bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Differential Plasmodium falciparum surface antigen expression among children with Malarial Retinopathy
Authors: Abdi Abdirahman I. , Kariuki Symon M , Muthui Michelle K. , Kivisi Cheryl A. , Fegan Gregory , Gitau Evelyn , Newton Charles R , Bull Peter C. 
Published: December 2015

AbstractRetinopathy provides a window into the underlying pathology of life-threatening malarial coma (“cerebral malaria”), allowing differentiation between 1) coma caused by sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes in the brain and 2) coma with other underlying causes. Parasite sequestration in the brain is mediated by PfEMP1; a diverse parasite antigen that is inserted into the surface of infected erythrocytes and adheres to various host receptors. PfEMP1 sub-groups called “DC8” and “DC13” have been proposed to cause brain pathology through interactions with endothelial protein C receptor. To test this we profiled PfEMP1 gene expression in parasites from children with clinically defined cerebral malaria, who either had or did not have accompanying retinopathy. We found no evidence for an elevation of DC8 or DC13 PfEMP1 expression in children with retinopathy. However, the proportional expression of a broad subgroup of PfEMP1 called “group A” was elevated in retinopathy patients suggesting that these variants may play a role in the pathology of cerebral malaria. Interventions targeting group A PfEMP1 may be effective at reducing brain pathology.
Facile Isolation of Adsorbent-Free Long and Highly-Pure Chirality-Selected Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Using A Hydrogen-bonding Supramolecular Polymer
Authors: Toshimitsu Fumiyuki , Nakashima Naotoshi 
Published: December 2015

AbstractThe ideal form of semiconducting-single-walled carbon nanotubes (sem-SWNTs) for science and technology is long, defect-free, chirality pure and chemically pure isolated narrow diameter tubes. While various techniques to solubilize and purify sem-SWNTs have been developed, many of them targeted only the chiral- or chemically-purity while sacrificing the sem-SWNT intrinsic structural identities by applying strong ultra-sonication and/or chemical modifications. Toward the ultimate purification of the sem-SWNTs, here we report a mild-conditioned extraction of the sem-SWNTs using removable supramolecular hydrogen-bonding polymers (HBPs) that are composed of dicarboxylic- or diaminopyridyl-fluorenes with ~70%-(8,6)SWNT selective extraction. Replacing conventional strong sonication techniques by a simple shaking using HPBs was found to provide long sem-SWNTs (>2.0 μm) with a very high D/G ratio, which was determined by atomic force microscopy observations. The HBPs were readily removed from the nanotube surfaces by an outer stimulus, such as a change in the solvent polarities, to provide chemically pure (8,6)-enriched sem-SWNTs. We also describe molecular mechanics calculations to propose possible structures for the HBP-wrapped sem-SWNTs, furthermore, the mechanism of the chiral selectivity for the sorted sem-SWNTs is well explained by the relationship between the molecular surface area and mass of the HBP/SWNT composites.
A meta-analysis of interaction between Epstein-Barr virus and HLA-DRB1*1501 on risk of multiple sclerosis
Authors: Xiao Di , Ye Xingguang , Zhang Na , Ou Meiling , Guo Congcong , Zhang Baohuan , Liu Yang , Wang Man , Yang Guang , Jing Chunxia 
Published: December 2015

AbstractInfection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and HLA-DRB1*1501-positivity is a risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS), but whether an interaction between these two factors causes MS is unclear. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis on the effect of the interaction between HLA-DRB1*1501 and EBV infection on MS. Searches of PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the Wanfan databases through February 2015 yielded 5 studies that met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. EBV infection and HLA-DRB1*1501-positivity were dichotomized. The additive (S) and multiplicative interaction indexes (OR) between EBV infection and HLA-DRB1*1501 and their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated for each study and then combined in a meta-analysis. EBV infection was significantly associated with MS (OR = 2.60; 95%CI, 1.48–4.59). HLA-DRB1*1501 was associated with a significantly increased risk of MS (OR, 3.06; 95%CI, 2.30–4.08). An interaction effect between EBV infection and HLA-DRB1*1501 on MS was observed on the additive scale (S, 1.43; 95%CI, 1.05–1.95, P = 0.023), but no interaction effect was observed on the multiplicative scale (OR, 0.86, 95%CI, 0.59–1.26). This meta-analysis provides strong evidence that EBV alone, HLA-DRB1*1501 alone or their interaction is associated with an elevated risks of MS.
Determination of the source of SHG verniers in zebrafish skeletal muscle
Authors: Dempsey William P. , Hodas Nathan O. , Ponti Aaron , Pantazis Periklis 
Published: December 2015

AbstractSHG microscopy is an emerging microscopic technique for medically relevant imaging because certain endogenous proteins, such as muscle myosin lattices within muscle cells, are sufficiently spatially ordered to generate detectable SHG without the use of any fluorescent dye. Given that SHG signal is sensitive to the structural state of muscle sarcomeres, SHG functional imaging can give insight into the integrity of muscle cells in vivo. Here, we report a thorough theoretical and experimental characterization of myosin-derived SHG intensity profiles within intact zebrafish skeletal muscle. We determined that “SHG vernier” patterns, regions of bifurcated SHG intensity, are illusory when sarcomeres are staggered with respect to one another. These optical artifacts arise due to the phase coherence of SHG signal generation and the Guoy phase shift of the laser at the focus. In contrast, two-photon excited fluorescence images obtained from fluorescently labeled sarcomeric components do not contain such illusory structures, regardless of the orientation of adjacent myofibers. Based on our results, we assert that complex optical artifacts such as SHG verniers should be taken into account when applying functional SHG imaging as a diagnostic readout for pathological muscle conditions.
IM3D: A parallel Monte Carlo code for efficient simulations of primary radiation displacements and damage in 3D geometry
Authors: Li Yong Gang , Yang Yang , Short Michael P. , Ding Ze Jun , Zeng Zhi , Li Ju 
Published: December 2015

AbstractSRIM-like codes have limitations in describing general 3D geometries, for modeling radiation displacements and damage in nanostructured materials. A universal, computationally efficient and massively parallel 3D Monte Carlo code, IM3D, has been developed with excellent parallel scaling performance. IM3D is based on fast indexing of scattering integrals and the SRIM stopping power database and allows the user a choice of Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) or Finite Element Triangle Mesh (FETM) method for constructing 3D shapes and microstructures. For 2D films and multilayers, IM3D perfectly reproduces SRIM results and can be ∼102 times faster in serial execution and > 104 times faster using parallel computation. For 3D problems, it provides a fast approach for analyzing the spatial distributions of primary displacements and defect generation under ion irradiation. Herein we also provide a detailed discussion of our open-source collision cascade physics engine, revealing the true meaning and limitations of the “Quick Kinchin-Pease” and “Full Cascades” options. The issues of femtosecond to picosecond timescales in defining displacement versus damage, the limitation of the displacements per atom (DPA) unit in quantifying radiation damage (such as inadequacy in quantifying degree of chemical mixing), are discussed.
A novel single-chain antibody redirects adenovirus to IL13Rα2-expressing brain tumors
Authors: Kim Julius W. , Young Jacob S. , Solomaha Elena , Kanojia Deepak , Lesniak Maciej S. , Balyasnikova Irina V. 
Published: December 2015

AbstractThe generation of a targeting agent that strictly binds to IL13Rα2 will significantly expand the therapeutic potential for the treatment of IL13Rα2-expressing cancers. In order to fulfill this goal, we generated a single-chain antibody (scFv47) from our parental IL13Rα2 monoclonal antibody and tested its binding properties. Furthermore, to demonstrate the potential therapeutic applicability of scFv47, we engineered an adenovirus by incorporating scFv47 as the targeting moiety in the viral fiber and characterized its properties in vitro and in vivo. The scFv47 binds to human recombinant IL13Rα2, but not to IL13Rα1 with a high affinity of 0.9 · 10−9 M, similar to that of the parental antibody. Moreover, the scFv47 successfully redirects adenovirus to IL13Rα2 expressing glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo. Our data validate scFv47 as a highly selective IL13Rα2 targeting agent and justify further development of scFv47-modified oncolytic adenovirus and other therapeutics for the treatment of IL13Rα2-expressing glioma and other malignancies.
Identification of mycoparasitism-related genes in Clonostachys rosea 67-1 active against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
Authors: Sun Zhan-Bin , Sun Man-Hong , Li Shi-Dong 
Published: December 2015

AbstractClonostachys rosea is a mycoparasite that has shown great potential in controlling various plant fungal pathogens. In order to find mycoparasitism-related genes in C. rosea, the transcriptome of the efficient isolate 67-1 in association with sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum was sequenced and analysed. The results identified 26,351 unigenes with a mean length of 1,102 nucleotides, among which 18,525 were annotated in one or more databases of NR, KEGG, Swiss-Prot, GO and COG. Differentially expressed genes at 8 h, 24 h and 48 h after sclerotial induction were analysed and 6,890 unigenes were upregulated compared with the control without sclerotia. 713, 1,008 and 1,929 genes were specifically upregulated expressed, while 1,646, 283 and 529 genes were specifically downregulated, respectively. Gene ontology terms analysis indicated that these genes were mainly involved in metabolism of biological process, catalysis of molecular function and cellular component. The expression levels of 12 genes that were upregulated after encountering with S. sclerotiorum were monitored using real-time PCR. The results indicated that the quantitative detection was consistent with the transcriptome analysis. The study provides transcriptional gene expression information on C. rosea parasitizing S. sclerotiorum and forms the basis for further investigation of mycoparasitism-related genes of C. rosea.
Synergistic effect of ATP for RuvA–RuvB–Holliday junction DNA complex formation
Authors: Iwasa Takuma , Han Yong-Woon , Hiramatsu Ryo , Yokota Hiroaki , Nakao Kimiko , Yokokawa Ryuji , Ono Teruo , Harada Yoshie 
Published: December 2015

AbstractTheEscherichia coliRuvB hexameric ring motor proteins, together with RuvAs, promote branch migration of Holliday junction DNA. Zero mode waveguides (ZMWs) constitute of nanosized holes and enable the visualization of a single fluorescent molecule under micromolar order of the molecules, which is applicable to characterize the formation of RuvA–RuvB–Holliday junction DNA complex. In this study, we used ZMWs and counted the number of RuvBs binding to RuvA–Holliday junction DNA complex. Our data demonstrated that different nucleotide analogs increased the amount of Cy5-RuvBs binding to RuvA–Holliday junction DNA complex in the following order: no nucleotide, ADP, ATPγS and mixture of ADP and ATPγS. These results suggest that not only ATP binding to RuvB but also ATP hydrolysis by RuvB facilitates a stable RuvA–RuvB–Holliday junction DNA complex formation.
Influence of Water on Chemical Vapor Deposition of Ni and Co thin films from ethanol solutions of acetylacetonate precursors
Authors: Weiss Theodor , Zielasek Volkmar , Bäumer Marcus 
Published: December 2015

AbstractIn chemical vapor deposition experiments with pulsed spray evaporation (PSE-CVD) of liquid solutions of Ni and Co acetylacetonate in ethanol as precursors, the influence of water in the feedstock on the composition and growth kinetics of deposited Ni and Co metal films was systematically studied. Varying the water concentration in the precursor solutions, beneficial as well as detrimental effects of water on the metal film growth, strongly depending on the concentration of water and the β-diketonate in the precursor, were identified. For 2.5 mM Ni(acac)2 precursor solutions, addition of 0.5 vol% water improves growth of a metallic Ni film and reduces carbon contamination, while addition of 1.0 vol% water and more leads to significant oxidation of deposited Ni. By tuning the concentration of both, Ni(acac)2 and water in the precursor solution, the fraction of Ni metal and Ni oxide in the film or the film morphology can be adjusted. In the case of Co(acac)2, even smallest amounts of water promote complete oxidation of the deposited film. All deposited films were analyzed with respect to chemical composition quasi in situ by XPS, their morphology was evaluated after deposition by SEM.
Akbu-LAAO exhibits potent anti-tumor activity to HepG2 cells partially through produced H2O2 via TGF-β signal pathway
Authors: Guo Chunmei , Liu Shuqing , Dong Panpan , Zhao Dongting , Wang Chengyi , Tao Zhiwei , Sun Ming-Zhong 
Published: December 2015

AbstractPreviously, we characterized the biological properties of Akbu-LAAO, a novel L-amino acid oxidase from Agkistrodon blomhoffii ussurensis snake venom (SV). Current work investigated its in vitro anti-tumor activity and underlying mechanism on HepG2 cells. Akbu-LAAO inhibited HepG2 growth time and dose-dependently with an IC50 of ~38.82 μg/mL. It could induce the apoptosis of HepG2 cells. Akbu-LAAO exhibited cytotoxicity by inhibiting growth and inducing apoptosis of HepG2 as it showed no effect on its cell cycle. The inhibition of Akbu-LAAO to HepG2 growth partially relied on enzymatic-released H2O2 as catalase only partially antagonized this effect. cDNA microarray results indicated TGF-β signaling pathway was linked to the cytotoxicity of Akbu-LAAO on HepG2. TGF-β pathway related molecules CYR61, p53, GDF15, TOB1, BTG2, BMP2, BMP6, SMAD9, JUN, JUNB, LOX, CCND1, CDK6, GADD45A, CDKN1A were deregulated in HepG2 following Akbu-LAAO stimulation. The presence of catalase only slightly restored the mRNA changes induced by Akbu-LAAO for differentially expressed genes. Meanwhile, LDN-193189, a TGF-β pathway inhibitor reduced Akbu-LAAO cytotoxicity on HepG2. Collectively, we reported, for the first time, SV-LAAO showed anti-tumor cell activity via TGF-β pathway. It provides new insight of SV-LAAO exhibiting anti-tumor effect via a novel signaling pathway.
The association between statin use and risk of age-related macular degeneration
Authors: Ma Le , Wang Yafeng , Du Junhui , Wang Mingxu , Zhang Rui , Fu Yihao 
Published: December 2015

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between statin use and the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A systematic search of the PubMed, EMBASE and ISI web of science databases was used to identify eligible published literatures without language restrictions up to April 2015. Summary relative ratios (RRs) and 95% CIs were estimated using a fixed-effect or random-effects model. A total of 14 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this meta-analysis. No significant association was observed between statin use and the risk of any AMD (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.74–1.15); and stratified analysis showed that statins had a significantly different effects on early and late stages of AMD. For early AMD, statin use significantly reduced the risk approximately 17% (RR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.66–0.99). At the late stage, we observed a significant protective association of statin use with exudative AMD (RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.80–0.99), in contrast with the absent association between statins and geographic atrophy (RR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.77–1.56). These results demonstrated that statin use was protective for early and exudative AMD. Additional large prospective cohort studies and RCTs are required to determine the potential effect of statins on AMD prevention.
Intramedullary Spinal Capillary Hemangioma: Case Report
Authors: Welling Leonardo , Welling Mariana , Figueiredo Eberval 
Published: December 2015

AbstractCapillary hemangiomas involving the neuraxis are very uncommon. In the spinal cord, they are located mainly intradural and extramedullary. To our knowledge, only four cases in conus medullaris have been previously described. In our case, a 46-year-old man was admitted with back pain, sphincter disturbances, as well as progressive weakness and numbness on the lower extremities. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an undefined intramedullary lesion on the conus medullaris. The patient underwent microsurgery, which achieved complete removal. Histopathological diagnosis was compatible with capillary hemangioma. His postoperative course was uneventful and all symptoms, including bladder dysfunction clearly regressed. The treatment of intramedullary capillary hemangiomas is very critical in preventing unnecessary morbidity, providing accurate information with respect to prognosis, and establishes a regular outpatient follow-up. The natural history of this lesion involving the spinal cord is not well described, although they are common elsewhere in the body.
Interference, Not Enhancement, When Attending to Two Nearby Targets
Authors: Bahcall D , Kowler E 
Published: December 2015

In an attempt to determine the size of the spatial window of attention we required subjects to identify 2 target letters from a display of 24 letters, expecting performance to improve the closer the targets were to each other. The results were opposite to this expectation. The 2 target letters were chosen randomly from a circular display (radius 4 deg) containing 24 letters. The display (duration 100 to 300 ms) was preceded and followed by masks. Attention was directed to the target locations by means of either a colour cue or a numeral cue. Identification of target letters improved as the directional separation between targets was increased from 15° to 180°. Performance was better when targets were in different hemifields but also improved with increasing separation within a hemifield. The results demonstrate interference at an attentional level analogous to lateral sensory masking. Attending to one item does not enhance recognition of nearby items, as might be expected with an expandable attentional beam or zoom lens, but rather interferes with the perception of nearby items. This outcome is consistent with the idea that nearby locations share limited processing resources and with neurophysiological findings on attentionally-mediated changes in receptive fields.
The Role of Attention in the Detection of Luminance Changes: Endogenous versus Exogenous Cueing
Authors: Brawn P T , Snowden R J 
Published: December 2015

Many visual tasks have been shown to be influenced by the attentional state of the observer. However the conditions under which attention has effects is still unclear. Here we report upon a series of experiments where the observer has to react to changes in the luminance of a target amongst many distractors. We have systematically manipulated the nature of the cue (endogenous vs exogenous) and the task to be performed (detection of changes vs discrimination of direction of change). Stimuli consisted of a number of circles upon a screen. At some point in time one of the circles changed in luminance and subjects reacted as quickly as possible. Typically half the circles were red and half green. Subjects could be cued to attend to a particular colour by instruction (endogenous) or by a brief flash of the lines that joined the same coloured elements (exogenous). In most cases the cue was appropriate on 80% of the trials and hence we could compare response times between valid and invalid trials. Our results show that (1) for simple detection endogenous cues were ineffective whereas exogenous cues provided a small advantage for the valid trials, and (2) for discrimination of direction of change endogenous cues provided a small advantage, whereas exogenous cues provided a large advantage for the valid trials. It appears that both cueing type and task type modulate the attentional effects on this ‘preattentive’ task.
Texture Segmentation and Visual Search in Deaf and Hearing Subjects: Evidence for Compensation?
Authors: Sireteanu R , Rettenbach R , Diller G 
Published: December 2015

Do deaf people develop capacities of their remaining senses that exceed those of hearing individuals? Are the compensatory effects due to attention-dependent strategies? We investigated these questions, using texture segmentation and visual search tasks. The advantage of these tasks is that they contain attention-dependent and attention-independent components. We investigated 8 hearing adult observers, and 99 hearing and 89 deaf subjects aged between 6 and 20 years. The subject's task was to search for a discrepant stimulus among a number of distracting items. We used four different visual search tasks (circles with and without a 90° gap; circles with and without an added vertical line; pairs of convergent and parallel lines; tilted and vertical single lines) and oriented textures containing either a single line or a group of 16 discrepant lines. Visual search and texture segmentation tasks were randomly intermingled. Each subject participated in eight experimental runs, on two consecutive days. Both groups of subjects showed consistent learning effects for all tasks. In both groups, reaction times for all tasks decreased with age and reached an optimum at about 16 – 18 years. However, statistical comparisons do not indicate compensatory effects for deafness: reaction times and error rates of the deaf subjects were higher than those of the age-matched hearing subjects, for both the serial and the parallel tasks. These results were independent of the age and gender of the subjects and occurred for all etiologies for deafness. These results suggest deficiencies in the visual processing capacity of deaf subjects in tasks with and without attentional load.
Signal Pooling across ON and OFF Motion Detectors
Authors: van der Smagt M J , van de Grind W A 
Published: December 2015

In motion studies with random-dot patterns or random-pixel-arrays (RPAs) and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) paradigm, detection thresholds have been found to depend upon size, form, and duration of the stimuli. This suggests a pooling of information from motion detectors in local space-time neighbourhood regions. Spatial pooling changed the threshold in inverse proportion to the square root of the number of pooled detectors, while temporal summation could be described as signal build-up in a leaky integrator. We investigated the size of these space-time neighbourhoods and their contrast-sign specificity (if any). Is information from equal-sign and opposite-sign motion detectors combined separately or also mutually, and if so, how? Equal-area RPA-patches [256 square pixels, from 256 × 1 (height × width) to 4 × 64] were presented on a larger background RPA (256 × 256 pixels of equal size, C=70%, L=50 cd m−2), and displaced relative to the background (velocity 1.41 deg s−1). With the use of a staircase procedure, SNR thresholds for direction detection were determined in a 2AFC design. In a second experiment, lines containing 64 pixels (either all dark or all bright or both randomly distributed) were divided in 1 to 64 segments, oriented vertically or horizontally. Minimal thresholds were obtained when temporal and spatial summations were possible in about equal proportion. Sensitivity to fractionated arrays decreased gradually as a function of the number of fractions. Whereas subjects showed equal sensitivity to the bright and dark segments, fractionated RPAs were far less effective stimuli. A preliminary model explaining these results is presented.