bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Bias from restricting to live births when estimating effects of prescription drug use on pregnancy complications: A simulation
Authors: Suarez Elizabeth A. , Landi Suzanne N. , Conover Mitchell M. , Jonsson Funk Michele 
Published: January 2018

AbstractPurposeAdministrative claim databases are increasingly being used to study the safety of medication exposures during pregnancy. These studies are restricted to live births due to a reliance on algorithms for estimating gestational age that are based on codes associated with live delivery. Conditioning on live birth may induce selection bias when studying the effect of a drug on a pregnancy complication if fetal death is a competing risk for the complication or is caused by the complication.MethodsWe simulated a population of 100,000 pregnancies and estimated the impact of selection bias on relative estimates for the effect of antidepressant exposure on the outcome of preeclampsia. We assumed that the exposure, outcome, and covariates increased the risk of fetal loss.ResultsA downward bias in the risk ratio was consistently observed when conditioning on live births. When an unmeasured covariate was assumed to be a common cause of fetal death, antidepressant use, and preeclampsia, the direction of bias varied depending on the strength of the confounding relationship coupled with the selection bias. Despite the very low prevalence of stillbirth, the strength of the relationship between antidepressant use and stillbirth had a substantial impact on bias.ConclusionsConditioning on live birth can be problematic when studying pregnancy complications. Simple quantitative selection bias analysis in populations restricted to live births may not fully account for selection bias.
High‐throughput method to deposit continuous composition spread Sb2(SexS1 − x)3thin film for photovoltaic application
Authors: Deng Hui , Yuan Shengjie , Yang Xiaokun , Zhang Jian , Khan Jahangeer , Zhao Yang , Ishaq Muhammad , Ye Wanneng , Cheng Yi‐Bing , Song Haisheng , Tang Jiang 
Published: January 2018

AbstractSb2(SexS1 − x)3alloy materials with tunable bandgaps combining the advantages of Sb2S3and Sb2Se3showed high potential in low cost, non‐toxicity, and high stability solar cells. The composition dependence of device performance becomes indispensable to study. However, traditional approaches often implement 1 composition at a time, which easily lead to long period and systematic errors. The present work developed a high‐throughput experimental method, close‐space dual‐plane‐source evaporation (CDE) method, to successfully deposit continuous composition spread Sb2(SexS1 − x)3library at 1 time. On the surface of the obtained film, thexvalue of Se content evolved from 0.09 to 0.84 by a series of complementary characterizations. At depth direction, the alloy film kept high crystallinity and composition consistency. Solar cell arrays (19 × 6) were fabricated to investigate the relationship between compositions and performances. As the increase of Se content, the conversion efficiency first increased from 1.8% to 5.6% and then decreased to 5%. The Vocand Jscdemonstrated an opposite evolution trend. The champion device with the composition of Sb2(Se0.68S0.32)3achieved the Vocand Jsctrade‐off exceeding the performances of Sb2S3(2.43%) and Sb2Se3(4.97%) devices. Cryogenic and transient characterizations were utilized to investigate the distinct performance evolution mechanism. There existed shallow defect levels in Se‐rich alloys and deep defects in sulfur‐rich ones. The widely tuned absorber compositions combined with distinct defect characters induced to the large variation of device performance. The present continuous composition spread Sb2(SexS1 − x)3film and their CDE fabrication technique were expected to efficiently screen materials and promote the development of antimony chalcogenide solar cells.
Differential role of PTEN in transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) effects on proliferation and migration in prostate cancer cells
Authors: Kimbrough‐Allah Mawiyah N. , Millena Ana C. , Khan Shafiq A. 
Published: January 2018

BackgroundTransforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) acts as a tumor suppressor in normal epithelial cells but as a tumor promoter in advanced prostate cancer cells. PI3‐kinase pathway mediates TGF‐β effects on prostate cancer cell migration and invasion. PTEN inhibits PI3‐kinase pathway and is frequently mutated in prostate cancers. We investigated possible role(s) of PTEN in TGF‐β effects on proliferation and migration in prostate cancer cells.MethodsExpression of PTEN mRNA and proteins were determined using RT‐PCR and Western blotting in RWPE1 and DU145 cells. We also studied the role of PTEN in TGF‐β effects on cell proliferation and migration in DU145 cells after transient silencing of endogenous PTEN. Conversely, we determined the role of PTEN in cell proliferation and migration after over‐expression of PTEN in PC3 cells which lack endogenous PTEN.ResultsTGF‐β1 and TGF‐β3 had no effect on PTEN mRNA levels but both isoforms increased PTEN protein levels in DU145 and RWPE1 cells indicating that PTEN may mediate TGF‐β effects on cell proliferation. Knockdown of PTEN in DU145 cells resulted in significant increase in cell proliferation which was not affected by TGF‐β isoforms. PTEN overexpression in PC3 cells inhibited cell proliferation. Knockdown of endogenous PTEN enhanced cell migration in DU145 cells, whereas PTEN overexpression reduced migration in PC3 cells and reduced phosphorylation of AKT in response to TGF‐β.ConclusionWe conclude that PTEN plays a role in inhibitory effects of TGF‐β on cell proliferation whereas its absence may enhance TGF‐β effects on activation of PI3‐kinase pathway and cell migration.
On the average‐case complexity of Shellsort
Authors: Vitányi Paul 
Published: January 2018

AbstractWe prove a lower bound expressed in the increment sequence on the average‐case complexity of the number of inversions of Shellsort. This lower bound is sharp in every case where it could be checked. A special case of this lower bound yields the general Jiang‐Li‐Vitányi lower bound. We obtain new results, for example, determining the average‐case complexity precisely in the Yao‐Janson‐Knuth 3‐pass case.
Security‐aware SaaS placement using swarm intelligence
Authors: Mezni Haithem , Sellami Mokhtar , Kouki Jaber 
Published: January 2018

AbstractCloud computing has emerged as a new powerful service delivery model to cope with resource challenges and to offer various on‐demand services (eg, software, storage, network, etc.). Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the most popular service models. To meet the increasing demands of users, SaaS can be offered in a composite form. Although this approach offers some advantages like flexibility and reusability, it raises a question about how to manage composite SaaS in the distributed and the highly dynamic cloud environment. In this paper, we address one of the major SaaS resource management issues referred to as SaaS placement problem. As existing efforts only focus on SaaS placement problem from the perspective of resources utilization to optimize SaaS performance and minimize resource usage, in this paper, we also incorporate security concerns in SaaS placement strategy. In fact, security risk is one of the major factors influencing the efficiency of the composite SaaS. We adopt a multi‐swarm variant of particle swarm optimization to propose a security‐aware SaaS placement method. Also, a cooperative learning strategy is hybridized to the placement algorithm, which makes information of best candidate servers be used more effectively to generate better placement plan. Experiments show that our solution outperforms existing SaaS placement approaches.
Modeling the biomechanics of the human cornea accounting for local variations of the collagen fibril architecture
Authors: Montanino Andrea , Gizzi Alessio , Vasta Marcello , Angelillo Maurizio , Pandolfi Anna 
Published: January 2018

AbstractWe present a finite element model of the human cornea describing the in‐plane organization of the stromal collagen, modified variously to include features of the collagen architecture. We investigate numerically the implication of the local organization of collagen in the stroma on the response of the human cornea to mechanical tests. We compare four different models by simulating three ideal mechanical tests, i. e., the ex‐vivo inflation test, the in‐vivo probe indentation, and the in‐vivo air puff tests. Numerical results show slight differences between the models in terms of global response and stress distribution. Differences in the overall mechanical response are observed in dynamic tests, while quasi‐static tests are not able to differentiate between the models. Stress distributions differ markedly when a variation of the shear stiffness across the thickness is considered. We conclude that the actual architecture of the collagen across the thickness of the cornea or at the limbus has a minor relevance from the mechanical point of view with respect to the main anisotropic orthogonal collagen structure that has been considered and acknowledged in the literature.
Metabolic evolution and a comparative omics analysis ofCorynebacterium glutamicumfor putrescine production
Authors: Li Zhen , Shen Yu-Ping , Jiang Xuan-Long , Feng Li-Shen , Liu Jian-Zhong 
Published: January 2018

AbstractPutrescine is widely used in the industrial production of bioplastics, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and surfactants. Because the highest titer of putrescine is much lower than that of its precursor l-ornithine reported in microorganisms to date, further work is needed to increase putrescine production in Corynebacterium glutamicum. We first compared 7 ornithine decarboxylase genes and found that the Enterobacter cloacae ornithine decarboxylase gene speC1 was most suitable for putrescine production in C. glutamicum. Increasing NADPH availability and blocking putrescine oxidation and acetylation were chosen as targets for metabolic engineering. The putrescine producer C. glutamicum PUT4 was first constructed by deleting puo, butA and snaA genes, and replacing the fabG gene with E. cloacae speC1. After adaptive evolution with C. glutamicum PUT4, the evolved strain C. glutamicum PUT-ALE, which produced an 96% higher amount of putrescine compared to the parent strain, was obtained. The whole genome resequencing indicates that the SNPs located in the odhA coding region may be associated with putrescine production. The comparative proteomic analysis reveals that the pentose phosphate and anaplerotic pathway, the glyoxylate cycle, and the ornithine biosynthetic pathway were upregulated in the evolved strain C. glutamicum PUT-ALE. The aspartate family, aromatic, and branched chain amino acid and fatty acid biosynthetic pathways were also observed to be downregulated in C. glutamicum PUT-ALE. Reducing OdhA activity by replacing the odhA native start codon GTG with TTG and overexpression of cgmA or pyc458 further improved putrescine production. Repressing the carB, ilvH, ilvB and aroE expression via CRISPRi also increased putrescine production by 5, 9, 16 and 19%, respectively.
The Mexican Drug War and Early-Life Health: The Impact of Violent Crime on Birth Outcomes
Authors: Brown Ryan 
Published: January 2018

Abstract
This study examines the relationship between exposure to violent crime in utero and birth weight using longitudinal data from a household survey conducted in Mexico. Controlling for selective migration and fertility, the results suggest that early gestational exposure to the recent escalation of the Mexican Drug War is associated with a substantial decrease in birth weight. This association is especially pronounced among children born to mothers of low socioeconomic status and among children born to mothers who score poorly on a mental health index.
Going it Alone: A Scoping Review of Unbefriended Older Adults
Authors: Chamberlain Stephanie , Baik Sol , Estabrooks Carole 
Published: January 2018

RÉSUMÉLes personnes âgées dont la capacité de prise de décision est réduite et qui n’ont pas de soutien familial ou d’amis pour les aider à compenser ces déficits sont dites « solitaires » et nécessitent un tuteur public. Le but de cette étude était de recenser les publications avec comités de pairs et la littérature grise afin d’examiner la portée des travaux de recherches réalisés jusqu’à ce jour concernant les personnes âgées solitaires au Canada et aux États-Unis. Nous n’avons recensé que peu d’études sur ce sujet. Aucune étude ou rapport canadien n’a été trouvé. Les personnes âgées solitaires étaient plus avancées en âge, sans enfants ou avec peu d’enfants, et leurs troubles cognitifs étaient plus sévères, comparativement aux personnes âgées non solitaires. Ces résultats démontrent une rareté des études sur les personnes âgées solitaires. Il est urgent que davantage de recherches soient réalisées avec des collectes de données standardisées concernant la tutelle chez les personnes âgées solitaires afin de faciliter la réalisation d’études sur la prévalence de la tutelle publique au Canada.
Cancer pain management needs and perspectives of patients from Chinese backgrounds: a systematic review of the Chinese and English literature
Authors: Xu Xiangfeng , Luckett Tim , Wang Alex Yueping , Lovell Melanie , Phillips Jane L. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractObjectiveMore than half of all cancer patients experience unrelieved pain. Culture can significantly affect patients’ cancer pain-related beliefs and behaviors. Little is known about cultural impact on Chinese cancer patients’ pain management. The objective of this review was to describe pain management experiences of cancer patients from Chinese backgrounds and to identify barriers affecting their pain management.MethodA systematic review was conducted adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Studies were included if they reported pain management experiences of adult cancer patients from Chinese backgrounds. Five databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English or Chinese journals between1990 and 2015. The quality of included studies was assessed using Joanna Briggs Institution's appraisal tools.ResultsOf 3,904 identified records, 23 articles met criteria and provided primary data from 6,110 patients. Suboptimal analgesic use, delays in receiving treatment, reluctance to report pain, and/or poor adherence to prescribed analgesics contributed to the patients’ inadequate pain control. Patient-related barriers included fatalism, desire to be good, low pain control belief, pain endurance beliefs, and negative effect beliefs. Patients and family shared barriers about fear of addiction and concerns on analgesic side effects and disease progression. Health professional–related barriers were poor communication, ineffective management of pain, and analgesic side effects. Healthcare system–related barriers included limited access to analgesics and/or after hour pain services and lack of health insurance.Significance of resultsChinese cancer patients’ misconceptions regarding pain and analgesics may present as the main barriers to optimal pain relief. Findings of this review may inform health interventions to improve cancer pain management outcomes for patients from Chinese backgrounds. Future studies on patients’ nonpharmacology intervention-related experiences are required to inform multidisciplinary and biopsychosocial approaches for culturally appropriate pain management.
A case series to examine whether people with learning disabilities can learn prerequisite skills for cognitive behavioural therapy
Authors: Tsimopoulou Ioanna , Kroese Biza Stenfert , Unwin Gemma , Azmi Sabiha , Jones Christopher 
Published: January 2018

AbstractAlthough cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is recommended for the treatment of a number of mental disorders among the general population, the ability of individuals with learning disabilities (LD) to understand CBT concepts and engage in CBT has been questioned. Aims: To examine whether specific prerequisite skills for CBT can be taught to people with LD using a newly developed training intervention and to investigate the acceptability of the intervention. Method: The study adopted a within-subjects case series research design. Quantitative assessment methods were used to evaluate the CBT skills of six adults with mild to moderate LD pre-intervention, following intervention and at 1-week follow-up. Participants were also asked to provide some qualitative feedback about how they had experienced the intervention. Results: The cognitive mediation skills and the ability of most participants to link activating events to emotions increased following intervention training and this improvement was maintained for four of them at follow-up. The feedback of participants regarding the process and content of the task demands was positive. Conclusions: The findings suggest that people with LD can learn some of the skills considered necessary to participate in CBT, such as cognitive mediation. However, further and more robust research is required to substantiate these findings.
New 5-Aryl-Substituted 2-Aminobenzamide-Type HDAC Inhibitors with a Diketopiperazine Group and Their Ameliorating Effects on Ischemia-Induced Neuronal Cell Death
Authors: Hirata Yoshiyuki , Sasaki Tsutomu , Kanki Hideaki , Choong Chi-Jing , Nishiyama Kumiko , Kubo Genki , Hotei Ayana , Taniguchi Masahiko , Mochizuki Hideki , Uesato Shinichi 
Published: January 2018

AbstractWe previously synthesized new 5-thienyl-substituted 2-aminobenzamide-type HDAC1, 2 inhibitors with the (4-ethyl-2,3-dioxopiperazine-1-carboxamido) methyl group. K-560 (1a) protected against neuronal cell death in a Parkinson’s disease model by up-regulating the expression of XIAP. This finding prompted us to design new K-560-related compounds. We examined the structure activity relationship (SAR) for the neuronal protective effects of newly synthesized and known K-560 derivatives after cerebral ischemia. Among them, K-856 (8), containing the (4-methyl-2,5-dioxopiperazin-1-yl) methyl group, exhibited a promising neuronal survival activity. The SAR study strongly suggested that the attachment of a monocyclic 2,3- or 2,5-diketopiperazine group to the 2-amino-5-aryl (but not 2-nitro-5-aryl) scaffold is necessary for K-560-related compounds to exert a potent neuroprotective effect.
CREB-binding protein plays key roles in juvenile hormone action in the red flour beetle, Tribolium Castaneum
Authors: Xu Jingjing , Roy Amit , Palli Subba Reddy 
Published: January 2018

AbstractJuvenile hormones (JH) and ecdysteroids regulate many biological and metabolic processes. CREB-binding protein (CBP) is a transcriptional co-regulator with histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity. Therefore, CBP is involved in activation of many transcription factors that regulate expression of genes associated with postembryonic development in insects. However, the function of CBP in JH action in insects is not well understood. Hence, we studied the role of CBP in JH action in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum and the Tribolium cell line. CBP knockdown caused a decrease in JH induction of genes, Kr-h1, 4EBP and G13402 in T. castaneum larvae, adults and TcA cells whereas, Trichostatin A [TSA, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor] induced the expression of these JH-response genes. Western blot analysis with specific antibodies revealed the requirement of CBP for the acetylation of H3K18 and H3K27 in both T. castaneum and TcA cells. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (Chip) assays showed the importance of CBP-mediated acetylation of H3K27 for JH induction of Kr-h1, 4EBP, and G13402 in TcA cells. These data suggest that CBP plays an important role in JH action in the model insect, T.castaneum.
Metabolomic analysis of low and high biofilm-forming Helicobacter pylori strains
Authors: Wong Eric Hong Jian , Ng Chow Goon , Goh Khean Lee , Vadivelu Jamuna , Ho Bow , Loke Mun Fai 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe biofilm-forming-capability of Helicobacter pylori has been suggested to be among factors influencing treatment outcome. However, H. pylori exhibit strain-to-strain differences in biofilm-forming-capability. Metabolomics enables the inference of spatial and temporal changes of metabolic activities during biofilm formation. Our study seeks to examine the differences in metabolome of low and high biofilm-formers using the metabolomic approach. Eight H. pylori clinical strains with different biofilm-forming-capability were chosen for metabolomic analysis. Bacterial metabolites were extracted using Bligh and Dyer method and analyzed by Liquid Chromatography/Quadrupole Time-of-Flight mass spectrometry. The data was processed and analyzed using the MassHunter Qualitative Analysis and the Mass Profiler Professional programs. Based on global metabolomic profiles, low and high biofilm-formers presented as two distinctly different groups. Interestingly, low-biofilm-formers produced more metabolites than high-biofilm-formers. Further analysis was performed to identify metabolites that differed significantly (p-value < 0.005) between low and high biofilm-formers. These metabolites include major categories of lipids and metabolites involve in prostaglandin and folate metabolism. Our findings suggest that biofilm formation in H. pylori is complex and probably driven by the bacterium’ endogenous metabolism. Understanding the underlying metabolic differences between low and high biofilm-formers may enhance our current understanding of pathogenesis, extragastric survival and transmission of H. pylori infections.
Widespread modulation of gene expression by copy number variation in skeletal muscle
Authors: Geistlinger Ludwig , da Silva Vinicius Henrique , Cesar Aline Silva Mello , Tizioto Polyana Cristine , Waldron Levi , Zimmer Ralf , Regitano Luciana Correia de Almeida , Coutinho Luiz Lehmann 
Published: January 2018

AbstractCopy number variation (CNV) is a frequently observed deviation from the diploid state due to duplication or deletion of genomic regions. Although intensively analyzed for association with diseases and production traits, the specific mechanisms and extent by which such variations affect the phenotype are incompletely understood. We present an integrative study on CNV and genome-wide gene expression in Brazilian Bos indicus cattle. We analyzed CNVs inferred from SNP-chip data for effects on gene expression measured with RNA-seq in skeletal muscle samples of 183 steers. Local effects, where expression changes coincided with CNVs in the respective genes, were restricted to immune genes. Distal effects were attributable to several high-impact CNVs that modulated remote expression in an orchestrated and intertwined fashion. These CNVs were located in the vicinity of major skeletal muscle pathway regulators and associated genes were enriched for proteolysis, autophagy, and muscle structure development. From association analysis between CNVs and several meat quality and production traits, we found CNV-associated expression effects to also manifest at the phenotype level. Based on genome sequences of the population founders, we further demonstrate that CNVs with impact on expression and phenotype are passed on from one generation to another.