bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Muscle excitability during sustained maximal voluntary contractions by a separate analysis of the M‐wave phases
Authors: Rodriguez‐Falces J. , Place N. 
Published: December 2016

This study was designed to examine separately the changes in the first and second phases of the muscle compound action potential (M‐wave) during and after a sustained 3‐minutes maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). M‐waves were evoked by supramaximal single shocks to the femoral nerve given at 10‐seconds intervals throughout a sustained isometric 3‐minutes MVC and also during six brief MVCs performed throughout a 30‐minutes recovery period. The amplitude, duration, and area of the M‐wave first and second phases, together with muscle conduction velocity and force, were measured. During the 3‐minutes MVC, the amplitude of the first phase increased progressively for the first minute (33%‐43%, P<.01) and remained stable thereafter, whereas the second phase initially increased for 25‐35 seconds (30%‐50%, P<.01), but subsequently decreased significantly before stabilizing. During the recovery period, the amplitude of the M‐wave first phase showed a decreasing trend, returning to pre‐fatigue values (P>.01) within 5‐10 minutes, while the second phase increased progressively and remained higher than control (7%‐20%, P<.01) after the 30‐minutes recovery time. Maximal cross‐correlations between the time course of the first phase amplitude and those of conduction velocity and force (0.9‐0.93) occurred for a lag of 0 seconds, whereas maximal cross‐correlations corresponding to the second‐phase amplitude (0.6‐0.7) occurred for a 50‐seconds time lag. The present findings indicate that the potentiation of the first phase results from impaired muscle membrane excitability. The peak‐to‐peak amplitude and second‐phase amplitude are not valid indicators of muscle excitability as they might be critically affected by muscle architectural features.
Dexamethasone promotes granulocyte mobilization by prolonging the half‐life of granulocyte–colony‐stimulating factor in healthy donors for granulocyte transfusions
Authors: Hiemstra Ida H. , van Hamme John L. , Janssen Machiel H. , van den Berg Timo K. , Kuijpers Taco W. 
Published: December 2016

BACKGROUNDGranulocyte transfusion (GTX) is a potential approach to correcting neutropenia and relieving the increased risk of infection in patients who are refractory to antibiotics. To mobilize enough granulocytes for transfusion, healthy donors are premedicated with granulocyte–colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) and dexamethasone. Granulocytes have a short circulatory half‐life. Consequently, patients need to receive GTX every other day to keep circulating granulocyte counts at an acceptable level. We investigated whether plasma from premedicated donors was capable of prolonging neutrophil survival and, if so, which factor could be held responsible.STUDY DESIGN AND METHODSThe effects of plasma from G‐CSF/dexamethasone‐treated donors on neutrophil survival were assessed by annexin‐V, CD16. and CXCR4 staining and nuclear morphology. We isolated an albumin‐bound protein using α‐chymotrypsin and albumin‐depletion and further characterized it using protein analysis. The effects of dexamethasone and G‐CSF were assessed using mifepristone and G‐CSF–neutralizing antibody. G‐CSF plasma concentrations were determined by Western blot and Luminex analyses.RESULTSG‐CSF/dexamethasone plasma contained a survival‐promoting factor for at least 2 days. This factor was recognized as an albumin‐associated protein and was identified as G‐CSF itself, which was surprising considering its reported half‐life of only 4.5 hours. Compared with coadministration of dexamethasone, administration of G‐CSF alone to the same GTX donors led to a faster decline in circulating G‐CSF levels, whereas dexamethasone itself did not induce any G‐CSF, demonstrating a role for dexamethasone in increasing G‐CSF half‐life.CONCLUSIONDexamethasone increases granulocyte yield upon coadministration with G‐CSF by extending G‐CSF half‐life. This observation might also be exploited in the coadministration of dexamethasone with other recombinant proteins to modulate their half‐life.
Introduction: English in Brunei Darussalam
Authors: MCLELLAN JAMES , CHIN GRACE V. S. 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTThis special issue of World Englishes presents new research perspectives on English in Brunei Darussalam, a small oil‐rich Islamic monarchy in Southeast Asia. It comprises a number of articles on language in society and on literature, as well as a comprehensive bibliography a comprehensive bibliography listing published studies on English in Brunei Darussalam. Most of the contributors are based in the country, including a number who are Bruneian citizens, and are thus able to offer insiders’ perspectives on the subject.
Policy and practice in the use of English in Brunei primary school classes
Authors: JONES GARY M. 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTFormal education for the majority of Bruneians only properly began in the 1960s, when the country embarked on an ambitious school building programme with the intention of providing education for all. The initial plan was to use Malay as the medium of instruction, but when the country moved from separate language mediums in 1984, it instead adopted a bilingual education system, with Malay and English being the chosen mediums. Bilingual education remained till 2009 when the country adopted Sistem Pendidikan Nasional Abad ke‐21 or the National Education System for the 21st Century, referred to locally as SPN‐21. Based on interviews with officers from the Ministry of Education and with teachers who have worked in both systems, together with an analysis of the available statistics, this article explores what changes have occurred concerning the use of English in Brunei primary school classes.
The pronunciation of Brunei English
Authors: MOHAMAD NUR RAIHAN , DETERDING DAVID 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTAfter briefly reviewing previous studies into the pronunciation of English in Brunei, this article provides an overview of the phonology of Brunei English. It considers rhoticity, the pronunciation of the TH sounds, the simplification of word‐final consonant clusters, devoicing of syllable‐final fricatives, the merging of vowels such as the trap and dress vowels as well as the absence of vowel length distinctions, the use of spelling pronunciation, the occurrence of full vowels instead of reduced vowels, and the role of rising intonation at the end of a statement. These features are then compared with the phonology that has been reported for other Englishes in the region, and finally the status of Brunei English as an emergent variety is considered.
Gender and code choice in Bruneian Facebook status updates
Authors: DAUD NURDIYANA , MCLELLAN JAMES 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTThis study investigates language use by Bruneians on Facebook in terms of relational maintenance strategies, the correlations between gender and code choice, the use of emotive language and emoticons, and non‐standardised orthographic forms. A total of 240 Facebook status updates by undergraduates of Universiti Brunei Darussalam were examined. The results show that undergraduates use different categories of maintenance strategies in order to maintain relationships with other users through Facebook status updates, and that gender influences the existence and frequency of a number of linguistic variables in such updates. Women within the sample code‐switch more than men, whereas men use a single code more than women. Women use more emotive language and more emoticons on Facebook more than men do, whilst men use more non‐standardised orthographic forms than women. The implications of these results are discussed.
Bruneian women's writing as an emergent minor literature in English
Authors: CHIN GRACE V. S. 
Published: December 2016

ABSTRACTThis article considers how Bruneian women's writings in English constitute an emergent minor literature by analysing the subordinated status of gender and language in the nation space. Based on three key features of minor literature – linguistic deterritorialisation, political identity, and collective agency, I argue that these writings resist the homogenising influences of the state by straddling two major language discourses – the local, national discourse of Brunei Malay and the global, or international, discourse of English – and thus, two different worldviews and cultures, in the negotiation of hybrid identities and voices that collectively express an alternative community and sensibility.
Test of Gross Motor Development-2 Scores Differ Between Expert and Novice Coders
Authors: Palmer Kara K. , Brian Ali 
Published: December 2016

Background.The Test of Gross Motor Development, 2nd edition (TGMD-2), is one of the most widely used measures of motor skill competence. The purpose of this study was to examine if differences in scores exist between expert and novice coders on the TGMD-2 (Ulrich, 2000).
Methods.Three coders, one expert and two novices, reviewed and scored young children’s (N = 43; Boys = 57%; Mage = 4.88, SD = 0.28) TGMD-2 data. The kappa statistic was used to determine agreement between expert and novice coders on the locomotor and object control subscale of the TGMD-2. Independent samples t tests and percent differences were then used to examine scoring differences for each of the twelve skills.
Results.Results support that expert and novice coders do not demonstrate significant agreement when scoring the TGMD-2 except for when scoring the kick (t41 = –1.3, p = .2) and the gallop (t41= –1.7, p = .09).
Conclusion.This work demonstrates that more stringent or consistent training regimens are needed before allowing novices to code TGMD-2 data.
F(750), we miss you as bound state of 6 top and 6 antitop
Authors: Nielsen H. B. 
Published: December 2016

We collect and estimate support for our long speculated “multiple point principle”[Formula: see text] saying that there should be several vacua all having (compared to the scales of high energy physics) very low energy densities. In pure Standard Model, we suggest there being three “multiple point principle” low energy density vacua, “present,” “condensate” and “high field” vacuum. We fit the mass in our picture of a long speculated bound state[Formula: see text] of 6 top and 6 antitop quarks in three quite independent ways and get remarkably within our crude accuracy the same mass in all three fits! The new point of the present paper is to estimate the bound state mass in what we could call a bag-model estimation. The two other fits, which we review, obtain the mass of the bound state by fitting to the multiple point principle prediction of degenerate vacua. Our remarkable agreement of our three mass-fits can be interpreted to mean that we have calculated at the end the energy densities of the two extra speculated vacua and found that they are indeed very small. Unfortunately, the recently much discussed statistical fluctuation peak F(750)[Formula: see text] that has now been revealed to be just a fluctuation, very accidentally matches our fitted mass of the bound state remarkably well with the mass of this fluctuation 750 GeV.
Operant conditioning of neural activity in freely behaving monkeys with intracranial reinforcement
Authors: Eaton Ryan W. , Libey Tyler , Fetz Eberhard E. 
Published: December 2016

Operant conditioning of neural activity has typically been performed under controlled behavioral conditions using food reinforcement. This has limited the duration and behavioral context for neural conditioning. To reward cell activity in unconstrained primates, we sought sites in nucleus accumbens (NAc) whose stimulation reinforced operant responding. In three monkeys, NAc stimulation sustained performance of a manual target-tracking task, with response rates that increased monotonically with increasing NAc stimulation. We recorded activity of single motor cortex neurons and documented their modulation with wrist force. We conditioned increased firing rates with the monkey seated in the training booth and during free behavior in the cage using an autonomous head-fixed recording and stimulating system. Spikes occurring above baseline rates triggered single or multiple electrical pulses to the reinforcement site. Such rate-contingent, unit-triggered stimulation was made available for periods of 1–3 min separated by 3–10 min time-out periods. Feedback was presented as event-triggered clicks both in-cage and in-booth, and visual cues were provided in many in-booth sessions. In-booth conditioning produced increases in single neuron firing probability with intracranial reinforcement in 48 of 58 cells. Reinforced cell activity could rise more than five times that of non-reinforced activity. In-cage conditioning produced significant increases in 21 of 33 sessions. In-cage rate changes peaked later and lasted longer than in-booth changes, but were often comparatively smaller, between 13 and 18% above non-reinforced activity. Thus intracranial stimulation reinforced volitional increases in cortical firing rates during both free behavior and a controlled environment, although changes in the latter were more robust. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Closed-loop brain-computer interfaces (BCI) were used to operantly condition increases in muscle and neural activity in monkeys by delivering activity-dependent stimuli to an intracranial reinforcement site (nucleus accumbens). We conditioned increased firing rates with the monkeys seated in a training booth and also, for the first time, during free behavior in a cage using an autonomous head-fixed BCI.
Electrical stimulation of superior colliculus affects strabismus angle in monkey models for strabismus
Authors: Upadhyaya Suraj , Meng Hui , Das Vallabh E. 
Published: December 2016

Disruption of binocular vision during the critical period for development leads to eye misalignment in humans and in monkey models. We have previously suggested that disruption within a vergence circuit could be the neural basis for strabismus. Electrical stimulation in the rostral superior colliculus (rSC) leads to vergence eye movements in normal monkeys. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of SC stimulation on eye misalignment in strabismic monkeys. Electrical stimulation was delivered to 51 sites in the intermediate and deep layers of the SC (400 Hz, 0.5-s duration, 10–40 μA) in 3 adult optical prism-reared strabismic monkeys. Scleral search coils were used to measure movements of both eyes during a fixation task. Staircase saccades with horizontal and vertical components were elicited by stimulation as predicted from the SC topographic map. Electrical stimulation also resulted in significant changes in horizontal strabismus angle, i.e., a shift toward exotropia/esotropia depending on stimulation site. Electrically evoked saccade vector amplitude in the two eyes was not significantly different ( P > 0.05; paired t-test) but saccade direction differed. However, saccade disconjugacy accounted for only ~50% of the change in horizontal misalignment while disconjugate postsaccadic movements accounted for the other ~50% of the change in misalignment due to electrical stimulation. In summary, our data suggest that electrical stimulation of the SC of strabismic monkeys produces a change in horizontal eye alignment that is due to a combination of disconjugate saccadic eye movements and disconjugate postsaccadic movements. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Electrical stimulation of the superior colliculus in strabismic monkeys results in a change in eye misalignment. These data support the notion of developmental disruption of vergence circuits leading to maintenance of eye misalignment in strabismus.
Physiological processes influencing motor-evoked potential duration with voluntary contraction
Authors: van den Bos Mehdi A. J. , Geevasinga Nimeshan , Menon Parvathi , Burke David , Kiernan Matthew C. , Vucic Steve 
Published: December 2016

Voluntary contraction leads to facilitation of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) producing greater amplitude, shorter onset latency, and prolonged duration of the electromyography potential. Whereas hyperexcitability of spinal motoneurons and changes in descending corticospinal volleys have been proposed as putative mechanisms for changes in MEP amplitude and onset latency, a contribution of propriospinal interneurons, exerting modulatory effects on α-motoneurons, has been proposed as a potential explanation for prolongation of MEP duration. The aim of the present study is to gain further insight into the physiological processes underlying changes in MEP duration. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies were undertaken on 30 healthy controls, using a 90-mm circular coil, with MEPs recorded at rest and during facilitation, produced by contraction of abductor pollicis brevis. In the same experiment, short interval-intracortical inhibition (SICI) was recorded at rest. Facilitation resulted in a significant prolongation of MEP duration, which increased with stimulus intensity and was accompanied by an increase in MEP amplitude. The main effect (TMS intensity × activation state) was correlated with MEP duration ( F = 10.9, P < 0.001), whereas TMS intensity ( F = 30.5, P < 0.001) and activation state ( F = 125.8, P < 0.001) in isolation were correlated with MEP amplitude. There was a significant inverse relationship between SICI and MEP duration at rest (R2 = 0.141, P = 0.041) and during facilitation (R2 = 0.340, P = 0.001). The present findings suggest that similar physiological processes mediate changes in the facilitated MEP duration and amplitude and that both cortical and nonpropriospinal spinal mechanisms contribute to changes in MEP duration. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Muscle contraction is associated with a significant increase in motor-evoked potential (MEP) duration and amplitude. Whereas the increase in MEP duration was linear, the amplitude increase exhibited a ceiling effect. Importantly, the MEP duration increase strongly correlated with short interval-intracortical inhibition, a biomarker of motor cortical function. This suggests that whereas similar physiological processes contribute to changes in facilitated MEP duration and amplitude, cortical mechanisms appear to contribute to MEP duration changes.
Novel Methods for Optically Measuring Whitecaps under Natural Wave-Breaking Conditions in the Southern Ocean
Authors: Randolph Kaylan , Dierssen Heidi M. , Cifuentes-Lorenzen Alejandro , Balch William M. , Monahan Edward C. , Zappa Christopher J. , Drapeau Dave T. , Bowler Bruce 
Published: December 2016

AbstractTraditional methods for measuring whitecap coverage using digital video systems mounted to measure a large footprint can miss features that do not produce a high enough contrast to the background. Here, a method for accurately measuring the fractional coverage, intensity, and decay time of whitecaps using above-water radiometry is presented. The methodology was developed using data collected in the Southern Ocean under a wide range of wind and wave conditions. Whitecap quantities were obtained by employing a magnitude threshold based on the interquartile range of the radiance or reflectance signal from a single channel. Breaking intensity and decay time were produced from the integration of and the exponential fit to radiance or reflectance over the lifetime of the whitecap. When using the lowest magnitude threshold possible, radiometric fractional whitecap coverage retrievals were consistently higher than fractional coverage from high-resolution digital images, perhaps because the radiometer captures more of the decaying bubble plume area that is difficult to detect with photography. Radiometrically obtained whitecap measurements are presented in the context of concurrently measured meteorological (e.g., wind speed) and oceanographic (e.g., wave) data. The optimal fit of the radiometrically estimated whitecap coverage to the instantaneous wind speed, determined using robust linear least squares, showed a near-cubic dependence. Increasing the magnitude threshold for whitecap detection from 2 to 4 times the interquartile range produced a wind speed–whitecap relationship most comparable to the concurrently collected fractional coverage from digital imagery and previously published wind speed–whitecap parameterizations.
Myeloid neoplasms with eosinophilia
Authors: Reiter Andreas , Gotlib Jason 
Published: December 2016

AbstractMolecular diagnostics has generated substantial dividends in dissecting the genetic basis of myeloid neoplasms with eosinophilia. The family of diseases generated by dysregulated fusion tyrosine kinase (TK) genes is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) category, “Myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with eosinophilia and rearrangement of PDGFRA, PDGFRB, or FGFR1, or with PCM1-JAK2.” In addition to myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), these patients can present with myelodysplastic syndrome/MPN, as well as de novo or secondary mixed-phenotype leukemias or lymphomas. Eosinophilia is a common, but not invariable, feature of these diseases. The natural history of PDGFRA- and PDGFRB-rearranged neoplasms has been dramatically altered by imatinib. In contrast, patients with FGFR1 and JAK2 fusion TK genes exhibit a more aggressive course and variable sensitivity to current TK inhibitors, and in most cases, long-term disease-free survival may only be achievable with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Similar poor prognosis outcomes may be observed with rearrangements of FLT3 or ABL1 (eg, both of which commonly partner with ETV6), and further investigation is needed to validate their inclusion in the current WHO-defined group of eosinophilia-associated TK fusion-driven neoplasms. The diagnosis chronic eosinophilic leukemia, not otherwise specified (CEL, NOS) is assigned to patients with MPN with eosinophilia and nonspecific cytogenetic/molecular abnormalities and/or increased myeloblasts. Myeloid mutation panels have identified somatic variants in patients with a provisional diagnosis of hypereosinophilia of undetermined significance, reclassifying some of these cases as eosinophilia-associated neoplasms. Looking forward, one of the many challenges will be how to use the results of molecular profiling to guide prognosis and selection of actionable therapeutic targets.
Gene-edited pseudogene resurrection corrects p47phox-deficient chronic granulomatous disease
Authors: Merling Randall K. , Kuhns Douglas B. , Sweeney Colin L. , Wu Xiaolin , Burkett Sandra , Chu Jessica , Lee Janet , Koontz Sherry , Di Pasquale Giovanni , Afione Sandra A. , Chiorini John A. , Kang Elizabeth M. , Choi Uimook , De Ravin Suk See , Malech Harry L. 
Published: December 2016

Key Points
Gene-editing correction of the GT deletion in exon 2 of NCF1 pseudogenes corrects p47phox-deficient chronic granulomatous disease. The nonfunctional pseudogenes NCF1B and NCF1C can be resurrected to produce functional p47phox protein by gene editing.