bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Myotropic activity and immunolocalization of selected neuropeptides of the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera: Silphidae)
Authors: Urbański Arkadiusz , Lubawy Jan , Marciniak Paweł , Rosiński Grzegorz 
Published: January 2018

AbstractBurying beetles (Nicrophorus sp.) are necrophagous insects with developed parental care. Genome of Nicrophorus vespilloides has been recently sequenced, which makes them interesting model organism in behavioral ecology. However, we know very little about their physiology, including the functioning of their neuroendocrine system. In this study, one of the physiological activities of proctolin, myosuppressin (Nicve‐MS), myoinhibitory peptide (Trica‐MIP‐5) and the short neuropeptide F (Nicve‐sNPF) in N. vespilloides have been investigated. The tested neuropeptides were myoactive on N. vespilloides hindgut. After application of the proctolin increased hindgut contraction frequency was observed (EC50 value was 5.47 × 10−8 mol/L). The other tested neuropeptides led to inhibition of N. vespilloides hindgut contractions (Nicve‐MS: IC50 = 5.20 × 10−5 mol/L; Trica‐MIP‐5: IC50 = 5.95 × 10−6 mol/L; Nicve‐sNPF: IC50 = 4.08 × 10−5 mol/L). Moreover, the tested neuropeptides were immunolocalized in the nervous system of N. vespilloides. Neurons containing sNPF and MIP in brain and ventral nerve cord (VNC) were identified. Proctolin‐immunolabeled neurons only in VNC were observed. Moreover, MIP‐immunolabeled varicosities and fibers in retrocerebral complex were observed. In addition, our results have been supplemented with alignments of amino acid sequences of these neuropeptides in beetle species. This alignment analysis clearly showed amino acid sequence similarities between neuropeptides. Moreover, this allowed to deduce amino acid sequence of N. vespilloides proctolin (RYLPTa), Nicve‐MS (QDVDHVFLRFa) and six isoforms of Nicve‐MIP (Nicve‐MIP‐1—DWNRNLHSWa; Nicve‐MIP‐2—AWQNLQGGWa; Nicve‐MIP‐3—AWQNLQGGWa; Nicve‐MIP‐4—AWKNLNNAGWa; Nicve‐MIP‐5—SEWGNFRGSWa; Nicve‐MIP‐6— DPAWTNLKGIWa; and Nicve‐sNPF—SGRSPSLRLRFa).
Runs of homozygosity reveal genome‐wide autozygosity in Italian sheep breeds
Authors: Mastrangelo S. , Ciani E. , Sardina M. T. , Sottile G. , Pilla F. , Portolano B. ,   the Bi.Ov. Ita Consortium
Published: January 2018

SummaryThe availability of dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assays allows for the determination of autozygous segments based on runs of consecutive homozygous genotypes (ROH). The aim of the present study was to investigate the occurrence and distribution of ROH in 21 Italian sheep breeds using medium‐density SNP genotypes in order to characterize autozygosity and identify genomic regions that frequently appeared in ROH within individuals, namely ROH islands. After filtering, the final number of animals and SNPs retained for analyses were 502 and 46 277 respectively. A total of 12 302 ROH were identified. The mean number of ROH per breed ranged from 10.58 (Comisana) to 44.54 (Valle del Belice). The average length of ROH across breeds was 4.55 Mb and ranged from 3.85 Mb (Biellese) to 5.51 Mb (Leccese). Valle del Belice showed the highest value of inbreeding on the basis of ROH (FROH = 0.099), whereas Comisana showed the lowest (FROH = 0.016), and high standard deviation values revealed high variability in autozygosity levels within each breed. Differences also existed in the length of ROH. Analysis of the distribution of ROH according to their size showed that, for all breeds, the majority of the detected ROH were <10 Mb in length, with a few long ROH >25 Mb. The levels of ROH that we estimated here reflect the inbreeding history of the investigated sheep breeds. These results also highlight that ancient and recent inbreeding have had an impact on the genome of the Italian sheep breeds and suggest that several animals have experienced recent autozygosity events. Comisana and Bergamasca appeared as the less consanguineous breeds, whereas Barbaresca, Leccese and Valle del Belice showed ROH patterns typically produced by recent inbreeding. Moreover, within the genomic regions most commonly associated with ROH, several candidate genes were detected.
Understanding Australian medical student attitudes towards older people
Authors: Wilson Mark AG , Kurrle Susan E , Wilson Ian 
Published: January 2018

ObjectiveThe aim of this article was to review the literature around Australian medical student attitudes towards older people.MethodsAn Ovid cross‐search and SCOPUS search were performed using keywords such as ‘Attitude’, ‘Medical Student’ and ‘Aged or Older or Elderly’.ResultsSeveral recent studies have investigated the attitudes of Australian medical students towards older people. Baseline attitudes at two medical schools were positive. Three studies quantified attitude improvement after curriculum intervention. All the studies used US‐developed instruments, which have not been validated in Australia. Qualitative studies have described mixed attitudes towards older people: negative themes included nihilism, paternalism, communication issues, greater morbidity and reduced quality of life. Positively, students placed value on clinical decision‐making and critical reflection during residential aged care placements.ConclusionAustralian medical students’ attitudes towards older people are mixed and not well understood based on quantitative measures developed for use in the US and on qualitative evidence. Future research in this area requires a reliable and locally‐validated instrument.
MAML1 and TWIST1 co‐overexpression promote invasion of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Ardalan Khales Sima , Ebrahimi Ehsan , Jahanzad Eisa , Ardalan Khales Sahar , Forghanifard Mohammad Mahdi 
Published: January 2018

AbstractAimsHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the seventh most common cancer worldwide with considerable morbidity and mortality. Invasion and metastasis of HNSCC is a complex process involving multiple molecules and signaling pathways. Twist Family BHLH Transcription Factor 1 (TWIST1) and Mastermind‐like 1 (MAML1) are essential in induction of epithelial–mesenchymal transition through direct regulation of implicated molecules in cellular adhesion, migration and invasion. Our aim in this study was to assess the clinical significance of MAML1 and TWIST1 expression in HNSCC, and elucidate the probable correlation between these genes to exhibit their possible associations with progression and metastasis of the disease.MethodsThe gene expression profile of MAML1 and TWIST1 was assessed in fresh tumoral compared to distant tumor‐free tissues of 55 HNSCC patients using quantitative real‐time Polymerase chain reaction (PCR).ResultsSignificant overexpression of MAML1 and TWIST1 mRNA was observed in 49.1% and 38.2% (P ˂ 0.05) of tumor specimens, respectively. Overexpression of MAML1 was associated with vascular invasion (P = 0.048). Concomitant overexpression of MAML1 and TWIST1 was significantly correlated to each other (P = 0.004). Co‐overexpression of the genes was significantly correlated to the various clinicopathological indices of poor prognosis including depth of tumor invasion (P < 0.01), lymphatic invasion and grade of tumor cell differentiation (P < 0.05).ConclusionsSignificant correlation between MAML1 and TWIST1 in HNSCC was revealed. This study was the first report elucidating MAML1 clinical relevance in HNSCC. These new findings suggest an oncogenic role for concomitant expression of MAML1 and TWIST1 genes in HNSCC invasion and metastasis.
Clinical and metabolic effects associated with weight changes and obeticholic acid in non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis
Authors: Hameed B. , Terrault N. A. , Gill R. M. , Loomba R. , Chalasani N. , Hoofnagle J. H. , Van Natta M. L. ,   for the NASH CRN
Published: January 2018

SummaryBackgroundIn a 72‐week, randomised controlled trial of obeticholic acid (OCA) in non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), OCA was superior to placebo in improving serum ALT levels and liver histology. OCA therapy also reduced weight.AimsBecause weight loss by itself can improve histology, to perform a post hoc analysis of the effects of weight loss and OCA treatment in improving clinical and metabolic features of NASH.MethodsThe analysis was limited to the 200 patients with baseline and end‐of‐treatment liver biopsies. Weight loss was defined as a relative decline from baseline of 2% or more at treatment end.ResultsWeight loss occurred in 44% (45/102) of OCA and 32% (31/98) of placebo‐treated patients (P = 0.08). The NAFLD Activity score (NAS) improved more in those with than without weight loss in both the OCA‐ (−2.4 vs −1.2, P<0.001) and placebo‐treated patients (−1.2 vs −0.5, P = 0.03). ALT levels also improved in those with vs without weight loss in OCA‐ (−43 vs −34 U/L, P = 0.12) and placebo‐treated patients (−29 vs −10 U/L, P = 0.02). However, among those who lost weight, OCA was associated with opposite effects from placebo on changes in alkaline phosphatase (+21 vs −12 U/L, P<0.001), total (+13 vs −14 mg/dL, P = 0.02) and LDL cholesterol (+18 vs −12 mg/dL, P = 0.01), and HbA1c (+0.1 vs −0.4%, P = 0.01).ConclusionsOCA leads to weight loss in up to 44% of patients with NASH, and OCA therapy and weight loss have additive benefits on serum aminotransferases and histology. However, favourable effects of weight loss on alkaline phosphatase, lipids and blood glucose seen in placebo‐treated patients were absent or reversed on OCA treatment. These findings stress the importance of assessing concomitant metabolic effects of new therapies of NASH. Clinical trial number: NCT01265498.
Clinical features and treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease across the Asia Pacific region—the GO ASIA initiative
Authors: Chan W.‐K. , Treeprasertsuk S. , Imajo K. , Nakajima A. , Seki Y. , Kasama K. , Kakizaki S. , Fan J.‐G. , Song M. J. , Yoon S. K. , Dan Y.‐Y. , Lesmana L. , Ho K.‐Y. , Goh K.‐L. , Wong V. W.‐S. 
Published: January 2018

SummaryBackgroundThe Gut and Obesity Asia (GO ASIA) workgroup was formed to study the relationships between obesity and gastrointestinal diseases in the Asia Pacific region.AimTo study factors associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and advanced fibrosis, and medical treatment of biopsy‐proven nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients.MethodsRetrospective study of biopsy‐proven NAFLD patients from centres in the GO ASIA Workgroup. Independent factors associated with NASH and with advanced fibrosis on binary logistic regression analyses in a training cohort were used for the development of their corresponding risk score, which were validated in a validation cohort.ResultsWe included 1008 patients from nine centres across eight countries (NASH 62.9%, advanced fibrosis 17.2%). Independent predictors of NASH were body mass index ≥30 kg/m2, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia, alanine aminotransferase ≥88 U/L and aspartate aminotransferase ≥38 U/L, constituting the Asia Pacific NASH risk score. A high score has a positive predictive value of 80%‐83% for NASH. Independent predictors of advanced fibrosis were age ≥55 years, diabetes mellitus and platelet count <150 × 109/L, constituting the Asia‐Pacific NAFLD advanced fibrosis risk score. A low score has a negative predictive value of 95%‐96% for advanced fibrosis. Only 1.7% of patients were referred for structured lifestyle program, 4.2% were on vitamin E, and 2.4% were on pioglitazone.ConclusionsMore severe liver disease can be suspected or ruled out based on factors identified in this study. Utilisation of structured lifestyle program, vitamin E and pioglitazone was limited despite this being a cohort of biopsy‐proven NAFLD patients with majority of patients having NASH.
Children's Perceptions of Economic Groups in a Context of Limited Access to Opportunities
Authors: Elenbaas Laura , Killen Melanie 
Published: January 2018

Children (N = 267, ages 8–14 years,M = 11.61 years, middle to upper‐middle income) made predictions regarding groups of same‐aged peers from high‐wealth and low‐wealth backgrounds. The context involved granting access to a special opportunity. From middle childhood to early adolescence children increasingly expected both high‐ and low‐wealth groups to want access to opportunities for their own group. However, children viewed high‐wealth groups as motivated in part by selfishness and low‐wealth groups as concerned in part with broader economic inequality. Finally, the higher children's family income, the more they expected group‐serving tendencies. These findings revealed children's perceptions of exclusive preferences between economic groups, negative stereotypes about high‐wealth children, and awareness of some of the constraints faced by low‐wealth children.
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy: The spectrum and immunopathogenesis deciphered by electrophysiology and neuroimaging
Authors: Kuwabara Satoshi , Misawa Sonoko , Mori Masahiro 
Published: January 2018

AbstractChronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a heterogeneous disorder having a wide range of clinical phenotypes, and is currently classified into “typical CIDP” and variants, such as multifocal acquired demyelinating sensory and motor neuropathy. Typical CIDP is clinically characterized by symmetric polyneuropathy involving proximal as well as distal muscle weakness, whereas electrophysiology shows evidence of demyelination predominant in the distal nerve terminals, and magnetic resonance neurography frequently shows prominent hypertrophy of the nerve roots. The pattern of demyelination distribution strongly suggests primary involvement of the nerve terminals and roots, where the blood–nerve barrier is anatomically deficient, and the importance of an antibody‐mediated mechanism. In contrast, multifocal acquired demyelinating sensory and motor neuropathy is multiple mononeuropathy or asymmetric polyneuropathy with multifocal conduction blocks and focal nerve enlargement in the intermediate nerve trunks at the site of conduction block; such distribution of lesions is reasonably explained by breakdown of the blood–nerve barrier by activated lymphocytes, suggesting a multiple sclerosis‐like cellular mechanism. Clinical features are likely to be determined by the immunopathogenesis, and therefore different immunological treatment would be required for each CIDP subtype. The present review focuses on current concepts of the disease spectrum of “CIDP syndrome” deciphered by electrophysiology and neuroimaging.
Complex interplay among adiposity, insulin resistance and bone health
Authors: Ma C. , Tonks K. T. , Center J. R. , Samocha‐Bonet D. , Greenfield J. R. 
Published: January 2018

SummaryObesity and osteoporosis are common public health problems. Paradoxically, while obesity is associated with higher bone density, type 2 diabetic obese individuals have an increased fracture risk. Although obesity and insulin resistance co‐exist, some obese individuals remain insulin‐sensitive. We suggest that the apparent paradox relating obesity, bone density and fracture risk in type 2 diabetes may be at least partly influenced by differences in bone strength and quality between insulin‐resistant and insulin‐sensitive obese individuals. In this review, we focus on the complex interplay between, adiposity, insulin resistance and osteoporotic fracture risk and suggest that this is an important area of study that has implications for individually tailored and targeted treatment to prevent osteoporotic fracture in obese type 2 diabetic individuals.
A Naive Bayes approach for URL classification with supervised feature selection and rejection framework
Authors: Rajalakshmi R. , Aravindan Chandrabose 
Published: January 2018

AbstractWeb page classification has become a challenging task due to the exponential growth of the World Wide Web. Uniform Resource Locator (URL)‐based web page classification systems play an important role, but high accuracy may not be achievable as URL contains minimal information. Nevertheless, URL‐based classifiers along with rejection framework can be used as a first‐level filter in a multistage classifier, and a costlier feature extraction from contents may be done in later stages. However, noisy and irrelevant features present in URL demand feature selection methods for URL classification. Therefore, we propose a supervised feature selection method by which relevant URL features are identified using statistical methods. We propose a new feature weighting method for a Naive Bayes classifier by embedding the term goodness obtained from the feature selection method. We also propose a rejection framework to the Naive Bayes classifier by using posterior probability for determining the confidence score. The proposed method is evaluated on the Open Directory Project and WebKB data sets. Experimental results show that our method can be an effective first‐level filter. McNemar tests confirm that our approach significantly improves the performance.
Infant brain responses to felt and observed touch of hands and feet: an MEG study
Authors: Meltzoff Andrew N. , Ramírez Rey R. , Saby Joni N. , Larson Eric , Taulu Samu , Marshall Peter J. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThere is growing interest concerning the ways in which the human body, both one's own and that of others, is represented in the developing human brain. In two experiments with 7‐month‐old infants, we employed advances in infant magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain imaging to address novel questions concerning body representations in early development. Experiment 1 evaluated the spatiotemporal organization of infants’ brain responses to being touched. A punctate touch to infants’ hands and feet produced significant activation in the hand and foot areas of contralateral primary somatosensory cortex as well as in other parietal and frontal areas. Experiment 2 explored infant brain responses to visually perceiving another person's hand or foot being touched. Results showed significant activation in early visual regions and also in regions thought to be involved in multisensory body and self–other processing. Furthermore, observed touch of the hand and foot activated the infant's own primary somatosensory cortex, although less consistently than felt touch. These findings shed light on aspects of early social cognition, including action imitation, which may build, at least in part, on infant neural representations that map equivalences between the bodies of self and other.
A Survey of tooth morphology teaching methods employed in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Authors: Lone M. , McKenna J. P. , Cryan J. F. , Downer E. J. , Toulouse A. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractBackgroundTooth morphology is a central component of the dental curriculum and is applicable to all dental specialities. Traditional teaching methods are being supplemented with innovative strategies to tailor teaching and accommodate the learning styles of the recent generation of students.MethodsAn online survey was compiled and distributed to the staff involved in teaching tooth morphology in the United Kingdom and Ireland to assess the importance of tooth morphology in the dentistry curriculum and the methodologies employed in teaching.ResultsThe results of the survey show that tooth morphology constitutes a small module in the dental curriculum. It is taught in the first 2 years of the dental curriculum but is applicable in the clinical years and throughout the dental career. Traditional teaching methods, lecture and practical, are being augmented with innovative teaching including e‐learning via virtual learning environment, tooth atlas and e‐books leading to blended learning. The majority of the schools teach both normal dental anatomy and morphologic variations of dental anatomy and utilise plastic teeth for practical and examination purposes. Learning the 3D aspects of tooth morphology was deemed important by most of the respondents who also agreed that tooth morphology is a difficult topic for the students.ConclusionDespite being core to the dental curriculum, overall minimal time is dedicated to the delivery of tooth morphology, creating a reliance on the student to learn the material. New forms of delivery including computer‐assisted learning tools should help sustain learning and previously acquired knowledge.
Overwintering success in adults of the Japanese common grass yellow Eurema mandarina
Authors: Konagaya Tatsuro , Yokoi Tomoyuki , Watanabe Mamoru , Numata Hideharu 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe evolution of reproductive diapause is controversial in males as compared to females that must overwinter to leave offspring, because late‐autumn males can obtain offspring by pre‐overwintering copulation. The Japanese common grass yellow Eurema mandarina is suitable to examine the evolution of male reproductive diapause, because direct comparisons are possible between males that do and do not exhibit reproductive diapause. Approximately one‐half of males are insensitive to diapause‐inducing conditions, and emerge as non‐diapause summer‐form. Most autumn‐form females mate with summer‐form males in late autumn. Females that have overwintered re‐mate with autumn‐form males before the onset of oviposition. Because last‐male‐precedence is general in sperm competition in Lepidoptera, it is unclear why half of males emerge as summer‐form in late autumn. A potential adaptive benefit for emerging as summer‐form is increased sperm overwintering success, if autumn‐form females have a higher overwintering success than autumn‐form males. In the present study, overwintering success was estimated for both sexes of autumn‐form adults by rearing under seminatural conditions and a mark–release–recapture technique. Both approaches estimated an overwintering success of approximately 5% for both sexes. The absence of difference in overwintering success between the sexes suggests that pre‐overwintering copulation does not increase sperm overwintering success. However, a considerably low overwintering success may explain, at least partly, the presence of summer‐form males in late autumn. The degree of overwintering success might be more important than the sexual differences of overwintering success in the evolution of male reproductive diapause.
Shoaling with infected conspecifics does not improve resistance to trematode infection
Authors: Klemme Ines , Karvonen Anssi 
Published: January 2018

AbstractGroup‐living animals can gain protection against parasitic infections through social contacts with previously infected conspecifics (social immunization). Recent research suggests that such protective effects can be induced through visual or chemical cues released by infected individuals, resulting in anticipatory immune upregulation among group members. Here, we study cue‐induced social resistance in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss exposed to a trematode parasite, the eye‐fluke Diplostomum pseudospathaceum. We established groups of naïve individuals (receivers) that were paired with previously infected individuals (donors) at different ratios of donors to receivers and at different time points since donor exposure to capture varying concentrations of the anticipated cues. While the pre‐infection elevated resistance among the donors, there was no evidence of social transfer of resistance, regardless of the ratio of donors and receivers in a group or the time since the pre‐infection. The results suggest that resistance through social signalling may be system‐specific and requires further study into the generality of the phenomenon as well as the nature of the cues involved.