bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Residual N‐acetyl‐α‐glucosaminidase activity in fibroblasts correlates with disease severity in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB
Authors: Meijer O. L. M. , Welling L. , Valstar M. J. , Hoefsloot L. H. , Brüggenwirth H. T. , van der Ploeg A. T. , Ruijter G. J. G. , Wagemans T. , Wijburg F. A. , van Vlies N. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBackgroundMucopolysaccharidosis type IIIB (MPS IIIB) is a rare genetic disorder in which the deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme N‐acetyl‐α‐glucosaminidase (NAGLU) results in the accumulation of heparan sulfate (HS), leading to progressive neurocognitive deterioration. In MPS IIIB a wide spectrum of disease severity is seen. Due to a large allelic heterogeneity, establishing genotype‐phenotype correlations is difficult. However, reliable prediction of the natural course of the disease is needed, in particular for the assessment of the efficacy of potential therapies.MethodsTo identify markers that correlate with disease severity, all Dutch patients diagnosed with MPS IIIB were characterised as either rapid (RP; classical, severe phenotype) or slow progressors (SP; non‐classical, less severe phenotype), based on clinical data. NAGLU activity and HS levels were measured in patients’ fibroblasts after culturing at different temperatures.ResultsA small, though significant difference in NAGLU activity was measured between RP and SP patients after culturing at 37 °C (p < 0.01). Culturing at 30 °C resulted in more pronounced and significantly higher NAGLU activity levels in SP patients (p < 0.001) with a NAGLU activity of 0.58 nmol.mg‐1.hr‐1 calculated to be the optimal cut‐off value to distinguish between the groups (sensitivity and specificity 100 %). A lower capacity of patients’ fibroblasts to increase NAGLU activity at 30 °C could significantly predict for the loss of several disease specific functions.ConclusionNAGLU activity in fibroblasts cultured at 30 °C can be used to discriminate between RP and SP MPS IIIB patients and the capacity of cells to increase NAGLU activity at lower temperatures correlates with disease symptoms.
A prospective study into the benefits of simulation training in teaching obstetric vaginal examination
Authors: Arias Tatiana , Tran Antoine , Breaud Jean , Fournier Jean Paul , Bongain André , Delotte Jérôme 
Published: February 2016

AbstractObjectiveTo assess the benefits of incorporating simulations in obstetric vaginal‐examination training.MethodsA single‐center, randomized, prospective study was conducted in a French University Hospital. Medical students without obstetric experience were assigned, by simple random sampling, to perform either 10 or 30 vaginal‐examination training procedures using a simulator. A control group of students that had not performed any simulator training procedures was also enrolled. Medical students performed six vaginal examinations on patients who were in labor. The students reported the findings of the examinations in terms of five items (cervical length, position, consistency, dilation, and fetal presentation). The students' findings were then compared with those of experienced midwives (whose answers were considered to be the gold standard) who examined the same patients.ResultsA total of 66 students were included in the analyses. Students who had performed 10 simulated procedures demonstrated significantly greater accuracy in vaginal examination assessments in comparison with the control group (P < 0.001). No significant difference was observed between the results for students that had performed 10 or 30 simulated procedures (P = 0.44).ConclusionSimulation training assisted novice students in improving their vaginal‐examination skills before performing such procedures on real patients. Vaginal‐examination simulations should be included in the training curriculum for students who will examine pregnant patients.
Higher dietary diversity is related to better visual and auditory sustained attention
Authors: Shiraseb Farideh , Siassi Fereydoun , Qorbani Mostafa , Sotoudeh Gity , Rostami Reza , Narmaki Elham , Yavari Parvaneh , Aghasi Mohadeseh , Shaibu Osman Mohammed 
Published: February 2016

AbstractAttention is a complex cognitive function that is necessary for learning, for following social norms of behaviour and for effective performance of responsibilities and duties. It is especially important in sensitive occupations requiring sustained attention. Improvement of dietary diversity (DD) is recognised as an important factor in health promotion, but its association with sustained attention is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the association between auditory and visual sustained attention and DD. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 400 women aged 20–50 years who attended sports clubs at Tehran Municipality. Sustained attention was evaluated on the basis of the Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test using Integrated Visual and Auditory software. A single 24-h dietary recall questionnaire was used for DD assessment. Dietary diversity scores (DDS) were determined using the FAO guidelines. The mean visual and auditory sustained attention scores were 40·2 (sd35·2) and 42·5 (sd38), respectively. The mean DDS was 4·7 (sd1·5). After adjusting for age, education years, physical activity, energy intake and BMI, mean visual and auditory sustained attention showed a significant increase as the quartiles of DDS increased (P=0·001). In addition, the mean subscales of attention, including auditory consistency and vigilance, visual persistence, visual and auditory focus, speed, comprehension and full attention, increased significantly with increasing DDS (P<0·05). In conclusion, higher DDS is associated with better visual and auditory sustained attention.
Studies on Animals and the Rise of Comparative Anatomy at and around the Parisian Royal Academy of Sciences in the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Schmitt Stéphane 
Published: February 2016

ArgumentThis paper aims to understand the emergence of comparative anatomy in the eighteenth century in the Parisian Académie Royale des Sciences. As early as the 1670s, a program centered on animal anatomy was conceived, which was a first attempt to give some autonomy to studies on animals and to link anatomy with natural history, but it declined after 1690. However, a variety of studies on animals was published in theMémoiresof the Académie during the eighteenth century. We propose a descriptive typology of them in order to explore the status of animals and the significance of anatomy in each type, and to determine, in particular, which elements of Perrault's program were passed on at the Académie throughout the century. We discuss the influence of this legacy on the development of comparative anatomy after 1750, especially in Daubenton's work.
The Receding Animal: Theorizing Anxiety and Attachment in Psychoanalysis from Freud to Imre Hermann
Authors: Marinelli Lydia , Mayer Andreas 
Published: February 2016

ArgumentAnimals played an important role in the formation of psychoanalysis as a theoretical and therapeutic enterprise. They are at the core of texts such as Freud's famous case histories of Little Hans, the Rat Man, or the Wolf Man. The infantile anxiety triggered by animals provided the essential link between the psychology of individual neuroses and the ambivalent status of the “totem” animal in so-called primitive societies in Freud's attempt to construct an anthropological basis for the Oedipus complex inTotem and Taboo.In the following, we attempt to track the status of animals as objects of indirect observation as they appear in Freud's classical texts, and in later revisionist accounts such as Otto Rank'sTrauma of Birthand Imre Hermann's work on the clinging instinct. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Freudian conception of patients' animal phobias is substantially revised within Hermann's original psychoanalytic theory of instincts which draws heavily upon ethological observations of primates. Although such a reformulation remains grounded in the idea of “archaic” animal models for human development, it allows to a certain extent to empiricize the speculative elements of Freud's later instinct theory (notably the death instinct) and to come to a more embodied account of psychoanalytic practice.
How gradual change progresses: The interaction between convention and innovation
Authors: De Smet Hendrik 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis paper hypothesizes that as an expression becomes more frequent in one grammatical context, its mental retrievability improves, which in turn makes it more easily available in different yet closely related (analogous) grammatical contexts. Such a mechanism can account for the progression of gradual change. The hypothesis generates two testable predictions. First, innovative constructions should be more likely to emerge if their analogical models are better entrenched. Second, an expression's retrievability can also be improved by priming, which in the short term should have a similar effect to entrenchment. These predictions are tested against the development of the noun key into an adjective (as ina very key argument). The change is gradual, starting with increased productivity of compounds withkeyas specifying element, leading later to debonded and clearly adjectival uses. The development ofkeyis analyzed using data from the British Houses of Parliament. The effect of entrenchment is tested against individual variation. Next, situations are investigated wherekeyhas been primed, either by an earlier instance ofkeyor by a collocate ofkey. The evidence supports the hypothesis. Innovative uses ofkeyare favored under conditions that improve the retrievability of its more conventionalized uses.
Toward more accountability: Modeling ternary genitive variation in Late Modern English
Authors: Szmrecsanyi Benedikt , Biber Douglas , Egbert Jesse , Franco Karlien 
Published: February 2016

AbstractWhereas the alternation between thes-genitive (the New Year's message) and theof-genitive (the message of the New Year) is well documented, our study offers a more accountable analysis of genitive variation by including noun-noun (NN)-genitives (the New Year message). We consider four different variable contexts (sversusof, NN versusof, NN versuss, and NN versussversusof ), which we analyze using regression analysis. The dataset consists of 10,054 variable genitives drawn from theRepresentative Corpus of Historical English Registers. The material covers the period between 1650 and 2000, thus enabling us to track the evolution of variable genitive grammar in real time. We report that there is an overall drift toward the NN-genitive, which is preferred over other variants when constituent noun phrases are short, possessor constituents are inanimate, and possessum constituents are thematic. In addition to these substantive contributions, we showcase methods of dealing with a complex dataset covering nonbinary grammatical variation.
Chinese animal protection laws and the globalisation of welfare norms
Authors: Sima Yangzi , O'Sullivan Siobhan 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis paper examines China's emerging animal anti-cruelty law and the extent to which it meets established animal welfare norms or not. Features that render the draft laws distinctly Chinese include the restrictive interpretation of cruelty as deliberate abuse, stringent pet control stipulations, and compromises on the consumption of dogs and cats. Meanwhile, the draft laws also reflect the Western experience. Animals are categorised according to their use; the ‘unnecessary suffering’ concept is the central philosophical tenet; and the enactment of the law will certainly result from strategic, pragmatic compromise. We conclude that 200 years of animal protection policy-making, the involvement of policy elites in drafting the Chinese laws, and the globalisation of trade, have made it difficult for China to do anything other than develop an animal protection regime broadly consistent with what exists in the West, although some unique Chinese features can also be identified in the proposed laws.
How international law impacts on statelessness and citizenship: the case of Kurdish nationalism, conflict and peace
Authors: Tas Latif 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis paper argues for a new approach to understanding statelessness. It explores the limits of international laws on statelessness and the relationships between statelessness, diaspora and nationalism. It discusses how the condition of statelessness has affected Kurds, and how statelessness has been constructed and experienced at an individual and collective level in the diaspora. It argues for an expanded definition of the international laws of ‘stateless’ person: adding to the accepted de jure and highly contested de facto definitions, by also suggesting a third, new, category of ‘socially stateless’ people. The paper examines the concept of diaspora itself from the perspective of Kurdish interviewees and explores how, for stateless groups like Kurds, ‘living in diaspora’ can mean more than one place, including their land of origin. It will suggest the concept of ‘double’ or ‘multiple’ diasporas, where stateless people do not feel that they belong either to their country of origin or to the country in which they now live. The paper discusses the idea that when an ethnic community is stateless, then even those individuals who have an official nationality, citizenship or passport may often describe themselves as stateless. The relationship between statelessness, diaspora and nationalism is highlighted; and the impact of this on diaspora involvement in homeland politics, conflict and peace is explored. The paper also argues that the lack of protection which international law(s) offer around statelessness paradoxically create new forms of nationalism.
Ack promotes tissue growth via phosphorylation and suppression of the Hippo pathway component Expanded
Authors: Hu Lianxin , Xu Jiajun , Yin Meng-Xin , Zhang Liguo , Lu Yi , Wu Wenqing , Xue Zhaoyu , Ho Margaret S , Gao Guanjun , Zhao Yun , Zhang Lei 
Published: February 2016

AbstractNon-receptor tyrosine kinase activated cdc42 kinase was reported to participate in several types of cancers in mammals. It is also believed to have an anti-apoptotic function inDrosophila. Here, we report the identification ofDrosophilaactivated cdc42 kinase as a growth promoter and a novel Hippo signaling pathway regulator. We find that activated cdc42 kinase promotes tissue growth through modulating Yorkie activity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that activated cdc42 kinase interacts with Expanded and induces tyrosine phosphorylation of Expanded on multiple sites. We propose a model that activated cdc42 kinase negatively regulates Expanded by changing its phosphorylation status to promote tissue growth. Moreover, we show thatackgenetically interacts withmerlinandexpanded. Thus, we identifyDrosophilaactivated cdc42 kinase as a Hippo pathway regulator.
Correlation detection strategies in microbial data sets vary widely in sensitivity and precision
Authors: Weiss Sophie , Van Treuren Will , Lozupone Catherine , Faust Karoline , Friedman Jonathan , Deng Ye , Xia Li Charlie , Xu Zhenjiang Zech , Ursell Luke , Alm Eric J , Birmingham Amanda , Cram Jacob A , Fuhrman Jed A , Raes Jeroen , Sun Fengzhu , Zhou Jizhong , Knight Rob 
Published: February 2016

AbstractDisruption of healthy microbial communities has been linked to numerous diseases, yet microbial interactions are little understood. This is due in part to the large number of bacteria, and the much larger number of interactions (easily in the millions), making experimental investigation very difficult at best and necessitating the nascent field of computational exploration through microbial correlation networks. We benchmark the performance of eight correlation techniques on simulated and real data in response to challenges specific to microbiome studies: fractional sampling of ribosomal RNA sequences, uneven sampling depths, rare microbes and a high proportion of zero counts. Also tested is the ability to distinguish signals from noise, and detect a range of ecological and time-series relationships. Finally, we provide specific recommendations for correlation technique usage. Although some methods perform better than others, there is still considerable need for improvement in current techniques.
An interactive web-based application for Comprehensive Analysis of RNAi-screen Data
Authors: Dutta Bhaskar , Azhir Alaleh , Merino Louis-Henri , Guo Yongjian , Revanur Swetha , Madhamshettiwar Piyush B. , Germain Ronald N. , Smith Jennifer A. , Simpson Kaylene J. , Martin Scott E. , Buehler Eugen , Fraser Iain D. C. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractRNAi screens are widely used in functional genomics. Although the screen data can be susceptible to a number of experimental biases, many of these can be corrected by computational analysis. For this purpose, here we have developed a web-based platform for integrated analysis and visualization of RNAi screen data named CARD (for Comprehensive Analysis of RNAi Data; available at https://card.niaid.nih.gov). CARD allows the user to seamlessly carry out sequential steps in a rigorous data analysis workflow, including normalization, off-target analysis, integration of gene expression data, optimal thresholds for hit selection and network/pathway analysis. To evaluate the utility of CARD, we describe analysis of three genome-scale siRNA screens and demonstrate: (i) a significant increase both in selection of subsequently validated hits and in rejection of false positives, (ii) an increased overlap of hits from independent screens of the same biology and (iii) insight to microRNA (miRNA) activity based on siRNA seed enrichment.
Fear of large carnivores causes a trophic cascade
Authors: Suraci Justin P. , Clinchy Michael , Dill Lawrence M. , Roberts Devin , Zanette Liana Y. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe fear large carnivores inspire, independent of their direct killing of prey, may itself cause cascading effects down food webs potentially critical for conserving ecosystem function, particularly by affecting large herbivores and mesocarnivores. However, the evidence of this has been repeatedly challenged because it remains experimentally untested. Here we show that experimentally manipulating fear itself in free-living mesocarnivore (raccoon) populations using month-long playbacks of large carnivore vocalizations caused just such cascading effects, reducing mesocarnivore foraging to the benefit of the mesocarnivore’s prey, which in turn affected a competitor and prey of the mesocarnivore’s prey. We further report that by experimentally restoring the fear of large carnivores in our study system, where most large carnivores have been extirpated, we succeeded in reversing this mesocarnivore’s impacts. We suggest that our results reinforce the need to conserve large carnivores given the significant “ecosystem service” the fear of them provides.
Localized soft elasticity in liquid crystal elastomers
Authors: Ware Taylor H. , Biggins John S. , Shick Andreas F. , Warner Mark , White Timothy J. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractSynthetic approaches to prepare designer materials that localize deformation, by combining rigidity and compliance in a single material, have been widely sought. Bottom-up approaches, such as the self-organization of liquid crystals, offer potential advantages over top–down patterning methods such as photolithographic control of crosslink density, relating to the ease of preparation and fidelity of resolution. Here, we report on the directed self-assembly of materials with spatial and hierarchical variation in mechanical anisotropy. The highly nonlinear mechanical properties of the liquid crystalline elastomers examined here enables strain to be locally reduced >15-fold without introducing compositional variation or other heterogeneities. Each domain (⩾0.01 mm2) exhibits anisotropic nonlinear response to load based on the alignment of the molecular orientation with the loading axis. Accordingly, we design monoliths that localize deformation in uniaxial and biaxial tension, shear, bending and crack propagation, and subsequently demonstrate substrates for globally deformable yet locally stiff electronics.
Investigation on the effects of the atmospheric pressure plasma on wound healing in diabetic rats
Authors: Fathollah Sara , Mirpour Shahriar , Mansouri Parvin , Dehpour Ahmad Reza , Ghoranneviss Mahmood , Rahimi Nastaran , Safaie Naraghi Zahra , Chalangari Reza , Chalangari Katalin Martits 
Published: February 2016

AbstractIt is estimated that 15 percent of individuals with diabetes mellitus suffer from diabetic ulcers worldwide. The aim of this study is to present a non-thermal atmospheric plasma treatment as a novel therapy for diabetic wounds. The plasma consists of ionized helium gas that is produced by a high-voltage (8 kV) and high-frequency (6 kHz) power supply. Diabetes was induced in rats via an intravascular injection of streptozotocin. The plasma was then introduced to artificial xerograph wounds in the rats for 10 minutes. Immunohistochemistry assays was performed to determine the level of transforming growth factor (TGF-β1) cytokine. The results showed a low healing rate in the diabetic wounds compared with the wound-healing rate in non-diabetic animals (P < 0.05). Moreover, the results noted that plasma enhanced the wound-healing rate in the non-diabetic rats (P < 0.05) and significant wound contraction occurred after the plasma treatment compared with untreated diabetic wounds (P < 0.05). Histological analyses revealed the formation of an epidermis layer, neovascularization and cell proliferation. The plasma treatment also resulted in the release of TGF-β1 cytokine from cells in the tissue medium. The findings of this study demonstrate the effect of plasma treatment for wound healing in diabetic rats.
A bizarre theropod from the Early Cretaceous of Japan highlighting mosaic evolution among coelurosaurians
Authors: Azuma Yoichi , Xu Xing , Shibata Masateru , Kawabe Soichiro , Miyata Kazunori , Imai Takuya 
Published: February 2016

AbstractOur understanding of coelurosaurian evolution, particularly of bird origins, has been greatly improved, mainly due to numerous recently discovered fossils worldwide. Nearly all these discoveries are referable to the previously known coelurosaurian subgroups. Here, we report a new theropod,Fukuivenator paradoxus, gen. et sp. nov., based on a nearly complete specimen from the Lower Cretaceous Kitadani Formation of the Tetori Group, Fukui, Japan. WhileFukuivenatorpossesses a large number of morphological features unknown in any other theropod, it has a combination of primitive and derived features seen in different theropod subgroups, notably dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Computed-tomography data indicate thatFukuivenatorpossesses inner ears whose morphology is intermediate between those of birds and non-avian dinosaurs. Our phylogenetic analysis recoversFukuivenatoras a basally branching maniraptoran theropod, yet is unable to refer it to any known coelurosaurian subgroups. The discovery ofFukuivenatorconsiderably increases the morphological disparity of coelurosaurian dinosaurs and highlights the high levels of homoplasy in coelurosaurian evolution.