bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Hospital-based enhanced surveillance for West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease
Authors: LINDSEY N. P. , FISCHER M. , NEITZEL D. , SCHIFFMAN E. , SALAS M. L. , GLASER C. A. , SYLVESTER T. , KRETSCHMER M. , BUNKO A. , STAPLES J. E. 
Published: June 2016

SUMMARYAccurate data on the incidence of West Nile virus (WNV) disease are important for directing public health education and control activities. The objective of this project was to assess the underdiagnosis of WNV neuroinvasive disease through laboratory testing of patients with suspected viral meningitis or encephalitis at selected hospitals serving WNV-endemic regions in three states. Of the 279 patients with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens tested for WNV immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, 258 (92%) were negative, 19 (7%) were positive, and two (1%) had equivocal results. Overall, 63% (12/19) of patients with WNV IgM-positive CSF had WNV IgM testing ordered by their attending physician. Seven (37%) cases would not have been identified as probable WNV infections without the further testing conducted through this project. These findings indicate that over a third of WNV infections in patients with clinically compatible neurological illness might be undiagnosed due to either lack of testing or inappropriate testing, leading to substantial underestimates of WNV neuroinvasive disease burden. Efforts should be made to educate healthcare providers and laboratorians about the local epidemiology of arboviral diseases and the optimal tests to be used in different clinical situations.
VOT merger in Heritage Korean in Toronto
Authors: Kang Yoonjung , Nagy Naomi 
Published: June 2016

AbstractKorean has a typologically unusual three-way laryngeal contrast in voiceless stops among aspirated, lenis, and fortis stops. Seoul Korean is undergoing a female-led sound change in which aspirated stops and lenis stops are merging in voice onset time (VOT) and are better distinguished by the F0 (fundamental frequency) of the following vowel than by their VOT, in younger speakers' speech. This paper compares the VOT pattern of Homeland (Seoul) and Heritage (Toronto) Korean speakers and finds that the same change is in progress in both. However, in the heritage variety, younger speakers do not advance the change, unlike their Seoul counterparts. Rather they have leveled off or are perhaps reversing the change, and there is very little sex difference among the younger heritage speakers' patterns. We consider possible accounts of the differences between the Seoul and Toronto patterns, building our understanding of how language-internal variation operates in bilingual speakers, a topic that has received relatively less attention in the variationist literature.
Super-leveling, fraying-out, internal restructuring: A century of presentbeconcord in Tristan da Cunha English
Authors: Schreier Daniel 
Published: June 2016

ABSTRACTThe present study analyzes presentbeleveling with pivotis(as inI is, we is, the old dogs is) in Tristan da Cunha English, a variety of South Atlantic English that developed in geographic isolation and under intense contact conditions. The findings, based on data from a total of 45 speakers born throughout the 20th century, indicate that community-wide variation correlates with social history; whereas presentbewas subject to (near-)categorical leveling until the 1940s, an opening-up phase after World War II saw interaction with speakers of other dialects on the island, which triggered an increase of a standardam/is/areconcord pattern. Variability began to increase from the 1950s onward and the community has now frayed out widely in its usage of leveledisforms (ranging from 10% to over 90% in speakers of the youngest generation, born in the 1980s). The internal constraint ranking for preceding environment in younger generations was partially restructured, which suggests that the social changes affected the grammatical variable. Three outliers represent exonormative orientation and outward mobility.
A tale of two cities (and one vowel): Sociolinguistic variation in Swedish
Authors: Gross Johan , Boyd Sally , Leinonen Therese , Walker James A. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractPrevious studies of language contact in multilingual urban neighborhoods in Europe claim the emergence of new varieties spoken by immigrant-background youth. This paper examines the sociolinguistic conditioning of variation in allophones of Swedish /ε:/ of young people of immigrant and nonimmigrant background in Stockholm and Gothenburg. Although speaker background and sex condition the variation, their effects differ in each city. In Stockholm there are no significant social differences and the allophonic difference appears to have been neutralized. Gothenburg speakers are divided into three groups, based on speaker origin and sex, each of which orients toward different norms. Our conclusions appeal to dialectal diffusion and the desire to mark ethnic identity in a diverse sociolinguistic context. These results demonstrate that not only language contact but also dialect change should be considered together when investigating language variation in modern-day cities.
Direct imaging of topological edge states at a bilayer graphene domain wall
Authors: Yin Long-Jing , Jiang Hua , Qiao Jia-Bin , He Lin 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe AB–BA domain wall in gapped graphene bilayers is a rare naked structure hosting topological electronic states. Although it has been extensively studied in theory, a direct imaging of its topological edge states is still missing. Here we image the topological edge states at the graphene bilayer domain wall by using scanning tunnelling microscope. The simultaneously obtained atomic-resolution images of the domain wall provide us unprecedented opportunities to measure the spatially varying edge states within it. The one-dimensional conducting channels are observed to be mainly located around the two edges of the domain wall, which is reproduced quite well by our theoretical calculations. Our experiment further demonstrates that the one-dimensional topological states are quite robust even in the presence of high magnetic fields. The result reported here may raise hopes of graphene-based electronics with ultra-low dissipation.
A threshold level of NFATc1 activity facilitates thymocyte differentiation and opposes notch-driven leukaemia development
Authors: Klein-Hessling Stefan , Rudolf Ronald , Muhammad Khalid , Knobeloch Klaus-Peter , Maqbool Muhammad Ahmad , Cauchy Pierre , Andrau Jean-Christophe , Avots Andris , Talora Claudio , Ellenrieder Volker , Screpanti Isabella , Serfling Edgar , Patra Amiya Kumar 
Published: June 2016

AbstractNFATc1 plays a critical role in double-negative thymocyte survival and differentiation. However, the signals that regulate Nfatc1 expression are incompletely characterized. Here we show a developmental stage-specific differential expression pattern of Nfatc1 driven by the distal (P1) or proximal (P2) promoters in thymocytes. Whereas, preTCR-negative thymocytes exhibit only P2 promoter-derived Nfatc1β expression, preTCR-positive thymocytes express both Nfatc1β and P1 promoter-derived Nfatc1α transcripts. Inducing NFATc1α activity from P1 promoter in preTCR-negative thymocytes, in addition to the NFATc1β from P2 promoter impairs thymocyte development resulting in severe T-cell lymphopenia. In addition, we show that NFATc1 activity suppresses the B-lineage potential of immature thymocytes, and consolidates their differentiation to T cells. Further, in the pTCR-positive DN3 cells, a threshold level of NFATc1 activity is vital in facilitating T-cell differentiation and to prevent Notch3-induced T-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Altogether, our results show NFATc1 activity is crucial in determining the T-cell fate of thymocytes.
Doping-enhanced radiative efficiency enables lasing in unpassivated GaAs nanowires
Authors: Burgess Tim , Saxena Dhruv , Mokkapati Sudha , Li Zhe , Hall Christopher R. , Davis Jeffrey A. , Wang Yuda , Smith Leigh M. , Fu Lan , Caroff Philippe , Tan Hark Hoe , Jagadish Chennupati 
Published: June 2016

AbstractNanolasers hold promise for applications including integrated photonics, on-chip optical interconnects and optical sensing. Key to the realization of current cavity designs is the use of nanomaterials combining high gain with high radiative efficiency. Until now, efforts to enhance the performance of semiconductor nanomaterials have focused on reducing the rate of non-radiative recombination through improvements to material quality and complex passivation schemes. Here we employ controlled impurity doping to increase the rate of radiative recombination. This unique approach enables us to improve the radiative efficiency of unpassivated GaAs nanowires by a factor of several hundred times while also increasing differential gain and reducing the transparency carrier density. In this way, we demonstrate lasing from a nanomaterial that combines high radiative efficiency with a picosecond carrier lifetime ready for high speed applications.
Molecular preservation of 1.88 Ga Gunflint organic microfossils as a function of temperature and mineralogy
Authors: Alleon Julien , Bernard Sylvain , Le Guillou Corentin , Marin-Carbonne Johanna , Pont Sylvain , Beyssac Olivier , McKeegan Kevin D. , Robert François 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe significant degradation that fossilized biomolecules may experience during burial makes it challenging to assess the biogenicity of organic microstructures in ancient rocks. Here we investigate the molecular signatures of 1.88 Ga Gunflint organic microfossils as a function of their diagenetic history. Synchrotron-based XANES data collectedin situon individual microfossils, at the submicrometre scale, are compared with data collected on modern microorganisms. Despite diagenetic temperatures of ∼150–170 °C deduced from Raman data, the molecular signatures of some Gunflint organic microfossils have been exceptionally well preserved. Remarkably, amide groups derived from protein compounds can still be detected. We also demonstrate that an additional increase of diagenetic temperature of only 50 °C and the nanoscale association with carbonate minerals have significantly altered the molecular signatures of Gunflint organic microfossils from other localities. Altogether, the present study provides key insights for eventually decoding the earliest fossil record.
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Theoretical Limits of Energy Density in Silicon-Carbon Composite Anode Based Lithium Ion Batteries
Authors: Dash Ranjan , Pannala Sreekanth 
Published: June 2016

AbstractSilicon (Si) is under consideration as a potential next-generation anode material for the lithium ion battery (LIB). Experimental reports of up to 40% increase in energy density of Si anode based LIBs (Si-LIBs) have been reported in literature. However, this increase in energy density is achieved when the Si-LIB is allowed to swell (volumetrically expand) more than graphite based LIB (graphite-LIB) and beyond practical limits. The volume expansion of LIB electrodes should be negligible for applications such as automotive or mobile devices. We determine the theoretical bounds of Si composition in a Si–carbon composite (SCC) based anode to maximize the volumetric energy density of a LIB by constraining the external dimensions of the anode during charging. The porosity of the SCC anode is adjusted to accommodate the volume expansion during lithiation. The calculated threshold value of Si was then used to determine the possible volumetric energy densities of LIBs with SCC anode (SCC-LIBs) and the potential improvement over graphite-LIBs. The level of improvement in volumetric and gravimetric energy density of SCC-LIBs with constrained volume is predicted to be less than 10% to ensure the battery has similar power characteristics of graphite-LIBs.
High-dimensional entanglement certification
Authors: Huang Zixin , Maccone Lorenzo , Karim Akib , Macchiavello Chiara , Chapman Robert J. , Peruzzo Alberto 
Published: June 2016

AbstractQuantum entanglement is the ability of joint quantum systems to possess global properties (correlation among systems) even when subsystems have no definite individual property. Whilst the 2-dimensional (qubit) case is well-understood, currently, tools to characterise entanglement in high dimensions are limited. We experimentally demonstrate a new procedure for entanglement certification that is suitable for large systems, based entirely on information-theoretics. It scales more efficiently than Bell’s inequality and entanglement witness. The method we developed works for arbitrarily large system dimensiondand employs only two local measurements of complementary properties. This procedure can also certify whether the system is maximally entangled. We illustrate the protocol for families of bipartite states of qudits with dimension up to 32 composed of polarisation-entangled photon pairs.
Feedback damping of a microcantilever at room temperature to the minimum vibration amplitude limited by the noise level
Authors: Kawamura Y. , Kanegae R. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractCooling the vibration amplitude of a microcantilever as low as possible is important to improve the sensitivity and resolutions of various types of scanning type microscopes and sensors making use of it. When the vibration amplitude is controlled to be smaller using a feed back control system, it is known that the obtainable minimum amplitude of the vibration is limited by the floor noise level of the detection system. In this study, we demonstrated that the amplitude of the thermal vibration of a microcantilever was suppressed to be about 0.15 pmHz−1/2, which is the same value with the floor noise level, without the assistance of external cryogenic cooling. We think that one of the reason why we could reach the smaller amplitude at room temperature is due to stiffer spring constant of the lever, which leads to higher natural frequency and consequently lower floor noise level. The other reason is considered to be due to the increase in the laser power for the diagnostics, which lead to the decrease in the signal to noise ratio determined by the optical shot noise.
Identification of significant precursor gases of secondary organic aerosols from residential wood combustion
Authors: Bruns Emily A. , El Haddad Imad , Slowik Jay G. , Kilic Dogushan , Klein Felix , Baltensperger Urs , Prévôt André S. H. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractOrganic gases undergoing conversion to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA) during atmospheric aging are largely unidentified, particularly in regions influenced by anthropogenic emissions. SOA dominates the atmospheric organic aerosol burden and this knowledge gap contributes to uncertainties in aerosol effects on climate and human health. Here we characterize primary and aged emissions from residential wood combustion using high resolution mass spectrometry to identify SOA precursors. We determine that SOA precursors traditionally included in models account for only ~3–27% of the observed SOA, whereas for the first time we explain ~84–116% of the SOA by inclusion of non-traditional precursors. Although hundreds of organic gases are emitted during wood combustion, SOA is dominated by the aging products of only 22 compounds. In some cases, oxidation products of phenol, naphthalene and benzene alone comprise up to ~80% of the observed SOA. Identifying the main precursors responsible for SOA formation enables improved model parameterizations and SOA mitigation strategies in regions impacted by residential wood combustion, more productive targets for ambient monitoring programs and future laboratories studies, and links between direct emissions and SOA impacts on climate and health in these regions.
Dynamical signatures of molecular symmetries in nonequilibrium quantum transport
Authors: Thingna Juzar , Manzano Daniel , Cao Jianshu 
Published: June 2016

AbstractSymmetries play a crucial role in ubiquitous systems found in Nature. In this work, we propose an elegant approach to detect symmetries by measuring quantum currents. Our detection scheme relies on initiating the system in an anti-symmetric initial condition, with respect to the symmetric sites and using a probe that acts like a local noise. Depending on the position of the probe the currents exhibit unique signatures such as a quasi-stationary plateau indicating the presence of metastability and multi-exponential decays in case of multiple symmetries. The signatures are sensitive to the characteristics of the probe and vanish completely when the timescale of the coherent system dynamics is much longer than the timescale of the probe. These results are demonstrated using a 4-site model and an archetypal example of the para-benzene ring and are shown to be robust under a weak disorder.
A novel TP53 pathway influences the HGS-mediated exosome formation in colorectal cancer
Authors: Sun Yulin , Zheng Weiwei , Guo Zhengguang , Ju Qiang , Zhu Lin , Gao Jiajia , Zhou Lanping , Liu Fang , Xu Yang , Zhan Qimin , Zhou Zhixiang , Sun Wei , Zhao Xiaohang 
Published: June 2016

AbstractTumor-derived exosomes are important for cell-cell communication. However, the role of TP53 in the control of exosome production in colorectal cancer (CRC) is controversial and unclear. The features of exosomes secreted from HCT116 TP53-wild type (WT), TP53-knockout (KO) and constructed TP53 (R273H)-mutant (MT) cells were assessed. The exosomes from the MT and KO cells exhibited significantly reduced sizes compared with the WT cells. A comprehensive proteomic analysis of exosomal proteins was performed using the isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-2D-LC-MS/MS strategy. A total of 3437 protein groups with ≥2 matched peptides were identified. Specifically, hepatocyte growth factor-regulated tyrosine kinase substrate (HGS) was consistently down-regulated in the exosomes from the MT and KO cells. Functional studies demonstrated that low HGS levels were responsible for the decreased exosome size. TP53 regulated HGS expression and thus HGS-dependent exosome formation. Furthermore, the HGS expression was gradually increased concomitant with CRC carcinogenesis and was an independent poor prognostic factor. In conclusion, a novel HGS-dependent TP53 mechanism in exosome formation was identified in CRC. HGS may serve as a novel prognostic biomarker and a candidate target for therapeutic interventions.
Microbial copper reduction method to scavenge anthropogenic radioiodine
Authors: Lee Seung Yeop , Lee Ji Young , Min Je Ho , Kim Seung Soo , Baik Min Hoon , Chung Sang Yong , Lee Minhee , Lee Yongjae 
Published: June 2016

AbstractUnexpected reactor accidents and radioisotope production and consumption have led to a continuous increase in the global-scale contamination of radionuclides. In particular, anthropogenic radioiodine has become critical due to its highly volatile mobilization and recycling in global environments, resulting in widespread, negative impact on nature. We report a novel biostimulant method to effectively scavenge radioiodine that exhibits remarkable selectivity for the highly difficult-to-capture radioiodine of >500-fold over other anions, even under circumneutral pH. We discovered a useful mechanism by which microbially reducible copper (i.e., Cu2+ to Cu+) acts as a strong binder for iodide-iodide anions to form a crystalline halide salt of CuI that is highly insoluble in wastewater. The biocatalytic crystallization of radioiodine is a promising way to remove radioiodine in a great capacity with robust growth momentum, further ensuring its long-term stability through nuclear I− fixation via microcrystal formation.
Highly potent intracellular membrane-associated Aβ seeds
Authors: Marzesco Anne-Marie , Flötenmeyer Matthias , Bühler Anika , Obermüller Ulrike , Staufenbiel Matthias , Jucker Mathias , Baumann Frank 
Published: June 2016

AbstractAn early event in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis is the formation of extracellular aggregates of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), thought to be initiated by a prion-like seeding mechanism. However, the molecular nature and location of the Aβ seeds remain rather elusive. Active Aβ seeds are found in crude homogenates of amyloid-laden brains and in the soluble fraction thereof. To analyze the seeding activity of the pellet fraction, we have either separated or directly immunoisolated membranes from such homogenates. Here, we found considerable Aβ seeding activity associated with membranes in the absence of detectable amyloid fibrils. We also found that Aβ seeds on mitochondrial or associated membranes efficiently induced Aβ aggregation in vitro and seed β-amyloidosis in vivo. Aβ seeds at intracellular membranes may contribute to the spreading of Aβ aggregation along neuronal pathways and to the induction of intracellular pathologies downstream of Aβ.
Engineering of Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase-based Escherichia coli biocatalyst for large scale biotransformation of ricinoleic acid into (Z)-11-(heptanoyloxy)undec-9-enoic acid
Authors: Seo Joo-Hyun , Kim Hwan-Hee , Jeon Eun-Yeong , Song Young-Ha , Shin Chul-Soo , Park Jin-Byung 
Published: June 2016

AbstractBaeyer-Villiger monooxygenases (BVMOs) are able to catalyze regiospecific Baeyer-Villiger oxygenation of a variety of cyclic and linear ketones to generate the corresponding lactones and esters, respectively. However, the enzymes are usually difficult to express in a functional form in microbial cells and are rather unstable under process conditions hindering their large-scale applications. Thereby, we investigated engineering of the BVMO from Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and the gene expression system to improve its activity and stability for large-scale biotransformation of ricinoleic acid (1) into the ester (i.e., (Z)-11-(heptanoyloxy)undec-9-enoic acid) (3), which can be hydrolyzed into 11-hydroxyundec-9-enoic acid (5) (i.e., a precursor of polyamide-11) and n-heptanoic acid (4). The polyionic tag-based fusion engineering of the BVMO and the use of a synthetic promoter for constitutive enzyme expression allowed the recombinant Escherichia coli expressing the BVMO and the secondary alcohol dehydrogenase of Micrococcus luteus to produce the ester (3) to 85 mM (26.6 g/L) within 5 h. The 5 L scale biotransformation process was then successfully scaled up to a 70 L bioreactor; 3 was produced to over 70 mM (21.9 g/L) in the culture medium 6 h after biotransformation. This study demonstrated that the BVMO-based whole-cell reactions can be applied for large-scale biotransformations.
Red pepper powder is a crucial factor that influences the ontogeny of Weissella cibaria during kimchi fermentation
Authors: Kang Bo Kyoung , Cho Min Seok , Park Dong Suk 
Published: June 2016

AbstractWeissella cibaria has been found in Korean kimchi and other sources, including fermented foods, Greek salami, Spanish sausages, and animal and human excrement. W. cibaria was recently reported to show anticancer, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Nevertheless, fundamental ecological succession studies are required to scientifically confirm the probiotic action of W. cibaria under various conditions, such as fermentation. Therefore, in the present study, we mined the W. cibaria KACC11862 genome in search of species-specific genes to use as new PCR targets for the detection and quantification of W. cibaria in kimchi. The sensitivity and specificity of the identified primer set from the putative outer membrane protein gene for the detection of W. cibaria KACC11862 in kimchi were analysed. Primer set specificity was evaluated using genomic DNA from eight W. cibaria isolates, 10 different species of Weissella and 13 other reference lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains. Interestingly, by using the qPCR assay developed herein, we found that red pepper powder markedly affects the ontogeny of W. cibaria during kimchi fermentation.