bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Thrombospondin‐1 and microRNA‐1 expression in response to multiwalled carbon nanotubes in alveolar epithelial cells
Authors: Pacurari M. , Kafoury R. , Turner T. , Taylor S. , Tchounwou P. B. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThrombospondin‐1 (TSP‐1) is a glycoprotein that plays a role in extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling. Previously, we have shown that multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) regulate ECM components TGFβ and its target Col3A1 in alveolar epithelial cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of MWCNT on TSP‐1 and microRNA‐1 (miR‐1) in the regulation of TGFβ in ECM remodeling using alveolar epithelial A549 cells. A549 cells were treated with MWCNT (20 or 50 µg/mL) for 6 or 24 h and the expression of TSP‐1 and miR‐1, and the exogenous miR‐1 effect on cell morphology were analyzed. MWCNT induced in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner the expression of TSP‐1. miR‐1 was suppressed by MWCNT after 6 or 24 h of treatment regardless of the dose. TSP‐1 and miR‐1 negatively correlated with each other, r = −0.58. Exogenous administration of miR‐1 induced alveolar epithelial cell morphology changes including cell clustering, whereas inhibition of miR‐1 induced less cell to cell contact, cell rounding, and cellular projections. IntAct molecular network interactions analysis revealed that TSP‐1 interacts with 21 molecular factors including ECM genes, and molecules. These results indicate a relationship between that TSP‐1, MWCNT, and TGFβ, and suggest TSP‐1 may play a role in MWCNT‐induced TGFβ and ECM remodeling. Moreover, these data also suggest an inverse relationship between TSP‐1 and miR‐1 and a potential role of miR‐1 in MWCNT‐induced fibrotic signaling. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 32: 1596–1606, 2017.
Overview of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects of Pollution in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Nigeria
Authors: Babayemi Joshua O. , Ogundiran Mary B. , Osibanjo Oladele 
Published: January 2017

Pollution has taken on a global dimension, and the effects are most obvious in developing countries. The effects take a toll on human health, animals, and vegetation, as well as on soil, air, and water quality. The objective of this article is to discuss the current relationships among pollution, environmental quality, and human health within the frame of anthropogenic activities in developing countries. In addition to personal observations, we review relevant literature on conditions throughout the developing world and case studies on conditions and activities in Nigeria. Key findings show the significant, adverse contributions to human health and environmental risk from current waste generation and handling practices, indoor and outdoor air pollution, wastewater and effluent generation and disposal, the hazardous nature and pollutionpotential of wastes, and the human behaviors that contribute to pollution in developing countries. There is an urgent need to create awareness among the various segments of society of the human health hazards posed by pollution as well as a need for the comprehensive development and enforcement of appropriate policies to prevent a descent into an abyss of deteriorating human and environmental health.
Tournaments for mutual exclusion: verification and concurrent complexity
Authors: Hesselink Wim H. 
Published: January 2017

Abstract

Given a mutual exclusion algorithm
MXd
for

d
≥
2

threads, a mutual exclusion algorithm for

N
>
d

threads can be built in a tree of degree
d
with
N
leaves, with the critical section at the root of the tree. This tournament solution seems obviously correct and efficient. The present note proves the correctness, and formalizes the efficiency in terms of concurrent complexity by means of Bounded Unity. If the tree is balanced, the throughput is logarithmic in
N
. If moreover
MXd
satisfies FCFS (first-come first-served), the worst case individual delay of the tournament algorithm is of order
N
. This is optimal.
Male mate choice in a sexually cannibalistic species: male escapes from hungry females in the praying mantid Tenodera angustipennis
Authors: Kadoi Mika , Morimoto Kotaro , Takami Yasuoki 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWhile competing males and choosy females may be common in animal mating systems, male choice can evolve under certain conditions. Sexual cannibalism is such a condition because of the high mortality risk for males. In mantids, female body condition is associated with male mate preference, with fat females preferred, due to at least two reasons: females in poor nutritional condition are likely to attack and predate males, and fat females can potentially increase the number of offspring. Thus, the risk of cannibalism and female fecundity can influence male mating behavior. In this study, we attempted to separate these factors by using the praying mantidTenodera angustipennisto examine whether male preference for fat female mantids was based on avoiding sexual cannibalism (cannibalism avoidance hypothesis) or preference for female fecundity (fecundity preference hypothesis). The feeding regimes were experimentally manipulated to discriminate between the effects of female fecundity and female hunger status on male and female mating behaviors. We found that recently starved females more frequently locomoted toward the male, and that male abdominal bending was less intensive and escape was sooner from recently starved females. These female and male behavioral responses to female hunger condition may reveal male avoidance of dangerous females in this mantid.
Anxiety disorders and risk of stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Pérez-Piñar M. , Ayerbe L. , González E. , Mathur R. , Foguet-Boreu Q. , Ayis S. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractBackgroundAnxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem worldwide. However, the evidence on the association between anxiety disorders and risk of stroke is limited. This systematic review and meta-analysis presents a critical appraisal and summary of the available evidence on the association between anxiety disorders and risk of stroke.MethodsCohort studies reporting risk of stroke among patients with anxiety disorders were searched in PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, and the Web of Science, from database inception to June 2016. The quality of the studies was assessed using standard criteria. A meta-analysis was undertaken to obtain pooled estimates of the risk of stroke among patients with anxiety disorders.ResultsEight studies, including 950,759 patients, from the 11,764 references initially identified, were included in this review. A significantly increased risk of stroke for patients with anxiety disorders was observed, with an overall hazard ratio: 1.24 (1.09–1.41), P = 0.001. No significant heterogeneity between studies was detected and the funnel plot suggested that publication bias was unlikely. Limited evidence suggests that the risk of stroke is increased shortly after the diagnosis of anxiety and that risk of stroke may be higher for patients with severe anxiety.ConclusionsAnxiety disorders are a very prevalent modifiable condition associated with risk of stroke increased by 24%. This evidence could inform the development of interventions for the management of anxiety and the prevention of stroke. Further studies on the risk of stroke in patients with anxiety, and the explanatory factors for this association, are required.
Impact of height heterogeneity on canopy turbulence
Authors: Hamed A. M. , Sadowski M. J. , Nepf H. M. , Chamorro L. P. 
Published: January 2017

The flow development above and within homogeneous and heterogeneous canopies was experimentally studied using particle image velocimetry in a refractive-index-matching channel. The experiments were designed to gain insight into the effect of height heterogeneity on the structure and spatial distribution of the turbulence. The homogeneous model (base case) is constituted of elements of height$h$arranged in a staggered configuration; whereas the heterogeneous canopy resembled a row canopy and consisted of elements of two heights$h_{1}=h+(1/3)h$and$h_{2}=h-(1/3)h$alternated every two rows. Both canopies had the same density, element geometry and mean height. The flow was studied under three submergences$H/h=2$, 3 and 4, where$H$denotes the flow depth. The experiments were performed at Reynolds number$Re_{H}\simeq 6500$, 11 300 and 12 300 and nearly constant Froude number$Fr\simeq 0.1$. Turbulence statistics complemented with quadrant analysis and proper orthogonal decomposition reveal richer flow dynamics induced by height heterogeneity. Topography-induced spatially periodic mean flows are observed for the heterogeneous canopy. Furthermore, and in contrast to the homogeneous case, non-vanishing vertical velocity is maintained across the entire length of the heterogeneous canopy with increased levels at lower submergence depths. Further alternations were induced in the magnitude and distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stress and characteristics of the canopy mixing layer, evidencing enhanced mixing and turbulent transport for the heterogeneous canopy especially at lower submergence depths. Overall, the results indicate that heterogeneous canopies exhibit greater vertical turbulent exchange at the canopy interface, suggesting a potential for greater scalar exchange and a greater impact on channel hydraulic resistance than a homogeneous canopy of similar roughness density.
The rise and rise of agricultural wage labour: evidence from Ethiopia's south,c.1950–2000
Authors: Negash Girma 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThis article seeks to examine the dynamic transformation in the system of labour mobilization and the consequent intermingling of peoples of diverse cultural background in northern Sidama, Ethiopia. It investigates the different labour recruitment strategies deployed in the study area at different times, ranging from traditional to hired labour. In the former case, the household plays a major role in the recruitment and supply of agricultural labour, whereas in the latter case, ‘trans-locality’ reinforced by migration becomes central to the labour history of the region. In the 1940s and 1950s, Emperor Haile Selassie I granted large estates of land in the study area to absentee landowners who started schemes of commercial coffee farming. The subsequent expansion of commercialized coffee farming in a locality called Wondo Gänät (northern Sidama) from the 1950s onwards was responsible for the introduction of agricultural wage labour into the wider region. There was no local surplus labour to satisfy the labour needs of the new coffee farms. This void was later filled by Kembata, Hadiya and Wolayita migrant labourers who flocked into the study area from regions widely noted for their scarcity of arable land. This translocal movement of workers paved the way for the beginning of wage employment and eventually the commodification of farm labour in line with capitalist agriculture. Although commercial coffee plantations provided the initial stimulus for labour commodification in the study area, sugar cane-based cash cropping has helped it flourish even further. I argue in this article that the imperial land grants of the late 1940s and 1950s were an important milestone both for the agricultural history of the study area and for the organization of farm labour. Most importantly, I also argue that some of the social tensions and conflicts that often haunt contemporary northern Sidama are legacies inherited from the labour migrations of the 1950s and 1960s and the demographic heterogeneity that ensued.
Dash-peonage: the contradictions of debt bondage in the colonial plantations of Fernando Pó
Authors: Martino Enrique 
Published: January 2017

AbstractDashin pidgin English means an ancillary gift to an exchange. What happened when thedashbecame attached to the indentured labour contracts that the Spanish Empire brought from Cuba to their last colony, Spanish Guinea? On the island of Fernando Pó, which came to be almost wholly populated by Nigerian labour migrants, the conditional gift in the form of a large wage advance produced a particularly intense contradiction. In the historiography of unfree labour, the excess wage advance is thought to create conditions for the perpetuation of bondage through debt. However, in imperial contexts, the wage advance did not generate compliance and immobility; exactly the opposite – it produced unprecedented waves of further escalation and dispersed flight. Thedashwas pushed up by workers themselves and relayed by informal recruiters. Together they turned this lynchpin of indentured labour and debt peonage into a counter-practice that almost led to the collapse of the plantations in the 1950s. The trajectories of thedashled to a more pointed version of the foundational thesis of global labour history: namely, that it was actually free labour, not unfree labour, that was incompatible with labour scarcity-ridden imperial capitalism.
Negotiating eldercare in Akuapem, Ghana: care-scripts and the role of non-kin
Authors: Coe Cati 
Published: January 2017

AbstractIn contemporary Ghana, adult children are considered responsible for the care of aged parents. Within this idealized framework, two aspects of eldercare are overlooked. Firstly, such a narrative obscures the role of non-kin and extended kin in providing eldercare in southern Ghana historically and in the present. Secondly, it hides the negotiations over obligations and commitments between those who manage eldercare and those who help with an ageing person's daily activities. It is in this latter role that non-kin and extended kin are significant in eldercare, while closer kin maintain their kin roles through the management, financial support and recruitment of others. This article examines recruitment to eldercare and the role of kin and non-kin in eldercare in three historical periods: the 1860s, the 1990s and the 2000s, centred on Akuapem, in southern Ghana. In particular, I show that helping an aged person relies on previous and expected entrustments, in which more vulnerable, dependent and indebted persons are most likely to be recruited to provide care.
Proportionality and precautions in attack: The reverberating effects of using explosive weapons in populated areas
Authors: Robinson Isabel , Nohle Ellen 
Published: January 2017

AbstractDuring an armed conflict, the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas has a devastating impact on civilians. Less visible than the direct effects of explosive weapons, but equally devastating, are the reverberating effects of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. While there is growing consensus that parties to an armed conflict are legally obliged to take into account the reasonably foreseeable reverberating effects of an attack, particularly for the purposes of the rules on proportionality and precautions in attack, the precise scope of this obligation remains unclear. After setting out the legal arguments in support of the position that reasonably foreseeable reverberating effects must be taken into account, this article goes on to examine how such effects should be evaluated and how they must be avoided or minimized.
High-throughput automated microfluidic sample preparation for accurate microbial genomics
Authors: Kim Soohong , De Jonghe Joachim , Kulesa Anthony B. , Feldman David , Vatanen Tommi , Bhattacharyya Roby P. , Berdy Brittany , Gomez James , Nolan Jill , Epstein Slava , Blainey Paul C. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractLow-cost shotgun DNA sequencing is transforming the microbial sciences. Sequencing instruments are so effective that sample preparation is now the key limiting factor. Here, we introduce a microfluidic sample preparation platform that integrates the key steps in cells to sequence library sample preparation for up to 96 samples and reduces DNA input requirements 100-fold while maintaining or improving data quality. The general-purpose microarchitecture we demonstrate supports workflows with arbitrary numbers of reaction and clean-up or capture steps. By reducing the sample quantity requirements, we enabled low-input (∼10,000 cells) whole-genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and soil micro-colonies with superior results. We also leveraged the enhanced throughput to sequence ∼400 clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa libraries and demonstrate excellent single-nucleotide polymorphism detection performance that explained phenotypically observed antibiotic resistance. Fully-integrated lab-on-chip sample preparation overcomes technical barriers to enable broader deployment of genomics across many basic research and translational applications.
The immunoreceptor NKG2D promotes tumour growth in a model of hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Sheppard Sam , Guedes Joana , Mroz Anna , Zavitsanou Anastasia-Maria , Kudo Hiromi , Rothery Stephen M. , Angelopoulos Panagiotis , Goldin Robert , Guerra Nadia 
Published: January 2017

AbstractInflammation is recognized as one of the drivers of cancer. Yet, the individual immune components that possess pro- and anti-tumorigenic functions in individual cancers remain largely unknown. NKG2D is a potent activating immunoreceptor that has emerged as an important player in inflammatory disorders besides its well-established function as tumour suppressor. Here, we provide genetic evidence of an unexpected tumour-promoting effect of NKG2D in a model of inflammation-driven liver cancer. Compared to NKG2D-deficient mice, NKG2D-sufficient mice display accelerated tumour growth associated with, an increased recruitment of memory CD8+T cells to the liver and exacerbated pro-inflammatory milieu. In addition, we show that NKG2D contributes to liver damage and consequent hepatocyte proliferation known to favour tumorigenesis. Thus, the NKG2D/NKG2D-ligand pathway provides an additional mechanism linking chronic inflammation to tumour development in hepatocellular carcinoma. Our findings expose the need to selectively target the types of cancer that could benefit from NKG2D-based immunotherapy.
Microwave photon Fock state generation by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage
Authors: Premaratne Shavindra P. , Wellstood F. C. , Palmer B. S. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe deterministic generation of non-classical states of light, including squeezed states, Fock states and Bell states, plays an important role in quantum information processing and exploration of the physics of quantum entanglement. Preparation of these non-classical states in resonators is non-trivial due to their inherent harmonicity. Here we use stimulated Raman adiabatic passage to generate microwave photon Fock states in a superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics system comprised of a fixed-frequency transmon qubit in a three-dimensional microwave cavity at 20 mK. A two-photon process is employed to overcome a first order forbidden transition and the first, second and third Fock states are demonstrated. We also demonstrate how this all-microwave technique can be used to generate an arbitrary superposition of Fock states. Simulations of the system are in excellent agreement with the data and fidelities of 89%, 68% and 43% are inferred for the first three Fock states respectively.
Disruption of cardiac cholinergic neurons enhances susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias
Authors: Jungen Christiane , Scherschel Katharina , Eickholt Christian , Kuklik Pawel , Klatt Niklas , Bork Nadja , Salzbrunn Tim , Alken Fares , Angendohr Stephan , Klene Christiane , Mester Janos , Klöcker Nikolaj , Veldkamp Marieke W. , Schumacher Udo , Willems Stephan , Nikolaev Viacheslav O. , Meyer Christian 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe parasympathetic nervous system plays an important role in the pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation. Catheter ablation, a minimally invasive procedure deactivating abnormal firing cardiac tissue, is increasingly becoming the therapy of choice for atrial fibrillation. This is inevitably associated with the obliteration of cardiac cholinergic neurons. However, the impact on ventricular electrophysiology is unclear. Here we show that cardiac cholinergic neurons modulate ventricular electrophysiology. Mechanical disruption or pharmacological blockade of parasympathetic innervation shortens ventricular refractory periods, increases the incidence of ventricular arrhythmia and decreases ventricular cAMP levels in murine hearts. Immunohistochemistry confirmed ventricular cholinergic innervation, revealing parasympathetic fibres running from the atria to the ventricles parallel to sympathetic fibres. In humans, catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, which is accompanied by accidental parasympathetic and concomitant sympathetic denervation, raises the burden of premature ventricular complexes. In summary, our results demonstrate an influence of cardiac cholinergic neurons on the regulation of ventricular function and arrhythmogenesis.
BCAS2 is involved in alternative mRNA splicing in spermatogonia and the transition to meiosis
Authors: Liu Wenbo , Wang Fengchao , Xu Qianhua , Shi Junchao , Zhang Xiaoxin , Lu Xukun , Zhao Zhen-Ao , Gao Zheng , Ma Huaixiao , Duan Enkui , Gao Fei , Gao Shaorong , Yi Zhaohong , Li Lei 
Published: January 2017

AbstractBreast cancer amplified sequence 2 (BCAS2) is involved in multiple biological processes, including pre-mRNA splicing. However, the physiological roles of BCAS2 are still largely unclear. Here we report that BCAS2 is specifically enriched in spermatogonia of mouse testes. Conditional disruption of Bcas2 in male germ cells impairs spermatogenesis and leads to male mouse infertility. Although the spermatogonia appear grossly normal, spermatocytes in meiosis prophase I and meiosis events (recombination and synapsis) are rarely observed in the BCAS2-depleted testis. In BCAS2 null testis, 245 genes are altered in alternative splicing forms; at least three spermatogenesis-related genes (Dazl, Ehmt2 and Hmga1) can be verified. In addition, disruption of Bcas2 results in a significant decrease of the full-length form and an increase of the short form (lacking exon 8) of DAZL protein. Altogether, our results suggest that BCAS2 regulates alternative splicing in spermatogonia and the transition to meiosis initiation, and male fertility.
Highly tensile-strained Ge/InAlAs nanocomposites
Authors: Jung Daehwan , Faucher Joseph , Mukherjee Samik , Akey Austin , Ironside Daniel J. , Cabral Matthew , Sang Xiahan , Lebeau James , Bank Seth R. , Buonassisi Tonio , Moutanabbir Oussama , Lee Minjoo Larry 
Published: January 2017

AbstractSelf-assembled nanocomposites have been extensively investigated due to the novel properties that can emerge when multiple material phases are combined. Growth of epitaxial nanocomposites using lattice-mismatched constituents also enables strain-engineering, which can be used to further enhance material properties. Here, we report self-assembled growth of highly tensile-strained Ge/In0.52Al0.48As (InAlAs) nanocomposites by using spontaneous phase separation. Transmission electron microscopy shows a high density of single-crystalline germanium nanostructures coherently embedded in InAlAs without extended defects, and Raman spectroscopy reveals a 3.8% biaxial tensile strain in the germanium nanostructures. We also show that the strain in the germanium nanostructures can be tuned to 5.3% by altering the lattice constant of the matrix material, illustrating the versatility of epitaxial nanocomposites for strain engineering. Photoluminescence and electroluminescence results are then discussed to illustrate the potential for realizing devices based on this nanocomposite material.