bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Differences in Postprandial Lipid Response to Breast‐ or Formula‐feeding in 8‐Week‐Old Infants
Authors: Teller Inga C. , Schoen Stefanie , van de Heijning Bert , van der Beek Eline M. , Sauer Pieter J.J. 
Published: July 2016

ABSTRACTObjective:Lipids play important roles in infant growth and development. In this exploratory observational single‐center study, we investigated postmeal responses of infants to dietary lipids and differences between breast‐feeding (BF) and formula‐feeding (FF).Methods:Two capillary blood samples were collected from each subject, before and randomly assigned at either 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, or 240 minutes after their respective feeding, followed by measurement of lipid‐related plasma parameter concentrations using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay‐based or combined enzymatic and colorimetric methods.Results:The intermeal interval before testing was shorter in the BF (182.91 ± 22.85 minutes, n = 33) versus FF group (214.1 ± 30.76 minutes, n = 34); BF subjects fed 5 minutes longer (BF 20.27 ± 7.7 minutes; FF 14.82 ± 3.57 minutes). Composite postmeal concentration profiles were generated from 59 plasma sample pairs with sufficient volume (BF = 30): triglyceride (TG) baselines were not different. A TG difference was indicated for BF over FF subjects at 30 minutes, for FF over BF subjects at 60 minutes when corrected for baseline. TG responses in both groups appeared and seemed to clear much faster than those reported for adults. The TG:apolipoprotein B48 (ApoB48) ratio suggests that chylomicrons in BF subjects may carry a higher fat load (P < 0.05), compensated by a higher chylomicron number in FF subjects (P < 0.05). Cholesterol in BF subjects was higher and showed an increase after feeding when corrected for baseline.Conclusions:Our results indicate that lipids from either BF or FF may be handled differently in young healthy infants.
Defense Mechanisms in “Pure” Anxiety and “Pure” Depressive Disorders
Authors: Colovic Olga , Lecic Tosevski Dusica , Perunicic Mladenovic Ivana , Milosavljevic Maja , Munjiza Ana 
Published: July 2016

Abstract
Our study was intended to test whether there are any differences in the way defense mechanisms are used by patients suffering from pure anxiety and those with pure depressive disorders. The sample size was as follows: depressive disorders without psychotic symptoms 30, anxiety disorders 30, and the healthy control group 30. The assessment of defense mechanisms was made using the DSQ-40 questionnaire. Our findings show that “pure” anxiety disorders differ from “pure” depressive disorders only in the use of immature defense mechanisms. The group with depressive disorders was significantly more prone to use immature defense mechanisms than the group with anxiety disorders (p = 0.005), primarily projection (p = 0.001) and devaluation (p = 0.003). These defense mechanisms may therefore be used both to differentiate between anxiety and depressive disorders and also to determine which symptoms (anxiety or depressive disorders) are dominant at any given stage of treatment.
The Association Between Social Capital and Depression Among Chinese Older Adults Living in Public Housing
Authors: Wu Tat Leong , Hall Brian J. , Canham Sarah L. , Lam Agnes Iok Fong 
Published: July 2016

AbstractSocial capital is a critical resource for physical and mental health among older adults, but few studies have investigated this relationship in Chinese populations, and specifically among those with low socioeconomic status. This study examined the association between depression and cognitive social capital (reciprocity and trust) and structural social capital (social participation) in a community sample of older adults living in public housing in Macau (SAR), China (N= 366). Multivariable linear regressions estimated the associations between dimensions of social capital and depression, while adjusting for potential confounders. Significant inverse associations were found between reciprocity and trust and depression. No association was found between social participation and depression. Poor self-reported health was a robust correlate of depression in all models tested. Future studies are needed to evaluate whether enhancing social capital may reduce depression among Chinese older adults living in poverty.
The Effect of Same-Day Observed Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy on HIV Viral Load and Treatment Outcomes in a US Public Health Setting
Authors: Pilcher Christopher D. , Ospina-Norvell Clarissa , Dasgupta Aditi , Jones Diane , Hartogensis Wendy , Torres Sandra , Calderon Fabiola , Demicco Erin , Geng Elvin , Gandhi Monica , Havlir Diane V. , Hatano Hiroyu 
Published: July 2016

Background:
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is typically begun weeks after HIV diagnosis. We assessed the acceptability, feasibility, safety, and efficacy of initiating ART on the same day as diagnosis.

Methods:
We studied a clinic-based cohort consisting of consecutive patients who were referred with new HIV diagnosis between June 2013 and December 2014. A subset of patients with acute or recent infection (<6 months) or CD4 <200 were managed according to a “RAPID” care initiation protocol. An intensive, same-day appointment included social needs assessment; medical provider evaluation; and a first ART dose offered after laboratories were drawn. Patient acceptance of ART, drug toxicities, drug resistance, and time to viral suppression outcomes were compared between RAPID participants and contemporaneous patients (who were not offered the program), and with an historical cohort.

Results:
Among 86 patients, 39 were eligible and managed on the RAPID protocol. Thirty-seven (94.9%) of 39 in RAPID began ART within 24 hours. Minor toxicity with the initial regimen occurred in 2 (5.1%) of intervention patients versus none in the nonintervention group. Loss to follow-up was similar in intervention (10.3%) and nonintervention patients (14.9%) during the study. Time to virologic suppression (<200 copies HIV RNA/mL) was significantly faster (median 1.8 months) among intervention-managed patients when compared with patients treated in the same clinic under prior recommendations for universal ART (4.3 months; P = 0.0001).

Conclusions:
Treatment for HIV infection can be started on the day of diagnosis without impacting the safety or acceptability of ART. Same-day ART may shorten the time to virologic suppression.
Nonintubated Needlescopic Thoracic Sympathectomy for Primary Palmar Hyperhidrosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Chen Jian-Feng , Lin Min , Chen Ping , Quan Du , Li Xu , Lai Fan-Cai , Tu Yuan-Rong 
Published: July 2016

Background:
Conventional endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy (ETS) is usually performed with 5-mm thoracoscope under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. Needlescopic thoracic sympathectomy under total intravenous anesthesia without intubation has rarely been attempted. This randomized controlled trial assesses the feasibility and safety of this minimally invasive therapeutic procedure in managing primary palmar hyperhidrosis.

Methods:
From July 2012 to July 2014, 221 patients with severe primary palmar hyperhidrosis underwent bilateral ETS and were randomly allocated to group A or group B. Patients in group A (n=108) underwent nonintubated ETS using a needle endoscope, whereas those in group B (n=113) underwent traditional transaxillary single-port ETS using a 5-mm thoracoscope.

Results:
ETS was successfully performed in all patients. The palms of all patients became dry and warm immediately after surgery. The mean resuscitation time was significantly shorter in nonintubated patients than in intubated patients (P<0.01). Postoperative sore throat occurred in 37 patients in group B, whereas none of the patients in group A complained about sore throat after surgery (P<0.01). The mean incision length was 5.1±0.1 mm with needle endoscope and 11.0±0.8 mm with traditional thoracoscope (P<0.01). The mean postoperative pain score was 1.1±0.8 in group A and 3.2±0.8 in group B (P<0.01). The mean cost of anesthesia was considerably lower in nonintubated patients than in intubated patients (P<0.01). Follow-up was 100% completed. The mean cosmetic scores were higher in group A than in group B (P<0.01). Residual pain occurred in 2 patients in group A and in 18 patients in group B (P<0.01).

Conclusions:
Nonintubated needlescopic thoracic sympathectomy is a safe, effective, and minimally invasive therapeutic procedure, which has the advantages of a smaller incision with less pain, shorter resuscitation time, and better cosmetic results.
Synthetic consciousness: the distributed adaptive control perspective
Authors: Verschure Paul F. M. J. 
Published: July 2016

Understanding the nature of consciousness is one of the grand outstanding scientific challenges. The fundamental methodological problem is how phenomenal first person experience can be accounted for in a third person verifiable form, while the conceptual challenge is to both define its function and physical realization. The distributed adaptive control theory of consciousness (DACtoc) proposes answers to these three challenges. The methodological challenge is answered relative to the hard problem and DACtoc proposes that it can be addressed using a convergent synthetic methodology using the analysis of synthetic biologically grounded agents, or quale parsing. DACtoc hypothesizes that consciousness in both its primary and secondary forms serves the ability to deal with the hidden states of the world and emerged during the Cambrian period, affording stable multi-agent environments to emerge. The process of consciousness is an autonomous virtualization memory, which serializes and unifies the parallel and subconscious simulations of the hidden states of the world that are largely due to other agents and the self with the objective to extract norms. These norms are in turn projected as value onto the parallel simulation and control systems that are driving action. This functional hypothesis is mapped onto the brainstem, midbrain and the thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical systems and analysed with respect to our understanding of deficits of consciousness. Subsequently, some of the implications and predictions of DACtoc are outlined, in particular, the prediction that normative bootstrapping of conscious agents is predicated on an intentionality prior. In the view advanced here, human consciousness constitutes the ultimate evolutionary transition by allowing agents to become autonomous with respect to their evolutionary priors leading to a post-biological Anthropocene.This article is part of the themed issue ‘The major synthetic evolutionary transitions’.
Major transitions in information technology
Authors: Valverde Sergi 
Published: July 2016

When looking at the history of technology, we can see that all inventions are not of equal importance. Only a few technologies have the potential to start a new branching series (specifically, by increasing diversity), have a lasting impact in human life and ultimately became turning points. Technological transitions correspond to times and places in the past when a large number of novel artefact forms or behaviours appeared together or in rapid succession. Why does that happen? Is technological change continuous and gradual or does it occur in sudden leaps and bounds? The evolution of information technology (IT) allows for a quantitative and theoretical approach to technological transitions. The value of information systems experiences sudden changes (i) when we learn how to use this technology, (ii) when we accumulate a large amount of information, and (iii) when communities of practice create and exchange free information. The coexistence between gradual improvements and discontinuous technological change is a consequence of the asymmetric relationship between complexity and hardware and software. Using a cultural evolution approach, we suggest that sudden changes in the organization of ITs depend on the high costs of maintaining and transmitting reliable information.
This article is part of the themed issue ‘The major synthetic evolutionary transitions’.
Transition from environmental to partial genetic sex determination inDaphniathrough the evolution of a female-determining incipient W-chromosome
Authors: Reisser Céline M.O. , Fasel Dominique , Hürlimann Evelin , Dukič Marinela , Haag-Liautard Cathy , Thuillier Virginie , Galimov Yan , Haag Christoph 
Published: July 2016

AbstractSex chromosomes can evolve during the evolution of genetic sex determination (GSD) from environmental sex determination (ESD). Despite theoretical attention, early mechanisms involved in the transition from ESD to GSD have yet to be studied in nature. No mixed ESD-GSD animal species have been reported, except for some species ofDaphnia, small freshwater crustaceans in which sex is usually determined solely by the environment, but in which a dominant female sex-determining locus is present in some populations. This locus follows Mendelian single-locus inheritance, but has otherwise not been characterized genetically. We now show that the sex-determining genomic region maps to the same low-recombining peri-centromeric region of linkage group 3 (LG3) in three highly divergent populations ofD. magna, and spans 3.6 Mb. Despite low levels of recombination, the associated region contains signs of historical recombination, suggesting a role for selection acting on several genes thereby maintaining linkage disequilibrium among the 36 associated SNPs. The region carries numerous genes involved in sex differentiation in other taxa, includingtransformer2andsox9. Taken together, the region determining the NMP phenotype shows characteristics of a sex-related supergene, suggesting that LG3 is potentially an incipient W chromosome despite the lack of significant additional restriction of recombination between Z and W. The occurrence of the female-determining locus in a pre-existing low recombining region illustrates one possible form of recombination suppression in sex chromosomes.D. magnais a promising model for studying the evolutionary transitions from ESD to GSD and early sex chromosome evolution.
Architectures of lipid transport systems for the bacterial outer membrane
Authors: Ekiert Damian C. , Bhabha Gira , Greenan Garrett , Ovchinnikov Sergey , Cox Jeffery S. , Vale Ronald D. 
Published: July 2016

SUMMARYHow phospholipids are trafficked between the bacterial inner and outer membranes through the intervening hydrophilic space of the periplasm is not known. Here we report that members of the mammalian cell entry (MCE) protein family form structurally diverse hexameric rings and barrels with a central channel capable of mediating lipid transport. TheE. coliMCE protein, MlaD, forms a ring as part of a larger ABC transporter complex in the inner membrane, and employs a soluble lipid-binding protein to ferry lipids between MlaD and an outer membrane protein complex. In contrast, EM structures of two otherE. coliMCE proteins show that YebT forms an elongated tube consisting of seven stacked MCE rings, and PqiB adopts a syringe-like architecture. Both YebT and PqiB create channels of sufficient length to span the entire periplasmic space. This work reveals diverse architectures of highly conserved protein-based channels implicated in the transport of lipids between the inner and outer membranes of bacteria and some eukaryotic organelles.HIGHLIGHTSMCE proteins adopt diverse architectures for transporting lipids across the bacterial periplasmCryo-EM and X-ray structures reveal how the MlaFEDB complex, along with MlaC, might shuttle lipids across the periplasm3.9 Å cryo-EM structure of PqiB reveals a syringe-like architecture with a continuous central channelYebT forms a a segmented tube-like structure, and YebT and PqiB are poised to directly link the inner and outer membranes to facilitate lipid transport.
Impact of Sample Type and DNA Isolation Procedure on Genomic Inference of Microbiome Composition
Authors: Knudsen Berith E. , Bergmark Lasse , Munk Patrick , Lukjancenko Oksana , Priemé Anders , Aarestrup Frank M. , Pamp Sünje J. 
Published: July 2016

ABSTRACTExplorations of complex microbiomes using genomics greatly enhance our understanding about their diversity, biogeography, and function. The isolation of DNA from microbiome specimens is a key prerequisite for such examinations, but challenges remain in obtaining sufficient DNA quantities required for certain sequencing approaches, achieving accurate genomic inference of microbiome composition, and facilitating comparability of findings across specimen types and sequencing projects. These aspects are particularly relevant for the genomics-based global surveillance of infectious agents and antimicrobial resistance from different reservoirs. Here, we compare in a stepwise approach a total of eight commercially available DNA extraction kits and 16 procedures based on these for three specimen types (human feces, pig feces, and hospital sewage). We assess DNA extraction using spike-in controls, and different types of beads for bead-beating facilitating cell lysis. We evaluate DNA concentration, purity, and stability, and microbial community composition using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and for selected samples using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our results suggest that inferred community composition was dependent on inherent specimen properties as well as DNA extraction method. We further show that bead-beating or enzymatic treatment can increase the extraction of DNA from Gram-positive bacteria. Final DNA quantities could be increased by isolating DNA from a larger volume of cell lysate compared to standard protocols. Based on this insight, we designed an improved DNA isolation procedure optimized for microbiome genomics that can be used for the three examined specimen types and potentially also for other biological specimens. A standard operating procedure is available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3475406.IMPORTANCESequencing-based analyses of microbiomes may lead to a breakthrough in our understanding of the microbial world associate with humans, animals, and the environment. Such insight could further the development of innovative ecosystem management approaches for the protection of our natural resources, and the design of more effective and sustainable solutions to prevent and control infectious diseases. Genome sequence information is an organism- (pathogen-) independent language that can be used across sectors, space, and time. Harmonized standards, protocols, and workflows for sample processing and analysis can facilitate the generation of such actionable information. In this study, we assessed several procedures for the isolation of DNA for next-generation sequencing. Our study highlights several important aspects to consider in the design and conduction of sequence-based analysis of microbiomes. We provide a standard operating procedure for the isolation of DNA from a range of biological specimens particularly relevant in clinical diagnostics and epidemiology.
Microwave Mutagenesis of Brevibacillus Parabrevis for Enhanced Cellulase Production, and Investigation on Thermostability of this Cellulase
Authors: Khambhala Pinakin , Paliwal Purva , Kothari Vijay 
Published: July 2016

ABSTRACTMicrowave mutagenesis ofBrevibacillus parabrevisfor enhanced cellulase production was attempted. Though microwave treatment could alter the cellulase activity of the test bacterium, none of the mutants obtained were found to be genetically stable, indicating the reversible nature of microwave-induced mutation(s). Thermal stability of theB. parabreviscellulase was also investigated. This enzyme was found to be capable of retaining its activity even after heat treatment (50-121°C, for 30-60 min). Fluorescence spectrum revealed ared shiftin the emission maxima of the heat-treated enzyme preparations, indicating some structural change upon heating, but no major loss of activity was observed. This enzyme was found to be active over a broad temp range, with 90°C as the optimum temp, which is interesting as the producing organism is a mesophile.
Local chromosome context is a major determinant of crossover pathway biochemistry during budding yeast meiosis
Authors: Medhi Darpan , Goldman Alastair S. H. , Lichten Michael 
Published: July 2016

AbstractMeiotic chromosomes are divided into regions of enrichment and depletion for meiotic chromosome axis proteins, in budding yeast Hop1 and Red1. These proteins are important for formation of Spo11-catalyzed DSB, but their contribution to crossover recombination is undefined. By studying meiotic recombination initiated by the sequence-specificVMA1-derived endonuclease (VDE), we show that meiotic chromosome structure helps to determine the biochemical mechanism by which recombination intermediates are resolved to form crossovers. At a Hop1-enriched locus, most VDE-initiated crossovers required the MutLγ resolvase, which forms most Spo11-initiated crossovers. In contrast, at a locus with lower Hop1 occupancy, most VDE-initiated crossovers were MutLγ-independent. Inpch2mutants, the two loci displayed similar Hop1 occupancy levels, and also displayed similar MutLγ-dependence of VDE-induced crossovers. We suggest that meiotic and mitotic recombination pathways coexist within meiotic cells, with features of meiotic chromosome structure partitioning the genome into regions where one pathway or the other predominates.
Scale development for consumer protection and its determinants: evidence from Nigeria
Authors: Usman Dahiru Jafaru , Yaacob Nurli , Rahman Aspalella A. 
Published: July 2016

PurposeThis paper aims to develop an instrument for measuring Consumer Protection and its Determinants (CP&Ds). This is because literature on an instrument to measure CP&Ds is scarce.Design/methodology/approachIn Nigeria, 53 questionnaires were distributed to legal practitioners. The study used 24 items to operationalize the CP&Ds. The research data were coded and scored, and the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted using SPSS version 22. The Bartlett’s test of sphericity, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin, Cronbach’s alpha and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used for the EFA, internal consistency reliability and multicollinearity, respectively.FindingsThe EFA produced seven factors, and each determinant was found reliable with its measure of internal consistency.Research limitations/implicationsThe research result may not be generalized across jurisdiction because of the limited sample size and the fact that the data were collected from Nigerian legal practitioners.Practical implicationsThis study can be used by policymakers and even private electricity companies in the deregulated electricity sector in Nigeria for policy design and effective consumer protection.Originality/valueFrom the extensive literature review none was identified on the scale development for measuring CP&Ds. This exploratory research is the first attempt to develop an instrument for measuring CP&Ds.