bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The diagnostic value of plasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor levels in children with heart failure
Authors: Li Gang , Song Xueqing , Xia Jiyi , Li Jing , Jia Peng , Chen Pengyuan , Zhao Jian , Liu Bin 
Published: March 2016

AbstractObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of plasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor in children with heart failure.Methods and resultsPlasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor was determined in 61 children, including 41 children with heart failure, 20 children without heart failure, and 30 healthy volunteers. The correlations between plasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor levels and clinical parameters were investigated. Moreover, the diagnostic value of N-terminal connective tissue growth factor levels was evaluated. Compared with healthy volunteers and children without heart failure, plasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor levels were significantly elevated in those with heart failure (p<0.01). N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and left ventricular end-diastolic dimension were positively correlated with plasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor levels (r=0.364, p=0.006; r=0.308, p=0.016), whereas there was a negative correlation between left ventricular ejection fraction and plasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor (r=−0.353, p=0.005). Connective tissue growth factor was significantly correlated with the severity of heart failure (p<0.001). Moreover, addition of connective tissue growth factor to N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide did not significantly increase area under curve for diagnosing heart failure (area under curve difference 0.031, p>0.05), but it obviously improved the ability of diagnosing heart failure in children, as demonstrated by the integrated discrimination improvement (6.2%, p=0.013) and net re-classification improvement (13.2%, p=0.017) indices.ConclusionsPlasma N-terminal connective tissue growth factor is a promising diagnostic biomarker for heart failure in children.
Elevated birth prevalence of conotruncal heart defects in a population with high consanguinity rate
Authors: Stavsky Moshe , Robinson Renana , Sade Maayan Yitshak , Krymko Hanah , Zalstein Eli , Ioffe Viktorya , Novack Victor , Levitas Aviva 
Published: March 2016

AbstractBackgroundThe aetiology of conotruncal heart defects is poorly understood and the birth prevalence varies geographically. The known risk factors for developing conotruncal heart defects are as follows: CHD in siblings, genetic chromosomal abnormalities, paternal age >30 years, high parity, low birth weight, prematurity, and maternal diabetes.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to characterise conotruncal heart defects, birth prevalence, mortality, and morbidity in the population of southern Israel, of whom 75% are Jewish and the rest are mostly Bedouin Arabs.MethodsThe data were obtained from Soroka University Medical Center database of births and newborns. Conotruncal heart defects cases were identified by ICD9 codes.ResultsDuring 1991–2011, there were 247,290 singleton live births and 393 conotruncal heart defects in Soroka University Medical Center. The birth prevalence per 10,000 live births of tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries, and truncus arteriosus was 9.5, 5, and 1.8, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, Bedouin descent (adjusted odds ratio 2.40, p<0.001), maternal age >35 years (1.66, p=0.004), and siblings with congenital heart defects (1.98, p=0.005) were associated with tetralogy of Fallot, and Bedouin descent (1.61, p=0.05), siblings with congenital heart defects (2.19, p=0.004), and diabetes mellitus (7.15, p<0.001) were associated with transposition of the great arteries. In a univariate analysis, Bedouin descent (p=0.004) and congenital heart defects in siblings (p<0.001) were associated with truncus arteriosus.ConclusionWe observed higher birth prevalence of conotruncal heart defects compared with the birth prevalence reported worldwide, specifically among the Bedouins, a population characterised with high consanguinity rate. Therefore, genetic counselling and early fetal echocardiograms should be encouraged, especially in high consanguinity rate populations. Naturally, further educational efforts are needed in order to decrease consanguinity and its related consequences.
The Christian Reception of the Xwadāy-Nāmag: Hormizd IV, Khusrau II and their successors
Authors: WOOD PHILIP 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThis article considers the Islamic-era sources that report the history of the last Sasanian kings. It focuses on scenes that seem to indicate Christian influence and asks what this tells us about Christian transmission of the Middle Persian royal histories and about the position of Christians in the empire more broadly. In particular, it discusses three scenes from al-Ṭabarī: his presentation of Hormizd IV as a ‘pluralist’ monarch; the changing attitudes of Christians to Khusrau II and the presentation of Khusrau's short-lived successors.
The Intersection of Freedom of Information, Privacy Legislation and Library Services in Canadian Jurisdictions
Authors: Jeske Margo , Intahchomphoo Channarong , Landriault Emily , Bioni Bruno Ricardo 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe intersection of freedom of information, privacy legislation and library services may be interpreted as the relation between two bodies (law and library) and how they influence one another directly and indirectly. This means library services can be shaped enormously by both federal and provincial freedom of information and privacy laws. We notice that there are cases in various Canadian courts involving disagreements concerning the rule of law in the fields of freedom of information and privacy with libraries. The combined effects of legislation and stronger library policies may make it more challenging for users to understand how to use shared library resources and services properly. For many libraries, this means operational policies and professional ethics codes have to be revised to strictly respect the users and employees’ confidentiality rights. The research method used for this paper included a search of relevant Canadian court cases as case studies.
Politics and the Art of Indexing: Teamwork in a Legislative Environment
Authors: Caballero Cheryl , Smith Erica , Guldner Rosalind 
Published: March 2016

AbstractIn this article Cheryl Caballero, Erica Smith and Rosalind Guldner, members of the Ontario Legislative Assembly indexing team, describe the challenges of indexing legislative text and how they set about meeting them. A version of their article was originally published in The Indexer in June 2015*.
Tunes, Tubes and Clouds: Getting Your In-House Talent Out of the House and Online. Part 1: Production
Authors: Bates Daniel 
Published: March 2016

AbstractIn his first of two articles, Daniel Bates explains the process for creating high quality audio and video recordings to capture knowledge or experience in your organisation, either for internal or external consumption. The article arises from a paper delivered at the 2015 BIALL Conference. The second article will consider the online platforms which are available to host and promote such content.
Genetic diversity and evolution ofBrassicagenetic resources: from morphology to novel genomic technologies – a review
Authors: El-Esawi Mohamed A. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractBrassicaspecies have an economic and medicinal importance. Estimation of the amount and distribution of genetic diversity withinBrassicaspecies is essential for establishing efficient management, conservation and breeding practices. This review discusses the taxonomy, gene pool, andBrassica-derived phytochemicals and their nutraceutical importance. It also surveys the recently advanced studies of the genetic diversity and phylogenetic studies ofBrassicaspecies at the level of morphological, cytological, biochemical and molecular markers that have proven to be useful for evaluating the genetic variation, taxonomic relationships and species identity, and could be useful for improvingBrassicacrops through future promising breeding programmes.
Tunable quasiparticle trapping in Meissner and vortex states of mesoscopic superconductors
Authors: Taupin M. , Khaymovich I. M. , Meschke M. , Mel’nikov A. S. , Pekola J. P. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractNowadays, superconductors serve in numerous applications, from high-field magnets to ultrasensitive detectors of radiation. Mesoscopic superconducting devices, referring to those with nanoscale dimensions, are in a special position as they are easily driven out of equilibrium under typical operating conditions. The out-of-equilibrium superconductors are characterized by non-equilibrium quasiparticles. These extra excitations can compromise the performance of mesoscopic devices by introducing, for example, leakage currents or decreased coherence time in quantum devices. By applying an external magnetic field, one can conveniently suppress or redistribute the population of excess quasiparticles. In this article, we present an experimental demonstration and a theoretical analysis of such effective control of quasiparticles, resulting in electron cooling both in the Meissner and vortex states of a mesoscopic superconductor. We introduce a theoretical model of quasiparticle dynamics, which is in quantitative agreement with the experimental data.
Global functional diversity of freshwater fish is concentrated in the Neotropics while functional vulnerability is widespread
Authors: Toussaint A. , Charpin N. , Brosse S. , Villéger S. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractWorldwide biodiversity assessments have mainly focused on species richness but little is known about the diversity of species roles, i.e. functional diversity, while this is a key facet to understanding the consequences of global changes on the ecosystem services to human societies. Here, we report the world pattern of functional diversity of freshwater fish using a database encompassing morphological characteristics of more than 9,000 species. The Neotropical realm hosts more than 75% of global functional diversity while other realms each host less than 25%. This discrepancy is mediated by high functional uniqueness in some diversified Neotropical fish orders. Surprisingly, functional diversity patterns were weakly related to functional vulnerability. In the Neotropics the loss of threatened species will cause a limited loss of functional diversity (<10%) whereas in the Nearctic and Palearctic realms, decline of the functional diversity will reach 43% and 33%, respectively, conferring a high functional vulnerability to these realms. Conservation of the Neotropical fish diversity is a key target to maintain world fish functional diversity, but this should not hide the pressing need to conserve the vulnerable fish faunas of the rest of the world, in which functional diversity is to a large extent supported by threatened species.
Development of new fusion proteins for visualizing amyloid-β oligomers in vivo
Authors: Ochiishi Tomoyo , Doi Motomichi , Yamasaki Kazuhiko , Hirose Keiko , Kitamura Akira , Urabe Takao , Hattori Nobutaka , Kinjo Masataka , Ebihara Tatsuhiko , Shimura Hideki 
Published: March 2016

AbstractThe intracellular accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers critically contributes to disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and can be the potential target of AD therapy. Direct observation of molecular dynamics of Aβ oligomers in vivo is key for drug discovery research, however, it has been challenging because Aβ aggregation inhibits the fluorescence from fusion proteins. Here, we developed Aβ1-42-GFP fusion proteins that are oligomerized and visualize their dynamics inside cells even when aggregated. We examined the aggregation states of Aβ-GFP fusion proteins using several methods and confirmed that they did not assemble into fibrils, but instead formed oligomers in vitro and in live cells. By arranging the length of the liker between Aβ and GFP, we generated two fusion proteins with “a long-linker” and “a short-linker” and revealed that the aggregation property of fusion proteins can be evaluated by measuring fluorescence intensities using rat primary culture neurons transfected with Aβ-GFP plasmids and Aβ-GFP transgenic C. elegans. We found that Aβ-GFP fusion proteins induced cell death in COS7 cells. These results suggested that novel Aβ-GFP fusion proteins could be utilized for studying the physiological functions of Aβ oligomers in living cells and animals and for drug screening by analyzing Aβ toxicity.
A comparison of no-slip, stress-free and inviscid models of rapidly rotating fluid in a spherical shell
Authors: Livermore Philip W. , Bailey Lewis M. , Hollerbach Rainer 
Published: March 2016

AbstractWe investigate how the choice of either no-slip or stress-free boundary conditions affects numerical models of rapidly rotating flow in Earth’s core by computing solutions of the weakly-viscous magnetostrophic equations within a spherical shell, driven by a prescribed body force. For non-axisymmetric solutions, we show that models with either choice of boundary condition have thin boundary layers of depth E1/2, where E is the Ekman number and a free-stream flow that converges to the formally inviscid solution. At Earth-like values of viscosity, the boundary layer thickness is approximately 1 m, for either choice of condition. In contrast, the axisymmetric flows depend crucially on the choice of boundary condition, in both their structure and magnitude (either E−1/2 or E−1). These very large zonal flows arise from requiring viscosity to balance residual axisymmetric torques. We demonstrate that switching the mechanical boundary conditions can cause a distinct change of structure of the flow, including a sign-change close to the equator, even at asymptotically low viscosity. Thus implementation of stress-free boundary conditions, compared with no-slip conditions, may yield qualitatively different dynamics in weakly-viscous magnetostrophic models of Earth’s core. We further show that convergence of the free-stream flow to its asymptotic structure requires E ≤ 10−5.
Long-range and high-speed electronic spin-transport at a GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor interface
Authors: Nádvorník L. , Němec P. , Janda T. , Olejník K. , Novák V. , Skoromets V. , Němec H. , Kužel P. , Trojánek F. , Jungwirth T. , Wunderlich J. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractSpin-valves or spin-transistors in magnetic memories and logic elements are examples of structures whose functionality depends crucially on the length and time-scales at which spin-information is transferred through the device. In our work we employ spatially resolved optical pump-and-probe technique to investigate these fundamental spin-transport parameters in a model semiconductor system. We demonstrate that in an undoped GaAs/AlGaAs layer, spins are detected at distances reaching more than ten microns at times as short as nanoseconds. We have achieved this unprecedented combination of long-range and high-speed electronic spin-transport by simultaneously suppressing mechanisms that limit the spin life-time and the mobility of carriers. By exploring a series of structures we demonstrate that the GaAs/AlGaAs interface can provide superior spin-transport characteristics whether deposited directly on the substrate or embedded in complex semiconductor heterostructures. We confirm our conclusions by complementing the optical experiments with dc and terahertz photo-conductivity measurements.
High phylogenetic diversity is preserved in species-poor high-elevation temperate moth assemblages
Authors: Zou Yi , Sang Weiguo , Hausmann Axel , Axmacher Jan Christoph 
Published: March 2016

AbstractUnderstanding the diversity and composition of species assemblages and identifying underlying biotic and abiotic determinants represent great ecological challenges. Addressing some of these issues, we investigated the α-diversity and phylogenetic composition of species-rich geometrid moth (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) assemblages in the mature temperate forest on Changbai Mountain. A total of 9285 geometrid moths representing 131 species were collected, with many species displaying wide elevational distribution ranges. Moth α-diversity decreased monotonously, while the standardized effect size of mean pairwise phylogenetic distances (MPD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) increased significantly with increasing elevation. At high elevations, the insect assemblages consisted largely of habitat generalists that were individually more phylogenetically distinct from co-occurring species than species in assemblages at lower altitudes. This could hint at higher speciation rates in more favourable low-elevation environments generating a species-rich geometrid assemblage, while exclusion of phylogenetically closely related species becomes increasingly important in shaping moth assemblages at higher elevations. Overall, it appears likely that high-elevation temperate moth assemblages are strongly resilient to environmental change and that they contain a much larger proportion of the genetic diversity encountered at low-elevation assemblages in comparison to tropical geometrid communities.
Identification of protein secretion systems in bacterial genomes
Authors: Abby Sophie S. , Cury Jean , Guglielmini Julien , Néron Bertrand , Touchon Marie , Rocha Eduardo P. C. 
Published: March 2016

AbstractBacteria with two cell membranes (diderms) have evolved complex systems for protein secretion. These systems were extensively studied in some model bacteria, but the characterisation of their diversity has lagged behind due to lack of standard annotation tools. We built online and standalone computational tools to accurately predict protein secretion systems and related appendages in bacteria with LPS-containing outer membranes. They consist of models describing the systems’ components and genetic organization to be used with MacSyFinder to search for T1SS-T6SS, T9SS, flagella, Type IV pili and Tad pili. We identified ~10,000 candidate systems in bacterial genomes, where T1SS and T5SS were by far the most abundant and widespread. All these data are made available in a public database. The recently described T6SSiiiand T9SS were restricted to Bacteroidetes, and T6SSiitoFrancisella. The T2SS, T3SS, and T4SS were frequently encoded in single-copy in one locus, whereas most T1SS were encoded in two loci. The secretion systems of diderm Firmicutes were similar to those found in other diderms. Novel systems may remain to be discovered, since some clades of environmental bacteria lacked all known protein secretion systems. Our models can be fully customized, which should facilitate the identification of novel systems.
miR-27a-3p suppresses tumor metastasis and VM by down-regulating VE-cadherin expression and inhibiting EMT: an essential role for Twist-1 in HCC
Authors: Zhao Nan , Sun Huizhi , Sun Baocun , Zhu Dongwang , Zhao Xiulan , Wang Yong , Gu Qiang , Dong Xueyi , Liu Fang , Zhang Yanhui , Li Xiao 
Published: March 2016

AbstractTwist-1 and miRNAs have been reported to be associated with tumor metastasis and angiogenesis. However, the relationship between Twist-1 and miRNAs and the function of miRNAs remain largely undefined. We aimed to reveal the Twist-1-related miRNA expression profile and to determine whether Twist-1 functions in tumor metastasis and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) by regulating miRNA expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Results showed that the expression of miR-27a-3p was consistently down-regulated in HCC cell lines and tissue samples displaying high expression of Twist-1. Both loss- and gain-of-function assays revealed suppressive effects of miR-27a-3p. Low miR-27a-3p expression was significantly associated with early metastasis in HCC. Subsequent investigations revealed that miR-27a-3p mediated the inhibition of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). Additional experiments showed that VE-cadherin is a direct target of miR-27a-3p and further demonstrated the critical role of miR-27a-3p in suppressing tumor metastasis and VM. Conclusions: Twist-1 up-regulation in HepG2 cells resulted in the differential expression of 18 miRNAs. Among them, miR-27a-3p deregulation contributed to VM and metastasis. The miR-27a-3p-mediated down-regulation of VE-cadherin and inhibition of EMT may be essential for Twist-1 to induce tumor metastasis and VM. Our findings highlight the importance of miR-27a-3p and suggest a promising new strategy for anti-HCC therapy.
Plasmofluidic Disk Resonators
Authors: Kwon Min-Suk , Ku Bonwoo , Kim Yonghan 
Published: March 2016

AbstractWaveguide-coupled silicon ring or disk resonators have been used for optical signal processing and sensing. Large-scale integration of optical devices demands continuous reduction in their footprints, and ultimately they need to be replaced by silicon-based plasmonic resonators. However, few waveguide-coupled silicon-based plasmonic resonators have been realized until now. Moreover, fluid cannot interact effectively with them since their resonance modes are strongly confined in solid regions. To solve this problem, this paper reports realized plasmofluidic disk resonators (PDRs). The PDR consists of a submicrometer radius silicon disk and metal laterally surrounding the disk with a 30-nm-wide channel in between. The channel is filled with fluid, and the resonance mode of the PDR is strongly confined in the fluid. The PDR coupled to a metal-insulator-silicon-insulator-metal waveguide is implemented by using standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. If the refractive index of the fluid increases by 0.141, the transmission spectrum of the waveguide coupled to the PDR of radius 0.9 μm red-shifts by 30 nm. The PDR can be used as a refractive index sensor requiring a very small amount of analyte. Plus, the PDR filled with liquid crystal may be an ultracompact intensity modulator which is effectively controlled by small driving voltage.
High applicability of two-dimensional phosphorous in Kagome lattice predicted from first-principles calculations
Authors: Chen Peng-Jen , Jeng Horng-Tay 
Published: March 2016

AbstractA new semiconducting phase of two-dimensional phosphorous in the Kagome lattice is proposed from first-principles calculations. The band gaps of the monolayer (ML) and bulk Kagome phosphorous (Kagome-P) are 2.00 and 1.11 eV, respectively. The magnitude of the band gap is tunable by applying the in-plane strain and/or changing the number of stacking layers. High optical absorption coefficients at the visible light region are predicted for multilayer Kagome-P, indicating potential applications for solar cell devices. The nearly dispersionless top valence band of the ML Kagome-P with high density of states at the Fermi level leads to superconductivity withTcof ~9 K under the optimal hole doping concentration. We also propose that the Kagome-P can be fabricated through the manipulation of the substrate-induced strain during the process of the sample growth. Our work demonstrates the high applicability of the Kagome-P in the fields of electronics, photovoltaics and superconductivity.