bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
THE PREVALENCE OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES AND AFFECTING FACTORS IN TURKEY: A NATIONAL SURVEY
Authors: Kaplan Sena , Pinar Gul , Kaplan Bekir , Aslantekin Filiz , Karabulut Erdem , Ayar Banu , Dilmen Ugur 
Published: February 2016

SummaryThis study was carried out by the Turkish Republic Ministry of Health to determine the prevalence of consanguineous marriage and its correlates with socio-demographic and obstetric risk factors in women in Turkey. The cross-sectional, national-level study was carried out from October to December 2013. The study population was composed of women between the ages of 15 and 65 years living in Turkey. The sample size was calculated as 9290 houses within Turkey’s 81 provinces so as to improve the Turkish rural–urban expectations by means of systematic stack sampling according to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s address-based vital statistics system. The target sample size was 6364, but only eligible 4913 women, who had been married, were included in the study. The consanguineous marriage frequency in the sample was found to be 18.5%, and of these 57.8% were first cousin marriages. Women living in an extended family and whose education level and first marriage ages were low, and whose perceived economic status was poor, had higher frequencies of consanguineous marriage (p<0.001). Consanguineous marriage frequencies were higher (p<0.001) for women who had spontaneous abortions and stillbirths or who had given birth to infants with a congenital abnormality. In this context, it is important to develop national policies and strategies to prevent consanguineous marriages in Turkey.
Brooches and Britannia
Authors: Cool H.E.M. , Baxter M.J. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractRegional and temporal patterns in brooch use in Britannia are studied, confirming and challenging ‘received wisdoms’ about ‘regionality’. The complexity of the ‘Fibula Event Horizon’ is brought into sharp focus; a similarly complex and unexplained ‘Fibula Abandonment Horizon’ is also clearly demonstrated. Conclusions are insensitive to assumptions about use-life. Detailed analysis for the family of trumpet brooches casts light on hitherto unappreciated features of ‘regionality’. Comparison with continental data suggests the British temporal patterns may be reflecting a wider north-western province pattern. Under-studied aspects of bias in metal-detected finds and their implications for studies of this kind are noted. The Supplementary Material available online (http://journals.cambridge.org/bri) contains tabular information on the data used in the study and additional analyses that support some of the assertions made in the main text.
Prevalence of different HIV-1 subtypes in sexual transmission in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: YUAN R. , CHENG H. , CHEN L.-S. , ZHANG X. , WANG B. 
Published: February 2016

SUMMARYSexual transmission has become the primary route of HIV transmission in China. Therefore, a comprehensive overview of HIV-1 subtype distribution is necessary for the prevention and control of the HIV epidemic. The present study aimed to provide a comprehensive prevalence estimate of different HIV-1 subtypes in sexual transmission in China. We conducted a systematic literature review for studies of HIV-1 subtypes in English and Chinese through several databases. Eligible articles were screened and selected by two authors independently. Random-effects model were applied to calculate the pooled prevalence of different HIV-1 subtypes, and subgroup analyses examined prevalence estimates across time, locations, and populations. A total of 130 eligible studies were identified, including 18 752 successfully genotyped samples. The pooled prevalence of CRF01_AE, subtype B, CRF07_BC, CRF08_BC, and subtype C were 44·54% (95% CI 40·81–48·30), 18·31% (95% CI 14·71–22·17), 16·45% (95% CI 13·82–19·25), 2·55% (95% CI 1·56–3·73), 0·37% (95% CI 0·11–0·72), respectively. The prevalence of subtype B in sexual transmission decreased, while the prevalence of CRF01_AE and CRF07_BC in sexual transmission, and CRF08_BC in heterosexual transmission increased. There is significant variation in HIV-1 subtype distribution between regions. The distribution of HIV-1 subtypes and circulating recombinant forms have changed significantly. The high genetic variability of HIV-1 poses a significant challenge for disease control and surveillance in China.
Effects of Partial Sleep Deprivation on Information Processing Speed in Adolescence
Authors: Cohen-Zion Mairav , Shabi Adi , Levy Sigal , Glasner Laura , Wiener Avigail 
Published: February 2016

AbstractObjectives: Although chronic sleep loss is highly common among teens, few objective sleep studies have examined its effects on cognitive performance, and specifically on information processing speed (IPS), a measure of cognitive proficiency. Methods: Forty-five adolescents underwent four consecutive nights of monitored sleep restriction (6–6.5 hr/night) and four nights of sleep extension (10–10.5 hr/night), in counterbalanced order, and separated by a washout period. Following each sleep period, cognitive performance was assessed, at a fixed morning time, using a computerized neuropsychological battery including an IPS task, a timed test providing both accuracy and reaction time outcome measures. Results: Overall IPS performance was poorer in the restricted when compared to the extended condition. Increasing task load and pace were associated with increased accuracy for both sleep conditions. However, a significant pace by load interaction effect was only found in the extended condition, with post hoc tests showing that for medium and hard loads, IPS accuracies were better with increasing pace of task. Differences in IPS reaction times were not found between the sleep conditions. In addition, sleep-related changes in IPS indices were correlated with changes in executive function, motor skill, and attention performance. Conclusions: Adolescents’ ability to process information may be especially vulnerable to sleep loss. Under ideal sleep conditions, however, they seem to be able to achieve optimal performance, particularly on more challenging problems. The functional implications of these findings may be particularly relevant to teens, who are often sleep deprived and are constantly required to process academic, social, and emotional input. (JINS, 2016, 22, 388–398)
Out-of-pocket payments and community-wide health outcomes: an examination of influenza vaccination subsidies in Japan
Authors: Ibuka Yoko , Bessho Shun-ichiro 
Published: February 2016

AbstractWhile studies have shown that reductions in out-of-pocket payments for vaccination generally encourages vaccination uptake, research on the impact on health outcomes has rarely been examined. Thus, the present study, using municipal-level survey data on a subsidy programme for influenza vaccination in Japan that covers the entire country, examines how reductions in out-of-pocket payments for vaccination among non-elderly individuals through a subsidy programme affected regional-level influenza activity. We find that payment reductions are negatively correlated with the number of weeks with a high influenza alert in that region, although the correlation varied across years. At the same time, we find no significant correlation between payment reductions and the total duration of influenza outbreaks (i.e. periods with a moderate or high alert). Given that a greater number of weeks with a high alert indicates a severer epidemic, our findings suggest that reductions in out-of-pocket payments for influenza vaccination among the non-elderly had a positive impact on community-wide health outcomes, indicating that reduced out-of-pocket payments contributes to the effective control of severe influenza epidemics. This suggests that payment reductions could benefit not only individuals by providing them with better access to preventive care, as has been shown previously, but also communities as a whole by shortening the duration of epidemics.
Monitoring eruption activity using temporal stress changes at Mount Ontake volcano
Authors: Terakawa Toshiko , Kato Aitaro , Yamanaka Yoshiko , Maeda Yuta , Horikawa Shinichiro , Matsuhiro Kenjiro , Okuda Takashi 
Published: February 2016

AbstractVolcanic activity is often accompanied by many small earthquakes. Earthquake focal mechanisms represent the fault orientation and slip direction, which are influenced by the stress field. Focal mechanisms of volcano-tectonic earthquakes provide information on the state of volcanoes via stresses. Here we demonstrate that quantitative evaluation of temporal stress changes beneath Mt. Ontake, Japan, using the misfit angles of focal mechanism solutions to the regional stress field, is effective for eruption monitoring. The moving average of misfit angles indicates that during the precursory period the local stress field beneath Mt. Ontake was deviated from the regional stress field, presumably by stress perturbations caused by the inflation of magmatic/hydrothermal fluids, which was removed immediately after the expulsion of volcanic ejecta. The deviation of the local stress field can be an indicator of increases in volcanic activity. The proposed method may contribute to the mitigation of volcanic hazards.
Characterization of a natural triple-tandem c-di-GMP riboswitch and application of the riboswitch-based dual-fluorescence reporter
Authors: Zhou Hang , Zheng Cao , Su Jianmei , Chen Bo , Fu Yang , Xie Yuqun , Tang Qing , Chou Shan-Ho , He Jin 
Published: February 2016

Abstractc-di-GMP riboswitches are structured RNAs located in the 5′-untranslated regions (5′-UTRs) of mRNAs that regulate expression of downstream genes in response to changing concentrations of the second messenger c-di-GMP. We discovered three complete c-di-GMP riboswitches (Bc3, Bc4 and Bc5 RNA) with similar structures, which are arranged in tandem to constitute a triple-tandem (Bc3-5 RNA) riboswitch in the 5′-UTR of the cspABCDE mRNA in Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. chinensis CT-43. Our results showed that this natural triple-tandem riboswitch controlled the expression of the reporter gene more stringently and digitally than the double-tandem or single riboswitch. A sandwich-like dual-fluorescence reporter was further constructed by fusing the Bc3-5 RNA gene between the two fluorescence protein genes amcyan and turborfp. This reporter strain was found to exhibit detectable fluorescence color changes under bright field in response to intracellular c-di-GMP level altered by induced expression of diguanylate cyclase (DGC) PleD. Using this system, two putative membrane-bound DGCs from B. thuringiensis and Xanthomonas oryzae were verified to be functional by replacing pleD with the corresponding DGC genes. This report represented the first native triple-tandem riboswitch that was applied to serve as a riboswitch-based dual-fluorescence reporter for the efficient and convenient verification of putative DGC activity in vivo.
Smoking Induced Hemolysis: Spectral and microscopic investigations
Authors: Masilamani Vadivel , AlZahrani Khalid , Devanesan Sandhanasamy , AlQahtani Hadi , AlSalhi Mohamad Saleh 
Published: February 2016

AbstractSmoking is one of the major causes of lifestyle associated mortality and morbidity such as cancer of the oral cavity and lungs and also cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we have provided evidences for the smoking-induced hemolysis using two methods: spectra of blood components and atomic force microscopic analysis of surface morphology. A total of 62 subjects (control = 31; smoker = 31: 21 male; 10 female in each set) were considered for the study. The findings indicate that smoking leads to potholes on the surface, swelling of shape, rupturing of erythrocytes, removal of hematoporphyrin and flushing into the plasma as metabolites of the erythrocyte. The overall morphology of the erythrocytes of the smoker group appears more like a Mexican hat. The mean surface roughness was 5.5 ± 3 nm for the smoker group, but 1.2 ± 0.2 nm for the control group. Such damages might help the toxins, (CO, peroxidants, aldehydes etc.,) to gain easy access and get strongly absorbed by the hemoglobin, leading to enhanced rates of hemolysis as shown by the spectral features of metabolites. This indicates that the average life span of the smoker’s erythrocytes is significantly less than that of the control group.
Non-blinking single-photon emitters in silica
Authors: Rabouw Freddy T. , Cogan Nicole M. B. , Berends Anne C. , Stam Ward van der , Vanmaekelbergh Daniel , Koenderink A. Femius , Krauss Todd D. , Donega Celso de Mello 
Published: February 2016

AbstractSamples for single-emitter spectroscopy are usually prepared by spin-coating a dilute solution of emitters on a microscope cover slip of silicate based glass (such as quartz). Here, we show that both borosilicate glass and quartz contain intrinsic defect colour centres that fluoresce when excited at 532 nm. In a microscope image the defect emission is indistinguishable from spin-coated emitters. The emission spectrum is characterised by multiple peaks with the main peak between 2.05 and 2.20 eV, most likely due to coupling to a silica vibration with an energy that varies between 160 and 180 meV. The defects are single-photon emitters, do not blink, and have photoluminescence lifetimes of a few nanoseconds. Photoluminescence from such defects may previously have been misinterpreted as originating from single nanocrystal quantum dots.
Microfluidic Screening of Electric Fields for Electroporation
Authors: Garcia Paulo A. , Ge Zhifei , Moran Jeffrey L. , Buie Cullen R. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractElectroporation is commonly used to deliver molecules such as drugs, proteins, and/or DNA into cells, but the mechanism remains poorly understood. In this work a rapid microfluidic assay was developed to determine the critical electric field threshold required for inducing bacterial electroporation. The microfluidic device was designed to have a bilaterally converging channel to amplify the electric field to magnitudes sufficient to induce electroporation. The bacterial cells are introduced into the channel in the presence of SYTOX®, which fluorescently labels cells with compromised membranes. Upon delivery of an electric pulse, the cells fluoresce due to transmembrane influx of SYTOX® after disruption of the cell membranes. We calculate the critical electric field by capturing the location within the channel of the increase in fluorescence intensity after electroporation. Bacterial strains with industrial and therapeutic relevance such as Escherichia coli BL21 (3.65 ± 0.09 kV/cm), Corynebacterium glutamicum (5.20 ± 0.20 kV/cm) and Mycobacterium smegmatis (5.56 ± 0.08 kV/cm) have been successfully characterized. Determining the critical electric field for electroporation facilitates the development of electroporation protocols that minimize Joule heating and maximize cell viability. This assay will ultimately enable the genetic transformation of bacteria and archaea considered intractable and difficult-to-transfect, while facilitating fundamental genetic studies on numerous diverse microbes.
Potential role of AKT/mTOR signalling proteins in hairy cell leukaemia: association with BRAF/ERK activation and clinical outcome
Authors: Lakiotaki Eleftheria , Levidou Georgia , Angelopoulou Maria K. , Adamopoulos Christos , Pangalis Gerassimos , Rassidakis George , Vassilakopoulos Theodoros , Gainaru Gabriella , Flevari Pagona , Sachanas Sotirios , Saetta Angelica A. , Sepsa Athanasia , Moschogiannis Maria , Kalpadakis Christina , Tsesmetzis Nikolaos , Milionis Vassilios , Chatziandreou Ilenia , Thymara Irene , Panayiotidis Panayiotis , Dimopoulou Maria , Plata Eleni , Konstantopoulos Konstantinos , Patsouris Efstratios , Piperi Christina , Korkolopoulou Penelope 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe potential role of AKT/mTOR signalling proteins and its association with the Raf-MEK-ERK pathway was investigated in hairy cell leukaemia (HCL). BRAFV600E expression and activated forms of AKT, mTOR, ERK1/2, p70S6k and 4E-BP1 were immunohistochemically assessed in 77 BM biopsies of HCL patients and correlated with clinicopathological and BM microvascular characteristics, as well as with c-Caspase-3 levels in hairy cells. Additionally, we tested rapamycin treatment response of BONNA-12 wild-type cells or transfected with BRAFV600E. Most HCL cases expressed p-p70S6K and p-4E-BP1 but not p-mTOR, being accompanied by p-ERK1/2 and p-AKT. AKT/mTOR activation was evident in BONNA-12 cells irrespective of the presence of BRAFV600E mutation and was implicated in cell proliferation enhancement. In multivariate analysis p-AKT/p-mTOR/p-4E-BP1 overexpression was an adverse prognostic factor for time to next treatment conferring earlier relapse. When p-AKT, p-mTOR and p-4E-BP1 were examined separately only p-4E-BP1 remained significant. Our findings indicate that in HCL, critical proteins up- and downstream of mTOR are activated. Moreover, the strong associations with Raf-MEK-ERK signalling imply a possible biologic interaction between these pathways. Most importantly, expression of p-4E-BP1 alone or combined with p-AKT and p-mTOR is of prognostic value in patients with HCL.
Cep70 overexpression stimulates pancreatic cancer by inducing centrosome abnormality and microtubule disorganization
Authors: Xie Songbo , Qin Juan , Liu Shiyu , Zhang Yijun , Wang Jun , Shi Xingjuan , Li Dengwen , Zhou Jun , Liu Min 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe centrosome is crucial for mitotic fidelity and centrosome aberrations are associated with genomic instability and tumorigenesis. The centrosomal protein Cep70 has been reported to play a role in various cellular activities. However, whether this protein is involved in pathological processes remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that Cep70 is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues. Cep70 expression correlates with clinicopathological parameters of pancreatic cancer, including histological grade, pathological tumor node metastasis stage, lymph node metastasis and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 level. Depletion of Cep70 significantly suppresses pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and promotes apoptotic cell death and exogenous expression of Cep70 can rescue the above effects. Cep70 also stimulates colony formation in soft agar and enhances tumor growth in mice. Our data further show that ectopic expression of Cep70 in pancreatic cancer cells results in the mislocalization of centrosomal proteins, including γ-tubulin and pericentrin and the formation of intracellular aggregates. In addition, Cep70 overexpression leads to microtubule disorganization and the formation of multipolar spindles during mitosis. Our study thus unravels a critical role for Cep70 in pancreatic cancer and suggests Cep70 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for this deadly disease.
Antibiotic binding of STY3178, a yfdX protein from Salmonella Typhi
Authors: Saha Paramita , Manna Camelia , Das Santasabuj , Ghosh Mahua 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe yfdX family proteins are known for long time to occur in various virulent bacteria including their multidrug resistant (MDR) strains, without any direct assigned function for them. However, yfdX protein along with other proteins involved in acid tolerance response is reported to be up regulated by the multidrug response regulatory system in E. coli. Hence, molecular and functional characterization of this protein is important for understanding of key cellular processes in bacterial cells. Here we study STY3178, a yfdX protein from a MDR strain of typhoid fever causing Salmonella Typhi. Our experimental results indicate that STY3178 is a helical protein existing in a trimeric oligomerization state in solution. We also observe many small antibiotics, like ciprofloxacin, rifampin and ampicillin viably interact with this protein. The dissociation constants from the quenching of steady state fluorescence and isothermal titration calorimetry show that ciprofloxacin binding is stronger than rifampin followed by ampicillin.
Long-range superharmonic Josephson current and spin-triplet pairing correlations in a junction with ferromagnetic bilayers
Authors: Meng Hao , Wu Jiansheng , Wu Xiuqiang , Ren Mengyuan , Ren Yajie 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe long-range spin-triplet supercurrent transport is an interesting phenomenon in the superconductor/ferromagnet ("Equation missing") heterostructure containing noncollinear magnetic domains. Here we study the long-range superharmonic Josephson current in asymmetric "Equation missing" junctions. It is demonstrated that this current is induced by spin-triplet pairs "Equation missing" − "Equation missing" or "Equation missing" + "Equation missing" in the thick "Equation missing" layer. The magnetic rotation of the particularly thin "Equation missing" layer will not only modulate the amplitude of the superharmonic current but also realise the conversion between "Equation missing" − "Equation missing" and "Equation missing" + "Equation missing". Moreover, the critical current shows an oscillatory dependence on thickness and exchange field in the "Equation missing" layer. These effect can be used for engineering cryoelectronic devices manipulating the superharmonic current. In contrast, the critical current declines monotonically with increasing exchange field of the "Equation missing" layer and if the "Equation missing" layer is converted into half-metal, the long-range supercurrent is prohibited but "Equation missing" still exists within the entire "Equation missing" region. This phenomenon contradicts the conventional wisdom and indicates the occurrence of spin and charge separation in present junction, which could lead to useful spintronics devices.
Dramatic pressure-driven enhancement of bulk skyrmion stability
Authors: Levatić I. , Popčević P. , Šurija V. , Kruchkov A. , Berger H. , Magrez A. , White J. S. , Rønnow H. M. , Živković I. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe recent discovery of magnetic skyrmion lattices initiated a surge of interest in the scientific community. Several novel phenomena have been shown to emerge from the interaction of conducting electrons with the skyrmion lattice, such as a topological Hall-effect and a spin-transfer torque at ultra-low current densities. In the insulating compound Cu2OSeO3, magneto-electric coupling enables control of the skyrmion lattice via electric fields, promising a dissipation-less route towards novel spintronic devices. One of the outstanding fundamental issues is related to the thermodynamic stability of the skyrmion lattice. To date, the skyrmion lattice in bulk materials has been found only in a narrow temperature region just below the order-disorder transition. If this narrow stability is unavoidable, it would severely limit applications. Here we present the discovery that applying just moderate pressure on Cu2OSeO3 substantially increases the absolute size of the skyrmion pocket. This insight demonstrates directly that tuning the electronic structure can lead to a significant enhancement of the skyrmion lattice stability. We interpret the discovery by extending the previously employed Ginzburg-Landau approach and conclude that change in the anisotropy is the main driver for control of the size of the skyrmion pocket.