bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intercostal Trocars Enable Easier Laparoscopic Resection of Liver Tumors in Segments 7 and 8
Authors: Hirokawa Fumitoshi , Hayashi Michihiro , Asakuma Mitsuhiro , Shimizu Tetsunosuke , Inoue Yoshihiro , Uchiyama Kazuhisa 
Published: January 2017

AbstractBackgroundLaparoscopic resection of posterosuperior (PS) tumors of the liver is more difficult than that of anterolateral (AL) tumors, owing to the narrow surgical field in the PS location. In this retrospective cohort study, our aim was to determine if port insertion through the intercostal space would lead to improved outcomes for laparoscopic resection of tumors in PS liver segments 7 and 8.MethodBetween January 2006 and December 2015, 153 patients underwent laparoscopic resection of solitary liver tumors at Osaka Medical College Hospital. Of these, 107 patients had AL lesions, and 46 had PS lesions. Of the 46 patients with a PS lesion, 23 underwent an abdominal‐only approach, and 23 underwent the intercostal trocar approach. Multivariate analyses were performed to investigate outcomes.ResultsConventional abdominal‐only laparoscopic resection of PS liver tumors resulted in prolonged surgical time (P = 0.031), increased bleeding (P = 0.012), and a higher open conversion rate (P = 0.022) compared with AL tumors. Among patients with PS tumors, the open conversion rate was significantly higher for those treated with the abdominal‐only approach than with the intercostal trocar approach (P = 0.047). Appropriate surgical margins were obtained equally using the intercostal trocar approach (P = 0.648). There was no significant difference in occurrence of complications between the abdominal‐only group and the intercostal trocar group.ConclusionUsing the intercostal trocar approach for PS liver lesions is a safe and effective method, which significantly reduced the open conversion rate compared with the conventional abdominal‐only approach.
Efficient production of free fatty acids from ionic liquid-based acid- or enzyme-catalyzed bamboo hydrolysate
Authors: Mi Le , Qin Dandan , Cheng Jie , Wang Dan , Li Sha , Wei Xuetuan 
Published: January 2017

Abstract
Two engineered Escherichia coli strains, DQ101 (MG1655 fadD−)/pDQTES and DQ101 (MG1655 fadD−)/pDQTESZ were constructed to investigate the free fatty acid production using ionic liquid-based acid- or enzyme-catalyzed bamboo hydrolysate as carbon source in this study. The plasmid, pDQTES, carrying an acyl-ACP thioesterase ‘TesA of E. coli in pTrc99A was constructed firstly, and then (3R)-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratase was ligated after the TesA to give the plasmid pDQTESZ. These two strains exhibited efficient fatty acid production when glucose was used as the sole carbon source, with a final concentration of 2.45 and 3.32 g/L, respectively. The free fatty acid production of the two strains on xylose is not as efficient as that on glucose, which was 2.32 and 2.96 g/L, respectively. For mixed sugars, DQ101 (MG1655 fadD−)-based strains utilized glucose and pentose sequentially under the carbon catabolite repression (CCR) regulation. The highest total FFAs concentration from the mixed sugar culture reached 2.81 g/L by DQ101 (MG1655 fadD−)/pDQTESZ. Furthermore, when ionic liquid-based enzyme-catalyzed bamboo hydrolysate was used as the carbon source, the strain DQ101 (MG1655 fadD−)/pDQTESZ could produce 1.23 g/L FFAs with a yield of 0.13 g/g, and while it just produced 0.65 g/L free fatty acid with the ionic liquid-based acid-catalyzed bamboo hydrolysate as the feedstock. The results suggested that enzymatic catalyzed bamboo hydrolysate with ionic liquid pretreatment could serve as an efficient feedstock for free fatty acid production.
Age of onset of hypertension and risk of dementia in the oldest‐old: The 90+ Study
Authors: Corrada María M. , Hayden Kathleen M. , Paganini-Hill Annlia , Bullain Szofia S. , DeMoss Jaime , Aguirre Colette , Brookmeyer Ron , Kawas Claudia H. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractIntroductionWe investigated the association between age of onset of hypertension and dementia risk in an oldest‐old cohort.MethodsParticipants are fromThe 90+ Study, a population‐based longitudinal study of people aged 90+ who are survivors from the Leisure World Cohort Study. We estimated hypertension onset age using self‐reported information from The 90+ Study and Leisure World Cohort Study, collected about 20 years earlier. A total of 559 participants without dementia were followed every 6 months for up to 10 years.ResultsA total of 224 participants developed dementia during follow‐up (mean = 2.8 years). Compared with those without hypertension, participants whose hypertension onset age was 80 to 89 years had a lower dementia risk (hazard ratio = 0.58,P = .04) and participants with an onset age of 90+ years had the lowest risk (hazard ratio = 0.37,P = .004).DiscussionDeveloping hypertension at older ages may protect against dementia. Understanding the mechanisms for this lower risk is important for determining ways to prevent dementia in the very elderly.
CONTINUOUS-TIME SEMI-MARKOV INFERENCE OF BIOMETRIC LAWS ASSOCIATED WITH A LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE PORTFOLIO
Authors: Biessy Guillaume 
Published: January 2017

AbstractUnlike the mortality risk on which actuaries have been working for more than a century, the long-term care (LTC) risk is relatively new and as of today hardly mastered. Semi-Markov processes have been identified as an adequate tool to study this risk. Nevertheless, access to data is limited and the associated literature still scarce. Insurers mainly use discrete time methods directly inspired from the study of mortality in order to build experience tables. Those methods however are not perfectly suited for the study of competing risk situations. This article provides a theoretical framework to estimate biometric laws associated with a LTC insurance portfolio. The presented method relies on a continuous-time semi-Markov model with three states: autonomy, disability and death. The process describing the state of disability is defined through its transition intensities. We provide a formula to infer the mortality of autonomous people from the mortality of the whole portfolio, on which we have more reliable knowledge. We then propose a parametric expression for the remaining intensities of the model. In particular, incidence in LTC is described by a logistic formula. Under the assumption that the disabled population is a mixture of two latent populations with respect to the category of pathology that caused LTC, we show that the resulting intensity of mortality in LTC takes a very peculiar form and depends on time spent in the LTC state. Estimation of parameters relies on the maximum likelihood method. Our parametric approach, while inducing model uncertainty, eliminates issues related to segmentation in age categories, smoothing or extrapolation at higher ages and thus proves very convenient for the practitioner. Finally, we provide an application using data from a real LTC insurance portfolio.
Innovations for Tomorrow: Summary of the 2016 Disaster Health Education Symposium
Authors: Gulley Kelly , Strauss-Riggs Kandra , Kirsch Thomas D. , Goolsby Craig 
Published: January 2017

AbstractIn an effort to enhance education, training, and learning in the disaster health community, the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH) gathered experts from around the nation in Bethesda, Maryland, on September 8, 2016, for the 2016 Disaster Health Education Symposium: Innovations for Tomorrow. This article summarizes key themes presented during the disaster health symposium including innovations in the following areas: training and education that saves lives, practice, teaching, sharing knowledge, and our communities. This summary article provides thematic content for those unable to attend. Please visit http://ncdmph.usuhs.edu/ for more information. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:160–162)
Atrial septal defect with right-to-left shunt in the absence of pulmonary hypertension
Authors: Manuel Devi A. , Ghosh Gopal C. , Alex Anoop G. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWe describe the case of a 27-year-old gentleman who developed late-onset clubbing and cyanosis. Transoesophageal echocardiography revealed a 27-mm ostium secundum atrial septal defect and a large, floppy Eustachian valve directing right atrial blood to the left side of the heart.
THE (UN)INTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF BILINGUAL EMPLOYMENT POLICIES
Authors: Sewell Abigail A. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractRecent immigration and migration patterns have altered the ethnoracial composition of Alameda County, California. Sociopolitical leaders have struggled to adjust to these changes. In an effort to facilitate limited English speakers’ access to critical municipal services, Oakland—the largest municipal in Alameda County—passed an Equal Access to Services Ordinance on May 8, 2001, which is a groundbreaking language access legislation for the City of Oakland’s public administration. Using data from the 2000 Census and the 2005–2011 American Community Survey, this study examines the impact of bilingual employment policies on the ethnoracial segmentation of Alameda County workers. Logistic regression reveals that bilingual employment policies have reorganized both targeted (i.e., public contact) and non-targeted occupations within the local government public administration sector. Specifically, Spanish/Chinese bilingual speakers made gains in the public administration sector (the intended effects), while Black monolingual English speakers experienced losses (the unintended effects). The representation of Black monolingual English speakers in public contact jobs within the local government public administration sector declined by as much as 18 percentage points after the implementation of the nation’s first municipal-level bilingual employment policy. The impact of bilingual employment policies on the East Bay’s Black/Brown relations and African American’s hold on low-skilled jobs in service industries is examined.
Impacts of chemical gradients on microbial community structure
Authors: Chen Jianwei , Hanke Anna , Tegetmeyer Halina E , Kattelmann Ines , Sharma Ritin , Hamann Emmo , Hargesheimer Theresa , Kraft Beate , Lenk Sabine , Geelhoed Jeanine S , Hettich Robert L , Strous Marc 
Published: January 2017

Abstract
Succession of redox processes is sometimes assumed to define a basic microbial community structure for ecosystems with oxygen gradients. In this paradigm, aerobic respiration, denitrification, fermentation and sulfate reduction proceed in a thermodynamically determined order, known as the ‘redox tower’. Here, we investigated whether redox sorting of microbial processes explains microbial community structure at low-oxygen concentrations. We subjected a diverse microbial community sampled from a coastal marine sediment to 100 days of tidal cycling in a laboratory chemostat. Oxygen gradients (both in space and time) led to the assembly of a microbial community dominated by populations that each performed aerobic and anaerobic metabolism in parallel. This was shown by metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and stable isotope incubations. Effective oxygen consumption combined with the formation of microaggregates sustained the activity of oxygen-sensitive anaerobic enzymes, leading to braiding of unsorted redox processes, within and between populations. Analyses of available metagenomic data sets indicated that the same ecological strategies might also be successful in some natural ecosystems.
Contribution of classical end-joining to PTEN inactivation in p53-mediated glioblastoma formation and drug-resistant survival
Authors: Kang Youn-Jung , Balter Barbara , Csizmadia Eva , Haas Brian , Sharma Himanshu , Bronson Roderick , Yan Catherine T. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractDNA repair gene defects are found in virtually all human glioblastomas, but the genetic evidence for a direct role remains lacking. Here we demonstrate that combined inactivation of the XRCC4 non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) DNA repair gene and p53 efficiently induces brain tumours with hallmark characteristics of human proneural/classical glioblastoma. The murine tumours exhibit PTEN loss of function instigated by reduced PTEN mRNA, and increased phosphorylated inactivation and stability as a consequence of aberrantly elevated CK2 provoked by p53 ablation and irrevocably deregulated by NHEJ inactivation. This results in DNA damage-resistant cytoplasmic PTEN and CK2 expression, and the attenuation of DNA repair genes. CK2 inhibition restores PTEN nuclear distribution and DNA repair activities and impairs tumour but not normal cell survival. These observations demonstrate that NHEJ contributes to p53-mediated glioblastoma suppression, and reveal a crucial role for PTEN in the early DNA damage signalling cascade, the inhibition of which promotes tumorigenicity and drug-resistant survival.
Electronic control of gene expression and cell behaviour in Escherichia coli through redox signalling
Authors: Tschirhart Tanya , Kim Eunkyoung , McKay Ryan , Ueda Hana , Wu Hsuan-Chen , Pottash Alex Eli , Zargar Amin , Negrete Alejandro , Shiloach Joseph , Payne Gregory F. , Bentley William E. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe ability to interconvert information between electronic and ionic modalities has transformed our ability to record and actuate biological function. Synthetic biology offers the potential to expand communication ‘bandwidth’ by using biomolecules and providing electrochemical access to redox-based cell signals and behaviours. While engineered cells have transmitted molecular information to electronic devices, the potential for bidirectional communication stands largely untapped. Here we present a simple electrogenetic device that uses redox biomolecules to carry electronic information to engineered bacterial cells in order to control transcription from a simple synthetic gene circuit. Electronic actuation of the native transcriptional regulator SoxR and transcription from the PsoxS promoter allows cell response that is quick, reversible and dependent on the amplitude and frequency of the imposed electronic signals. Further, induction of bacterial motility and population based cell-to-cell communication demonstrates the versatility of our approach and potential to drive intricate biological behaviours.
Specific and Sensitive Isothermal Electrochemical Biosensor for Plant Pathogen DNA Detection with Colloidal Gold Nanoparticles as Probes
Authors: Lau Han Yih , Wu Haoqi , Wee Eugene J. H. , Trau Matt , Wang Yuling , Botella Jose R. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractDeveloping quick and sensitive molecular diagnostics for plant pathogen detection is challenging. Herein, a nanoparticle based electrochemical biosensor was developed for rapid and sensitive detection of plant pathogen DNA on disposable screen-printed carbon electrodes. This 60 min assay relied on the rapid isothermal amplification of target pathogen DNA sequences by recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) followed by gold nanoparticle-based electrochemical assessment with differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Our method was 10,000 times more sensitive than conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/gel electrophoresis and could readily identify P. syringae infected plant samples even before the disease symptoms were visible. On the basis of the speed, sensitivity, simplicity and portability of the approach, we believe the method has potential as a rapid disease management solution for applications in agriculture diagnostics.
Describing polyhedral tilings and higher dimensional polytopes by sequence of their two-dimensional components
Authors: Nishio Kengo , Miyazaki Takehide 
Published: January 2017

AbstractPolyhedral tilings are often used to represent structures such as atoms in materials, grains in crystals, foams, galaxies in the universe, etc. In the previous paper, we have developed a theory to convert a way of how polyhedra are arranged to form a polyhedral tiling into a codeword (series of numbers) from which the original structure can be recovered. The previous theory is based on the idea of forming a polyhedral tiling by gluing together polyhedra face to face. In this paper, we show that the codeword contains redundant digits not needed for recovering the original structure, and develop a theory to reduce the redundancy. For this purpose, instead of polyhedra, we regard two-dimensional regions shared by faces of adjacent polyhedra as building blocks of a polyhedral tiling. Using the present method, the same information is represented by a shorter codeword whose length is reduced by up to the half of the original one. Shorter codewords are easier to handle for both humans and computers, and thus more useful to describe polyhedral tilings. By generalizing the idea of assembling two-dimensional components to higher dimensional polytopes, we develop a unified theory to represent polyhedral tilings and polytopes of different dimensions in the same light.
Rich structure in the correlation matrix spectra in non-equilibrium steady states
Authors: Biswas Soham , Leyvraz Francois , Monroy Castillero Paulino , Seligman Thomas H. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractIt has been shown that, if a model displays long-range (power-law) spatial correlations, its equal-time correlation matrix will also have a power law tail in the distribution of its high-lying eigenvalues. The purpose of this paper is to show that the converse is generally incorrect: a power-law tail in the high-lying eigenvalues of the correlation matrix may exist even in the absence of equal-time power law correlations in the initial model. We may therefore view the study of the eigenvalue distribution of the correlation matrix as a more powerful tool than the study of spatial Correlations, one which may in fact uncover structure, that would otherwise not be apparent. Specifically, we show that in the Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process, whereas there are no clearly visible correlations in the steady state, the eigenvalues of its correlation matrix exhibit a rich structure which we describe in detail.
Interfacial structures and energetics of the strengthening precipitate phase in creep-resistant Mg-Nd-based alloys
Authors: Choudhuri D. , Banerjee R. , Srinivasan S. G. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe extraordinary creep-resistance of Mg-Nd-based alloys can be correlated to the formation of nanoscale-platelets of β1-Mg3Nd precipitates, that grow along 〈11"Equation missing"0〉Mg in bulk hcp-Mg and on dislocation lines. The growth kinetics of β1 is sluggish even at high temperatures, and presumably occurs via vacancy migration. However, the rationale for the high-temperature stability of precipitate-matrix interfaces and observed growth direction is unknown, and may likely be related to the interfacial structure and excess energy. Therefore, we study two interfaces– {112}β1/{"Equation missing"100}Mg and {111}β1/{11"Equation missing"0}Mg– that are commensurate with β1/hcp-Mg orientation relationship via first principles calculations. We find that β1 acquires plate-like morphology to reduce small lattice strain via the formation of energetically favorable {112}β1/{"Equation missing"100}Mg interfaces, and predict that β1 grows along 〈11"Equation missing"0〉Mg on dislocation lines due to the migration of metastable {111}β1/{11"Equation missing"0}Mg. Furthermore, electronic charge distribution of the two interfaces studied here indicated that interfacial-energy of coherent precipitates is sensitive to the population of distorted lattice sites, and their spatial extent in the vicinity of interfaces. Our results have implications for alloy design as they suggest that formation of β1-like precipitates in the hcp-Mg matrix will require well-bonded coherent interface along precipitate broad-faces, while simultaneously destabilizing other interfaces.
Gene set based association analyses for the WSSV resistance of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei
Authors: Yu Yang , Liu Jingwen , Li Fuhua , Zhang Xiaojun , Zhang Chengsong , Xiang Jianhai 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWhite Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) is regarded as a virus with the strongest pathogenicity to shrimp. For the threshold trait such as disease resistance, marker assisted selection (MAS) was considered to be a more effective approach. In the present study, association analyses of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in a set of immune related genes were conducted to identify markers associated with WSSV resistance. SNPs were detected by bioinformatics analysis on RNA sequencing data generated by Illimina sequencing platform and Roche 454 sequencing technology. A total of 681 SNPs located in the exons of immune related genes were selected as candidate SNPs. Among these SNPs, 77 loci were genotyped in WSSV susceptible group and resistant group. Association analysis was performed based on logistic regression method under an additive and dominance model in GenABEL package. As a result, five SNPs showed associations with WSSV resistance at a significant level of 0.05. Besides, SNP-SNP interaction analysis was conducted. The combination of SNP loci in TRAF6, Cu/Zn SOD and nLvALF2 exhibited a significant effect on the WSSV resistance of shrimp. Gene expression analysis revealed that these SNPs might influence the expression of these immune-related genes. This study provides a useful method for performing MAS in shrimp.
Rising temperatures may drive fishing-induced selection of low-performance phenotypes
Authors: Clark Timothy D. , Messmer Vanessa , Tobin Andrew J. , Hoey Andrew S. , Pratchett Morgan S. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractClimate warming is likely to interact with other stressors to challenge the physiological capacities and survival of phenotypes within populations. This may be especially true for the billions of fishes per year that undergo vigorous exercise prior to escaping or being intentionally released from fishing gear. Using adult coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus), an important fisheries species throughout the Indo-Pacific, we show that population-level survival following vigorous exercise is increasingly compromised as temperatures increase from current-day levels (100–67% survival at 24–30 °C) to those projected for the end of the century (42% survival at 33 °C). Intriguingly, we demonstrate that high-performance individuals take longer to recover to a resting metabolic state and subsequently have lower survival in warm water compared with conspecifics that exercise less vigorously. Moreover, we show that post-exercise mortality of high-performance phenotypes manifests after 3–13 d at the current summer maximum (30 °C), while mortality at 33 °C occurs within 1.8–14.9 h. We propose that wild populations in a warming climate may become skewed towards low-performance phenotypes with ramifications for predator-prey interactions and community dynamics. Our findings highlight the susceptibility of phenotypic diversity to fishing activities and demonstrate a mechanism that may contribute to fishing-induced evolution in the face of ongoing climate change.