bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Relationship between bony tunnel and knee function in patients after patellar dislocation triple surgeries—a CT-based study
Authors: Qin Le , Li Mei , Yao Weiwu , Shen Ji 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWe aimed to assess the CT-based bony tunnel valuations and their correlation with knee function after patellar dislocation triple surgeries. A retrospective study was performed on 66 patients (70 knees) who underwent patellar dislocation triple surgeries. The surgery was MPFL reconstruction primarily, combined with lateral retinaculum release and tibial tubercle osteotomy. CT examinations were performed to determine the femoral tunnel position, along with the patellar and femoral tunnel width 3 days and more than 1 year after operation for follow-up. Functional evaluation based on Kujala and Lysholm scores was also implemented. We compared tunnel width of the first and last examinations and correlated femoral tunnel position of the last examination with knee function. At the last follow-up, femoral tunnel position in the anterior-posterior direction was moderately correlated with knee function. Femoral tunnel position in the proximal-distal direction was not associated with postoperative knee function. Patellar and femoral tunnel width increased significantly at the last follow-up. However, no significant functional difference was found between patients with and without femoral tunnel enlargement. Our results suggested that the tunnel malposition in anterior-posterior position based on CT was related to impaired knee function during the follow-ups.
Long-term and realistic global change manipulations had low impact on diversity of soil biota in temperate heathland
Authors: Holmstrup Martin , Damgaard Christian , Schmidt Inger K. , Arndal Marie F. , Beier Claus , Mikkelsen Teis N. , Ambus Per , Larsen Klaus S. , Pilegaard Kim , Michelsen Anders , Andresen Louise C. , Haugwitz Merian , Bergmark Lasse , Priemé Anders , Zaitsev Andrey S. , Georgieva Slavka , Dam Marie , Vestergård Mette , Christensen Søren 
Published: January 2017

AbstractIn a dry heathland ecosystem we manipulated temperature (warming), precipitation (drought) and atmospheric concentration of CO2in a full-factorial experiment in order to investigate changes in below-ground biodiversity as a result of future climate change. We investigated the responses in community diversity of nematodes, enchytraeids, collembolans and oribatid mites at two and eight years of manipulations. We used a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach analyzing the three manipulations, soil moisture and temperature, and seven soil biological and chemical variables. The analysis revealed a persistent and positive effect of elevated CO2on litter C:N ratio. After two years of treatment, the fungi to bacteria ratio was increased by warming, and the diversities within oribatid mites, collembolans and nematode groups were all affected by elevated CO2mediated through increased litter C:N ratio. After eight years of treatment, however, the CO2-increased litter C:N ratio did not influence the diversity in any of the four fauna groups. The number of significant correlations between treatments, food source quality, and soil biota diversities was reduced from six to three after two and eight years, respectively. These results suggest a remarkable resilience within the soil biota against global climate change treatments in the long term.
The interplay between p16 serine phosphorylation and arginine methylation determines its function in modulating cellular apoptosis and senescence
Authors: Lu Yang , Ma Wenlong , Li Zhongwei , Lu Jun , Wang Xiuli 
Published: January 2017

AbstractCyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16INK4a (p16) primarily functions as a negative regulator of the retinoblastoma protein (Rb) -E2F pathway, thus plays critical role in cell cycle progression, cellular senescence and apoptosis. In this study, we showed that the methylation of Arg 138 and the phosphorylation of Ser 140 on p16 were critical for the control of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Compared to wild type p16, mutant p16R138K possessed improved function in preventing cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis, while the Ser 140 mutation (p16S140A) exhibited the opposite alteration. We also demonstrated that H2O2 was able to induce the phosphorylation of p16, which facilitated the interaction between CDK4 (Cyclin-dependent protein kinase) and p16, in 293T (human emborynic kidney) cells. Furthermore, the elevated arginine methylation in p16S140A mutant and increased serine phosphorylation in p16R138K mutant suggest that a antagonizing mechanism coordinating Arg 138 methylation and Ser 140 phosphorylation to regulates p16 function as well as cellular apoptosis and senescence. These findings will therefore contribute to therapeutic treatment for p16-related gene therapy by providing theoretical and experimental evidence.
Thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons under shear deformation: A molecular dynamics simulation
Authors: Zhang Chao , Hao Xiao-Li , Wang Cui-Xia , Wei Ning , Rabczuk Timon 
Published: January 2017

AbstractTensile strain and compress strain can greatly affect the thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). However, the effect of GNRs under shear strain, which is also one of the main strain effect, has not been studied systematically yet. In this work, we employ reverse nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (RNEMD) to the systematical study of the thermal conductivity of GNRs (with model size of 4 nm × 15 nm) under the shear strain. Our studies show that the thermal conductivity of GNRs is not sensitive to the shear strain, and the thermal conductivity decreases only 12–16% before the pristine structure is broken. Furthermore, the phonon frequency and the change of the micro-structure of GNRs, such as band angel and bond length, are analyzed to explore the tendency of thermal conductivity. The results show that the main influence of shear strain is on the in-plane phonon density of states (PDOS), whose G band (higher frequency peaks) moved to the low frequency, thus the thermal conductivity is decreased. The unique thermal properties of GNRs under shear strains suggest their great potentials for graphene nanodevices and great potentials in the thermal managements and thermoelectric applications.
Fencing bodes a rapid collapse of the unique Greater Mara ecosystem
Authors: Løvschal Mette , Bøcher Peder Klith , Pilgaard Jeppe , Amoke Irene , Odingo Alice , Thuo Aggrey , Svenning Jens-Christian 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWith land privatization and fencing of thousands of hectares of communal grazing areas, East Africa is struggling with one of the most radical cultural and environmental changes in its history. The 668,500-hectare Greater Mara is of crucial importance for the great migrations of large mammals and for Maasai pastoralist culture. However, the magnitude and pace of these fencing processes in this area are almost completely unknown. We provide new evidence that fencing is appropriating land in this area at an unprecedented and accelerating speed and scale. By means of a mapped series of multispectral satellite imagery (1985–2016), we found that in the conservancies with the most fences, areal cover of fenced areas has increased with >20% since 2010. This has resulted in a situation where fencing is rapidly increasing across the Greater Mara, threatening to lead to the collapse of the entire ecosystem in the near future. Our results suggest that fencing is currently instantiating itself as a new permanent self-reinforcing process and is about to reach a critical point after which it is likely to amplify at an even quicker pace, incompatible with the region’s role in the great wildebeest migration, wildlife generally, as well as traditional Maasai pastoralism.
Using electric current to surpass the microstructure breakup limit
Authors: Qin Rongshan 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe elongated droplets and grains can break up into smaller ones. This process is driven by the interfacial free energy minimization, which gives rise to a breakup limit. We demonstrated in this work that the breakup limit can be overpassed drastically by using electric current to interfere. Electric current free energy is dependent on the microstructure configuration. The breakup causes the electric current free energy to reduce in some cases. This compensates the increment of interfacial free energy during breaking up and enables the processing to achieve finer microstructure. With engineering practical electric current parameters, our calculation revealed a significant increment of the obtainable number of particles, showing electric current a powerful microstructure refinement technology. The calculation is validated by our experiments on the breakup of Fe3C-plates in Fe matrix. Furthermore, there is a parameter range that electric current can drive spherical particles to split into smaller ones.
Unloading Characteristics of Sand-drift in Wind-shallow Areas along Railway and the Effect of Sand Removal by Force of Wind
Authors: Cheng Jian-jun , Xin Guo-Wei , Zhi Ling-yan , Jiang Fu-qiang 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWind-shield walls decrease the velocity of wind-drift sand flow in transit. This results in sand accumulating in the wind-shadow zone of both windshield wall and track line, causing severe sand sediment hazard. This study reveals the characteristics of sand accumulation and the laws of wind-blown sand removal in the wind-shadow areas of three different types of windshield walls, utilizing three-dimensional numerical simulations and wind tunnel experiments and on-site sand sediment tests. The results revealed the formation of apparent vortex and acceleration zones on the leeward side of solid windshield walls. For uniform openings, the vortex area moved back and narrowed. When bottom-opening windshield walls were adopted, the track-supporting layer at the step became a conflux acceleration zone, forming a low velocity vortex zone near the track line. At high wind speeds, windshield walls with bottom-openings achieved improved sand dredging. Considering hydrodynamic mechanisms, the flow field structure on the leeward side of different types of windshield structures is a result of convergence and diffusion of fluids caused by an obstacle. This convergence and diffusion effect of air fluid is more apparent at high wind velocities, but not obvious at low wind velocities.
A deforestation-induced tipping point for the South American monsoon system
Authors: Boers Niklas , Marwan Norbert , Barbosa Henrique M. J. , Kurths Jürgen 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe Amazon rainforest has been proposed as a tipping element of the earth system, with the possibility of a dieback of the entire ecosystem due to deforestation only of parts of the rainforest. Possible physical mechanisms behind such a transition are still subject to ongoing debates. Here, we use a specifically designed model to analyse the nonlinear couplings between the Amazon rainforest and the atmospheric moisture transport from the Atlantic to the South American continent. These couplings are associated with a westward cascade of precipitation and evapotranspiration across the Amazon. We investigate impacts of deforestation on the South American monsoonal circulation with particular focus on a previously neglected positive feedback related to condensational latent heating over the rainforest, which strongly enhances atmospheric moisture inflow from the Atlantic. Our results indicate the existence of a tipping point. In our model setup, crossing the tipping point causes precipitation reductions of up to 40% in non-deforested parts of the western Amazon and regions further downstream. The responsible mechanism is the breakdown of the aforementioned feedback, which occurs when deforestation reduces transpiration to a point where the available atmospheric moisture does not suffice anymore to release the latent heat needed to maintain the feedback.
Low temperature MIR to submillimeter mass absorption coefficient of interstellar dust analogues
Authors: Demyk K. , Meny C. , Lu X.-H. , Papatheodorou G. , Toplis M. J. , Leroux H. , Depecker C. , Brubach J.-B. , Roy P. , Nayral C. , Ojo W.-S. , Delpech F. , Paradis D. , Gromov V. 
Published: January 2017

Context.The submillimeter spectral domain has been extensively explored by theHerschelandPlancksatellites and is now reachable from the ground with ALMA. A wealth of data, revealing cold dust thermal emission, is available for astronomical environments ranging from interstellar clouds, cold clumps, circumstellar envelops, and protoplanetary disks. The interpretation of these observations relies on the understanding and modeling of cold dust emission and on the knowledge of the dust optical properties.Aims.The aim of this work is to provide astronomers with a set of spectroscopic data of realistic interstellar dust analogues that can be used to interpret the observations. It pursues the experimental effort aimed at characterizing the spectroscopic properties of interstellar dust analogues at low temperature in the mid-infrared (MIR) to millimeter spectral domain. Compared to previous studies, it extends the range of studied dust analogues in terms of composition and of structure of the material.Methods.Glassy silicates of mean composition (1−x)MgO –xSiO2withx= 0.35 (close to forsterite, Mg2SiO4), 0.50 (close to enstatite, MgSiO3) and 0.40 (close to Mg1.5SiO3.5or MgSiO3:Mg2SiO4= 50:50) were synthesized. The mass absorption coefficient (MAC) of the samples was measured in the spectral domain 30–1000μm for grain temperature in the range 300–10 K and at room temperature in the 5–40μm domain.Results.We find that the MAC of all samples varies with the grains temperature and that its spectral shape cannot be approximated by a single power law inλ−β. In the FIR/submm, and above 30 K, the MAC value at a given wavelength increases with the temperature as thermally activated absorption processes appear. The studied materials exhibit different and complex behaviors at long wavelengths (λ≥ 200 to 700μm depending on the samples). These behaviors are attributed to the amorphous nature of dust and to the amount and nature of the defects within this amorphous structure. We do not observe MAC variations in the 10–30 K range. Above 20μm, the measured MAC are much higher than the MAC calculated from interstellar silicate dust models indicating that the analogues measured in this study are more emissive than the silicates in cosmic dust models.Conclusions.The underestimated value of the MAC deduced from cosmic dust models in the FIR/submm has important astrophysical implications because masses are overestimated by the models. Moreover, constraints on elemental abundance of heavy elements in cosmic dust models are relaxed.
Endoscopic
treatment of leak at the tip of the “J” ileal
pouch
Authors: Kochhar Gursimran , Shen Bo 
Published: January 2017

Abstract
Background and study aims The tip of the “J” of the ileal pouch is the
vulnerable location for leak after restorative proctocolectomy, which has
normally been treated with surgery. We aimed to describe a novel endoscopic
method to treat the same.
Patients and methods A cohort of 12 consecutive patients with a leak at
the tip of the “J” was identified in our prospectively maintained Pouch
Registry. The endoscopic over-the-scope clipping (OTSC) system was used for the
closure of the leak.
Results Eight patients (66.6 %) achieved complete closure of the leak
documented by endoscopy confirmed with guidewire and/or contrasted pouchogram,
with 6 requiring a single endoscopic session and 2 undergoing a repeat session.
Four patients (33.3 %) had a persistent leak and required surgical intervention,
of whom 1 developed abscess in the pre-spine region 14 days after the endoscopic
procedure and underwent pouch revision surgery.
Conclusions OSTC appears to be safe and effective in treating the leak at
the tip of the “J” in the majority of
patients.
Effect of high-density electric current pulses on precipitation and mechanical properties of a Cu–Zn alloy
Authors: Liu Meishuai , Wang Xinli , Zhao Xiang 
Published: January 2017

By applying high-density electric current pulses (ECP) on the Cu–Zn alloy, the high-temperature precipitated phase is explored and the related mechanical properties are investigated. Results show that the nucleation rate of the high-temperature β precipitation can be greatly accelerated due to the ECP treatment. Especially, an obvious orientation relationship can be detected between the matrix α phase and the product β precipitation by increasing the electric current density. In addition, for the samples with a dense distribution of refined β precipitation, a slight decrease in the tensile strength and a great increase in the elongation-to-failure can be observed. This paper is part of a themed issue on Materials in External Fields.
Borrow or Serve? An Economic Analysis of Options for Financing a Medical School Education
Authors: Marcu Mircea I. , Kellermann Arthur L. , Hunter Christine , Curtis Jerri , Rice Charles , Wilensky Gail R. 
Published: January 2017

Purpose
To understand the long-term economic implications of key pathways for financing a medical school education.

Method
The authors calculated the net present value (NPV) of cash flow over a 30-year career for a 2013 matriculant associated with (1) self-financing, (2) federally guaranteed loans, (3) the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, (4) the National Health Service Corps, (5) the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program, and (6) matriculation at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. They calculated the NPV for students pursuing one of four specialties in two cities with divergent tax policies. Borrowers were assumed to have a median level of debt ($180,000), and conservative projections of inflation, discount rates, and income growth were employed. Sensitivity analyses examined different discount and income growth rates, alternative repayment strategies, and various lengths of public-sector service by scholarship recipients.

Results
For those wealthy enough to pay cash or fortunate enough to secure a no-strings scholarship, self-financing produced the highest NPV in almost every scenario. Borrowers start practice $300,000 to $400,000 behind their peers who secure a national service scholarship, but those who enter a highly paid specialty, such as orthopedic surgery, overtake their national service counterparts 4 to 11 years after residency. Those in lower-paid specialties take much longer. Borrowers who enter primary care never close the gap.

Conclusions
Over time, the value of a medical degree offsets the high up-front cost. Debt avoidance confers substantial economic benefits, particularly for students interested in primary care.
The Good Investment
Authors: Prescott John E. , Fresne Julie A. , Youngclaus James A. 
Published: January 2017

The authors reflect on the article in this issue entitled “Borrow or Serve? An Economic Analysis of Options for Financing a Medical School Education” by Marcu and colleagues, which makes a compelling case that a medical school education is a good investment, no matter what financing option students use, from federal service programs to federal loans. The lead author of this Commentary shares lessons learned from his own medical school education, which was funded by an Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship, and from his current position interacting with medical students across the United States.
Regardless of the financing path they choose, all students should understand basic financial concepts and the details of the various pathways that are available to pay for their medical school education, as well as how each could potentially impact their own future and that of their families. One underappreciated aspect of financing a medical school education is that federal repayment scenarios can link loan payments to income, rather than debt levels, which means that all physicians are able to afford their loan payments no matter what specialty they practice, what they are paid, or where they live.
Medical education, while expensive, remains the good investment. An MD degree can lead to a lifetime of personal fulfillment and societal contributions. Everyone, with rare exceptions, accepted to a U.S. medical school will be able to finance their medical education via a path that aligns with their personal values and priorities.
Comparative Analysis of Combined (First Anterior, Then Posterior) Versus Only Posterior Approach for Treating Severe Scoliosis
Authors: Hero Nikša , Vengust Rok , Topolovec Matevž 
Published: January 2017

Study Design.
A retrospective, one center, institutional review board approved study.

Objective.
Two methods of operative treatments were compared in order to evaluate whether a two-stage approach is justified for correction of bigger idiopathic scoliosis curves. Two stage surgery, combined anterior approach in first operation and posterior instrumentation and correction in the second operation. One stage surgery included only posterior instrumentation and correction.

Summary of Background Data.
Studies comparing two-stage approach and only posterior approach are rather scarce, with shorter follow up and lack of clinical data.

Methods.
Three hundred forty eight patients with idiopathic scoliosis were operated using Cotrel–Dubousset (CD) hybrid instrumentation with pedicle screw and hooks. Only patients with curvatures more than or equal to 61° were analyzed and divided in two groups: two stage surgery (N = 30) and one stage surgery (N = 46). The radiographic parameters as well as duration of operation, hospitalization time, and number of segments included in fusion and clinical outcome were analyzed.

Results.
No statistically significant difference was observed in correction between two-stage group (average correction 69%) and only posterior approach group (average correction 66%). However, there were statistically significant differences regarding hospitalization time, duration of the surgery, and the number of instrumented segments.

Conclusion.
Two-stage surgery has only a limited advantage in terms of postoperative correction angle compared with the posterior approach. Posterior instrumentation and correction is satisfactory, especially taking into account that the patient is subjected to only one surgery.

Level of Evidence: 3