bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Expression of KLF5 in odontoblastic differentiation of dental pulp cells during in vitro odontoblastic induction and in vivo dental repair
Authors: Han N. , Chen Z. , Zhang Q. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractAimTo identify whether Krüppel‐like factor 5 (KLF5) was involved in odontoblastic differentiation during reparative dentine formation.MethodologyHuman Dental pulp cells (DPCs) were isolated from healthy human dental pulp tissue and induced for odontoblastic differentiation. Alizarin Red staining, alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) activity, quantitative real‐time PCR and Western Blot were performed to evaluate in vitro odontoblastic differentiation. The expression profile of KLF5 during the in vitro odontoblastic differentiation was determined by quantitative real‐time PCR and Western Blot. Knock‐down of KLF5 by lentivirus‐mediated shRNA was performed to determine the function of KLF5 in odontoblastic differentiation. After direct pulp capping with MTA, the maxillary first molar segments dissected from male Wistar rats were prepared for histology analysis and immunohistochemistry staining.ResultsOdontoblastic differentiation was confirmed by significantly increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP; P = 0.004) activity and upregulated odontoblastic differentiation‐related genes including dentine sialophosphoprotein (DSPP; P = 0.004) and dentine matrix protein‐1 (DMP‐1; P = <0.001). The expression of KLF5 was significantly upregulated during odontoblastic differentiation of in vitro cultured DPCs (P = 0.0002). KLF5 knock‐down impaired odontoblastic differentiation. After direct pulp capping, dentine bridge‐like calcified tissues were formed under the perforation sites. KLF5 was expressed in odontoblast‐like cells and DPCs beneath the perforation sites during reparative dentine formation.ConclusionsKLF5 might be involved in the process of odontoblastic differentiation during reparative dentine formation.
C‐punch excision: a novel technique
Authors: AlGhamdi Khalid M. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractA conventional skin punch biopsy instrument has a circular hollow blade, which can be used to make a full circular incision to evacuate subcutaneous abnormalities such as lipomas. Here, we present a modified punch instrument, in which the cutting element has a C‐shape to form a pivotal skin fragment (miniflap) to access subcutaneous tissues. The “C” part comprises almost half of a circle. The C‐punch incision gives access to subcutaneous abnormalities, while keeping a connecting neck to the surrounding skin, which allows for efficient resealing of the skin surface. Therefore, there is less potential for subsequent scarring.
Applicability of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in rapid identification of some Candida and dermatophyte species infections in humans
Authors: Mohammed Yaser F. , Salem Elsayed Z. , Shahin Ibrahim M. I. , Abdo Hamed M. , Emam Hanaa E. , Fawzy Mahmoud , Abdel Salam Mohamed F. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractTraditional systems of identifying yeasts and dermatophytes have many disadvantages. Preliminary data on a radically different approach based on optical spectroscopic techniques suggest that these techniques may offer some advantages. We conducted a trial to verify the practical applicability of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in the identification of some yeast and dermatophyte species, in which samples from 50 patients with superficial fungal infections were cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol and cycloheximide (actidione) and studied using FTIR microspectroscopy. Spectra of the same species were identical, whereas spectra of different species did not show similarity. This study showed that FTIR microspectroscopy is promising and can be used to obtain, with a single measurement, a “molecular fingerprint” of Candida and dermatophyte species. It can be improved further in terms of reliability.
Assessment of the ability of five culture media for the detection of Escherichia coli O157
Authors: Gutierrez Myriam E. , Janes Marlene E. , Torrico Damir D. , Carabante Kennet M. , Prinyawiwatkul Witoon 
Published: June 2016

SummaryCattle are a common reservoir for Escherichia coli O157:H7. Prior to confirming its presence in a sample, proper isolation of E. coli O157 is necessary. Consequently, this study evaluated the ability of five commercial plating media to isolate E. coli O157 from 138 samples of fresh cattle faeces, water from water trough and pond, and surfaces of water trough and hay bunk. For the isolation of E. coli O157, samples were enriched in tryptic soya broth, followed by immunoseparation and then plating on SMAC, CT‐SMAC, CHROMagar™ O157, Tellurite CHROMagar™ O157 and Vancomycin Cefixime Cefsoludin CHROMagar™ O157. Real‐time PCR targeting genes stx1, stx2 and wzyO157 was used to confirm selected isolates. When analysed together, CT‐SMAC and CHROMagar™ O157 were the best combination for isolating E. coli O157, giving 79% true‐positive results and only 0.05% false‐negative results.
A Conversation with Roger Koenker
Authors: He Xuming 
Published: June 2016

SummaryRoger William Koenker was born February 21, 1947. He graduated from Grinnell College in 1969 and obtained his PhD in Economics from University of Michigan in 1974 under the direction of Saul Hymans. He was Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign (UIUC) from 1974 to 1976, and a member of Technical Staff at Bell Telephone Laboratories from 1976 to 1983 and returned to UIUC as Professor in 1983. He is currently a William B. McKinley Professor of Economics and Professor of Statistics at UIUC. He is best known for his seminal work on quantile regression, which has emerged as a powerful regression analysis tool across many disciplines. He is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, Fellow of Econometric Society, and recipient of the 2010 Emanuel and Carol Parzen Prize for Statistical Innovation. The conversation covers part of Roger Koenker's career as an econometrician and statistician, starting from his college years.
Impacts of information reliability in a supply chain with market disruption risks
Authors: Wang Jian‐Cai , Wang Zhaohua , Wang Yao‐Yu , Lai Fujun 
Published: June 2016

AbstractIn this study, we develop a supply chain model with one manufacturer and one retailer, where the market demand might be subject to disruption and neither the manufacturer nor the retailer can perfectly predict whether this market disruption will occur ex ante. However, the retailer can resort to his information system to acquire more accurate disruption information than the manufacturer, and this disruption forecast information is the retailer's private information. Under this framework, we first derive the optimal outcomes of two representative categories of contract formats (i.e., the simplest but most widely used wholesale price contract, and the most sophisticated but rarely implemented menu of contracts), and then examine the impacts of the reliability of the retailer's private information about the market state (regular or disruption) on the supply chain performance. Our results demonstrate that the manufacturer's expected profit is quasi‐convex in the reliability (i.e., U‐shaped), and the retailer's expected profit is a piecewise (weakly) increasing function of the reliability. Specifically, there exists a threshold for the retailer's information reliability. Above the threshold, both manufacturer and retailer benefit from the improvement in the information reliability. This means that the manufacturer actually can profit from the exaggerated level of information asymmetry. Below the threshold, the improvement is still favorable to the retailer, but detrimental to the manufacturer due to increased information rents, and thus the manufacturer has no incentive to help the retailer to improve his forecast capability. At the threshold, the retailer's profit experiences a cliff‐like drop, while the manufacturer's profit achieves its minimum value. The result is applicable to both wholesale price contract and menu of contracts.
Learning to Be: The Modelling of Art and Design Practice in University Art and Design Teaching
Authors: Budge Kylie 
Published: June 2016

AbstractLearning to be an artist or designer is a complex process of becoming. Much of the early phase of ‘learning to be’ occurs during the time emerging artists and designers are students in university art/design programmes, both undergraduate and postgraduate. Recent research reveals that a critical role in assisting students in their maturing identities as artists and designers is played by artist/designer‐academics teaching in university art and design programmes. By maintaining active art/design practices and drawing from these in their teaching, artist/designer‐academics model professional practice to students. Witnessing and interacting with such modelling is part of the process of students learning the shared discourses, views and practices of the art or design worlds to which they aspire to belong. The modelling of professional practice is critical to an artist or designer's ‘learning to be’ experience because it enables students to access the tacit and nuanced behaviours, languages and cultures that constitute contemporary art or design practice.This article outlines findings from a recent Australian study revealing the role of professional practice modelling in university art/design teaching. It highlights the centrality of professional practice modelling to artist/designer‐academics in their beliefs and approaches to teaching their academic disciplines. In critically exploring the research data and findings this article describes the role that modelling of practice plays and how it comprises a core part of the value that artist/designer‐academic participants contribute to the teaching of art/design education.
Community change and species richness reductions in rapidly advancing tree lines
Authors: Greenwood Sarah , Chen Jan‐Chang , Chen Chaur‐Tzuhn , Jump Alistair S. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractAimClimate change is causing shifts in the range of species worldwide. In high‐altitude areas forests are often observed to be shifting their upper limits to higher altitudes in response to warming temperatures. Although this phenomenon is well described, the possible consequences of this for the wider forest community have not been fully considered. In this study, we used epiphytic macro‐lichens to investigate the impacts of tree line advance on associated organisms. We hypothesized that the rate of forest advance should influence the species richness and composition of associated communities.LocationThe Hehuanshan area, Central Mountain Range, Taiwan (24°08–09′ N, 121°15 – 16′ E).MethodsLichen communities were sampled on trees occurring at 33 tree line sites displaying varying degrees of advance. Habitat variables were recorded.ANOVA,GLMM, nestedness analysis and indicator species analysis were used to investigate patterns of species richness and community composition and their association with tree line advance and habitat variables.ResultsSpecies richness was lower in tree lines exhibiting rapid advance; reductions were related to tree size (considered here as a proxy for age) and the distance over which advance had occurred. Community composition varied with tree line form and forest position. Only a subset of species found in slowly advancing or stable forest edges occurred in rapidly advancing tree lines.Main conclusionsDifferential migration rates between co‐occurring species and differences in habitat structure associated with tree line advance can result in community change, but this depends, amongst other factors, on the speed of tree line advance. The importance of advance rate in determining the response suggests that reductions in species richness at tree line could be transitory. However, this will depend on whether advance continues, and on the changes in habitat associated with advance. Given the complexity of tree line behaviour, the findings that we report represent an essential step in understanding community responses to climate change. This understanding is of importance for biodiversity and conservation, especially given the high rate of endemism reported for this and other alpine regions.
The enigmatic pattern of long‐distance dispersal of minute freshwater gastropods (Caenogastropoda, Truncatelloidea, Tateidae) across the South Pacific
Authors: Zielske Susan , Ponder Winston F. , Haase Martin 
Published: June 2016

AbstractAimTateid freshwater gastropods have an enigmatic distribution in the South Pacific (SP) region. We reconstructed their diversification and dispersal pathways and estimated a timeframe for their radiations.LocationNew Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Austral Islands, further species from Sulawesi, Australia, New Zealand and Lord Howe Island.MethodsBayesian and maximum likelihood methods were used to calculate dated phylogenies based on two mitochondrial and three nuclear gene fragments, test hypotheses and perform ancestral range reconstructions. We compared two calibration strategies based on theCOIsubstitution rate and two sets of island ages selected (1) independent of the ancestral range reconstruction and (2) using information from the latter.ResultsThe common ancestor of theSPTateidae occurred in Australia. Its descendents colonized Sulawesi and Lord Howe Island and gave rise to the radiations on New Caledonia and New Zealand. The more remote archipelagos harbouring the genusFluviopupaPilsbry, 1911 were colonized out of New Zealand.Fluviopupaevolved on the Austral Islands and colonized the archipelago against the progression rule from east to west. Vanuatu was colonized twice independently from the Austral Islands and served as hub for dispersal events to Fiji and Lord Howe Island. The second strategy for calibrating the time trees resulted in considerable younger colonization estimates, was generally well in accordance with the geological record and required fewerad hochypotheses to explain the diversification and dispersal pattern.Main conclusionsOur analyses of the evolutionary history of Tateidae across theSPrevealed several enigmatic aspects not in accordance with the dominant pattern published for other taxa. In particular, the complex westward dispersal pathways ofFluviopupa, which originated on the Austral Islands but had an ancestor in New Zealand, are unique. Geographical distance was not an appropriate predictor of relationships.
Contrasting genetic effects of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle L.) range expansion along West and East Florida
Authors: Kennedy John Paul , Garavelli Lysel , Truelove Nathan K. , Devlin Donna J. , Box Stephen J. , Chérubin Laurent M. , Feller Ilka C. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractAimWe evaluated underlying mechanisms and genetic effects of climate‐driven range expansion of Rhizophora mangle L., a coastal foundation species, along both West (WFL) and East (EFL) Florida, USA.LocationEight sites encompassing the entire Florida R. mangle range at a regional scale.MethodsWe characterized R. mangle population genetic structure with a combination of genetic analyses using seven microsatellite loci and model‐based propagule transport. We tested hypotheses on the genetic effects of range expansion along both WFL and EFL. Finally, we compared WFL and EFL range edges and assessed potential factors shaping observed differences.ResultsRegional‐scale Florida R. mangle genetic structure is shaped in part by the non‐independent effects of geographical distance and ocean currents that drive asymmetric propagule transport from WFL to EFL. WFL conformed to theoretical expectations of range expansion, with pronounced divergence at the range edge, whereas EFL deviated from expectations. Significant differences in diversity and differentiation at the WFL and EFL range edges were attributed to differences in migration rates, population size and founder effects.Main conclusionsContrasting genetic landscapes at the WFL and EFL range edges are in part the product of variation in ocean circulation and demographic history. These underlying mechanisms may have potential ecological and evolutionary consequences that need to be addressed with further empirical research.
Effects of Varying Nixtamalization Conditions on the Calcium Absorption and Pasting Properties of Dent and Flint Corn Flours
Authors: Argun Mustafa Şamıl , Doğan İSmaıl Saıt 
Published: June 2016

AbstractIn the present study it was examined how different nixtamalization conditions applied on dent and flint corn varieties affect the calcium absorption and pasting properties of corn flours. Results showed that with the increase of the Ca(OH)2 amount used in nixtamalization process to 1.2%, while ash content, peak, setback and final viscosity values increased, gelatinization temperatures decreased in all corn varieties (P < 0.01). Results also showed that the peak, setback and final viscosity values of dent corn varieties were higher than those of flint corns. However, the increase in the setback and final viscosity values of flint corns were higher than the increase observed in dent corns with the increase of the Ca(OH)2 amount, indicating that flint corns are subjected to more retrogradation than dent corn in consequence of nixtamalization. The ash content of the all samples reached the maximum value at the end of a steeping time of 6 h. The increase in cooking time had a negative effect on peak, setback and final viscosity values and a positive effect on gelatinization temperatures of both types of corn varieties (P < 0.01).Practical ApplicationsNixtamalization process causes some physical and chemical changes in flour attributes. The improvement in corn flour after nixtamalization needs to be investigated. The study showed that pasting properties and calcium content have been changed in nixtamalized corn flour (nixtamal) at varying rates depending on the type of corn varieties. Free niacin content of corn flour has increased and phytic acid content has reduced after nixtamalization process. Corn flour is included in many gluten‐free formulations with some deficiency. Nixtamal has expected a potential use to improve the textural, sensorial and nutritional values of gluten‐free applications.
Patterns of postnatal ontogeny of the skull and lower jaw of snakes as revealed by micro‐CT scan data and three‐dimensional geometric morphometrics
Authors: Palci Alessandro , Lee Michael S. Y. , Hutchinson Mark N. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractWe compared the head skeleton (skull and lower jaw) of juvenile and adult specimens of five snake species [Anilios (=Ramphotyphlops) bicolor, Cylindrophis ruffus, Aspidites melanocephalus, Acrochordus arafurae, and Notechis scutatus] and two lizard outgroups (Ctenophorus decresii, Varanus gilleni). All major ontogenetic changes observed were documented both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative comparisons were based on high‐resolution micro‐CT scanning of the specimens, and detailed quantitative analyses were performed using three‐dimensional geometric morphometrics. Two sets of landmarks were used, one for accurate representation of the intraspecific transformations of each skull and jaw configuration, and the other for comparison between taxa. Our results document the ontogenetic elaboration of crests and processes for muscle attachment (especially for cervical and adductor muscles); negative allometry in the braincase of all taxa; approximately isometric growth of the snout of all taxa except Varanus and Anilios (positively allometric); and positive allometry in the quadrates of the macrostomatan snakes Aspidites, Acrochordus and Notechis, but also, surprisingly, in the iguanian lizard Ctenophorus. Ontogenetic trajectories from principal component analysis provide evidence for paedomorphosis in Anilios and peramorphosis in Acrochordus. Some primitive (lizard‐like) features are described for the first time in the juvenile Cylindrophis. Two distinct developmental trajectories for the achievement of the macrostomatan (large‐gaped) condition in adult snakes are documented, driven either by positive allometry of supratemporal and quadrate (in pythons), or of quadrate alone (in sampled caenophidians); this is consistent with hypothesised homoplasy in this adaptive complex. Certain traits (e.g. shape of coronoid process, marginal tooth counts) are more stable throughout postnatal ontogeny than others (e.g. basisphenoid keel), with implications for their reliability as phylogenetic characters.
Skull osteology of the Eocene amphisbaenian Spathorhynchus fossorium (Reptilia, Squamata) suggests convergent evolution and reversals of fossorial adaptations in worm lizards
Authors: Müller Johannes , Hipsley Christy A. , Maisano Jessica A. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe fossorial amphisbaenians, or worm lizards, are characterized by a suite of specialized characters in the skull and postcranium, however fossil evidence suggests that at least some of these shared derived traits evolved convergently. Unfortunately the lack of detailed knowledge of many fossil taxa has rendered a more precise interpretation difficult. Here we describe the cranial anatomy of the oldest‐known well‐preserved amphisbaenian, Spathorhynchus fossorium, from the Eocene Green River Formation, Wyoming, USA, using high‐resolution X‐ray computed tomography (HRXCT). This taxon possesses one of the most strongly reinforced crania known among amphisbaenians, with many dermal bones overlapping each other internally. In contrast to modern taxa, S. fossorium has a paired orbitosphenoid, lacks a true compound bone in the mandible, and possesses a fully enclosed orbital rim. The last feature represents a highly derived structure in that the jugal establishes contact with the frontal internally, reinforcing the posterior orbital margin. S. fossorium also possesses a strongly modified Vidian canal with a previously unknown connection to the ventral surface of the parabasisphenoid. Comparison with the closely related fossil taxon Dyticonastis rensbergeri reveals that these derived traits are also shared by the latter species and potentially represent synapopmorphies of an extinct Paleogene clade of amphisbaenians. The presence of a reinforced orbital rim suggests selection against the loss of a functional eye and indicates an ecology potentially different from modern taxa. Given the currently accepted phylogenetic position of Spathorhynchus and Dyticonastis, we predict that supposedly ‘unique’ cranial traits traditionally linked to fossoriality such as a fused orbitosphenoid and the reduction of the eye show a more complex character history than previously assumed, including both parallel evolution and reversals to superficially primitive conditions.