bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
High Activity of Selective Essential Oils against Stationary PhaseBorrelia burgdorferi
Authors: Feng Jie , Zhang Shuo , Shi Wanliang , Zubcevik Nevena , Miklossy Judith , Zhang Ying 
Published: May 2017

ABSTRACTAlthough the majority of patients with Lyme disease can be cured with the standard 2-4 week antibiotic treatment, about 10-20% of patients continue to suffer from post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). While the cause for this is debated, one possibility is due to persisters not killed by the current Lyme antibiotics. It has been reported that essential oils have antimicrobial activities and some have been used by patients with persisting Lyme disease symptoms. However, the activity of essential oils against the causative agentBorrelia burgdorferi (B. burgdorferi)has not been carefully studied. Here, we evaluated the activity of 34 essential oils againstB. burgdorferistationary phase culture as a model for persisters. We found that many essential oils had varying degrees of activity againstB. burgdorferi, with top 5 essential oils (oregano, cinnamon bark, clove bud, citronella, and wintergreen) at a low concentration of 0.25% showing more activity than the persister drug daptomycin. Interestingly, some highly active essential oils were found to have excellent anti-biofilm ability as shown by their ability to dissolve the aggregated biofilm-like structures. The top 3 hits, oregano, cinnamon bark and clove bud, completely eradicated all viable cells without regrowth in subculture. Carvacrol was found to be the most active ingredient of oregano oil showing excellent activity againstB. burgdorferistationary phase cells, while p-cymene and α-terpinene had no apparent activity. Future studies are needed to characterize and optimize the active essential oils in drug combinations in vitro and in vivo for improved treatment of persistent Lyme disease.IMPORTANCEThere is a huge need for effective treatment of patients with Lyme disease who suffer from PTLDS. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies suggest thatB. burgdorferidevelops persisters that are not killed by the current Lyme antibiotics as a possible contributor to this condition. Although essential oils are used by patients with Lyme disease with variable improvement in symptoms, their anti-borrelia activity has not been carefully studied. Here we found that not all essential oils have adequate anti-borrelia activity and identified some highly potent essential oils (oregano, cinnamon bark, clove bud) that have even higher anti-persister and anti-biofilm activity than the persister drug daptomycin. Carvacrol was found to be the most active ingredient of oregano oil and have the potential to serve as a promising oral persister drug. Our findings may have implications for developing improved treatment of persisting Lyme disease.
Population coding of conditional probability distributions in dorsal premotor cortex
Authors: Glaser Joshua I. , Perich Matthew G. , Ramkumar Pavan , Miller Lee E. , Kording Konrad P. 
Published: May 2017

AbstractOur bodies and the environment constrain our movements. For example, when our arm is fully outstretched, we cannot extend it further. More generally, the distribution of possible movements is conditioned on the state of our bodies in the environment, which is constantly changing. However, little is known about how the brain represents such distributions, and uses them in movement planning. Here, we recorded from dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) and primary motor cortex (M1) while monkeys reached to randomly placed targets. The hand’s position within the workspace created probability distributions of possible upcoming targets, which affected movement trajectories and latencies. PMd, but not M1, neurons had increased activity when the monkey’s hand position made it likely the upcoming movement would be in the neurons’ preferred directions. Across the population, PMd activity represented probability distributions of individual upcoming reaches, which depended on rapidly changing information about the body’s state in the environment.
A neural population mechanism for rapid learning
Authors: Perich Matthew G. , Gallego Juan A. , Miller Lee E. 
Published: May 2017

AbstractLong-term learning of language, mathematics, and motor skills likely requires plastic changes in the cortex, but behavior often requires faster changes, sometimes based even on single errors. Here, we show evidence of one mechanism by which the brain can rapidly develop new motor output, seemingly without altering the functional connectivity between or within cortical areas. We recorded simultaneously from hundreds of neurons in the premotor (PMd) and primary motor (M1) cortices, and computed models relating these neural populations throughout adaptation to reaching movement perturbations. We found a signature of learning in the “null subspace” of PMd with respect to M1. Earlier experiments have shown that null subspace activity allows the motor cortex to alter preparatory activity without directly influencing M1. In our experiments, the null subspace planning activity evolved with the adaptation, yet the “potent” mapping that captures information sent to M1 was preserved. Our results illustrate a population-level mechanism within the motor cortices to adjust the output from one brain area to its downstream structures that could be exploited throughout the brain for rapid, online behavioral adaptation.
Reconstruction of body mass evolution in the Cetartiodactyla and mammals using phylogenomic data
Authors: Figuet E. , Ballenghien M. , Lartillot N. , Galtier N. 
Published: May 2017

ABSTRACTThis preprint has been reviewed and recommended by Peer Community In Evolutionary Biology (http://dx.doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100042).Reconstructing ancestral characters on a phylogeny is an arduous task because the observed states at the tips of the tree correspond to a single realization of the underlying evolutionary process. Recently, it was proposed that ancestral traits can be indirectly estimated with the help of molecular data, based on the fact that life history traits influence substitution rates. Here we challenge these new approaches in the Cetartiodactyla, a clade of large mammals which, according to paleontology, derive from small ancestors. Analysing transcriptome data in 41 species, of which 22 were newly sequenced, we provide a dated phylogeny of the Cetartiodactyla and report a significant effect of body mass on the overall substitution rate, the synonymous vs. non-synonymous substitution rate and the dynamics of GC-content. Our molecular comparative analysis points toward relatively small Cetartiodactyla ancestors, in agreement with the fossil record, even though our data set almost exclusively consists of large species. This analysis demonstrates the potential of phylogenomic methods for ancestral trait reconstruction and gives credit to recent suggestions that the ancestor to placental mammals was a relatively large and long-lived animal.
A developed case-based reasoning system for machine tool selection
Authors: Chakraborty Shankar , Boral Soumava 
Published: May 2017

Purpose
Subtractive manufacturing process is the controlled removal of unwanted material from the parent workpiece for having the desired shape and size of the product. Several types of available machine tools are utilized to carry out this manufacturing operation. Selection of the most appropriate machine tool is thus one of the most crucial factors in deciding the success of a manufacturing organization. Ill-suited machine tool may often lead to reduced productivity, flexibility, precision and poor responsiveness. Choosing the best suited machine tool for a specific machining operation becomes more complex, as the process engineers have to consider a diverse range of available alternatives based on a set of conflicting criteria. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
Case-based reasoning (CBR), an amalgamated domain of artificial intelligence and human cognitive process, has already been proven to be an effective tool for ill-defined and unstructured problems. It imitates human reasoning process, using specific knowledge accumulated from the previously encountered situations to solve new problems. This paper elucidates development and application of a CBR system for machine tool selection while fulfilling varying user defined requirements. Here, based on some specified process characteristic values, past similar cases are retrieved and reused to solve a current machine tool selection problem.

Findings
A software prototype is also developed in Visual BASIC 6.0 and three real time examples are illustrated to validate the application potentiality of CBR system for the said purpose.

Originality/value
The developed CBR system for machine tool selection retrieves a set of similar cases and selects the best matched case nearest to the given query set. It can successfully provide a reasonable solution to a given machine tool selection problem where there is a paucity of expert knowledge. It can also guide the process engineers in setting various parametric combinations for achieving maximum machining performance from the selected machine tool, although fine-tuning of those settings may often be required.
Perceived employability in university students: developing an integrated model
Authors: Álvarez-González Paula , López-Miguens María Jesús , Caballero Gloria 
Published: May 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model on perceived employability in university students, based on personal and contextual factors.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors use structural equation modelling to estimate a model that includes a set of variables, previously validated at exploratory and confirmatory levels, in order to measure personal and contextual factors involved in perceived employability. The sample comprises 816 university students selected by a stratified procedure.

Findings
The model explains how perceived employability in university students is built up. It identifies the involved factors and their level of influence and provides statistically valid and reliable measures for these factors.

Research limitations/implications
This study develops an integrated model which explains more than previous ones to know perceived employability of university students by combining personal and contextual factors. A limitation of the study lies in the use of a cross-sectional design, and the specificities of the cultural context as well as consideration of the labour market situation. Generalizing the results to other cultural contexts requires caution.

Practical implications
The model explains perceived employability in university students and provides validated scales at confirmatory level that can be used for futures studies in sociology, behavioural psychology, human resources management or education. The model and scales also serve as tools for evaluation that can be used by those responsible for such personal or contextual factors.

Originality/value
The development of an integrated model that explains perceived employability to a much higher degree than previous models.
Taking advantage of disruptive innovation through changes in value networks: insights from the space industry
Authors: Pérez Lourdes , Dos Santos Paulino Victor , Cambra-Fierro Jesus 
Published: May 2017

Purpose
The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to provide further insights into the challenges and opportunities that arise from simultaneously being an entrant and an incumbent and, second, to help these firms effectively use supply chain management capabilities to respond to disruptive threats.

Design/methodology/approach
This is an “insights from industry” paper. It is based on a retrospective analysis of rich data obtained at the SIRIUS Chair in Toulouse, France, from an important cluster of aerospace firms and the authors’ accumulated experience.

Findings
The authors found that under conditions of disruptive change, the ability to make the final customer the focal point and to build a comprehensive understanding of the overall supply network are key in shaping and taking advantage of future opportunities. These abilities enable firms to analyze different scenarios and identify the roles they want to play, the collaborations they need to establish and the possible internal changes required.

Originality/value
This paper offers several new perspectives from practice. The authors analyze two types of space industry innovations: individual small satellites (or “smallsats”) and smallsat constellations. Three types of capabilities are focused on: inside-out, outside-in and spanning. Disrupt-or-be-disrupted does not fully describe the dynamics the authors observed; cooperative competition and complementarity provide a better framework for ideas on how to cope with disruptive opportunities.
Enabling good emotional support for and with people with learning disabilities
Authors: Mason Victoria , Williams Val 
Published: May 2017

Purpose
Picking up from Cotter et al.’s article on the transferential process, the purpose of this paper is to set out some arguments about the ways of meeting the emotional needs of people with learning disabilities.

Design/methodology/approach
The commentary draws on two studies: one is about understanding and changing disabling practices, and the other is about bereavement support for people with learning disabilities. Both use qualitative approaches, and in both studies, people with learning disabilities are active agents or co-researchers, who have assisted in shaping the ideas and values of the research.

Findings
Professional practices, including those within the therapeutic context, can act as institutional barriers which create people with learning disabilities as passive or incompetent. However, this paper sets out some preliminary findings showing that not only can people with learning disabilities support each other, but also that face-to-face support workers can support people with learning disabilities to understand and cope with their emotions.

Practical implications
Frontline support workers should be seen as professionals, with their own range of resources to provide good emotional support. Further, people with learning disabilities can come together in groups to develop peer support about difficult and sensitive topics.

Originality/value
Talking about therapies for people with learning disabilities has long been overlooked. As their value is now recognised, it is important that the views and wishes of people with learning disabilities themselves are heard, so that they can contribute to the processes which support them.
Queen presence mediates the relationship between collective behaviour and disease susceptibility in ant colonies
Authors: Keiser Carl N. , Vojvodic Svjetlana , Butler Imani O. , Sartain Elizabeth , Rudolf Volker H. W. , Saltz Julia B. 
Published: May 2017

AbstractThe success of social living can be explained, in part, by a group's ability to execute collective behaviours unachievable by solitary individuals. However, groups vary in their ability to execute these complex behaviours, often because they vary in their phenotypic composition. Group membership changes over time due to mortality or emigration, potentially leaving groups vulnerable to ecological challenges in times of flux. In some societies, the loss of important individuals (e.g. leaders, elites and queens) may have an especially detrimental effect on groups’ ability to deal with these challenges.Here, we test whether the removal of queens in colonies of the acorn antTemnothorax curvispinosusalters their ability to execute important collective behaviours and survive outbreaks of a generalist entomopathogen.We employed a split‐colony design where one half of a colony was maintained with its queen, while the other half was separated from the queen. We then tested these subcolonies’ performance in a series of collective behaviour assays and finally exposed colonies to the entomopathogenic fungusMetarhizium robertsiiby exposing two individuals from the colony and then sealing them back into the nest.We found that queenright subcolonies outperformed their queenless counterparts in nearly all collective behaviours. Queenless subcolonies were also more vulnerable to mortality from disease. However, queenless groups that displayed more interactions with brood experienced greater survivorship, a trend not present in queenright subcolonies. Queenless subcolonies that engage in more brood interactions may have had more resources available to cope with two physiological challenges (ovarian development after queen loss and immune activation after pathogen exposure).Our results indicate that queen presence can play an integral role in colony behaviour, survivorship and their relationship. They also suggest that interactions between workers and brood are integral to colonies survival. Overall, a social group's history of social reorganization may have strong consequences on their collective behaviours and their vulnerability to disease outbreaks.
Evidence that eating baked egg or milk influences egg or milk allergy resolution: a systematic review
Authors: Lambert R. , Grimshaw K. E. C. , Ellis B. , Jaitly J. , Roberts G. 
Published: May 2017

SummaryBackgroundIt has been proposed that the frequent ingestion of baked hen's egg or cow's milk accelerates the resolution of hen's egg or cow's milk allergy. This practice is being introduced into clinical practice.ObjectiveTo systematically review the evidence to determine whether the introduction of baked hen's egg or cow's milk into the diet of children with hen's egg or cow's milk allergies respectively leads to a larger proportion of children outgrowing these allergies than expected.MethodsA systematic review of the literature was conducted in Medline, Embase and CINAHL. The inclusion criteria were as follows: randomized control trials, case‐control or cohort studies; children aged 0–18 years with hen's egg or cow's milk allergy; baked hen's egg or cow's milk intervention with or without a comparator; and resolution of the hen's egg or cow's milk allergy as determined by food challenge as the outcome. Studies were critically appraised using the quality assessment tool for quantitative studies. PROSPERO reference CRD42015026029.ResultsWe identified 851 and 2816 hen's egg and cow's milk articles respectively. Only three hen's egg and three cow's milk studies fulfilled our pre‐specified inclusion criteria. The studies concluded that baked products either increased the likelihood of the resolution of allergy or accelerated resolution. However, when critiqued, all studies were classified as weak because they were observational, lacking an appropriate control group; this brings into doubt the study's conclusions. There were a number of examples of severe reactions to baked products.ConclusionThere is little evidence to address the hypothesis that the ingestion of baked hen's egg or cow's milk results in more patients outgrowing their hen's egg or cow's milk allergy respectively. Data are required from a trial comparing the resolution rates of baked‐tolerant participants who are randomized to ingest or avoid baked products to assess the accuracy of this hypothesis.
Race/ethnicity is associated with ABO‐nonidentical liver transplantation in the United States
Authors: Ge Jin , Roberts John P. , Lai Jennifer C. 
Published: May 2017

AbstractUnited Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies allow for ABO‐nonidentical liver transplantation (LT) in candidates with Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) scores greater than 30. Previous studies showed ABO‐nonidentical LT resulted in an 18% and 55% net gain in livers for B and AB candidates. These results suggested that the current liver ABO allocation policies may need refinement. There are, however, strong associations between ABO blood groups and race/ethnicity. We hypothesized that race/ethnicity is associated with ABO‐nonidentical LT and that this is primarily influenced by recipient ABO status. We examined non‐status 1 adult candidates registered between July 1, 2013, and December 31, 2015. There were 27 835 candidates (70% non‐Hispanic White, 15% Hispanic, 9% Black, 4% Asian, 1% Other/Multiracial). A total of 11 369 underwent deceased donor LT: 93% ABO identical, 6% ABO compatible, and 1% ABO incompatible. Black and Asian race/ethnicity were associated with increased likelihoods of ABO‐nonidentical LT. Adjustment for disease etiology, listing MELD, transplant center volume, and UNOS region did not alter this association. Stepwise inclusion of recipient ABO status did eliminate this significant association of race/ethnicity with ABO‐nonidentical LT. Blacks and Asians may be advantaged by ABO‐nonidentical LT, and we suspect that changes to the existing policies may disproportionately impact these groups.
Three‐dimensional proximal flow convergence automatic calculation for determining mitral valve area in rheumatic mitral stenosis
Authors: Sampaio Francisco , Ladeiras‐Lopes Ricardo , Almeida João , Fonseca Paulo , Fontes‐Carvalho Ricardo , Ribeiro José , Gama Vasco 
Published: May 2017

PurposeManagement of patients with mitral stenosis (MS) depends heavily on the accurate quantification of mitral valve area (MVA) using echocardiography. All currently used two‐dimensional (2D) methods have limitations. Estimation of MVA using the proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA) method with real time three‐dimensional (3D) echocardiography may circumvent those limitations. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of 3D direct measurement of PISA in the estimation of MVA.MethodsTwenty‐seven consecutive patients (median age of 63 years; 77.8% females) with rheumatic MS were prospectively studied. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography with 2D and 3D acquisitions were performed on the same day. The reference method for MVA quantification was valve planimetry after 3D‐volume multiplanar reconstruction. A semi‐automated software was used to calculate the 3D flow convergence volume.ResultsCompared to MVA estimation using 3D planimetry, 3D PISA showed the best correlation (rho=0.78, P<.0001), followed by pressure half‐time (PHT: rho=0.66, P<.001), continuity equation (CE: rho=0.61, P=.003), and 2D PISA (rho=0.26, P=.203). Bland‐Altman analysis revealed a good agreement for MVA estimation with 3D PISA (mean difference −0.03 cm2; limits of agreement (LOA) −0.40–0.35), in contrast to wider LOA for 2D methods: CE (mean difference 0.02 cm2, LOA −0.56–0.60); PHT (mean difference 0.31 cm2, LOA −0.32–0.95); 2D PISA (mean difference −0.03 cm2, LOA −0.92–0.86).ConclusionsMVA estimation using 3D PISA was feasible and more accurate than 2D methods. Its introduction in daily clinical practice seems possible and may overcome technical limitations of 2D methods.
Gerbode defect and multivalvular dysfunction: Complex complications in adult congenital heart disease
Authors: Ruivo Catarina , Guardado Joana , Montenegro Sá Fernando , Saraiva Fátima , Antunes Alexandre , Correia Joana , Morais João 
Published: May 2017

We report a clinical case of a 40‐year‐old male with surgically corrected congenital heart disease (CHD) 10 years earlier: closure of ostium primum, mitral annuloplasty, and aortic valve and root surgery. The patient was admitted with acute heart failure. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) revealed a dysmorphic and severely incompetent aortic valve, a partial tear of the mitral valve cleft repair and annuloplasty ring dehiscence. A true left ventricular‐to‐right atrial shunt confirmed a direct Gerbode defect. The authors aim to discuss the diagnostic challenge of adult CHD, namely the key role of TEE on septal defects and valve regurgitations description.