bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Brexit and Access to Legal Information
Authors: Green David Allen 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe 6th Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture was delivered by David Allen Green and took place on 8 June 2017 during the Annual Conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) which was held in Manchester. His talk concerned libraries and public policy with particular reference to Brexit. He addressed the issues of how a debate like Brexit can be better informed and to what extent reliable legal and policy information makes any difference. In essence, he looks at how good information can help shape Brexit. This article is a later write-up from David's speaking notes. The lecture was, coincidentally, given on the same day as the general election.
Working Together to Provide a Library and Information Enquiry Service to Shell's Legal Community: a Story of Collaboration Between Client and Law Firm Part One: From the Client Perspective
Authors: Smith Hilary 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThis article and the one following are derived from a joint talk given at the BIALL Annual Conference 2017, held in Manchester. The title of the conference was ‘Together or apart? Effective ways of working’ and this talk described the collaboration between Shell's Legal Librarian, Hilary Smith, and Miriam Davies, Head of Library & Information at Norton Rose Fulbright, to provide an enquiry service to Shell's legal community. The service subsequently developed to include other law firms on Shell's legal panel. Topics covered include understanding the information needs of in-house lawyers, types of queries received, why involve law firms in providing such a service, the concept of added value and its importance in the client-law firm relationship, the setting up of the service, how it works in practice, how it is being used and key take away messages. In this article Hilary Smith takes a view from the client perspective.
Working Together to Provide a Library and Information Enquiry Service to Shell's Legal Community: a Story of Collaboration Between Client and Law Firm Part Two: From the Law Firm Perspective
Authors: Davies Miriam 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThis article and the previous one published in this issue of LIM are derived from a joint talk given at the BIALL Annual Conference 2017, which was held in Manchester. The title of the conference was ‘Together or apart? Effective ways of working’ and this talk described the collaboration between Shell's Legal Librarian, Hilary Smith, and Miriam Davies, Head of Library & Information at Norton Rose Fulbright, to provide an enquiry service to Shell's legal community. The service subsequently developed to include other law firms on Shell's legal panel. Topics covered include understanding the information needs of in-house lawyers, types of queries received, why involve law firms in providing such a service, the concept of added value and its importance in the client-law firm relationship, the setting up of the service, how it works in practice, how it is being used and key take away messages. In this article Miriam Davies takes a view from the law firm perspective.
How to Get Students into the Library: Revamping a University Library's Welcome Campaign
Authors: Walker Corryn 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThis paper is based on a parallel session presented at the BIALL Conference 2017 by Corryn Walker. The content focusses on a project undertaken by Manchester Metropolitan University Library during 2015/2016 to revamp their ‘Welcome and Induction’ programme. The project was coordinated by Corryn Walker and Elaine Cooke, both Deputy Library Services Managers. The article covers the background to, and motivation behind the project, its aims and objectives and the changes made to improve how the library welcomes new students to the service.
The first representative of Tipulomorpha (Diptera) from Early Eocene Cambay amber (India)
Authors: Kania Iwona , Krzemiński Wiesław , Stebner Frauke , Singh Hukam 
Published: January 2018

ABSTRACTThe first representative of Tipulomorpha in Early Eocene Cambay amber from India is described. The new find belongs to the genus Dicranomyia in the family Limoniidae. This genus has a worldwide distribution today and is relatively common in Eocene Baltic amber. A new species belonging to the subgenus Dicranomyia is described as Dicranomyia (Dicranomyia) indica sp. nov.
Humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to H5N1 plant-made virus-like particle vaccine are differentially impacted by alum and GLA-SE adjuvants in a Phase 2 clinical trial
Authors: Pillet Stéphane , Aubin Éric , Trépanier Sonia , Poulin Jean-François , Yassine-Diab Bader , ter Meulen Jan , Ward Brian J. , Landry Nathalie 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe hemagglutinination inhibition (HI) response remains the gold standard used for the licensure of influenza vaccines. However, cell-mediated immunity (CMI) deserves more attention, especially when evaluating H5N1 influenza vaccines that tend to induce poor HI response. In this study, we measured the humoral response (HI) and CMI (flow cytometry) during a Phase II dose-ranging clinical trial (NCT01991561). Subjects received two intramuscular doses, 21 days apart, of plant-derived virus-like particles (VLP) presenting the A/Indonesia/05/2005 H5N1 influenza hemagglutinin protein (H5) at the surface of the VLP (H5VLP). The vaccine was co-administrated with Alhydrogel®or with a glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant-stable emulsion (GLA-SE). We demonstrated that low doses (3.75 or 7.5 μg H5VLP) of GLA-SE-adjuvanted vaccines induced HI responses that met criteria for licensure at both antigen doses tested. Alhydrogel adjuvanted vaccines induced readily detectable HI response that however failed to meet licensure criteria at any of three doses (10, 15 and 20 μg) tested. The H5VLP also induced a sustained (up to 6 months) polyfunctional and cross-reactive HA-specific CD4+T cell response in all vaccinated groups. Interestingly, the frequency of central memory Th1-primed precursor cells before the boost significantly correlated with HI titers 21 days after the boost. The ability of the low dose GLA-SE-adjuvanted H5VLP to elicit both humoral response and a sustained cross-reactive CMI in healthy adults is very attractive and could result in significant dose-sparing in a pandemic situation.
oriD structure controls RepD initiation during rolling-circle replication
Authors: Toleikis Algirdas , Webb Martin R. , Molloy Justin E. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractBacterial antibiotic resistance is often carried by circular DNA plasmids that are copied separately from the genomic DNA and can be passed to other bacteria, spreading the resistance. The chloramphenicol-resistance plasmid pC221 from Staphylococcus aureus is duplicated by a process called asymmetric rolling circle replication. It is not fully understood how the replication process is regulated but its initiation requires a plasmid-encoded protein called RepD that nicks one strand of the parent plasmid at the double-stranded origin of replication (oriD). Using magnetic tweezers to control the DNA linking number we found RepD nicking occurred only when DNA was negatively supercoiled and that binding of a non-nicking mutant (RepDY188F) stabilized secondary structure formation at oriD. Quenched-flow experiments showed the inverted complementary repeat sequence, ICRII, within oriD was most important for rapid nicking of intact plasmids. Our results show that cruciform formation at oriD is an important control for initiation of plasmid replication.
Multi-species coexistence in Lotka-Volterra competitive systems with crowding effects
Authors: Gavina Maica Krizna A. , Tahara Takeru , Tainaka Kei-ichi , Ito Hiromu , Morita Satoru , Ichinose Genki , Okabe Takuya , Togashi Tatsuya , Nagatani Takashi , Yoshimura Jin 
Published: January 2018

AbstractClassical Lotka-Volterra (LV) competition equation has shown that coexistence of competitive species is only possible when intraspecific competition is stronger than interspecific competition, i.e., the species inhibit their own growth more than the growth of the other species. Note that density effect is assumed to be linear in a classical LV equation. In contrast, in wild populations we can observed that mortality rate often increases when population density is very high, known as crowding effects. Under this perspective, the aggregation models of competitive species have been developed, adding the additional reduction in growth rates at high population densities. This study shows that the coexistence of a few species is promoted. However, an unsolved question is the coexistence of many competitive species often observed in natural communities. Here, we build an LV competition equation with a nonlinear crowding effect. Our results show that under a weak crowding effect, stable coexistence of many species becomes plausible, unlike the previous aggregation model. An analysis indicates that increased mortality rate under high density works as elevated intraspecific competition leading to the coexistence. This may be another mechanism for the coexistence of many competitive species leading high species diversity in nature.
Efficient scalable production of therapeutic microvesicles derived from human mesenchymal stem cells
Authors: Cha Jae Min , Shin Eun Kyoung , Sung Ji Hee , Moon Gyeong Joon , Kim Eun Hee , Cho Yeon Hee , Park Hyung Dal , Bae Hojae , Kim Jinseok , Bang Oh Young 
Published: January 2018

AbstractMicrovesicles (MVs) released by cells are involved in a multitude of physiological events as important mediators of intercellular communication. MVs derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) contain various paracrine factors from the cells that primarily contribute to their therapeutic efficacy observed in numerous clinical trials. As nano-sized and bi-lipid layered vesicles retaining therapeutic potency equivalent to that of MSCs, MSC-derived MVs have been in focus as ideal medicinal candidates for regenerative medicine, and are preferred over MSC infusion therapy with their improved safety profiles. However, technical challenges in obtaining sufficient amounts of MVs have limited further progress in studies and clinical application. Of the multiple efforts to reinforce the therapeutic capacity of MSCs, few studies have reportedly examined the scale-up of MSC-derived MV production. In this study, we successfully amplified MV secretion from MSCs compared to the conventional culture method using a simple and efficient 3D-bioprocessing method. The MSC-derived MVs produced in our dynamic 3D-culture contained numerous therapeutic factors such as cytokines and micro-RNAs, and showed their therapeutic potency in in vitro efficacy evaluation. Our results may facilitate diverse applications of MSC-derived MVs from the bench to the bedside, which requires the large-scale production of MVs.
Hyper-hippocampal glycogen induced by glycogen loading with exhaustive exercise
Authors: Soya Mariko , Matsui Takashi , Shima Takeru , Jesmin Subrina , Omi Naomi , Soya Hideaki 
Published: January 2018

AbstractGlycogen loading (GL), a well-known type of sports conditioning, in combination with exercise and a high carbohydrate diet (HCD) for 1 week enhances individual endurance capacity through muscle glycogen supercompensation. This exercise-diet combination is necessary for successful GL. Glycogen in the brain contributes to hippocampus-related memory functions and endurance capacity. Although the effect of HCD on the brain remains unknown, brain supercompensation occurs following exhaustive exercise (EE), a component of GL. We thus employed a rat model of GL and examined whether GL increases glycogen levels in the brain as well as in muscle, and found that GL increased glycogen levels in the hippocampus and hypothalamus, as well as in muscle. We further explored the essential components of GL (exercise and/or diet conditions) to establish a minimal model of GL focusing on the brain. Exercise, rather than a HCD, was found to be crucial for GL-induced hyper-glycogen in muscle, the hippocampus and the hypothalamus. Moreover, EE was essential for hyper-glycogen only in the hippocampus even without HCD. Here we propose the EE component of GL without HCD as a condition that enhances brain glycogen stores especially in the hippocampus, implicating a physiological strategy to enhance hippocampal functions.
Artificial chameleon skin that controls spectral radiation: Development of Chameleon Cool Coating (C3)
Authors: Gonome Hiroki , Nakamura Masashi , Okajima Junnosuke , Maruyama Shigenao 
Published: January 2018

AbstractChameleons have a diagnostic thermal protection that enables them to live under various conditions. Our developed special radiative control therefore is inspired by the chameleon thermal protection ability by imitating its two superposed layers as two pigment particles in one coating layer. One particle imitates a chameleon superficial surface for color control (visible light), and another particle imitates a deep surface to reflect solar irradiation, especially in the near-infrared region. Optical modeling allows us to optimally design the particle size and volume fraction. Experimental evaluation shows that the desired spectral reflectance, i.e., low in the VIS region and high in NIR region, can be achieved. Comparison between the measured and calculated reflectances shows that control of the particle size and dispersion/aggregation of particle cloud is important in improving the thermal-protection performance of the coating. Using our developed coating, the interior temperature decreases and the cooling load is reduced while keeping the dark tone of the object.
Meta-analysis of soil mercury accumulation by vegetables
Authors: Yu Haixin , Li Jing , Luan Yaning 
Published: January 2018

AbstractMercury pollution in soil poses serious risks to human health through consumption of contaminated vegetables. We used a meta-analysis to examine the mercury enrichment ability of different vegetables and the main factors affecting mercury uptake. We drew the following conclusions. (1) Plants with a lower bioconcentration factor (BCF) include cowpea, long bean, and radish, whereas plants with a higher BCF include green pepper, spinach, cabbage, and Chinese cabbage. (2) Leaf and cucurbit have the highest and lowest capacity, respectively, for mercury enrichment. (3) When soil pH is <6.5, mercury level uptake by the plant increases, whereas it decreases when the pH is >7.5, meaning that increased soil pH reduces mercury uptake in soil. (4) When soil organic matter (SOM) is lower than 20 g/kg, tuber plants have the highest and eggplant has the lowest mercury adsorption capacity, respectively. When SOM is 20–30 g/kg, cucurbit has the lowest and leaf the highest adsorption capacity, respectively. When SOM is higher than 30 g/kg, however, eggplant has the highest mercury adsorption capacity, but there were no significant differences among the five types of vegetables. We argue that this meta-analysis aids in selecting vegetables suitable for absorption of heavy metals from polluted soil.
Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 produces 4-hydroxybenzoic acid that induces pyroptosis in human A459 lung adenocarcinoma cells
Authors: Sannino Filomena , Sansone Clementina , Galasso Christian , Kildgaard Sara , Tedesco Pietro , Fani Renato , Marino Gennaro , de Pascale Donatella , Ianora Adrianna , Parrilli Ermenegilda , Larsen Thomas Ostenfeld , Romano Giovanna , Tutino Maria Luisa 
Published: January 2018

AbstractIn order to exploit the rich reservoir of marine cold-adapted bacteria as a source of bioactive metabolites, ethyl acetate crude extracts of thirteen polar marine bacteria were tested for their antiproliferative activity on A549 lung epithelial cancer cells. The crude extract from Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 was the most active in inhibiting cell proliferation. Extensive bioassay-guided purification and mass spectrometric characterization allowed the identification of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA) as the molecule responsible for this bioactivity. We further demonstrate that 4-HBA inhibits A549 cancer cell proliferation with an IC50 value ≤ 1 μg ml−1, and that the effect is specific, since the other two HBA isomers (i.e. 2-HBA and 3-HBA) were unable to inhibit cell proliferation. The effect of 4-HBA is also selective since treatment of normal lung epithelial cells (WI-38) with 4-HBA did not affect cell viability. Finally, we show that 4-HBA is able to activate, at the gene and protein levels, a specific cell death signaling pathway named pyroptosis. Accordingly, the treatment of A549 cells with 4-HBA induces the transcription of (amongst others) caspase-1, IL1β, and IL18 encoding genes. Studies needed for the elucidation of mode of action of 4-HBA will be instrumental in depicting novel details of pyroptosis.
Control of neural crest induction by MarvelD3-mediated attenuation of JNK signalling
Authors: Vacca Barbara , Sanchez-Heras Elena , Steed Emily , Busson Sophie L. , Balda Maria S. , Ohnuma Shin-Ichi , Sasai Noriaki , Mayor Roberto , Matter Karl 
Published: January 2018

AbstractTight junctions are required for the formation of tissue barriers and function as suppressors of signalling mechanisms that control gene expression and cell behaviour; however, little is known about the physiological and developmental importance of such signalling functions. Here, we demonstrate that depletion of MarvelD3, a transmembrane protein of tight junctions, disrupts neural crest formation and, consequently, development of neural crest-derived tissues during Xenopus embryogenesis. Using embryos and explant cultures combined with a small molecule inhibitor or mutant mRNAs, we show that MarvelD3 is required to attenuate JNK signalling during neural crest induction and that inhibition of JNK pathway activation is sufficient to rescue the phenotype induced by MarvelD3 depletion. Direct JNK stimulation disrupts neural crest development, supporting the importance of negative regulation of JNK. Our data identify the junctional protein MarvelD3 as an essential regulator of early vertebrate development and neural crest induction and, thereby, link tight junctions to the control and timing of JNK signalling during early development.
Prevention of Retinal Degeneration in a Rat Model of Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome
Authors: Fliesler Steven J. , Peachey Neal S. , Herron Josi , Hines Kelly M. , Weinstock Nadav I. , Ramachandra Rao Sriganesh , Xu Libin 
Published: January 2018

AbstractSmith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome (SLOS) is a recessive human disease caused by defective cholesterol (CHOL) synthesis at the level of DHCR7 (7-dehydrocholesterol reductase), which normally catalyzes the conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol (7DHC) to CHOL. Formation and abnormal accumulation of 7DHC and 7DHC-derived oxysterols occur in SLOS patients and in rats treated with the DHCR7 inhibitor AY9944. The rat SLOS model exhibits progressive and irreversible retinal dysfunction and degeneration, which is only partially ameliorated by dietary CHOL supplementation. We hypothesized that 7DHC-derived oxysterols are causally involved in this retinal degeneration, and that blocking or reducing their formation should minimize the phenotype. Here, using the SLOS rat model, we demonstrate that combined dietary supplementation with CHOL plus antioxidants (vitamins E and C, plus sodium selenite) provides better outcomes than dietary CHOL supplementation alone with regard to preservation of retinal structure and function and lowering 7DHC-derived oxysterol formation. These proof-of-principle findings provide a translational, pre-clinical framework for designing clinical trials using CHOL-antioxidant combination therapy as an improved therapeutic intervention over the current standard of care for the treatment of SLOS.
Role of METTL20 in regulating β-oxidation and heat production in mice under fasting or ketogenic conditions
Authors: Shimazu Tadahiro , Furuse Tamio , Balan Shabeesh , Yamada Ikuko , Okuno Shuzo , Iwanari Hiroko , Suzuki Takehiro , Hamakubo Takao , Dohmae Naoshi , Yoshikawa Takeo , Wakana Shigeharu , Shinkai Yoichi 
Published: January 2018

AbstractMETTL20 is a seven-β-strand methyltransferase that is localised to the mitochondria and tri-methylates the electron transfer flavoprotein (ETF) β subunit (ETFB) at lysines 200 and 203. It has been shown that METTL20 decreases the ability of ETF to extract electrons from medium-chain acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) dehydrogenase (MCAD) and glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase in vitro. METTL20-mediated methylation of ETFB influences the oxygen consumption rate in permeabilised mitochondria, suggesting that METTL20-mediated ETFB methylation may also play a regulatory role in mitochondrial metabolism. In this study, we generated Mettl20 knockout (KO) mice to uncover the in vivo functions of METTL20. The KO mice were viable, and a loss of ETFB methylation was confirmed. In vitro enzymatic assays revealed that mitochondrial ETF activity was higher in the KO mice than in wild-type mice, suggesting that the KO mice had higher β-oxidation capacity. Calorimetric analysis showed that the KO mice fed a ketogenic diet had higher oxygen consumption and heat production. A subsequent cold tolerance test conducted after 24 h of fasting indicated that the KO mice had a better ability to maintain their body temperature in cold environments. Thus, METTL20 regulates ETF activity and heat production through lysine methylation when β-oxidation is highly activated.
Robust phenotype prediction from gene expression data using differential shrinkage of co-regulated genes
Authors: Zarringhalam Kourosh , Degras David , Brockel Christoph , Ziemek Daniel 
Published: January 2018

AbstractDiscovery of robust diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers is a key to optimizing therapeutic benefit for select patient cohorts - an idea commonly referred to as precision medicine. Most discovery studies to derive such markers from high-dimensional transcriptomics datasets are weakly powered with sample sizes in the tens of patients. Therefore, highly regularized statistical approaches are essential to making generalizable predictions. At the same time, prior knowledge-driven approaches have been successfully applied to the manual interpretation of high-dimensional transcriptomics datasets. In this work, we assess the impact of combining two orthogonal approaches for the discovery of biomarker signatures, namely (1) well-known lasso-based regression approaches and its more recent derivative, the group lasso, and (2) the discovery of significant upstream regulators in literature-derived biological networks. Our method integrates both approaches in a weighted group-lasso model and differentially weights gene sets based on inferred active regulatory mechanism. Using nested cross-validation as well as independent clinical datasets, we demonstrate that our approach leads to increased accuracy and generalizable results. We implement our approach in a computationally efficient, user-friendly R package called creNET. The package can be downloaded at https://github.com/kouroshz/creNethttps://github.com/kouroshz/creNet and is accompanied by a parsed version of the STRING DB data base.