bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Touching Greater Horizons in the Management of Diabetic Neuropathy: Epalrestat in Advanced Role
Authors: Maladkar Manish , Tekchandani Chitra , Siddhanti Aakash 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACT
The major factor contributing to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and its various complications is insulin resistance (IR). The lesser known and interesting element that has been unfolding is about the existence of IR in neurons associated with disrupted phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3k/Akt) pathway with subsequent adverse effect on nerve function. Hyperactivity of polyol pathway is identified as the prime convincing mechanism elucidating the metabolic link between hyperglycemia and nerve dysfunction. Additionally, in the polyol trail, reduction in glutathione leads to redox imbalance and eventually neuropathy.
Epalrestat, the aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI), has been extensively evaluated for its efficacy and safety in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. Addition of methylcobalamin to Epalrestat therapy has shown faster and better resolution of neuropathy. Epalrestat-induced activation of PI3k/Akt signaling pathway promotes proliferation and migration of endothelial cells, with potential benefits of improved blood supply to damaged nerves. Further evidences reveal upregulation of nerve growth factor (NGF) by Epalrestat that has resulted in wound healing in diabetic patients. Increase in nerve fiber length is the other compatible finding with Epalrestat therapy in patients suffering from diabetic neuropathy. Moreover, Epalrestat has demonstrated significant protection against oxidative stress via induction of glutathione biosynthesis.

How to cite this article
Maladkar M, Tekchandani C, Siddhanti A. Touching Greater Horizons in the Management of Diabetic Neuropathy: Epalrestat in Advanced Role. J Med Sci 2016;2(1):9-14.
Teleconnection between the South Atlantic convergence zone and the southern Indian Ocean: Implications for tropical cyclone activity
Authors: DeBlander Evan , Shaman Jeffrey 
Published: December 2016

AbstractA link between anomalous austral summer convection over the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ) and atmospheric conditions over the South Indian Ocean is investigated. Interannual north‐south shifts in the SACZ produce a dipole of anomalous convection and precipitation over South America. The South Atlantic convergence zone index (SACZI) capturing this variability is presented and associated with a midlatitude Rossby wave train that propagates from South America eastward and south of Africa before curving north into the tropical Indian Ocean. This wave train is reproduced using Rossby wave ray tracing and simulations with a linearized barotropic vorticity equation model forced with divergence and convergence consistent with the observed dipole of anomalous convection. The wave train acts to excite anomalies in wind shear and relative humidity over the tropical south Indian Ocean, which in turn impact tropical cyclone (TC) genesis and distribution over this region. We find that changes in the wind shear and relative humidity associated with the SACZI effect changes in TC genesis, which result in a change in observed TC days over portions of the South Indian Ocean.
Pure erythroid leukemia
Authors: Wang Wei , Wang Sa A. , Medeiros L. Jeffrey , Khoury Joseph D. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThe category of acute erythroid leukemia was significantly revised in the recently published 2016 revision to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of myeloid neoplasms. In the previous 2008 WHO classification, acute erythroid leukemia was categorized into two subtypes: erythroleukemia and pure erythroid leukemia (PEL), whereas in the 2016 WHO update, erythroleukemia was merged into myelodysplastic syndrome, and PEL becomes the only type of acute erythroid leukemia. PEL is a rare and aggressive form of acute leukemia whose biology remains poorly characterized. In this review, we discuss the clinicopathologic features, diagnosis, putative pathogenesis, and molecular biology of PEL, with an overview of novel concepts and future directions in this area.
Lesions causing freezing of gait localize to a cerebellar functional network
Authors: Fasano Alfonso , Laganiere Simon E. , Lam Susy , Fox Michael D. 
Published: December 2016

ObjectiveFreezing of gait is a disabling symptom in Parkinson disease and related disorders, but the brain regions involved in symptom generation remain unclear. Here we analyze brain lesions causing acute onset freezing of gait to identify regions causally involved in symptom generation.MethodsFourteen cases of lesion‐induced freezing of gait were identified from the literature, and lesions were mapped to a common brain atlas. Because lesion‐induced symptoms can come from sites connected to the lesion location, not just the lesion location itself, we also identified brain regions functionally connected to each lesion location. This technique, termed lesion network mapping, has been recently shown to identify regions involved in symptom generation across a variety of lesion‐induced disorders.ResultsLesion location was heterogeneous, and no single region could be considered necessary for symptom generation. However, > 90% (13 of 14) of lesions were functionally connected to a focal area in the dorsal medial cerebellum. This cerebellar area overlapped previously recognized regions that are activated by locomotor tasks, termed the cerebellar locomotor region. Connectivity to this region was specific to lesions causing freezing of gait compared to lesions causing other movement disorders (hemichorea or asterixis).InterpretationLesions causing freezing of gait are located within a common functional network characterized by connectivity to the cerebellar locomotor region. These results based on causal brain lesions complement prior neuroimaging studies in Parkinson disease patients, advancing our understanding of the brain regions involved in freezing of gait. ANN NEUROL 2017;81:129–141
An Optimal Control Approach to Linear Systems Controlled by Multiple Controllers
Authors: Yang Guoqing , Gao Zhenyu , Liu Zhongchang 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThis paper investigates the optimal control design methodology for linear systems which are collaboratively manipulated by multiple agents based on choices such that certain team targets are achieved. By minimizing the average energy cost subject to the set of specified target‐state constraints based on modern variation theory and the Lagrange method, a series of optimal control solutions are established for linear scalar and vector systems jointly controlled by two agents. In addition, a set of sub‐optimal controls are derived, which can lead to a tight upper bound on the average energy cost.
Tenocytic extract and mechanical stimulation in a tissue‐engineered tendon construct increases cellular proliferation and ECM deposition
Authors: Engebretson Brandon , Mussett Zachary R. , Sikavitsas Vassilios I. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractChemical and mechanical stimulation, when properly utilized, positively influence both the differentiation of in vitro cultured stem cells and the quality of the deposited extracellular matrix (ECM). This study aimed to find if cell‐free extract from primary tenocytes can positively affect the development of a tissue‐engineered tendon construct, consisting of a human umbilical vein (HUV) seeded with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) subjected to cyclical mechanical stimulation. The tenocytic cell‐free extract possesses biological material from tendon cells that could potentially influence MSC tenocytic differentiation and construct development. We demonstrate that the addition of tenocytic extract in statically cultured tendon constructs increases ECM deposition and tendon‐related gene expression of MSCs. The incorporation of mechanical stimulation (2% strain for 30 min/day at 0.5 cycles/min) with tenocytic extract further improved the MSC seeded HUV constructs by increasing cellularity of the construct by 37% and the ultimate tensile strength by 33% compared to the constructs with only mechanical stimulation after 14 days. Furthermore, the addition of mechanical stimulation to the extract supplementation produced longitudinal ECM fibril alignment along with dense connective tissue, reminiscent of natural tendon.
Altruistic Lying in an Alibi Corroboration Context: The Effects of Liking, Compliance, and Relationship between Suspects and Witnesses
Authors: Marion Stéphanie B. , Burke Tara M. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractPolice investigators, judges, and jurors are often very skeptical of alibi witness testimony. To investigate when and why individuals lie for one another, we conducted two studies in which witnesses' support of a false alibi was observed. We varied the level of social pressure exerted on witnesses and the level of affinity between suspect–witness pairs. During a study session purportedly intended to investigate dyadic problem‐solving ability, a mock theft was staged. When questioned, participants were provided the opportunity to either corroborate or refute a confederate's false alibi that the latter was with them when the theft occurred. Participants were more likely to lie for the confederate when the latter explicitly asked participants to conceal his/her whereabouts during the time of the theft (Study 1). How much participants liked the suspect did not impact lying; however, participants lied for a confederate more often when the latter was a friend rather than a stranger (Study 2). Results show that alibi witnesses often lie and that investigators and jurors may not accurately estimate the likelihood that such witnesses will lie for one another. Witnesses who lied also reported doing so more often because they believed that the suspect was innocent rather than guilty. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Step‐Edge Assisted Direct Linear Alkane Coupling
Authors: Zhang Junjie , Chang Chun‐ran , Yang Biao , Cao Nan , Peng Chencheng , Zhang Haiming , Tang Dan‐Tam D. , Glorius Frank , Erker Gerhard , Fuchs Harald , Li Qing , Chi Lifeng 
Published: December 2016

AbstractDirect coupling of alkanes via C−H activation of terminal methyl groups has acquired tremendous interests both scientifically and technically. Herein we present the results of linear alkane‐coupling at the step edges of Cu surfaces at modulated temperatures. Combining the observations of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) with density functional theory plus dispersion (DFT‐D) calculations, we elucidate the mechanism of the reaction and demonstrate that the low activation barrier relies on heterogeneous catalysis at the upper step edges, where low‐coordinated surface atoms are present. We further reveal the generality of the reaction, so that it can be applied on the step edges of different facets of surfaces.
C2CU: a CUDA C program generator for bulk execution of a sequential algorithm
Authors: Takafuji Daisuke , Nakano Koji , Ito Yasuaki , Bordim Jacir 
Published: December 2016

SummarySeveral important tasks, including matrix computation, signal processing, sorting, dynamic programming, encryption, and decryption, can be performed by oblivious sequential algorithms. A sequential algorithm is oblivious if an address accessed at each time does not depend on the input data. A bulk execution of a sequential algorithm is to execute it for many independent inputs in turn or in parallel. A number of works have been devoted to design and implement parallel algorithms for a single input. However, none of these works evaluated the bulk execution performance of these algorithms. The first contribution of this paper is to present a time‐optimal implementation for bulk execution of an oblivious sequential algorithm. Our second contribution is to develop a tool, named C2CU, which automatically generates a CUDA C program for a bulk execution of an oblivious sequential algorithm. The C2CU has been used to generate CUDA C programs for the bulk execution of the bitonic sorting, Floyd‐Warshall, and Montgomery modulo multiplication algorithms. Compared to a sequential implementation on a single CPU, the generated CUDA C programs for the above algorithms run, respectively, 199, 54, and 78 times faster.
DaC scan: a novel scan operator for exploiting SSD internal parallelism
Authors: Alencar Namom , Brayner Angelo , Filho Jose Aguiar , Lopes Hamilton 
Published: December 2016

SummarySolid‐state drives (SSDs) have become an attractive alternative for storing large databases. Solid‐state drives do not present mechanical parts in their assembly. Consequently, SSDs have different characteristics and capabilities than magnetic disks Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). One of the most important features of SSDs is the fact that they implement different levels of internal parallelism for executing read/write operations. In database query processing, the table scan operator is responsible for reading an entire table. Generally, a scan operator is utilized whenever there is no index defined on the table to be accessed. This paper introduces a novel scan operator, denoted DaC Scan, for reading database tables stored in SSDs. The key goal of the proposed operator is to explore IO parallelism. Thus, the idea is to make DaC Scan able to read different regions of a single table simultaneously. For validation of DaC Scan efficiency, experiments with a prototype have been conducted over the TPC‐H benchmark database, scale factors 10 and 20. The results show that DaC Scan is efficient, presenting significant gains w.r.t. classical scan operators.
A taxonomy and survey on scheduling algorithms for scientific workflows in IaaS cloud computing environments
Authors: Rodriguez Maria Alejandra , Buyya Rajkumar 
Published: December 2016

SummaryLarge‐scale scientific problems are often modeled as workflows. The ever‐growing data and compute requirements of these applications has led to extensive research on how to efficiently schedule and deploy them in distributed environments. The emergence of the latest distributed systems paradigm, cloud computing, brings with it tremendous opportunities to run scientific workflows at low costs without the need of owning any infrastructure. It provides a virtually infinite pool of resources that can be acquired, configured, and used as needed and are charged on a pay‐per‐use basis. However, along with these benefits come numerous challenges that need to be addressed to generate efficient schedules. This work identifies these challenges and studies existing algorithms from the perspective of the scheduling models they adopt as well as the resource and application model they consider. A detailed taxonomy that focuses on features particular to clouds is presented, and the surveyed algorithms are classified according to it. In this way, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of existing literature and aid researchers by providing an insight into future directions and open issues.
Performance analysis and optimization of the parallel one‐sided block Jacobi SVD algorithm with dynamic ordering and variable blocking
Authors: Kudo Shuhei , Yamamoto Yusaku , Bečka Martin , Vajtersic Marian 
Published: December 2016

SummaryThe one‐sided block Jacobi (OSBJ) method is known to be an efficient method for computing the singular value decomposition on a parallel computer. In this paper, we focus on the most recent variant of the OSBJ method, the one with parallel dynamic ordering and variable blocking, and present both theoretical and experimental analyses of the algorithm. In the first part of the paper, we provide a detailed theoretical analysis of its convergence properties. In the second part, based on preliminary performance measurement on the Fujitsu FX10 and SGI Altix ICE parallel computers, we identify two performance bottlenecks of the algorithm and propose new implementations to resolve the problem. Experimental results show that they are effective and can achieve up to 1.8 and 1.4 times speedup of the total execution time on the FX10 and the Altix ICE, respectively. Comparison with the ScaLAPACK SVD routine PDGESVD shows that our OSBJ solver is efficient when solving small to medium sized problems (n < 10000) using modest number ( < 100) of computing nodes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Evolution and Impact of Total Synthesis on Chemistry, Biology and Medicine
Authors: Nicolaou Kyriacos C. , Rigol Stephan 
Published: December 2016

AbstractThe advent of organic synthesis in the nineteenth century sparked a revolution in chemistry that led from a serendipitous discovery to the art and science that it is today. Its creative nature turned into enabling technologies that set in motion entire new industries such as the dye and pharmaceutical enterprises and helped elucidate and confirm structures of countless natural products. It also served as the locomotive for discovery and invention of new reactions, synthetic strategies and technologies, and delivered myriad valuable compounds, more or less complex, for research and applications in our everyday lives. Today it is a partner of biology in the quest of understanding living nature and applying the gathered intelligence to discover and develop newer and more effective drugs.
The Child Under Five in Canberra
Authors: Howells Simone 
Published: December 2016

An outline is given of the changing attitude of the Australian community towards its responsibility for the care of young children vis á vis the rights of the parents.Canberra's various provisions for the day care of the under‐fives is reviewed and the distinction is made between education facilities for the children and ‘child care’ for the benefit of the parents. Because there is no literature in the field of family day care—‘child minding’—a small survey was conducted. Data are presented covering the ages of the children, the composition of the minders' families, charges made, and the minders' and working mothers' attitudes towards the arrangements. In conclusion, some indication is given as to desirable standards for both day care and group care, and suggestions are made about areas for which community responsibility should be taken in the future.
The Importance of Being Worthy
Authors: Tomlinson John 
Published: December 2016

Australians consider we have a modern comprehensive welfare service, one in which charity, worthiness, and do‐gooderism are anachronisms found only in isolated welfare agencies run by obscure sects. This is not so. They remain a central feature of welfare practice at both governmental and private levels. Our modern agencies prefer not to tell people they are unworthy but social workers can everywhere be heard saying ‘I'm sorry, but you are not eligible—you have not met our requirements.’In this paper a series of propositions is put which if implemented would go a long way towards diminishing worthiness as a major factor in our social welfare system. Rather than support the introduction of these propositions by stressing their benefits, there is a concentration on description and analysis of aspects of existing practice which the propositions if implemented would negate.
Survey of Voluntary Recreation Workers in New South Wales
Authors: Avery G. C. , Bergsteiner H. 
Published: December 2016

Two surveys were conducted of volunteers working for recreation organizations in four New South Wales regions. The results highlight the dependence of these organizations on volunteers. Volunteers were found to be heavily engaged in instructing and organizing recreation activities. Few have any specific training for the role although further training is frequently considered desirable by respondents. Many respondents indicated that the government could assist voluntary work by providing—• training at the local level,• general financial assistance, and• subsidies for equipment and facilities.Generally, responses indicate that the government should play a supportive rather than controlling role in recreation.
Citizen Participation—What Motivates It?
Authors: McKenzie W. M. 
Published: December 2016

Why, in community decision making, do so few of those affected exercise opportunities to influence decisions? This question was investigated by comparing the behaviour and attitudes of men on state primary school committees with those of other fathers of children at the same 25 schools.Predispositional variables accounted for about 30% of participation variance, and this indicates a substantial influence. School committee members were comparatively more predisposed toward decision making, having acquired greater confidence and skills through education, occupation, and club activities. They were more concerned with educational outcomes, and had stronger social links with the school through their wives and other parents. It is suggested that more parents might be encouraged by opportunities to participate in familiar (eg. neighbourhood) groups under informal conditions, dealing with problems of immediate interest to them. Awareness of the work done by the school committee, and its effectiveness, are also important factors in participation.
Clive's Kids: An Employment Scheme for Unemployable Youth
Authors: Peel Marie 
Published: December 2016

In eighteen months, one man with a second‐hand utility, two worn lawn mowers, community and employer support, resulted in over sixty‐eight ‘unemployable’ youth entering the workforce on a permanent basis. Clive's program is unique to Australia.(It was considered that anonymity should be maintained because adverse publicity resulted in youth programs in the area being closely scrutinized regarding participants ‘working’ and earning money.—Ed.)
Unemployment and the Future of Social Policy
Authors: Coleman Marie 
Published: December 2016

In the context of a seminar seeking to canvass public administration responses to the topic ‘A Generation Unemployed’ the paper canvasses the extent of hidden unemployment and where the burdens of unemployment are falling.Some of the future implications for social policy, including potential effects on social cohesion and the possible policy responses to that, and potential effects on economic dependency and likely policy implications are examined.
Youth Allowances: Incentive & Reform
Authors: Edwards Meredith 
Published: December 2016

Australia's income support arrangements have come under increasing scrutiny lately reflecting a growing concern about high levels of youth unemployment and about low levels of full‐time education participation.This paper aims to explore the relationship between education participation and financial incentives and to assess as a possible direction for future reform, the concept of a single and universal youth allowance.The paper begins by outlining the major forms of income support available to young people and illustrates some of the complexities in the youth income support structure.The evidence on the importance of financial factors conflicts, particularly between economists and non‐economists. This is in part explained by the different conceptual frameworks used. Other possible reasons are canvassed as to why studies have so far not thrown much light on the role of financial factors in the education participation decision. The paper also outlines specific directions of distortion contained in current payment relativities.Several difficulties with the proposal for a single youth allowance as a means of increasing education participation are discussed and alternatives briefly outlined. The concluding section of the paper summarises the issues relevant to the future debate on youth income support and identifies areas for further research.