bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Enhancement of Th1/Th17 inflammation by TRIM21 in Behçet’s disease
Authors: Ahn Yuri , Hwang Ji-Hye , Zheng Zhenlong , Bang Dongsik , Kim Do-Young 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe etiology of Behçet’s disease (BD), a chronic, multisystemic autoinflammatory and autoimmune disease, remains unknown; however, researchers have postulated that infectious agents, such as herpes simplex virus, are significant triggering factors of BD. Tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) proteins exhibit antiviral properties, mediating antiviral defense mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate TRIM21 protein expression in the monocytes of BD patients and to identify the role of TRIM21 in immune dysregulation in BD. In this study, the expression of TRIM21 and related molecules, including interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8), was analyzed in monocytes from BD patients. Functional analyses using small interfering RNA and co-culture with responder T cells were performed to examine the pathological role of TRIM21 in BD. Peripheral blood monocytes from BD patients showed increased TRIM21 expression and decreased IRF8 expression compared with that in monocytes from healthy controls. TRIM21 was found to decrease IRF8 expression. BD monocytes facilitated Th1 and Th17 differentiation of co-cultured T cells, and knock-down of TRIM21 expression by small interfering RNA inhibited this differentiation. In conclusion, TRIM21 played a pivotal role in regulating the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines in monocytes of BD patients.
Incorporation of Fluorescence Ceramide-Based HPLC Assay for Rapidly and Efficiently Assessing Glucosylceramide Synthase In Vivo
Authors: Khiste Sachin K. , Hosain Salman B. , Dong Yixuan , Uddin Mohammad B. , Roy Kartik R. , Hill Ronald A. , Liu Zhijun , Liu Yong-Yu 
Published: June 2017

AbstractGlucosylceramide synthase (GCS) is a rate-limiting enzyme catalyzing ceramide glycosylation, thereby regulating cellular ceramide levels and the synthesis of glycosphingolipids (GSLs) in cellular membranes. Alterations of GCS not only affect membrane integrity, but also closely correlate with stem cell pluripotency, cancer drug resistance, GSL storage disorders and other diseases. Enzyme activities measured conventionally with currently available ex-vivo methods do not enable reliable assessment of the roles played by GCS in vivo. We report herein a substrate-incorporation method enabling rapid and efficient assessment of GCS in-vivo activity. Upon nanoparticle-based delivery, fluorescent NBD C6-ceramide was efficiently converted to NBD C6-glucosylceramide in live cells or in mouse tissues, whereupon an HPLC assay enabled detection and quantification of NBD C6-glucosylceramide in the low-femtomolar range. The enzyme kinetics of GCS in live cells and mouse liver were well-described by the Michaelis-Menten model. GCS activities were significantly higher in drug-resistant cancer cells and in tumors overexpressing GCS, but reduced after silencing GCS expression or inhibiting this enzyme. Our studies indicate that this rapid and efficient method provides a valuable means for accurately assessing the roles played by GCS in normal vs. pathological states, including ones involving cancer drug resistance.
The dynamic functional core network of the human brain at rest
Authors: Kabbara A. , EL Falou W. , Khalil M. , Wendling F. , Hassan M. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe human brain is an inherently complex and dynamic system. Even at rest, functional brain networks dynamically reconfigure in a well-organized way to warrant an efficient communication between brain regions. However, a precise characterization of this reconfiguration at very fast time-scale (hundreds of millisecond) during rest remains elusive. In this study, we used dense electroencephalography data recorded during task-free paradigm to track the fast temporal dynamics of spontaneous brain networks. Results obtained from network-based analysis methods revealed the existence of a functional dynamic core network formed of a set of key brain regions that ensure segregation and integration functions. Brain regions within this functional core share high betweenness centrality, strength and vulnerability (high impact on the network global efficiency) and low clustering coefficient. These regions are mainly located in the cingulate and the medial frontal cortex. In particular, most of the identified hubs were found to belong to the Default Mode Network. Results also revealed that the same central regions may dynamically alternate and play the role of either provincial (local) or connector (global) hubs.
Determining open cluster membership
Authors: Stott Jonathan J. 
Published: June 2017

Aims.My goal is to develop a quantitative algorithm for assessing open cluster membership probabilities. The algorithm is designed to work with single-epoch observations. In its simplest form, only one set of program images and one set of reference images are required.Methods.The algorithm is based on a two-stage joint astrometric and photometric assessment of cluster membership probabilities. The probabilities were computed within a Bayesian framework using any available prior information. Where possible, the algorithm emphasizes simplicity over mathematical sophistication.Results.The algorithm was implemented and tested against three observational fields using published survey data.M 67andNGC 654were selected as cluster examples while a third, cluster-free, field was used for the final test data set. The algorithm shows good quantitative agreement with the existing surveys and has a false-positive rate significantly lower than the astrometric or photometric methods used individually.
Fetal Heart Function by Tricuspid Annular Plane Systolic Excursion and Ventricular Shortening Fraction Using STIC M-Mode: Reference Ranges and Validation
Authors: Tedesco Giselle , de Souza Bezerra Marilim , Barros Fernanda , Martins Wellington , Nardozza Luciano , Mattar Rosiane , Moron Antonio , Rolo Liliam , Araujo Júnior Edward 
Published: June 2017

Objective To determine the reference values for fetal tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (f-TAPSE) and fetal ventricular shortening fraction (f-VSF) using spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) with M-mode, and validate these curves in fetuses of pregnant women with preexisting diabetes mellitus (DM) and with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).
Study Design Crosssectional study assessed 300 fetal cardiac volumes of normal pregnancies between 20 and 33 + 6 weeks of gestation. For the construction of the reference curves, we used a polynomial regression model adjusted with the coefficient of determination (R2). For the calculation of reproducibility, the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) was used.
Results f-TAPSE value correlated with gestational age (GA, R2 = 0.46), whereas fetal right ventricular shortening fraction (f-RVSF, R2 = 0.02) and fetal left ventricular shortening fraction (f-LVSF, R2 = 0.005) did not vary with GA. Fetuses of pregnant women with preexisting DM (30) had lower values of f-RVSF (p = 0.028), f-LVSF (p = 0.001), and f-TAPSE (p = 0.009) than normal fetuses. The f-TAPSE values were lower (p = 0.005) in IUGR group (17). The f-TASPSE values showed adequate reliability as well as good intra and interobserver concordance (CCC = 0.95 and 0.79, respectively).
Conclusion The reference ranges for f-TAPSE, f-RVSF, and f-LVSF using the STIC M-mode were established and had good reproducibility for f-TAPSE measurements.
Reasoning through madness: the detective in Gothic crime fiction
Authors: Miranda Michelle 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThe Gothic era dealt in fear and the unknown, with early nineteenth century Gothic fiction being characterized by the macabre and influenced by the Enlightenment. The scientific and industrial revolutions of the eighteenth century brought forth advanced scientific theories and modes of reasoning, which found their way into the narratives of Gothic works. The public’s fascination with horror and the morbid extended from the Gothic era into the Victorian Gothic era, and tales of mystery and crime became intertwined with death and the monstrous. Literature of the Victorian Gothic era continued to explore the fears and anxieties of society, and was supplemented by knowledge obtained through developments in science, criminology and the criminal justice system. Elements of Gothic horror, scientific reasoning and crime are presented throughout various works of Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Such works include Poe’s stories of ratiocination in both his tales of horror and mystery; Poe’s stories featuring the detective C. Auguste Dupin; Doyle’s tales of mystery and the supernatural; and a selection of Doyle’s adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In these works by Poe and Doyle, the investigative prowess of the narrator, along with the methods of observation and interpretation, are utilized to explain the macabre and unknown. This essay introduces the reader to specific techniques of reasoning and the utilization of scientific methodology, specifically observation, to look beyond madness and mystery to arrive at logical conclusions for observed phenomena. The purpose of this essay is three-fold: first, to correlate the works of Poe and Doyle to the prevailing discourse of the nineteenth century, considering advances in epistemology, criminology and criminal investigations; second, to draw attention to the role of ratiocination and various forms of reasoning in solving crimes and the resolution of the fear of death and monster through the works of Poe and Doyle; third, to evaluate Poe and Doyle’s ideas regarding the police, crime solving and the intersection of science and crime as expressed through their stories.
Null objects with and without bilingualism in the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking world
Authors: Sainzmaza-Lecanda Lorena , Schwenter Scott A. 
Published: June 2017

Abstract
Null anaphoric direct objects (ADOs) have received increasing scholarly attention over the last 10–15 years in Spanish and Portuguese (e.g. Choi 2000; Gómez Seibane 2011, 2013; Reig 2008, 2009; Schwenter & Silva 2003; Schwenter 2014). We synthesize this research and indicate some points of connection and divergence across the two languages as well as the language of bilinguals and monolinguals. Our findings indicate that Animacy, Definiteness and Specificity features condition variable ADO systems regardless of the language spoken or the extralinguistic mechanisms involved in their emergence. These results, we propose, are not coincidental or subject to language- or construction-specific parameters. Instead, they are widespread (perhaps universal) tendencies that are sustainable across languages and diverse linguistic phenomena (e.g. non-anaphoric DOM systems).
Obliteration after Vocabulary Insertion
Authors: Vergara Daniel , López Luis 
Published: June 2017

Abstract
Seminal work in Distributed Morphology has posited an operation type called Obliteration (Arregi & Nevins, 2006), which deletes a terminal node from a structure. Obliteration is assumed to take place before Vocabulary Insertion (VI). Based on bilinguals’ acceptability judgments of negative sentences in Basque-Spanish code-switching, we argue that Obliteration can apply to a vocabulary item that has already undergone VI.
Primordial GWs from universality classes of pseudo-scalar inflation
Authors: Pieroni M. 
Published: June 2017

Abstract
In this contribution we discuss the possibility of generating an observable gravitational wave (GW) background by coupling a pseudo-scalar inflaton to some Abelian gauge fields. This analysis is performed by dividing inflationary models into universality classes. We find that of the most promising scenario is a Starobinsky-like model, which may lead to the generation of observational signatures both in upcoming CMB detectors as well as for direct GW detectors. The signal which can be produced in these models would both be observable in ground-based detectors, such as advanced LIGO, and in space-based detectors, such as LISA. The complementarity between the CMB and direct GW detection may be used to extract informations on the microphysics of inflation. Interestingly the mechanism discussed in this contribution may also be relevant for the generation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs).
Who Becomes A Politician?*
Authors: Dal Bó Ernesto , Finan Frederico , Folke Olle , Persson Torsten , Rickne Johanna 
Published: June 2017

AbstractCan a democracy attract competent leaders, while attaining broad representation? Economic models suggest that free-riding incentives and lower opportunity costs give the less competent a comparative advantage at entering political life. Moreover, if elites have more human capital, selecting on competence may lead to uneven representation. This article examines patterns of political selection among the universe of municipal politicians and national legislators in Sweden, using extraordinarily rich data on competence traits and social background for the entire population. We document four new facts that together characterize an “inclusive meritocracy.” First, politicians are on average significantly smarter and better leaders than the population they represent. Second, this positive selection is present even when conditioning on family (and hence social) background, suggesting that individual competence is key for selection. Third, the representation of social background, whether measured by parental earnings or occupational social class, is remarkably even. Fourth, there is at best a weak trade-off in selection between competence and social representation, mainly due to strong positive selection of politicians of low (parental) socioeconomic status. A broad implication of these facts is that it is possible for democracy to generate competent and socially representative leadership.
The rate of evolution of postmating-prezygotic reproductive isolation inDrosophila
Authors: Turissini David A. , McGirr Joseph A. , Patel Sonali S. , David Jean R. , Matute Daniel R. 
Published: June 2017

ABSTRACTReproductive isolation (RI) is an intrinsic aspect of species, as described in the Biological Species Concept. For that reason, the identification of the precise traits and mechanisms of RI, and the rates at which they evolve, is crucial to understanding how species originate and persist. Nonetheless, precise measurements of the magnitude of reproductive isolation are rare. Previous work has measured the rates of evolution of prezygotic and postzygotic barriers to gene flow, yet no systematic analysis has carried out the study of the rates of evolution of postmating-prezygotic (PMPZ) barriers. We systematically measured the magnitude of two barriers to gene flow that act after mating occurs but before zygotic fertilization and also measured a premating (female mating rate in nonchoice experiments) and two postzygotic barriers (hybrid inviability and hybrid sterility) for all pairwise crosses of species within theDrosophila melanogastersubgroup. Our results indicate that PMPZ isolation evolves faster than hybrid inviability but slower than premating isolation. We also describe seven new interspecific hybrids in the group. Our findings open up a large repertoire of tools that will enable researchers to manipulate hybrids and explore the genetic basis of interspecific differentiation, reproductive isolation, and speciation.
Systems biology analysis using a genome-scale metabolic model shows that phosphine triggers global metabolic suppression in a resistant strain ofC. elegans
Authors: Ma Li , Chan Angelo Hoi Chung , Hattwell Jake , Ebert Paul R. , Schirra Horst Joachim 
Published: June 2017

AbstractBackgroundPest insects are increasingly resistant to phosphine gas, which is used globally to protect grain reserves. The enzyme dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (DLD) is a phosphine resistance factor and participates in four key steps of core metabolism, making it a potential central metabolic regulator.ResultsHere we used microarray data and NMR-based metabolomics to characterize the phosphine response of wild-typeC. elegansand the phosphine-resistant straindld-1(wr4) which has a partial loss-of-function mutation in the gene for DLD. In addition, we have constructedCeCon, aC. elegansgenome-scale metabolic model to facilitate integration of gene expression and metabolomics data.ConclusionsThe resulting systems biology analysis is consistent with the hypothesis that adaptation to a hypometabolic state is the most prominent mechanism of phosphine resistance in this nematode strain. The involvement of DLD in regulating and creating hypometabolic adaptation has implications for other biological phenomena involving hypometabolism, such as reperfusion injury and metabolic resistance.
Plasticity of plant defense and its evolutionary implications in wild populations ofBoechera stricta
Authors: Wagner Maggie R. , Mitchell-Olds Thomas 
Published: June 2017

AbstractPhenotypic plasticity is thought to impact evolutionary trajectories by shifting trait values in a direction that is either favored by natural selection (“adaptive plasticity”) or disfavored (“nonadaptive” plasticity). However, it is unclear how commonly each of these types of plasticity occurs in natural populations. To answer this question, we measured glucosinolate defensive chemistry and reproductive fitness in over 1,500 individuals of the wild perennial mustardBoechera stricta,planted in four common gardens across central Idaho, USA. Glucosinolate profiles—including total glucosinolate quantity as well as the relative abundances and overall diversity of different compounds—were strongly plastic both among habitats and within habitats. Patterns of glucosinolate plasticity varied greatly among genotypes. More often than expected by chance, glucosinolate profiles shifted in a direction that matched the direction of natural selection, indicating that plasticity among habitats tended to increase relative fitness. In contrast, we found no evidence for within-habitat selection on glucosinolate reaction norm slopes (i.e., plasticity along a continuous environmental gradient). Together, our results indicate that glucosinolate plasticity may improve the ability ofB. strictapopulations to persist after migration to new habitats.
A Self-Organizing Short-Term Dynamical Memory Network
Authors: Federer Callie , Zylberberg Joel 
Published: June 2017

AbstractWorking memory requires information about external stimuli to be represented in the brain even after those stimuli go away. This information is encoded in the activities of neurons, and neural activities change over timescales of tens of milliseconds. Information in working memory, however, is retained for tens ofseconds, suggesting the question of how time-varying neural activities maintain stable representations. Prior work shows that, if the neural dynamics are in the ‘null space’ of the representation - so that changes to neural activity do not affect the downstream read-out of stimulus information - then information can be retained for periods much longer than the time-scale of individual-neuronal activities. The prior work, however, requires precisely constructed synaptic connectivity matrices, without explaining how this would arise in a biological neural network. To identify mechanisms through which biological networks can self-organize to learn memory function, we derived biologically plausible synaptic plasticity rules that dynamically modify the connectivity matrix to enable information storing. Networks implementing this plasticity rule can successfully learn to form memory representations even if only 10% of the synapses are plastic, they are robust to synaptic noise, and they can represent information about multiple stimuli.
The resilience strategies of SMEs in mature clusters
Authors: Conz Elisa , Denicolai Stefano , Zucchella Antonella 
Published: June 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper, according to the evolutionary perspective of resilience, is to provide a revised adaptive cycle model that explains how organisations that are embedded in a local system can foster their resilience.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory case study analysis was carried out. The study adopted the methods and principles proposed by Eisenhardt (1989). Case studies were selected according the match-pair method and consist of two Italian wineries operating into the same wine cluster. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative data analysis techniques.FindingsThe study proposes a revised model for the resilience strategies of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which combines firm and cluster level. Findings show that the resilience of SMEs is primarily driven by internal resilience strategies, and their surviving and adapting capacity, from a certain point of the evolutionary cycle, is fostered by internal decisions rather than by the influence of the external environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has some limitations. In particular, the exploratory survey does not permit the generalisation of results, and further empirical evidence is required. This research represents an initial step toward the development of a more exhaustive understanding of how the relationship SMEs-cluster can positively or negatively affect the resilience of organisations.Practical implicationsThe proposed model for the resilience strategies of SMEs offers also insights for managers and entrepreneurs.Originality/valueThis study significantly contributes to theory on resilience in the management field, that is largely related to economic geography, while investigations about the resilience at the firm level are limited and inconclusive.
Learning competencies through engineering research group experiences
Authors: Burt Brian A. 
Published: June 2017

Purpose
In some fields, research group experiences gained in laboratories are more influential than the classroom in shaping graduate students’ research abilities, understandings of post-graduate careers and professional identities. However, little is known about what and how students learn from their research group experiences. This paper aims to explore the learning experiences of engineering graduate students in one chemical engineering research group to determine what students learned and to identify the practices and activities that facilitated their learning.

Design/methodology/approach
Ethnography was used to observe the experiences of one research group in chemical engineering. Fieldwork included 13 months of observations, 31 formal interviews (16 first-round and 15 second-round interviews) and informal interviews. Fieldnotes and transcriptions were analyzed using grounded theory techniques.

Findings
Research group members developed four dominant competencies: presenting research, receiving and responding to feedback, solving problems and troubleshooting problems. Students’ learning was facilitated by the practices and activities of the research group (e.g. weekly full group and subgroup meetings) and mediated through the interactions of others (i.e. peers, faculty supervisor and lab manager).

Originality/value
This study adds to the engineering education literature and contributes to the larger discourse on identifying promising practices and activities that improve student learning in graduate education.