bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A micro-scale simulation of red blood cell passage through symmetric and asymmetric bifurcated vessels
Authors: Wang Tong , Rongin Uwitije , Xing Zhongwen 
Published: February 2016

AbstractBlood exhibits a heterogeneous nature of hematocrit, velocity and effective viscosity in microcapillaries. Microvascular bifurcations have a significant influence on the distribution of the blood cells and blood flow behavior. This paper presents a simulation study performed on the two-dimensional motions and deformation of multiple red blood cells in microvessels with diverging and converging bifurcations. Fluid dynamics and membrane mechanics were incorporated. Effects of cell shape, hematocrit and deformability of the cell membrane on rheological behavior of the red blood cells and the hemodynamics have been investigated. It was shown that the blood entering the daughter branch with a higher flow rate tended to receive disproportionally more cells. The results also demonstrate that red blood cells in microvessels experienced lateral migration in the parent channel and blunted velocity profiles in both straight section and daughter branches and this effect was influenced by the shape and the initial position of the cells, the hematocrit and the membrane deformability. In addition, a cell free region around the tip of the confluence was observed. The simulation results are qualitatively consistent with existing experimental findings. This study may provide fundamental knowledge for a better understanding of hemodynamic behavior of micro-scale blood flow.
Enhanced renoprotective effect of IGF-1 modified human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on gentamicin-induced acute kidney injury
Authors: Liu Pengfei , Feng Yetong , Dong Delu , Liu Xiaobo , Chen Yaoyu , Wang Yi , Zhou Yulai 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe therapeutic action of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) against acute kidney injury (AKI) has been demonstrated by several groups. However, how to further enhance the renoprotective effect of UC-MSCs and improve the therapy effect, are still unclear. In this study, we mainly investigated whether insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-modified UC-MSCs hold an enhanced protective effect on gentamicin-induced AKI in vivo. Our results indicated that the IGF-1 overexpression could enhance the therapeutic action of human UC-MSCs and the AKI rats treated with IGF-1-overexpressed UC-MSCs (UC-MSCs-IGF-1) showed better recovery of biochemical variables in serum or urine associated with renal function, histological injury and renal apoptosis, compared with AKI rats treated with normal UC-MSCs. RNA microarray analysis indicated that some key genes in the signal pathways associated with anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory and cell migratory capacity were up-regulated in UC-MSCs-IGF-1 and the results were further confirmed with qPCR. Furthermore, a series of detection in vitro and in vivo indicated that the UC-MSCs-IGF-1 hold better anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory and cell migratory capacity for IGF-1 overexpression. Thus, our study indicated that enhancement of UC-MSCs bioactivities with IGF-1 overexpression could increase the UC-MSCs therapeutic potential and further developed a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of AKI.
Integrated Microfluidic Lectin Barcode Platform for High-Performance Focused Glycomic Profiling
Authors: Shang Yuqin , Zeng Yun , Zeng Yong 
Published: February 2016

AbstractProtein glycosylation is one of the key processes that play essential roles in biological functions and dysfunctions. However, progress in glycomics has considerably lagged behind genomics and proteomics, due in part to the enormous challenges in analysis of glycans. Here we present a new integrated and automated microfluidic lectin barcode platform to substantially improve the performance of lectin array for focused glycomic profiling. The chip design and flow control were optimized to promote the lectin-glycan binding kinetics and speed of lectin microarray. Moreover, we established an on-chip lectin assay which employs a very simple blocking method to effectively suppress the undesired background due to lectin binding of antibodies. Using this technology, we demonstrated focused differential profiling of tissue-specific glycosylation changes of a biomarker, CA125 protein purified from ovarian cancer cell line and different tissues from ovarian cancer patients in a fast, reproducible and high-throughput fashion. Highly sensitive CA125 detection was also demonstrated with a detection limit much lower than the clinical cutoff value for cancer diagnosis. This microfluidic platform holds the potential to integrate with sample preparation functions to construct a fully integrated “sample-to-answer” microsystem for focused differential glycomic analysis. Thus, our technology should present a powerful tool in support of rapid advance in glycobiology and glyco-biomarker development.
Longitudinal metabolic imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma in transgenic mouse models identifies acylcarnitine as a potential biomarker for early detection
Authors: Yaligar Jadegoud , Teoh Wei Wei. , Othman Rashidah , Verma Sanjay Kumar , Phang Beng Hooi , Lee Swee Shean , Wang Who Whong , Toh Han Chong , Gopalan Venkatesh , Sabapathy Kanaga , Velan S. Sendhil 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe cumulative effects of hepatic injury due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections and aflatoxin-B1 (AFB1) exposure are the major risk factors of HCC. Understanding early metabolic changes involving these risk factors in an animal model closely resembling human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is critical for biomarker discovery and disease therapeutics. We have used the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) transgenic mouse model that mimics HBV carriers with and without AFB1 treatment. We investigated early metabolic changes from preneoplastic state to HCC by non-invasive longitudinal imaging in three HCC groups of mice: HBsAg + AFB1(Gp-I), AFB1 alone (Gp-II), HBsAg alone (Gp-III) and a control group (wild-type untreated; Gp-IV). For the first time, we have identified acylcarnitine signals in vivo in the liver prior to the histological manifestation of the tumors in all three groups. Acylcarnitine concentration increased with increase in tumor growth in all HCC mouse models, indicating elevated metabolic activity and increased cell turnover. This was confirmed in a pilot study using human serum from HCC patients, which revealed a higher concentration of acylcarnitine compared with normal subjects. Translational clinical studies can be designed to detect acylcarnitine in patients with high risk factors for HCC.
Significant enhancement of magnetoresistance with the reduction of particle size in nanometer scale
Authors: Das Kalipada , Dasgupta P. , Poddar A. , Das I. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThe Physics of materials with large magnetoresistance (MR), defined as the percentage change of electrical resistance with the application of external magnetic field, has been an active field of research for quite some times. In addition to the fundamental interest, large MR has widespread application that includes the field of magnetic field sensor technology. New materials with large MR is interesting. However it is more appealing to vast scientific community if a method describe to achieve many fold enhancement of MR of already known materials. Our study on several manganite samples [La1−xCaxMnO3 (x = 0.52, 0.54, 0.55)] illustrates the method of significant enhancement of MR with the reduction of the particle size in nanometer scale. Our experimentally observed results are explained by considering model consisted of a charge ordered antiferromagnetic core and a shell having short range ferromagnetic correlation between the uncompensated surface spins in nanoscale regime. The ferromagnetic fractions obtained theoretically in the nanoparticles has been shown to be in the good agreement with the experimental results. The method of several orders of magnitude improvement of the magnetoresistive property will have enormous potential for magnetic field sensor technology.
Chemical Changes in Nonthermal Plasma-Treated N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) Solution and TheirContribution to Bacterial Inactivation
Authors: Ercan Utku K. , Smith Josh , Ji Hai-Feng , Brooks Ari D. , Joshi Suresh G. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractIn continuation of our previous reports on the broad-spectrum antimicrobial activityof atmospheric non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatedN-Acetylcysteine (NAC) solution against planktonic and biofilm forms of differentmultidrug resistant microorganisms, we present here the chemical changes thatmediate inactivation of Escherichia coli. In this study, the mechanism andproducts of the chemical reactions in plasma-treated NAC solution are shown.UV-visible spectrometry, FT-IR, NMR and colorimetric assays were utilized forchemical characterization of plasma treated NAC solution. The characterizationresults were correlated with the antimicrobial assays using determined chemicalspecies in solution in order to confirm the major species that are responsible forantimicrobial inactivation. Our results have revealed that plasma treatment of NACsolution creates predominantly reactive nitrogen species versus reactive oxygenspecies and the generated peroxynitrite is responsible for significant bacterialinactivation.
Quantum dots-based double imaging combined with organic dye imaging to establish an automatic computerized method for cancer Ki67 measurement
Authors: Wang Lin-Wei , Qu Ai-Ping , Liu Wen-Lou , Chen Jia-Mei , Yuan Jing-Ping , Wu Han , Li Yan , Liu Juan 
Published: February 2016

AbstractAs a widely used proliferative marker, Ki67 has important impacts on cancer prognosis, especially for breast cancer (BC). However, variations in analytical practice make it difficult for pathologists to manually measure Ki67 index. This study is to establish quantum dots (QDs)-based double imaging of nuclear Ki67 as red signal by QDs-655, cytoplasmic cytokeratin (CK) as yellow signal by QDs-585 and organic dye imaging of cell nucleus as blue signal by 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and to develop a computer-aided automatic method for Ki67 index measurement. The newly developed automatic computerized Ki67 measurement could efficiently recognize and count Ki67-positive cancer cell nuclei with red signals and cancer cell nuclei with blue signals within cancer cell cytoplasmic with yellow signals. Comparisons of computerized Ki67 index, visual Ki67 index and marked Ki67 index for 30 patients of 90 images with Ki67 ≤ 10% (low grade), 10% < Ki67 < 50% (moderate grade) and Ki67 ≥ 50% (high grade) showed computerized Ki67 counting is better than visual Ki67 counting, especially for Ki67 low and moderate grades. Based on QDs-based double imaging and organic dye imaging on BC tissues, this study successfully developed an automatic computerized Ki67 counting method to measure Ki67 index.
Insensitivity to Flaws Leads to Damage Tolerance in Brittle Architected Meta-Materials
Authors: Montemayor L. C. , Wong W. H. , Zhang Y.-W. , Greer J. R. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractCellular solids are instrumental in creating lightweight, strong, and damage-tolerant engineering materials. By extending feature size down to the nanoscale, we simultaneously exploit the architecture and material size effects to substantially enhance structural integrity of architected meta-materials. We discovered that hollow-tube alumina nanolattices with 3D kagome geometry that contained pre-fabricated flaws always failed at the same load as the pristine specimens when the ratio of notch length (a) to sample width (w) is no greater than 1/3, with no correlation between failure occurring at or away from the notch. Samples with (a/w) > 0.3, and notch length-to-unit cell size ratios of (a/l) > 5.2, failed at a lower peak loads because of the higher sample compliance when fewer unit cells span the intact region. Finite element simulations show that the failure is governed by purely tensile loading for (a/w) < 0.3 for the same (a/l); bending begins to play a significant role in failure as (a/w) increases. This experimental and computational work demonstrates that the discrete-continuum duality of architected structural meta-materials may give rise to their damage tolerance and insensitivity of failure to the presence of flaws even when made entirely of intrinsically brittle materials.
A high-risk group of pregnant women with elevated levels of conflict-related trauma, intimate partner violence, symptoms of depression and other forms of mental distress in post-conflict Timor-Leste
Authors: Rees S J , Tol W , Mohammad M , Tay A K , Tam N , dos Reis N , da Costa E , Soares C , Silove D M 
Published: February 2016

AbstractWomen in post-conflict, low-income, post-conflict (LI-PC) countries are at risk of exposure to the traumatic events (TEs) of war and intimate partner violence (IPV), forms of stress that are known to lead to depression and other adverse mental health outcomes. We aimed to assess an index of exposure to these two forms of trauma to identify pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in conflict-affected Timor-Leste at high risk of depression and other forms of stress. A large, cross-sectional study of women in the second trimester of pregnancy was conducted in the four main government antenatal clinics in Dili district of Timor-Leste, between May 2014, and January 2015. The sample consisted of 1672 consecutive women, 3 to 6 months pregnant, with a response rate of 96%. We applied the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Kessler-10 psychological distress scale and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. IPV was assessed by the World Health Organisation measure. Composite categories of conflict-related TEs and severity of IPV showed a dose–response relationship with depressive symptoms: for exposure to four or more conflict-related TEs and severe psychological IPV, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was 3.95 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.10–7.40); for four or more TEs and physical abuse, AOR 8.16 (95% CI 3.53–18.85); and for four or more TEs and severe psychological and physical abuse, AOR 9.78 (95% CI 5.31–18.02). For any mental distress, the AOR for four or more TEs and severe psychological abuse was 3.60 (95% CI 2.08–6.23); for four or more TEs and physical abuse 7.03 (95% CI 3.23–15.29); and for four or more TEs and severe psychological and physical abuse the AOR was 10.45 (95% CI 6.06–18.01). Of 184 women (11% of the sample) who reported ⩾4 TEs and either physical abuse alone or in combination with severe psychological abuse, 78 (42%) reached threshold for depressive symptoms and 93 (51%) for any mental distress, a 10-fold increase in depressive and other mental health symptoms. Priority should be directed to providing urgent mental health and social interventions for this group of women. Our findings offer a framework for a tiered approach to detection, guiding prevention and intervention strategies for IPV and associated mental health problems in low-income post-conflict countries.
Digital encoding calibrated unit used in 8 bit 1 GS/s folding and interpolating ADC
Authors: Wang Linfeng , Meng Qiao , He Wenwei , Zhang Daoyuan , Ma Hengfei 
Published: February 2016

In high‐speed folding and interpolating ADC design, an important issue is the encoding error result from the fine and coarse channel joint encoding technology. The last bit of the coarse channel only uses the last comparator of the fine channel to encode, the misjudgement of this comparator caused by offset and other non‐ideal factors will lead to the encoding error of the last bit of the coarse channel and deteriorate the linearity. A digital encoding calibrated unit is presented. It utilises the lowest four comparators of the fine channel instead of one to calibrate error encoding of the comparator. An 8 bit 1 GS/s folding and interpolating ADC with this digital encoding calibrated unit is fabricated in 180 nm CMOS technology has been used to assess the validity of the calibration.
Electrochemical sensor based on glassy carbon electrode modified with copper vanadate nanobelts for detection of benzoic acid
Authors: Lin Nan , Pei LiZhai , Wei Tian , Liu HanDing , Cai ZhengYu 
Published: February 2016

The copper vanadate nanobelts have been used as the materials modifying glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for the electrochemical detection of benzoic acid (BA). Two pairs of electrochemical cyclic voltammogram (CV) peaks are observed with anodic peak potentials at 0.13 and −0.06 V. The intensities of the electrochemical CV peaks have a positive linear correlation with the BA concentration and scan rate. The linear range is 0.001–2 mM and the detection limit is 0.61 μM, 1.21 μM at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 3 for cvp1 and cvp2, respectively. The intensities of the CV peaks of BA at the GCE modified with copper vanadate nanobelts increase with the decrease of the pH value in acidic solution. The GCE modified with copper vanadate nanobelts exhibits good stability and reproducibility.
Extreme positive allometry of animal adhesive pads and the size limits of adhesion-based climbing
Authors: Labonte David , Clemente Christofer J. , Dittrich Alex , Kuo Chi-Yun , Crosby Alfred J. , Irschick Duncan J. , Federle Walter 
Published: February 2016

SignificanceHow adhesive forces can be scaled up from microscopic to macroscopic levels is a central problem for biological and bio-inspired adhesives. Here, we elucidate how animals with sticky footpads cope with large body sizes. We find an extreme positive allometry of footpad area across all 225 species studied, implying a 200-fold increase of relative pad area from mites to geckos. Within groups, however, pads were almost isometric, but their adhesive strength increased with size, inconsistent with existing models. Extrapolating the observed scaling, we show that to support a human’s body weight, an unrealistic 40% of the body surface would have to be covered with adhesive pads, suggesting that anatomical constraints may prohibit the evolution of adhesion-based climbers larger than geckos.
α-Synuclein–induced lysosomal dysfunction occurs through disruptions in protein trafficking in human midbrain synucleinopathy models
Authors: Mazzulli Joseph R. , Zunke Friederike , Isacson Ole , Studer Lorenz , Krainc Dimitri 
Published: February 2016

Significance
There are currently no disease-altering therapies available for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease or other age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we find that enhancement of a single therapeutic pathway centered on hydrolase trafficking and lysosomal function potently reduces α-synuclein accumulation in human midbrain neurons. This work may lead to future treatments for age-related neurodegenerative diseases through the reduction of protein aggregates.
Huntingtin exon 1 fibrils feature an interdigitated β-hairpin–based polyglutamine core
Authors: Hoop Cody L. , Lin Hsiang-Kai , Kar Karunakar , Magyarfalvi Gábor , Lamley Jonathan M. , Boatz Jennifer C. , Mandal Abhishek , Lewandowski Józef R. , Wetzel Ronald , van der Wel Patrick C. A. 
Published: February 2016

Significance
Huntington’s disease is a devastating and incurable inherited neurodegenerative disease. Like at least eight other diseases, its primary genetic cause is the CAG repeat expansion in a specific gene. Mutant huntingtin protein undergoes misfolding and aggregation, causing degeneration of neurons through as-yet poorly understood mechanisms. Attempts to characterize the implicated protein deposits have until now had limited success. We present our structural studies of mutant huntingtin-derived protein deposits by advanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy. We determine the essential structural features of the fibrils’ rigid core, which is shown to feature intramolecular β-hairpins tied together via interdigitating extended side chains. These structural insights have direct implications for the mechanism by which the mutant protein misfolds and self-assembles.
p11 modulates L-DOPA therapeutic effects and dyskinesia via distinct cell types in experimental Parkinsonism
Authors: Schintu Nicoletta , Zhang Xiaoqun , Alvarsson Alexandra , Marongiu Roberta , Kaplitt Michael G. , Greengard Paul , Svenningsson Per 
Published: February 2016

Significance
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is symptomatically treated with levodopa (L-DOPA), but this treatment often results in disabling dyskinesias. Subchronic L-DOPA increases striatal levels of adaptor protein, p11. Using experimental mouse models of Parkinsonism, we report here that global p11 knockout mice show reduced therapeutic responses to L-DOPA on rotational motor sensitization, but also develop less L-DOPA–induced dyskinesias. Mice lacking p11 in dopamine D2R-containing neurons have reduced response to L-DOPA on the therapeutic parameters, but develop dyskinetic side effects. In contrast, mice lacking p11 in dopamine D1R-containing neurons exhibit rotational responses toward L-DOPA, but develop less dyskinesia. These results imply that reductions of p11 in D1R-containing cells may be a viable therapy against L-DOPA–induced dyskinesias.
PGL germ granule assembly protein is a base-specific, single-stranded RNase
Authors: Aoki Scott T. , Kershner Aaron M. , Bingman Craig A. , Wickens Marvin , Kimble Judith 
Published: February 2016

Significance
RNA-protein granules play crucial roles in cell biology, development, and disease. Yet their molecular assembly and biochemical functions remain poorly understood. This work focuses on a granule scaffold protein, called PGL, to gain molecular insights into granule assembly and function. We identify a dimerization domain in a PGL region required for granule assembly and determine its crystal structure. The structure reveals a positively charged channel of the right size for binding single-stranded RNA. However, we instead find that PGL is a base-specific RNA endonuclease. The importance of this work lies in its molecular clarification of a building block for granule assembly and discovery of an activity that provides a new view of a scaffold protein as an enzyme.
Subtype-specific addiction of the activated B-cell subset of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma to FOXP1
Authors: Dekker Joseph D. , Park Daechan , Shaffer Arthur L. , Kohlhammer Holger , Deng Wei , Lee Bum-Kyu , Ippolito Gregory C. , Georgiou George , Iyer Vishwanath R. , Staudt Louis M. , Tucker Haley O. 
Published: February 2016

SignificanceWe demonstrate that forkhead box P1 (FOXP1) is a central transcriptional regulator of the most aggressive activated B cell (ABC) subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the most prevalent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma worldwide. We used a variety of methods to identify and functionally confirm FOXP1 target genes in DLBCL cell lines and primary clinical isolates. We found that FOXP1 target genes are sufficient to segregate ABC-DLBCL from the more indolent germinal center B-cell (GCB)-DLBCL subtype as well as to identify both hallmark and previously unidentified pathways underlying DLBCL pathology. Our findings extend the role of FOXP1 from a prognostic indicator of unknown mechanism to a driver of ABC-DLBCL neoplasia.
Cocaine elicits autophagic cytotoxicity via a nitric oxide-GAPDH signaling cascade
Authors: Guha Prasun , Harraz Maged M. , Snyder Solomon H. 
Published: February 2016

Significance
Cocaine is one of the most abused drugs in modern society, with overdoses that are frequently lethal. Molecular mechanisms underlying its toxic actions have been obscure. The present study demonstrates that cocaine’s cellular toxicity involves a signaling cascade that utilizes the gasotransmitter nitric oxide, which leads to autophagy, a cellular modification that can cause cell death. Thus, manipulations that impair nitric oxide signaling and autophagy diminish cytotoxic actions of cocaine. By contrast, alterations of apoptosis and other nonautophagic modes of cell death are ineffective. Therapies directed toward the autophagic process may be beneficial in treating cocaine neurotoxicity.