bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The importance of spring hunting in Malta on European Turtle-Dove Streptopelia turtur and Common Quail Coturnix coturnix populations
Authors: CARUANA-GALIZIA PAUL , FENECH NATALINO 
Published: March 2016

SummaryThe European Commission’s 1979 Wild Birds Directive bans member states from hunting wild birds during spring, the period during which they are breeding or migrating, as hunting wild birds before they have reproduced is perceived to have a greater effect on bird populations than it would in autumn or winter. Malta is the only European Union member state to allow recreational wild bird hunting in spring, when birds migrate over the country to their European breeding grounds. Malta’s derogation of the European Commission’s ban can only be legally permissible if no alternative solutions to spring hunting exist. Using figures provided by hunters, we show that greater numbers of European Turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur and Common Quail Coturnix coturnix – the two species for which spring hunting is allowed – are hunted in autumn than in spring. We show that statistics on the number of birds hunted in spring, which hunters are legally obliged to provide to authorities, are under-reported: they are not correlated, at times negatively correlated, with data on the daily influxes of birds, and they spike in the final week of the season, consistent with the hypothesis that hunters under-report to avoid reaching quotas which would result in an early season closure. Finally, while there are wide error margins around the numbers, independent annual estimates of turtle-doves hunted in Malta imply spring hunting is a conservation concern beyond the country itself. Each spring, hunters in Malta kill the equivalent of between 2.4% and 4.4% of Europe’s turtle-dove population and 0.4% and 0.5% of its quail population.
Sonic Explorations of the Southernmost Continent: Four composers’ responses to Antarctica and climate change in the twenty-first century
Authors: Philpott Carolyn 
Published: March 2016

Composers have been drawn to the world’s southernmost continent, Antarctica, for creative inspiration since the so-called ‘Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration’ in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, it has only been since the final few years of the twentieth century that professional composers have had opportunities to travel to the far south as part of arts residency programmes to experience its environment – and its unique soundscapes – first-hand. Most composers who have visited Antarctica to date have utilised sound recording technologies to document their journeys sonically and have subsequently created compositions that feature their soundscape recordings. Typically, such compositions include biological sounds, such as vocalisations of penguins and seals (both on the ice and underwater); non-biological or ‘geophysical’ ambient sounds that emanate from the natural landscape, such as those created by wind, blizzards, and ice cracking and calving; and/or anthropogenic (human) sounds recorded within the Antarctic environment.This article examines a series of recent compositions by four established composers who have visited Antarctica and used their experiences and field recordings to inform their creative work: Douglas Quin, Jay Needham, Lawrence English and Philip Samartzis. The primary aim of this research is to investigate what these composers’ Antarctica-related works reveal about their individual encounters with and perceptions of the frozen continent, as well as to consider the role of such compositions in conveying messages related to climate change to listeners around the globe – the vast majority of whom are unlikely to ever see orhearthe place in person.
Combination of high resolution melting (HRM) analysis and SSR molecular markers speeds up plum genotyping: case study genotyping the Greek plum GeneBank collection
Authors: Merkouropoulos Georgios , Ganopoulos Ioannis , Tsaftaris Athanasios , Papadopoulos Ioannis , Drogoudi Pavlina 
Published: March 2016

AbstractIn a germplasm bank collection the conservation and characterization of genetic resources is a prerequisite in order to use the material in breeding projects aiming the creation of new cultivars. In the present study, 54Prunus salicina domesticaandPrunus domesticagenotypes (including seven Greek cultivars), maintained in theex situNational Genebank Collection of Greece, were classified using microsatellite (simple sequence repeat, SSR) markers on high resolution melting (HRM) analysis. The SSR primer pairs were chosen from the published literature as originally designed onPrunusspecies. This combined approach was used to genotype all plum accessions of the collection highlighting the benefits of either method (HRM and SSRs) for cultivar identification. Dendrograms forP. domesticaandP. salicinaand a combined one with all the genotypes assayed were produced. A total of 15 from the 19P. domesticaaccessions analysed, including all the Greek accessions but ‘Avgati Skopelou’, were grouped into the same clade in the combined dendrogram, whereas the remaining four were dispersed into theP. salinicaclades. Bayesian structure analysis confirmed that ‘Avgati Skopelou’ differs from the rest of the Greek plum cultivars since it was not grouped into the same cluster. The combination of HRM and SSRs, provided a considerably faster, cost-effective, closed-tube microsatellite genotyping method for molecular characterization of plum cultivars.
The Moderator Role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence in the Relationship between Sources of Stress and Mental Health in Teachers
Authors: Pulido-Martos Manuel , Lopez-Zafra Esther , Estévez-López Fernando , Augusto-Landa José María 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThis study analyzes the role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI) on sources of job stress and mental health in 250 elementary school teachers from Jaén (Spain). The aim of the study was two-fold: (1) to analyze the associations between Perceived Emotional Intelligence (PEI), sources of occupational stress and mental health; and (2) to determine whether PEI moderates the relationship between sources of occupational stress and mental health. An initial sample of 250 teachers was assessed Three questionnaires, the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, the Sources of Stress Scale in Teachers and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey, were used to evaluate PEI, sources of occupational stress and mental health, respectively. Teachers with higher levels of emotional attention reported lower levels of mental health (r= –.30;p< .001), while teachers showing high emotional clarity reported better emotional role (r= .14;p< .05) and social functioning (r= .15;p< .05). Moreover, PEI components moderate the relationship between sources of occupational stress and emotional role. Specifically, each significant interaction (i.e., deficiencies x attention, adaptation x attention, and adaptation x clarity) made a small and unique contribution in the explanation of emotional role (allp< .05, allsr2∼ .02). Finally, our results imply that PEI is an important moderator of teachers´ occupational stressors on mental health.
Necroptosis in acute kidney injury: a shedding light
Authors: Wang S , Zhang C , Hu L , Yang C 
Published: March 2016

AbstractAcute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and severe clinical condition with a heavy healthy burden around the world. In spite of supportive therapies, the mortality associated with AKI remains high. Our limited understanding of the complex cell death mechanism in the process of AKI impedes the development of desirable therapeutics. Necroptosis is a recently identified novel form of cell death contributing to numerable diseases and tissue damages. Increasing evidence has suggested that necroptosis has an important role in the pathogenesis of various types of AKI. Therefore, we present here the signaling pathways and main regulators of necroptosis that are potential candidate for therapeutic strategies. Moreover, we emphasize on the potential role and corresponding mechanisms of necroptosis in AKI based on recent advances, and also discuss the possible therapeutic regimens based on manipulating necroptosis. Taken together, the progress in this field sheds new light into the prevention and management of AKI in clinical practice.
Mechanism of intermediate filament recognition by plakin repeat domains revealed by envoplakin targeting of vimentin
Authors: Fogl Claudia , Mohammed Fiyaz , Al-Jassar Caezar , Jeeves Mark , Knowles Timothy J. , Rodriguez-Zamora Penelope , White Scott A. , Odintsova Elena , Overduin Michael , Chidgey Martyn 
Published: March 2016

AbstractPlakin proteins form critical connections between cell junctions and the cytoskeleton; their disruption within epithelial and cardiac muscle cells cause skin-blistering diseases and cardiomyopathies. Envoplakin has a single plakin repeat domain (PRD) which recognizes intermediate filaments through an unresolved mechanism. Herein we report the crystal structure of envoplakin’s complete PRD fold, revealing binding determinants within its electropositive binding groove. Four of its five internal repeats recognize negatively charged patches within vimentin via five basic determinants that are identified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Mutations of the Lys1901 or Arg1914 binding determinants delocalize heterodimeric envoplakin from intracellular vimentin and keratin filaments in cultured cells. Recognition of vimentin is abolished when its residues Asp112 or Asp119 are mutated. The latter slot intermediate filament rods into basic PRD domain grooves through electrosteric complementarity in a widely applicable mechanism. Together this reveals how plakin family members form dynamic linkages with cytoskeletal frameworks.
Elimination of HIV-1-infected cells by broadly neutralizing antibodies
Authors: Bruel Timothée , Guivel-Benhassine Florence , Amraoui Sonia , Malbec Marine , Richard Léa , Bourdic Katia , Donahue Daniel Aaron , Lorin Valérie , Casartelli Nicoletta , Noël Nicolas , Lambotte Olivier , Mouquet Hugo , Schwartz Olivier 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe Fc region of HIV-1 Env-specific broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) is required for suppressing viraemia, through mechanisms which remain poorly understood. Here, we identify bNAbs that exert antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in cell culture and kill HIV-1-infected lymphocytes through natural killer (NK) engagement. These antibodies target the CD4-binding site, the glycans/V3 and V1/V2 loops on gp120, or the gp41 moiety. The landscape of Env epitope exposure at the surface and the sensitivity of infected cells to ADCC vary considerably between viral strains. Efficient ADCC requires sustained cell surface binding of bNAbs to Env, and combining bNAbs allows a potent killing activity. Furthermore, reactivated infected cells from HIV-positive individuals expose heterogeneous Env epitope patterns, with levels that are often but not always sufficient to trigger killing by bNAbs. Our study delineates the parameters controlling ADCC activity of bNAbs, and supports the use of the most potent antibodies to clear the viral reservoir.
Inequality in mortality by occupation related to economic crisis from 1980 to 2010 among working-age Japanese males
Authors: Wada Koji , Gilmour Stuart 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe mortality rate for Japanese males aged 30–59 years in managerial and professional spiked in 2000 and remains worse than that of other occupations possibly associated with the economic downturn of the 1990s and the global economic stagnation after 2008. The present study aimed to assess temporal occupation-specific mortality trends from 1980 to 2010 for Japanese males aged 30–59 years for major causes of death. We obtained data from the Occupation-specific Vital Statistics. We calculated age-standardized mortality rates for the four leading causes of death (all cancers, suicide, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease). We used a generalized estimating equation model to determine specific effects of the economic downturn after 2000. The age-standardized mortality rate for the total working-age population steadily declined up to 2010 in all major causes of death except suicide. Managers had a higher risk of mortality in all leading causes of death compared with before 1995. Mortality rates among unemployed people steadily decreased for all cancers and ischaemic heart disease. Economic downturn may have caused the prolonged increase in suicide mortality. Unemployed people did not experience any change in mortality due to suicide and cerebrovascular disease and saw a decline in cancer and ischemic heart disease mortality, perhaps because the basic properties of Japan’s social welfare system were maintained even during economic recession.
Experimental demonstration of topological effects in bianisotropic metamaterials
Authors: Slobozhanyuk Alexey P. , Khanikaev Alexander B. , Filonov Dmitry S. , Smirnova Daria A. , Miroshnichenko Andrey E. , Kivshar Yuri S. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractExistence of robust edge states at interfaces of topologically dissimilar systems is one of the most fascinating manifestations of a novel nontrivial state of matter, a topological insulator. Such nontrivial states were originally predicted and discovered in condensed matter physics, but they find their counterparts in other fields of physics, including the physics of classical waves and electromagnetism. Here, we present the first experimental realization of a topological insulator for electromagnetic waves based on engineered bianisotropic metamaterials. By employing the near-field scanning technique, we demonstrate experimentally the topologically robust propagation of electromagnetic waves around sharp corners without backscattering effects.
A targeted next-generation sequencing method for identifying clinically relevant mutation profiles in lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Shao Di , Lin Yongping , Liu Jilong , Wan Liang , Liu Zu , Cheng Shaomin , Fei Lingna , Deng Rongqing , Wang Jian , Chen Xi , Liu Liping , Gu Xia , Liang Wenhua , He Ping , Wang Jun , Ye Mingzhi , He Jianxing 
Published: March 2016

AbstractMolecular profiling of lung cancer has become essential for prediction of an individual’s response to targeted therapies. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is a promising technique for routine diagnostics, but has not been sufficiently evaluated in terms of feasibility, reliability, cost and capacity with routine diagnostic formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) materials. Here, we report the validation and application of a test based on Ion Proton technology for the rapid characterisation of single nucleotide variations (SNVs), short insertions and deletions (InDels), copy number variations (CNVs), and gene rearrangements in 145 genes with FFPE clinical specimens. The validation study, using 61 previously profiled clinical tumour samples, showed a concordance rate of 100% between results obtained by NGS and conventional test platforms. Analysis of tumour cell lines indicated reliable mutation detection in samples with 5% tumour content. Furthermore, application of the panel to 58 clinical cases, identified at least one actionable mutation in 43 cases, 1.4 times the number of actionable alterations detected by current diagnostic tests. We demonstrated that targeted NGS is a cost-effective and rapid platform to detect multiple mutations simultaneously in various genes with high reproducibility and sensitivity.
Fully analogue photonic reservoir computer
Authors: Duport François , Smerieri Anteo , Akrout Akram , Haelterman Marc , Massar Serge 
Published: March 2016

AbstractIntroduced a decade ago, reservoir computing is an efficient approach for signal processing. State of the art capabilities have already been demonstrated with both computer simulations and physical implementations. If photonic reservoir computing appears to be promising a solution for ultrafast nontrivial computing, all the implementations presented up to now require digital pre or post processing, which prevents them from exploiting their full potential, in particular in terms of processing speed. We address here the possibility to get rid simultaneously of both digital pre and post processing. The standalone fully analogue reservoir computer resulting from our endeavour is compared to previous experiments and only exhibits rather limited degradation of performances. Our experiment constitutes a proof of concept for standalone physical reservoir computers.
All trans-retinoic acid analogs promote cancer cell apoptosis through non-genomic Crabp1 mediating ERK1/2 phosphorylation
Authors: Persaud Shawna D. , Park Sung Wook , Ishigami-Yuasa Mari , Koyano-Nakagawa Naoko , Kagechika Hiroyuki , Wei Li-Na 
Published: March 2016

AbstractAll trans retinoic acid (atRA) is one of the most potent therapeutic agents, but extensive toxicity caused by nuclear RA receptors (RARs) limits its clinical application in treating cancer. AtRA also exerts non-genomic activities for which the mechanism remains poorly understood. We determine that cellular retinoic acid binding protein 1 (Crabp1) mediates the non-genomic activity of atRA, and identify two compounds as the ligands of Crabp1 to rapidly and RAR-independently activate extracellular signal regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2). Non-canonically activated ERK activates protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and lengthens cell cycle duration in embryonic stem cells (ESC). This is abolished in Crabp1-null ESCs. Re-expressing Crabp1 in Crabp1-negative cancer cells also sensitizes their apoptotic induction by atRA. This study reveals a physiological relevance of the non-genomic action of atRA, mediated by Crabp1, in modulating cell cycle progression and apoptosis induction, and provides a new cancer therapeutic strategy whereby compounds specifically targeting Crabp1 can modulate cell cycle and cancer cell apoptosis in a RAR-independent fashion, thereby avoiding atRA’s toxicity caused by its genomic effects.
Intracellular kinetics of the androgen receptor shown by multimodal Image Correlation Spectroscopy (mICS)
Authors: Chiu Chi-Li , Patsch Katherin , Cutrale Francesco , Soundararajan Anjana , Agus David B. , Fraser Scott E. , Ruderman Daniel 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe androgen receptor (AR) pathway plays a central role in prostate cancer (PCa) growth and progression and is a validated therapeutic target. In response to ligand binding AR translocates to the nucleus, though the molecular mechanism is not well understood. We therefore developed multimodal Image Correlation Spectroscopy (mICS) to measure anisotropic molecular motion across a live cell. We applied mICS to AR translocation dynamics to reveal its multimodal motion. By integrating fluorescence imaging methods we observed evidence for diffusion, confined movement and binding of AR within both the cytoplasm and nucleus of PCa cells. Our findings suggest that in presence of cytoplasmic diffusion, the probability of AR crossing the nuclear membrane is an important factor in determining the AR distribution between cytoplasm and the nucleus, independent of functional microtubule transport. These findings may have implications for the future design of novel therapeutics targeting the AR pathway in PCa.
Regulation of global gene expression and cell proliferation by APP
Authors: Wu Yili , Zhang Si , Xu Qin , Zou Haiyan , Zhou Weihui , Cai Fang , Li Tingyu , Song Weihong 
Published: March 2016

AbstractDown syndrome (DS), caused by trisomy of chromosome 21, is one of the most common genetic disorders. Patients with DS display growth retardation and inevitably develop characteristic Alzheimer’s disease (AD) neuropathology, including neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques. The expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) is increased in both DS and AD patients. To reveal the function of APP and elucidate the pathogenic role of increased APP expression in DS and AD, we performed gene expression profiling using microarray method in human cells overexpressing APP. A set of genes are significantly altered, which are involved in cell cycle, cell proliferation and p53 signaling. We found that overexpression of APP inhibits cell proliferation. Furthermore, we confirmed that the downregulation of two validated genes, PSMA5 and PSMB7, inhibits cell proliferation, suggesting that the downregulation of PSMA5 and PSMB7 is involved in APP-induced cell proliferation impairment. Taken together, this study suggests that APP regulates global gene expression and increased APP expression inhibits cell proliferation. Our study provides a novel insight that APP overexpression may contribute to the growth impairment in DS patients and promote AD pathogenesis by inhibiting cell proliferation including neural stem cell proliferation and neurogenesis.
Experimental quantification of useful and parasitic absorption of light in plasmon-enhanced thin silicon films for solar cells application
Authors: Morawiec Seweryn , Holovský Jakub , Mendes Manuel J. , Müller Martin , Ganzerová Kristina , Vetushka Aliaksei , Ledinský Martin , Priolo Francesco , Fejfar Antonin , Crupi Isodiana 
Published: March 2016

AbstractA combination of photocurrent and photothermal spectroscopic techniques is applied to experimentally quantify the useful and parasitic absorption of light in thin hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) films incorporating optimized metal nanoparticle arrays, located at the rear surface, for improved light trapping via resonant plasmonic scattering. The photothermal technique accounts for the total absorptance and the photocurrent signal accounts only for the photons absorbed in the μc-Si:H layer (useful absorptance); therefore, the method allows for independent quantification of the useful and parasitic absorptance of the plasmonic (or any other) light trapping structure. We demonstrate that with a 0.9 μm thick absorber layer the optical losses related to the plasmonic light trapping in the whole structure are insignificant below 730 nm, above which they increase rapidly with increasing illumination wavelength. An average useful absorption of 43% and an average parasitic absorption of 19% over 400–1100 nm wavelength range is measured for μc-Si:H films deposited on optimized self-assembled Ag nanoparticles coupled with a flat mirror (plasmonic back reflector). For this sample, we demonstrate a significant broadband enhancement of the useful absorption resulting in the achievement of 91% of the maximum theoretical Lambertian limit of absorption.
TGFβ signaling regulates the choice between pluripotent and neural fates during reprogramming of human urine derived cells
Authors: Wang Lihui , Li Xirui , Huang Wenhao , Zhou Tiancheng , Wang Haitao , Lin Aiping , Hutchins Andrew Paul , Su Zhenghui , Chen Qianyu , Pei Duanqing , Pan Guangjin 
Published: March 2016

AbstractHuman urine cells (HUCs) can be reprogrammed into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with defined factors and a small molecule cocktail, but the underlying fate choice remains unresolved. Here, through sequential removal of individual compound from small molecule cocktail, we showed that A8301, a TGFβ signaling inhibitor, is sufficient to switch the cell fate from iPSCs into NPCs in OSKM-mediated HUCs reprogramming. However, TGFβ exposure at early stage inhibits HUCs reprogramming by promoting EMT. Base on these data, we developed an optimized approach for generation of NPCs or iPSCs from HUCs with significantly improved efficiency by regulating TGFβ activity at different reprogramming stages. This approach provides a simplified and improved way for HUCs reprogramming, thus would be valuable for banking human iPSCs or NPCs from people with different genetic background.