bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Omega 3: a novel treatment agent in oral submucous fibrosis: a pilot study
Authors: Raizada Milanjeet Kaur , Sable Digamber M , Chowdhery Asha , Chavan Mahesh Shivaji , Rajpurohit Ladu Singh 
Published: December 2016

BackgroundOral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a chronic debilitating disease and a premalignant condition of the oral cavity. It is well known for its impervious nature to medical therapy. Omega‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have been reported to have anti‐inflammatory properties. However, its role in OSF is still not known. This preliminary study assessed the efficacy of systemic omega 3 in this disease.MethodsA randomized single‐blinded controlled trial was designed, and a total of 10 clinically confirmed adult patients with OSF were included in the study. Group A was given biweekly intralesional injections of dexamethasone 1.5 ml and hyaluronidase 1500 IU mixed with lignocaine for 6 weeks and a placebo for 3 months. Group B was also given similar intralesional injections but with 1 gm of omega 3 three times daily continuously for 3 months. Patients were followed every month for 3 months and then after 6 months.ResultsSignificant improvement was noted among all clinical parameters (interincisal distance, tongue protrusion, cheek flexibility, and visual analogue scale) in both the groups. Intergroup comparison showed significant reduction in burning sensation in group B; that is, P value was 0.005, while improvement in rest of the three clinical features was not statistically significant.ConclusionOmega 3 can be used as an adjunctive treatment option in patients with OSF to reduce subjective symptoms. More studies should be conducted with a larger sample size to study the effect of omega 3 in patients with OSF.
Self‐fertilization, long‐distance flash invasion and biogeography shape the population structure of Pseudosuccinea columella at the worldwide scale
Authors: Lounnas M. , Correa A. C. , Vázquez A. A. , Dia A. , Escobar J. S. , Nicot A. , Arenas J. , Ayaqui R. , Dubois M. P. , Gimenez T. , Gutiérrez A. , González‐Ramírez C. , Noya O. , Prepelitchi L. , Uribe N. , Wisnivesky‐Colli C. , Yong M. , David P. , Loker E. S. , Jarne P. , Pointier J. P. , Hurtrez‐Boussès S. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractPopulation genetic studies are efficient for inferring the invasion history based on a comparison of native and invasive populations, especially when conducted at species scale. An expected outcome in invasive populations is variability loss, and this is especially true in self‐fertilizing species. We here focus on the self‐fertilizing Pseudosuccinea columella, an invasive hermaphroditic freshwater snail that has greatly expanded its geographic distribution and that acts as intermediate host of Fasciola hepatica, the causative agent of human and veterinary fasciolosis. We evaluated the distribution of genetic diversity at the largest geographic scale analysed to date in this species by surveying 80 populations collected during 16 years from 14 countries, using eight nuclear microsatellites and two mitochondrial genes. As expected, populations from North America, the putative origin area, were strongly structured by selfing and history and harboured much more genetic variability than invasive populations. We found high selfing rates (when it was possible to infer it), none‐to‐low genetic variability and strong population structure in most invasive populations. Strikingly, we found a unique genotype/haplotype in populations from eight invaded regions sampled all over the world. Moreover, snail populations resistant to infection by the parasite are genetically distinct from susceptible populations. Our results are compatible with repeated introductions in South America and flash worldwide invasion by this unique genotype/haplotype. Our study illustrates the population genetic consequences of biological invasion in a highly selfing species at very large geographic scale. We discuss how such a large‐scale flash invasion may affect the spread of fasciolosis.
Genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics: enabling insights into social evolution and disease challenges for managed and wild bees
Authors: Trapp Judith , McAfee Alison , Foster Leonard J. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractGlobally, there are over 20 000 bee species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) with a host of biologically fascinating characteristics. Although they have long been studied as models for social evolution, recent challenges to bee health (mainly diseases and pesticides) have gathered the attention of both public and research communities. Genome sequences of twelve bee species are now complete or under progress, facilitating the application of additional ‘omic technologies. Here, we review recent developments in honey bee and native bee research in the genomic era. We discuss the progress in genome sequencing and functional annotation, followed by the enabled comparative genomics, proteomics and transcriptomics applications regarding social evolution and health. Finally, we end with comments on future challenges in the postgenomic era.
Sex differences in leucocyte telomere length in a free‐living mammal
Authors: Watson Rebecca L. , Bird Ellen J. , Underwood Sarah , Wilbourn Rachael V. , Fairlie Jennifer , Watt Kathryn , Salvo‐Chirnside Eliane , Pilkington Jill G. , Pemberton Josephine M. , McNeilly Tom N. , Froy Hannah , Nussey Daniel H. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractMounting evidence suggests that average telomere length reflects previous stress and predicts subsequent survival across vertebrate species. In humans, leucocyte telomere length (LTL) is consistently shorter during adulthood in males than in females, although the causes of this sex difference and its generality to other mammals remain unknown. Here, we measured LTL in a cross‐sectional sample of free‐living Soay sheep and found shorter telomeres in males than in females in later adulthood (>3 years of age), but not in early life. This observation was not related to sex differences in growth or parasite burden, but we did find evidence for reduced LTL associated with increased horn growth in early life in males. Variation in LTL was independent of variation in the proportions of different leucocyte cell types, which are known to differ in telomere length. Our results provide the first evidence of sex differences in LTL from a wild mammal, but longitudinal studies are now required to determine whether telomere attrition rates or selective disappearance are responsible for these observed differences.
Seasonal acoustic behavior of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) in the Gulf of California, Mexico
Authors: Paniagua‐Mendoza Aurora , Gendron Diane , Romero‐Vivas Eduardo , Hildebrand John A. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractSix years of passive acoustic monitoring data from the Gulf of California reveal seasonality and movements for the northeastern Pacific blue whales. Three sites were studied, one from the southern (Punta Pescadero) and two from the northern (Isla Tiburon and Canal de Ballenas) regions. A total of 4,953 h were analyzed, and 15,539 blue whale calls were detected, of which 2,723 (18%) were A calls, 11,249 were B calls (72%), and 1,567 were D calls (10%). A and B calls were produced both as song units (2,524) or AB singular calls (2,026). The high rate of songs and their seasonality suggest that the GC is a winter‐breeding ground. A shift from AB call predominance in winter, to D calls in spring and early summer, especially at the entrance of the GC, suggests the importance of this area for reproduction and foraging. Analysis of calling frequency suggests a clear movement of blue whales from the southern region (Punta Pescadero) to the northern regions (Canal de Ballenas and Isla Tiburon), with subsequent southern movement in March. The seasonality and mobility of blue whales in the Gulf of California, inferred from their calling, contributes to the ecological understanding of this population.
Neurocognitive profile of euthymic Japanese patients with bipolar disorder
Authors: Ishisaka Nozomi , Shimano Satomi , Miura Tomofumi , Motomura Keisuke , Horii Machiko , Imanaga Hisako , Kishimoto Junji , Kaneda Yasuhiro , Sora Ichiro , Kanba Shigenobu 
Published: December 2016

AimNeurocognitive impairment is one of the core symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD). The MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Battery (MCCB) is a potential consensus assessment tool to evaluate cognitive function in patients with BD. Here, we report on cognitive deficits evaluated using the MCCB Japanese version (MCCB‐J) in euthymic Japanese patients with BD, and compare them with scores in previous studies.MethodsWe compared neurocognitive function in 25 patients with euthymic BD and 53 healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we searched all available databases for studies that have evaluated cognitive function in BD using the MCCB, and conducted a meta‐analysis.ResultsCanonical discriminant analysis revealed significant differences in MCCB‐J domain scores between BD and HC. Patients with BD performed significantly worse on visual learning, social cognition, speed of processing, and MCCB composite scores. Our meta‐analysis revealed that patients with BD performed worse than HC, as reflected by MCCB composite scores and scores on all seven cognitive domains. However, there are differences in the cognitive deficits identified in previous studies compared with our participants, particularly social cognition.ConclusionAs reported in previous studies, neurocognitive deficits were observed in Japanese euthymic BD patients assessed using the MCCB‐J. Further study is needed to clarify whether differences in social cognition between this study and previous studies are a result of coping mechanisms for social settings in Japanese populations.
Managing the Entanglement: Complexity Leadership in Public Sector Systems
Authors: Murphy Joanne , Rhodes Mary Lee , Meek Jack W. , Denyer David 
Published: December 2016

AbstractComplexity in public sector systems requires leaders to balance the administrative practices necessary to be aligned and efficient in the management of routine challenges and the adaptive practices required to respond to dynamic circumstances. Conventional notions of leadership in the field of public administration do not fully explain the role of leadership in balancing the entanglement of formal, top‐down, administrative functions and informal, emergent, adaptive functions within public sector settings with different levels of complexity. Drawing on and extending existing complexity leadership constructs, this article explores how leadership is enacted over the duration of six urban regeneration projects representing high, medium, and low levels of project complexity. The article suggests that greater attention needs to be paid to the tensions inherent in enabling leadership if actors are to cope with the complex, collaborative, cross‐boundary, adaptive work in which they are increasingly engaged.
Institutional Analysis of Neighborhood Collective Action
Authors: Craw Michael 
Published: December 2016

AbstractSublocal governance organizations may provide a way for some urban neighborhoods to stabilize and improve property values. Recent advances in collective action theory, spatial statistical methods, and data availability now make it possible to more directly evaluate the effects of these organizations. The analysis combines geocoded assessor's data and data from a survey of neighborhood and homeowner associations to analyze a model of prices of single‐family homes in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 2012 to 2016. The results show that neighborhood and homeowner associations both have significant positive effects on neighborhood property values relative to unorganized neighborhoods and that the effect of neighborhood associations is at least as large as that of homeowner associations. Moreover, the results indicate that neighborhood association structure mediates the effect on property values, although this is not the case for homeowner associations.
Regulation of diapause in carnivores
Authors: Fenelon JC , Lefèvre PL , Banerjee A , Murphy BD 
Published: December 2016

ContentsEmbryonic diapause is an evolutionary strategy to ensure that offspring are born when maternal and environmental conditions are optimal for survival. In many species of carnivores, obligate embryonic diapause occurs in every gestation. In mustelids, the regulation of diapause and reactivation is influenced by photoperiod, which then acts to regulate the secretion of pituitary prolactin. Prolactin in turn regulates ovarian steroid function. Reciprocal embryo transplant studies indicate that this state of embryonic arrest is conferred by uterine conditions and is presumed to be due to a lack of specific factors necessary for continued development. Studies of global gene expression in the mink (Neovison vison) revealed reduced expression of a cluster of genes that regulate the abundance of polyamines in the uterus during diapause, including the rate‐limiting enzyme in polyamine production, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). In addition, in this species, in vivo inhibition of the conversion of ornithine to the polyamine, putrescine, induces a reversible arrest in embryonic development and an arrest in both trophoblast and inner cell mass proliferation in vitro. Putrescine, at 0.5, 2 and 1,000 μM concentrations induced reactivation of mink embryos in culture, indicated by an increase in embryo volume, observed within five days. Further, prolactin induces ODC1 expression in the uterus, thereby regulating uterine polyamine levels. These results indicate that pituitary prolactin acts on ovarian and uterine targets to terminate embryonic diapause. In summary, our findings suggest that the polyamines, with synthesis under the control of pituitary prolactin, are the uterine factor whose absence is responsible for embryonic diapause in mustelid carnivores.
Long‐term effects of GnRH agonists on fertility and behaviour
Authors: Goericke‐Pesch S 
Published: December 2016

ContentsThis review aimed to summarize the present knowledge about the effects of GnRH agonist slow‐release implants (GnRH A‐SRI) on fertility and behaviour in male and female dogs and cats with special focus on deslorelin.Following an initial stimulation of gonadotropin and testosterone secretion possibly associated with an improved semen quality, GnRH A‐SRI induce long‐term depression of fertility in male dogs and cats with, however, a large individual variation in onset and duration of efficacy especially in cats. The GnRH A‐SRI furthermore interfere with testosterone‐dependent/affected behaviour; a significant positive effect in reducing sexual behaviour and libido, hypersexuality, intermale dominance and excessive territorial urine marking has been described. Rates of improvement of the respective behaviour are comparable to those after surgical castration, making GnRH A‐SRI a valuable option to predict castration‐related effects on behaviour and to identify animals where surgical castration will not be beneficial. No effect has been seen in reducing aggression towards humans indicating the need for behavioural therapy to control this problem. Effects on spermatogenesis, steroidogenesis and behaviour have by now been shown to be fully reversible. Knowledge in females is more limited, and particularly, the initial induction of a possibly fertile oestrus and individual variation in duration of efficacy remain problems in bitches and queens treated for suppression of fertility. However, long‐term suppression of oestrous cycle and fertility seems to be possible with induced effects shown to be reversible including restoration of normal fertility after the end of efficacy/GNRH A‐SRI removal.
New insights into the understanding of MHC associations with immune‐mediated disorders
Authors: Caillat‐Zucman S. 
Published: December 2016

AbstractRecent advances in technologies such as high density array‐based genotyping, DNA and RNA deep sequencing, expression quantitative‐trait loci mapping, epigenome analyses, and new computational strategies, have introduced drastic shifts into our understanding of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) association with immune‐mediated diseases. Here, we review the most exciting findings in this field. We show how the fine characterization of structural features and expression levels of MHC alleles, posttranslational or environmental modifications of HLA‐bound peptides, and epistatic interactions with non‐HLA genes, has made it possible not only to provide mechanistic explanations for MHC associations with immune‐mediated diseases but also to help choose relevant therapeutic targets.
From classical mutagenesis to nuclease‐based breeding – directing natural DNA repair for a natural end‐product
Authors: Pacher Michael , Puchta Holger 
Published: December 2016

SummaryProduction of mutants of crop plants by the use of chemical or physical genotoxins has a long tradition. These factors induce the natural DNA repair machinery to repair damage in an error‐prone way. In the case of radiation, multiple double‐strand breaks (DSBs) are induced randomly in the genome, leading in very rare cases to a desirable phenotype. In recent years the use of synthetic, site‐directed nucleases (SDNs) – also referred to as sequence‐specific nucleases – like the CRISPR/Cas system has enabled scientists to use exactly the same naturally occurring DNA repair mechanisms for the controlled induction of genomic changes at pre‐defined sites in plant genomes. As these changes are not necessarily associated with the permanent integration of foreign DNA, the obtained organisms per se cannot be regarded as genetically modified as there is no way to distinguish them from natural variants. This applies to changes induced by DSBs as well as single‐strand breaks, and involves repair by non‐homologous end‐joining and homologous recombination. The recent development of SDN‐based ‘DNA‐free’ approaches makes mutagenesis strategies in classical breeding indistinguishable from SDN‐derived targeted genome modifications, even in regard to current regulatory rules. With the advent of new SDN technologies, much faster and more precise genome editing becomes available at reasonable cost, and potentially without requiring time‐consuming deregulation of newly created phenotypes. This review will focus on classical mutagenesis breeding and the application of newly developed SDNs in order to emphasize similarities in the context of the regulatory situation for genetically modified crop plants.
Identification of Visceral Leishmaniasis‐Susceptible Areas using Spatial Modelling in Southern Caucasus
Authors: Rajabi M. , Pilesjö P. , Bazmani A. , Mansourian A. 
Published: December 2016

SummaryThis study explores the application of spatial modelling techniques to generate susceptibility maps for a neglected zoonotic disease, visceral leishmaniasis (VL), in an endemic area in southern Caucasus that includes Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The social and physical environment of southern Caucasus has been mainly characterized by the presence of several factors that are strongly associated with VL, which has caused a significant number of infections during the past decade. Three popular spatial modelling techniques, consisting of the weights of evidence, logistic regression and fuzzy logic methods, were evaluated and trained using a study area in north‐western Iran where an inventory of highly infected areas and high‐quality evidential factors was available. Model performance was assessed using the receiver‐operating characteristic (ROC) approach. According to the results of these assessments, the fuzzy logic method with γ = 0.5 was chosen for the prediction of VL incidence in southern Caucasus. The susceptibility map generated using the fuzzy logic method indicated that VL followed a spatial pattern at the conjunction of the three countries, which suggests that the prevalence of VL in southern Caucasus is socio‐ecologically dependent.
Participatory Policy Making by Dairy Producers to Reduce Anti‐Microbial use on Farms
Authors: van Dijk L. , Hayton A. , Main D. C. J. , Booth A. , King A. , Barrett D. C. , Buller H. J. , Reyher K. K. 
Published: December 2016

SummaryPressures for more responsible use of anti‐microbial (AM) medicines in food animals are likely to increase from policymakers and the food industry, including retailers. To address this challenge, participatory approaches to welfare interventions and disease prevention may also be necessary alongside more conventional regulatory measures. This article describes the process of enabling groups of dairy producers to use a participatory policy making approach to develop an AM stewardship policy. The policy includes measures agreed to by all producers for more responsible use of AMs, whilst maintaining or improving dairy herd health and welfare. This process provided a unique opportunity for collaboration and dialogue between producers, veterinarians, industry and researchers. Its participatory nature encouraged comprehensive learning for all involved. This integration of science with producers’ knowledge and experience led to credible and practical recommendations designed to deliver real and lasting change in AM use. The multidisciplinary nature of this research marks a significant contribution to embedding social science skills and approaches into the veterinary sphere. As an initial step in creating better understanding of how participatory approaches with farmers can be applied in a UK context and more widely, this work serves as a pilot for promoting more responsible use of veterinary medicines in other livestock species.