bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Induced defenses alter the strength and direction of natural selection on reproductive traits in common milkweed
Authors: Thompson Ken A. , Cory Kaitlin A. , Johnson Marc T. J. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractEvolutionary biologists have long sought to understand the ecological processes that generate plant reproductive diversity. Recent evidence indicates that constitutive antiherbivore defenses can alter natural selection on reproductive traits, but it is unclear whether induced defenses will have the same effect and whether reduced foliar damage in defended plants is the cause of this pattern. In a factorial field experiment using common milkweed,Asclepias syriaca, we induced plant defenses using jasmonic acid (JA) and imposed foliar damage using scissors. We found that JA-induced plants experienced selection for more inflorescences that were smaller in size (fewer flowers), while control plants only experienced a trend toward selection for larger inflorescences (more flowers); all effects were independent of foliar damage. Our results demonstrate that induced defenses can alter both the strength and direction of selection on reproductive traits, and suggest that antiherbivore defenses may promote the evolution of plant reproductive diversity.
Comparative genomics of beetle-vectored fungal pathogens reveals a reduction in genome size and independent evolution of pathogenicity of two tree pathogens
Authors: Schuelke Taruna A , Westbrook Anthony , Woeste Keith , Plachetzki David C. , Broders Kirk , MacManes Matthew D. 
Published: December 2016

SummaryGeosmithia morbidais an emerging fungal pathogen which serves as a paradigm for examining the evolutionary processes behind pathogenicity because it is one of two known pathogens within a genus of mostly saprophytic, beetle-associated, fungi. This pathogen causes thousand cankers disease in black walnut trees and is vectored into the host via the walnut twig beetle.G. morbidawas first detected in western US and currently threatens the timber industry concentrated in eastern US.We sequenced the genomes ofG. morbidaand two non-pathogenicGeosmithiaspecies and compared these species to other fungal pathogens and nonpathogens to identify genes under positive selection inG. morbidathat may be associated with pathogenicity.G. morbidapossesses one of the smallest genomes among the fungal species observed in this study, and one of the smallest fungal pathogen genomes to date. The enzymatic profile is this pathogen is very similar to its relatives.Our findings indicate that genome reduction is an important adaptation during the evolution of a specialized lifestyle in fungal species that occupy a specific niche, such as beetle vectored tree pathogens. We also present potential genes under selection inG. morbidathat could be important for adaptation to a pathogenic lifestyle.
Nodal secures pluripotency upon embryonic stem cell progression from the ground state
Authors: Mulas Carla , Kalkan Tüzer , Smith Austin 
Published: December 2016

SUMMARYNaïve mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells can readily acquire specific fates, but the cellular and molecular processes that enable lineage specification are poorly characterised. Here we investigated progression from the ES cell ground state in adherent culture. We utilised down-regulation ofRex1::GFPd2to track loss of ES cell identity. We found that cells that have newly down-regulated this reporter have acquired competence for germline induction. They can also be efficiently specified for different somatic lineages, responding more rapidly than naïve cells to inductive cues. Nodal is a candidate autocrine regulator of pluripotency. Abrogation of Nodal signalling did not substantially alter kinetics of exit from the ES cell state, but accelerated subsequent adoption of neural fate at the expense of other lineages. This effect was evident if Nodal was inhibited prior to extinction of ES cell identity. We suggest that Nodal is pivotal for non-neural competence in cells departing naïve pluripotency.
Financial Innovations and Money Velocity in Uganda
Authors: Nampewo Dorothy , Opolot Jacob 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis paper investigates the impact of financial innovations on the stability of money velocity. The paper contributes to the existing literature in three ways; first, we develop a simple analytical framework for money velocity taking into account the effect of financial innovations. Second, we test the model on Ugandan time series data using the ARDL bounds testing approach. Third, we check for the stability of the long‐run money velocity function. Results show significant negative and positive effects of financial innovations on the money velocity in the short and long run, respectively. In addition, the long‐run money velocity equation is stable despite the financial innovations that have evolved over time. Furthermore, other macroeconomic determinants of money velocity, including real income, the 91‐day treasury bill rates, inflation expectations and the exchange rate exhibited a significant and positive long‐run relationship with money velocity except for real income. These results suggest that financial innovations have not altered the long‐run stability of money velocity in Uganda. Thus, given the importance of financial innovations in enhancing the access to financial services, we recommend that more technological advances and diversification of financial products should be enhanced so as to improve financial sector development and overall economic growth.
Revisiting the Determinants of Unemployment in Nigeria: Do Resource Dependence and Financial Development Matter?
Authors: Ogbeide Frank Iyekoretin , Kanwanye Hilary , Kadiri Sunday 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThe paper examines the determinants of unemployment in Nigeria from 1981 to 2013, using the error correction model (ECM), and with ordinary least squares (OLS) method for robustness check. Results from the short‐run and long‐run regressions show that resource dependence and growth in private credit/GDP by banks significantly worsen labour unemployment, suggesting likely effects of resource‐curse, high cost of financial intermediation cum limited credit to the real economy. Real GDP per capita, FDI, trade openness and exchange rate depreciation significantly reduce labour unemployment in Nigeria, whereas increasing industrial capacity usage intensifies it. Government capital expenditure aggravates unemployment in both estimated models, though not significantly, showing rent‐seeking and prolonged deficit‐financing. Inflation had a mixed outcome and was not significant in both short‐run and long‐run estimation. Key policy implications of the study include the need to efficiently manage our natural resources; deepen the domestic financial sector; enhance fiscal discipline; promote a favourable macroeconomic environment to attract the right kind of real‐sector investment; and raising the economy's competitiveness in labour‐intensive processes.
The Institutional Quality Impact on Remittances in the ECOWAS Sub‐Region
Authors: Ajide K. Bello , Raheem Ibrahim Dolapo 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThe paper seeks to examine the impactful role of institutions in attracting remittances inflow to ECOWAS region for the period 1996–2013. In a bid to achieve this key objective, a system generalized method of moment (GMM) is adopted on a panel dataset in which insightful outcomes emanate. The results reveal an appreciable impact of institutional infrastructures on the migrants’ remittances in the region. More specifically, institutional measures of governance appear to act as a spur on remittances, but other institutional decompositions like economic and political governance structures constitute avoidable drags, judging by theoretical priors and statistical levels of significance. These results remain valid to the exclusion of the francophone countries from the original dataset. On the policy front, the overall target is for government to formulate policies that seek to address the symptomatic causes of low inflow of remittances into the region, with special focus on the institutional dimension of the governance framework. Among the auxiliary policy targets include those that would address the problems of dysfunctional institutions, as well as those that would deepen financial systems and engender improved growth of GDP per capita. The study also makes some suggestions for future enquiries.
Veterans' Location in Health Professional Shortage Areas: Implications for Access to Care and Workforce Supply
Authors: Doyle Jamie Mihoko , Streeter Robin A. 
Published: December 2016

ObjectiveTo describe the distribution of Veterans in areas of the United States where there are potentially inadequate supplies of health professionals, and to explore opportunities suggested by this distribution for fostering health workforce flexibility.Data SourcesCounty‐level data from the 2015–2016 Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) Area Health Resources Files (AHRF) were used to estimate Veteran populations in HRSA‐designated health professional shortage areas (HPSAs). This information was then linked to 2015 VA health facility information from the Department of Veterans Affairs.Study DesignPotential Veteran populations living in Shortage Area Counties with no VHA facilities were estimated, and the composition of these populations was explored by Census division and state.Principal FindingsNationwide, approximately 24 percent of all Veterans and 23 percent of Veterans enrolled in VHA health care live in Shortage Area Counties. These estimates mask considerable variation across states.ConclusionsAn examination of Veterans residing in Shortage Area Counties suggests extensive maldistribution of health services across the United States and the continued need to find ways to improve health care access for all Veterans. Effective avenues for doing so may include increasing health workforce flexibility through expansion of nurse practitioner scopes of practice.
Monocarboxylate Transporter‐1 Mediates the Protective Effects of Neutral‐pH Bicarbonate/Lactate‐Buffered Peritoneal Dialysis Fluid on Cell Viability and Apoptosis
Authors: Kuma Akihiro , Tamura Masahito , Ishimatsu Nana , Harada Yoshikazu , Izumi Hiroto , Miyamoto Tetsu , Furuno Yumi , Nakano Yoko , Serino Ryota , Otsuji Yutaka 
Published: December 2016

AbstractWe investigated the effects of bicarbonate/lactate‐buffered peritoneal dialysis fluid (B/L‐PDF) and lactate‐buffered PDF (L‐PDF) on cell viability and apoptosis, focusing on monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs). MCT‐1 transports lactate into cells. Cell viability and apoptosis of human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs) were examined by water‐soluble tetrazolium salt‐1 and TUNEL assays, respectively. The relative number of viable HPMCs was significantly decreased by L‐PDF at 48 h (8.8 ± 0.4%) compared with cells cultured in M199, but not by B/L‐PDF (66.7 ± 1.1%). Apoptosis was markedly induced by L‐PDF at 48 h (69.3 ± 16.2%), but not by B/L‐PDF (2.6 ± 0.3%). Knockdown of MCT‐1 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) attenuated the L‐PDF‐induced reduction of viable cells and increased apoptosis compared with control siRNA, but MCT‐4 knockdown had no effect. B/L‐PDF had lesser effects on cell viability and apoptosis of HPMCs compared with L‐PDF. These results suggest that B/L‐PDF biocompatibility occurs by avoiding the induction of apoptosis in HPMCs.
Quality of life following trauma before and after implementation of a physician‐staffed helicopter
Authors: Funder K. S. , Rasmussen L. S. , Hesselfeldt R. , Siersma V. , Lohse N. , Sonne A. , Wulffeld S. , Steinmetz J. 
Published: December 2016

BackgroundImplementation of a physician‐staffed helicopter emergency medical service (PS‐HEMS) in Denmark was associated with lower 30‐day mortality in severely injured trauma patients and less time on social subsidy. However, the reduced 30‐day mortality in severely injured patients might be at the expense of a worse functional outcome and quality of life (QoL) in those who survive. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a physician‐staffed helicopter on long‐term QoL in trauma patients.MethodsProspective, observational study including trauma patients who survived at least 3 years after injury. A 5‐month period prior to PS‐HEMS implementation was compared with the first 12 months after PS‐HEMS implementation. QoL was assessed 4.5 years after trauma by the SF‐36 questionnaire. Primary endpoint was the Physical Component Summary score.ResultsOf the 1994 patients assessed by a trauma team, 1521 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Of these, 566 (37%) gave consent to participate and received a questionnaire by mail, and 402 (71%) of them returned the questionnaire (n = 114 before PS‐HEMS; n = 288 after PS‐HEMS implementation). Older patients, women and patients with trauma in the after PS‐HEMS period were more likely to return the questionnaire. No significant association between QoL and period (before vs. after PS‐HEMS) was found; the Physical Component Summary scores were 50.0 and 50.9 in the before and after PS‐HEMS periods, respectively (P = 0.47). We also found no difference on multivariable analysis with adjustment for sex, age and injury severity score.ConclusionNo significant difference in QoL among trauma patients was found after implementation of a PS‐HEMS.
Laparoscopic‐assisted abdominoperineal resection combined with en‐bloc prostatectomy using the trans‐sacral approach for locally invasive rectal cancer: A case report
Authors: Tashiro Jo , Yamaguchi Shigeki , Ishii Toshimasa , Kondo Hiroka , Hara Kiyoka 
Published: December 2016

AbstractLaparoscopic‐assisted abdominoperineal resection and en‐bloc prostatectomy using the trans‐sacral approach for locally invasive rectal cancer that invades only the prostate is useful in order to avoid total pelvic exenteration. The patient was a 63‐year‐old man with cT4b (prostate) N1M0, stage IIIC rectal cancer. Curative resection was performed. Histopathological findings did not indicate definitive invasion into the prostate gland. The patient was discharged from the hospital on postoperative day 32 with an anastomotic leak and a ureteral catheter. The patient is able to urinate and has had no cancer recurrence. Laparoscopic bladder‐preserving surgery for locally invasive rectal cancer can preserve postoperative quality of life and provides oncological curability.
GitHub use in public administration in Canada: Early experience with a new collaboration tool
Authors: Longo Justin , Kelley Tanya M. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractGitHub is a web‐based digital project hosting service that facilitates collaboration. We introduce how GitHub works and assess how it has been used in the public sector in Canada based on interviews with federal government leaders and a survey of Canadian public service GitHub users. With little research to date on public sector use of GitHub, and none on its use in Canadian governments, we explore the early experience with this collaboration tool and consider the possible implications for collaboration in government.
Genetic variants at 9p21.3 are associated with risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in a Chinese population
Authors: Lin Xiaoming , Yan Caiwang , Gao Yong , Du Jiangbo , Zhu Xun , Yu Fei , Huang Tongtong , Dai Juncheng , Ma Hongxia , Jiang Yue , Yin Rong , Hu Zhibin , Jin Guangfu , Xu Lin , Shen Hongbing 
Published: December 2016

Genome‐wide association studies have linked genetic variants at 9p21.3 to the risk of multiple cancers. However, the roles of genetic variants at 9p21.3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) development are largely unknown. We evaluated the genetic variants at 9p21.3 reported in cancer genome‐wide association studies with a case–control study including 2139 ESCC cases and 2273 controls in a Chinese population, and measured the mRNA expression levels of MTAP, CDKN2A, CDKN2B, and CDKN2B‐AS1 in paired ESCC tumor and adjacent normal tissues. We found that the G allele of rs7023329 was significantly associated with a decreased risk of ESCC with a per‐allele odds ratio of 0.84 (95% confidence interval, 0.77–0.91; P = 2.95 × 10−5). The rs7023329‐G allele was related to a high expression of MTAP (P = 0.020). The rs1679013‐C allele was independently associated with an increased risk of ESCC with a per‐allele odds ratio of 1.12 (95% confidence interval, 1.01–1.24; P = 0.039). We also found that the carriers of the risk allele rs1679013‐C had lower expression of CDKN2B than non‐carriers (P = 0.035). CDKN2B was also significantly downregulated in ESCC tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues (P = 3.50×10−5). Therefore, our findings indicate that genetic variants at 9p21.3 may modulate the expression of MTAP and CDKN2B and contribute to ESCC susceptibility. This may further advance our understanding of the 9p21.3 locus in cancer development.
Tomorrow's Leaders and Today's Agents of Change? Children, Sustainability Education and Environmental Governance
Authors: Walker Catherine 
Published: December 2016

Children are central to the rhetoric supporting global climate agreements, yet they are also envisaged to play a strategic role in materialising such agreements. Along with other household actors, children are implicated in localised efforts to manage global resource sustainability. As learners in educational systems that are being redesigned to encompass messages of sustainability, children are moreover positioned as ‘agents of change’ through sustainability education. Drawing on theoretical work on children's agency and interdependence, this review calls for greater attention to the structural and relational dimensions of environmental knowledge transmission to inform sustainability education. This is presented as one move towards constructing what Middlemiss (2014) terms a more ‘socially sensitive’ model of sustainable development.
Taxi Drivers, Infrastructures, and Urban Change in Globalizing Mumbai
Authors: BEDI TARINI 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis paper focusses on taxis and the taxi industry in relationship to crisis and change in contemporary Mumbai. Through an ethnographic exploration of Mumbai's taxi modernization project, changes in the material aspects of the taxi and taxi system, and a community of hereditary taxi drivers known as chillia, I examine ways that infrastructure is understood, practiced, and contested. Focusing on how chillia drivers negotiate livelihoods in the context of contemporary moves to modernize, deregulate, and privatize the taxi trade, I argue that while rationalizing imperatives of infrastructural modernization are vital to jumpstarting urban change, they contend with multiple and shifting meanings that infrastructure building takes on among various actors in the city. Mumbai's taxi modernization project illuminates how negotiations around these meanings have the capacity to shape and redirect urban change both from “above” and “below.” [Urban Infrastructure; Globalization; Labor; Transportation; South Asia; Taxis; India]
How Religion, Race, and the Weedy Agency of Plants Shape Amazonian Home Gardens
Authors: Kawa Nicholas C. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractAcross Brazilian Amazonia, it is common to find rural households that keep plants with magico‐medicinal properties in their home gardens. Despite widespread occurrence of such plants, some Amazonians—especially in Evangelical communities—openly criticize their use as incongruent with Christian belief and practice. In this article, I offer ethnographic observations that indicate divergent attitudes toward magico‐medicinal plants between Evangelical Christians and Amazonian folk Catholics, the latter of whom borrow heavily from Afro‐Brazilian and indigenous religions. I contend that Evangelicals’ attempts to establish distance from such plants is due in part to histories of ethnic and racial marginalization that are indexed in their use. Still, many magico‐medicinal plants are weedy species that actively colonize areas occupied by humans, thus openly defying Evangelical attempts to evade them. In this manner, magico‐medicinal plants are not just subject to human agencies, but are arguably agents in their own right.
Shrimp Aquaculture, Social Capital, and Food Security in Rural Vietnam
Authors: Fly Jessie K. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis paper argues that coastal development in Vietnam and market‐based economic reform, more broadly, have produced household vulnerability in the form of food security for elderly residents left behind by rural–urban migration. Elderly only households are growing in proportion in rural Vietnam as the number of elderly individuals and rates of out‐migration increase. In Đông Hải, a small, shrimp‐farming village in the Mekong Delta, the livelihood transition to intensive shrimp aquaculture and resultant rising debt has pushed young adults out of the community in search of wage labor to support their families, leaving their aging parents behind. With that important loss of social capital, the subsistence strategies of elderly only households are constrained and food insecurity results, as evidenced in this study by dietary diversity and reliance on diet‐related coping strategies.
Theology of the Heart and Cognitio Dei Experimentalis (Experiential Knowledge of God)
Authors: Zaprometova Olga 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThe first meeting of the official Lutheran‐Pentecostal Dialogue took place in September 2016 and focused on introductions and our identity in Christ. This article sets out a narrative of a Russian Pentecostal with Lutheran roots, a specialization in Jewish studies, and an interest in cognitive studies. A basic challenge for the dialogue partners lies in understanding the crucial role of experience to our knowledge of the divine and the formulation of theology.
The Gross Motor Function Classification System Family Report Questionnaire: reliability between special‐education teachers and caregivers
Authors: Ramrit Sirinun , Yonglitthipagon Ponlapat , Janyacharoen Taweesak , Emasithi Alongkot , Siritaratiwat Wantana 
Published: December 2016

AimThe aim of this study was to investigate the reliability of the Thai Gross Motor Function Classification System Family Report Questionnaire (GMFCS‐FR) and the possibility of special‐education teachers and caregivers in the community using this system in children with cerebral palsy (CP).MethodThe reliability was examined by two teachers and two caregivers who classified 21 children with CP aged 2 to 12 years. A GMFCS‐FR workshop was organized for raters. The teachers and caregivers classified the mobility of 362 children. The rater reliability was analysed using the weighted kappa coefficient. The possibility of using the GMFCS‐FR is reported. The reliability of using the GMFCS‐FR in the community was analysed by the intraclass correlation coefficient.ResultsThe intrarater reliability ranged from 0.91 to 1.00. The interrater reliability between teachers was 0.85 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69–0.97) and between caregivers was 0.84 (95% CI 0.70–0.97). Ninety‐seven percent of raters used the Thai GMFCS‐FR correctly. The overall intraclass correlation coefficient between raters was 0.90 (95% CI 0.88–0.92).InterpretationThe Thai GMFCS‐FR is a reliable system for classifying the motor function of young children with CP by teachers and caregivers in the community.