitra , Zamani Nasim , Aghabiklooei Abbas , Shadnia Shahin 
Published: February 2016

AbstractIn pulse CO‐oximetry of aluminium phosphide (ALP)‐poisoned patients, we discovered that carboxyhaemoglobin (CO‐Hb) level was elevated. We aimed to determine whether a higher CO level was detected in patients with severe ALP poisoning and if this could be used as a prognostic factor in these patients. In a prospective case–control study, 96 suspected cases of ALP poisoning were evaluated. In the ALP‐poisoned group, demographic characteristics, gastric and exhalation silver nitrate test results, average CO‐Hb saturation, methaemoglobin saturation, and blood pressure and blood gas analysis until death/discharge were recorded. Severely poisoned patients were defined as those with systolic blood pressure ≤80 mmHg, pH ≤7.2, or HCO3 ≤15 meq/L or those who died, while patients with minor poisoning were those without any of these signs/symptoms. A control group (37 patients) was taken from other medically ill patients to detect probable effects of hypotension and metabolic acidosis on CO‐Hb and methaemoglobin saturations. Of 96 patients, 27 died and 37 fulfilled the criteria for severe poisoning. All patients with carbon monoxide saturation >18% met the criteria to be included in the severe poisoning group and all with a SpCO >25% died. Concerning all significant variables in univariate analysis of severe ALP toxicity, the only significant variable which could independently predict death was carbon monoxide saturation. Due to high mortality rate and need for intensive care support, early prediction of outcome is vital for choosing an appropriate setting (ICU or ordinary ward). CO‐oximetry is a good diagnostic and prognostic factor in patients with ALP poisoning even before any clinical evidence of toxicity will develop.
Phytotherapeutic interventions in the management of biochemically recurrent prostate cancer: a systematic review of randomised trials
Authors: van Die Margaret Diana , Bone Kerry M. , Emery Jon , Williams Scott G. , Pirotta Marie V. , Paller Channing J. 
Published: February 2016

ObjectiveTo evaluate the evidence from randomised trials for the efficacy and safety of phytotherapeutic interventions in the management of biochemically recurrent (BCR) prostate cancer, indicated by prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) progression, numbers progressing to/time to initiation of androgen‐deprivation therapy or salvage therapy.Patients and MethodsMEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), AMED (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO) and the Cochrane Library databases were searched. Clinical trials investigating phytotherapeutic interventions as dietary supplements or dietary components, including multi‐component herbal formulations, in men with BCR prostate cancer were located. Eight of nine authors contacted for further information responded. Methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) statement for reporting systematic reviews was followed.ResultsOf 23 full‐text articles assessed for eligibility, five met the criteria for inclusion. Two studies were placebo controlled; two were active control trials; and one a high‐/low‐dose trial. The interventions were administered as isolated phytochemicals (sulphoraphane), phytotherapeutic extracts [Pomi‐T (pomegranate, turmeric, green tea and broccoli sprout extract), soy, lycopene, and POMx (pomegranate extract)], or plant‐derived dietary items (soy and lycopene). All studies found serum PSA levels to stabilise, decrease or rise more slowly in a significant number of men, and three studies reported stabilising or lengthening of PSA‐doubling time. Studies were generally of good quality, but sample sizes were predominantly small, and durations short.ConclusionsHigh‐quality studies in this area are lacking. Sulphoraphane, lycopene, soy isoflavones, POMx, and Pomi‐T are safe and well tolerated. There is limited evidence that they can affect PSA dynamics. No recommendation can be made for the use of these agents in managing prostate cancer morbidity and mortality until high‐quality, fully powered studies are available. Recommendations are made for improving reproducibility and translation of findings with regard to study population, study endpoints, design, and the reporting of phytotherapeutic interventions.
Immunoprotective responses of T helper type 1 stimulatory protein-S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase against experimental visceral leishmaniasis
Authors: Khare P , Jaiswal A K , Tripathi C D P , Sundar S , Dube A 
Published: February 2016

SummaryIt is well known that a patient in clinical remission of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) remains immune to reinfection, which provides a rationale for the feasibility of a vaccine against this deadly disease. In earlier studies, observation of significant cellular responses in treated Leishmania patients as well as in hamsters against leishmanial antigens from different fractions led to its further proteomic characterization, wherein S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase (AdoHcy) was identified as a helper type 1 (Th1) stimulatory protein. The present study includes immunological characterization of this protein, its cellular responses [lymphoproliferation, nitric oxide (NO) production and cytokine responses] in treated Leishmania-infected hamsters and patients as well as prophylactic efficacy against Leishmania challenge in hamsters and the immune responses generated thereof. Significantly higher cellular responses were noticed against recombinant L. donovani S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase (rLdAdoHcy) compared to soluble L. donovani antigen in treated samples. Moreover, stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with rLdAdoHcy up-regulated the levels of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)−12 and down-regulated IL-10. Furthermore, vaccination with rLdAdoHcy generated perceptible delayed-type hypersensitivity response and exerted considerably good prophylactic efficacy (∼70% inhibition) against L. donovani challenge. The efficacy was confirmed by the increased expression levels of inducible NO synthase and Th1-type cytokines, IFN-γ and IL-12 and down-regulation of IL-4, IL-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. The results indicate the potentiality of rLdAdoHcy protein as a suitable vaccine candidate against VL.