bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Daphnetin inhibits TNF‐α and VEGF‐induced angiogenesis through inhibition of the IKKs/IκBα/NF‐κB, Src/FAK/ERK1/2 and Akt signalling pathways
Authors: Kumar Abhishek , Sunita Priyashree , Jha Shivesh , Pattanayak Shakti Prasad 
Published: June 2016

SummaryCoumarins, identified as plant secondary metabolites possess diverse biological activities including anti‐angiogenic properties. Daphnetin (DAP), a plant derived dihydroxylated derivative of coumarin has shown significant pharmacological properties such as anticancer, anti‐arthritic and anti‐inflammatory. The present study was performed to investigate the anti‐angiogenic potential of DAP, focusing on the mechanism of action. The in vivo anti‐angiogenic potential of DAP was evaluated by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)‐induced rat aortic ring (RAR) assay and chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. For in vitro evaluation, wounding migration, transwell invasion, tube formation and apoptosis assays were performed on VEGF (8 ng/mL)‐induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The cellular mechanism of DAP was examined on TNFα (10 ng/mL) and VEGF‐induced HUVECs by extracting the mRNA and protein levels using RT‐qPCR and western blotting. Our data demonstrated that DAP inhibited the in vivo angiogenesis in the RAR and CAM assay. DAP also inhibited the different steps of angiogenesis, such as migration, invasion, and tube formation in HUVECs. DAP inhibited nuclear factor‐κB signalling together including TNF‐α induced IκBα degradation; phosphorylation of IκB kinase (IKKα/β) and translocation of the NF‐κB‐p65 protein. Furthermore, western blotting revealed that DAP significantly down‐regulated the VEGF‐induced signalling such as c‐Src, FAK, ERK1/2 and the related phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt) and VEGFR2 expressions. DAP reduced the elevated mRNA expression of iNOS, MMP2 and also, induced apoptosis in VEGF‐stimulated HUVECs by the caspase‐3 dependent pathway. Taken together, this study reveals that DAP may have novel prospective as a new multi‐targeted medication for the anti‐angiogenesis and cancer therapy.
Can we separate verbs from their argument structure? A group study in aphasia
Authors: Caley Sarah , Whitworth Anne , Claessen Mary 
Published: June 2016

AbstractBackgroundGiven the integral role that verbs play in sentence production, understanding verb deficits is critical to clinical practice. Difficulties in sentence production are often directly related to an inability to retrieve argument structure information which, according to most theoretical accounts, is specified at a lexical level as part of the semantic representation of the verb. The presence of an argument complexity effect when retrieving verbs in isolation, i.e. increased difficulty with increasing number of arguments required by the verb, is considered evidence of the integral link between verbs and the ensuing structure. Recent reports, however, of relatively intact verb retrieval and impaired argument structure suggest that difficulties with verbs and argument structure may not always co‐occur. One explanation for this is that lexical–syntactic information may be stored separately to lexical–semantic information at the lemma level and then differentially impaired.AimsTo determine whether the presence of difficulties creating argument structure in a group of people with aphasia with verb‐retrieval deficits consistently aligned with the underlying nature of their impairment, where semantic involvement resulted in argument structure difficulties and post‐semantic impairment resulted in intact argument structure. This would provide evidence either to support or to challenge the view that argument structure is lexically specified. The presence of an argument complexity effect within the participants’ single verb naming was also investigated to examine the relationship between verb argument information and any subsequent difficulties creating argument structure for sentence production.Methods & ProceduresVerb retrieval and argument structure production were investigated in 12 people with aphasia with verb‐retrieval deficits on single‐word and sentence‐production measures.Outcomes & ResultsEight of the 12 participants presented with a semantic verb deficit (five semantic and three mixed semantic and phonological) and had difficulties in creating argument structure. Four participants presented with a phonological verb deficit. Of these, two had intact argument structure while two had impaired argument structure. An argument complexity effect in verb naming was seen in both groups.Conclusions & ImplicationsSemantic verb‐retrieval deficits consistently resulted in argument structure production difficulties, supporting the view that syntactic information is stored within the lemma. The presence of argument structure difficulties in two participants with phonological deficits; however, lends support for the separate coding of lexical–syntactic from lexical–semantic information at the lemma level, a factor that has both theoretical and clinical implications with respect to diagnosis and management.
Assessing school‐aged children's inference‐making: the effect of story test format in listening comprehension
Authors: Freed Jenny , Cain Kate 
Published: June 2016

AbstractBackgroundComprehension is critical for classroom learning and educational success. Inferences are integral to good comprehension: successful comprehension requires the listener to generate local coherence inferences, which involve integrating information between clauses, and global coherence inferences, which involve integrating textual information with background knowledge to infer motivations, themes, etc. A central priority for the diagnosis of comprehension difficulties and our understanding of why these difficulties arise is the development of valid assessment instruments.AimsWe explored typically developing children's ability to make local and global coherence inferences using a novel assessment of listening comprehension. The aims were to determine whether children were more likely to make the target inferences when these were asked during story presentation versus after presentation of the story, and whether there were any age differences between conditions.Methods & ProceduresChildren in Years 3 (n = 29) and 5 (n = 31) listened to short stories presented either in a segmented format, in which questions to assess local and global coherence inferences were asked at specific points during story presentation, or in a whole format, when all the questions were asked after the story had been presented.Outcomes & ResultsThere was developmental progression between age groups for both types of inference question. Children also scored higher on the global coherence inference questions than the local coherence inference questions. There was a benefit of the segmented format for younger children, particularly for the local inference questions.Conclusions & ImplicationsThe results suggest that children are more likely to make target inferences if prompted during presentation of the story, and that this format is particularly facilitative for younger children and for local coherence inferences. This has implications for the design of comprehension assessments as well as for supporting children with comprehension difficulties in the classroom.
Causes and Effects of Capital Flight from Africa: Lessons from Case Studies
Authors: Ndikumana Léonce 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThis introduction distills the key findings and messages from the papers published in this issue, which consist of eight case studies on the causes and effects of capital flight from Africa. The case studies contribute to the literature by providing evidence that enables us to assess the validity and generalizability of the findings from cross‐sectional and panel data studies. The evidence from the case studies confirms important empirical regularities on the causes of capital flight. In particular, the results confirm that external borrowing fuels capital flight, and that trade misinvoicing is an important channel of capital flight, especially in the case of natural resource‐rich countries. The studies also underscore the important role of good institutions in alleviating the risks of capital flight, while political instability is found to be a driver of capital flight. The evidence from case studies provides valuable insights for the design of strategies aimed at curbing and preventing capital flight from Africa.
Fiscal Policy and Capital Flight in Kenya
Authors: Muchai Dianah Ngui , Muchai Joseph 
Published: June 2016

AbstractCapital flight has been an issue of concern for Africa because it reduces the continent's much needed investible funds. In Kenya, the country lost US$ 4.9 billion in real terms from 1970 to 2010 through capital flight. This study seeks to provide fiscal evidence of capital flight in Kenya. The results establish that past capital flight, change in debt, and government expenditure have no significant impact on capital flight in Kenya. However, external debt, taxation, and expenditure practices under different political regimes have significant effects on capital flight. The study discusses policy implications emerging from the empirical results.
Why Is There Capital Flight from Developing Countries? The Case of Madagascar
Authors: Ramiandrisoa Olivier Tiarinisaina , Rakotomanana Eric Jean Michel 
Published: June 2016

AbstractLike many other developing countries, Madagascar has not been spared from capital flight. This phenomenon has worsened over time, particularly during the recent period of political transition. This study seeks to identify the potential determinants of capital flight by carrying out a descriptive analysis of data and estimating VAR models. It finds that capital flight was fueled by external borrowing, and argues that capital flight was also driven by institutional deficiencies.
Capital Flight and its Determinants: The Case of Ethiopia
Authors: Geda Alemayehu , Yimer Addis 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThis study attempts to estimate the volume of capital flight from Ethiopia and its determinants, focusing on economic, institutional, and political determinants. Capital flight is estimated at $31 billion over the 1970–2012 period. On average, the country has lost around half a billion dollars annually under the ‘Derg’ regime. This amount more than doubled to over 1 billion per annum during the EPRDF regime. The empirical evidence suggests that macroeconomic instability, the degree of financial market deepening, exports, interest rate differentials, political instability, corruption, and debt‐creating flows are the most important determinants of capital flight from Ethiopia. The political environment is also found to be crucial. Generally, capital flight was high before violent regime changes and low in the subsequent periods, when regimes were in the process of establishing a firmer grip on power; after this point, however, capital flight began to rise significantly again. The historical analysis points to potential causality running from political factors to capital flight. A strong improvement in economic and political governance will be key to abating the problems of capital flight in Ethiopia.
Impact of Capital Flight on Public Social Expenditure in Congo‐Brazzaville
Authors: Moulemvo André 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe economic literature has documented that a high level of capital flight affects domestic resource mobilization and development. However, some aspects of the effects of capital flight have not been adequately explored. This study assesses the effect of capital flight on public social expenditure in Congo‐Brazzaville. It shows, through a simulation exercise covering the 2000–2012 period, that the opportunity cost of capital flight translates into substantial losses in health and education expenditures, and thus significantly delays the achievement of the MDGs 4 and 5. This means that policies aimed at curbing capital flight may have a positive effect on the level of spending on health and education.
Welsh svarabhakti as stem allomorphy
Authors: Iosad Pavel 
Published: June 2016

AbstractIn this paper I propose an analysis of the repairs of sonority sequencing violations in South Welsh in terms of a non‐phonological process of stem allomorphy. As documented by Hannahs (2009), modern Welsh uses a variety of strategies to avoid word‐final rising‐sonority consonant clusters, depending in part on the number of syllables in the word. In particular, while some lexical items epenthesise a copy of the rightmost underlying vowel in the word, others delete one of the consonants in a cluster. In this paper, I argue that at least the deletion is not a live phonological process, and suggest viewing it as an instance of stem allomorphy in a stratal Optimality Theory (OT) framework (Bermúdez‐Otero 2013). This accounts for the lexical specificity of the pattern, which has been understated in the literature, and for the fact that cyclic misapplication of deletion and diachronic change are constrained by part‐of‐speech boundaries.
Formalization by the State, Re‐Informalization by the People: A Gecekondu Transformation Housing Estate as Site of Multiple Discrepancies
Authors: Erman Tahire 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThis article demonstrates residents' transformative practices and discusses attendant outcomes to contribute to an understanding of state‐built housing estates for people affected by urban transformation projects. It draws upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a social housing estate (K‐TOKI) in the Northern Ankara Entrance Urban Transformation Project (NAEUTP). It addresses questions on why formalization of informal housing takes place today, under what conditions it is countered by re‐informalization practices, and what the outcomes of this process are. As informal housing became formalized by NAEUTP, gecekondu dwellers were forced into formalized spaces and lives within K‐TOKI, which was based on a middle‐class lifestyle in its design and its legally required central management. Informality re‐emerged in K‐TOKI when the state's housing institution, in response to the estate's poor marketability, moved out, allowing residents to reappropriate spaces to meet their needs and form their own management system. When cultural norms that are inscribed in the built environment and financial norms that treat residents as clients conflict with everyday practices and financial capabilities, the urban poor increasingly engage in acts of informality. I argue that the outcome of this informality in a formal context is a site of multiple discrepancies.
Resistance of Campylobacter jejuni Isolated from Layer Farms in Northern Jordan Using Microbroth Dilution and Disc Diffusion Techniques
Authors: Al‐Natour Mohammad Q. , Alaboudi Akram R. , Osaili Tareq M. , Obaidat Mohammad M. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractCampylobacter jejuni is an important pathogen of significant public health importance. This pathogen is associated with human infection and has been isolated from mammals and birds. Ninety‐two cloacal C. jejuni isolates were identified from 35 layer farms in Northern Jordan. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and disc diffusion techniques with variable suggested breakpoints. Using MIC and EUCAST cut‐off values, the study revealed a significantly high resistance level (100%) among the layers’ isolates against ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. A relatively high resistance (41%) toward gentamicin and amoxicillin and low resistance to nalidixic acid (21%), erythromycin (14%), and florfenicol (6.5%) were also found. This high level of resistance may indicate abuses in the handling of antibiotics, which may require stricter control in the local layer industry. A good agreement between the 2 techniques used was demonstrated and the disc diffusion technique could be used as a rapid screening test for antimicrobial susceptibility of C. jejuni to many antibiotics using specific Campylobacter breakpoints.
Developing educational resources for population genetics in R: an open and collaborative approach
Authors: Kamvar Zhian N. , López‐Uribe Margarita M. , Coughlan Simone , Grünwald Niklaus J. , Lapp Hilmar , Manel Stéphanie 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe r computing and statistical language community has developed a myriad of resources for conducting population genetic analyses. However, resources for learning how to carry out population genetic analyses in r are scattered and often incomplete, which can make acquiring this skill unnecessarily difficult and time consuming. To address this gap, we developed an online community resource with guidance and working demonstrations for conducting population genetic analyses in r. The resource is freely available at http://popgen.nescent.org and includes material for both novices and advanced users of r for population genetics. To facilitate continued maintenance and growth of this resource, we developed a toolchain, process and conventions designed to (i) minimize financial and labour costs of upkeep; (ii) to provide a low barrier to contribution; and (iii) to ensure strong quality assurance. The toolchain includes automatic integration testing of every change and rebuilding of the website when new vignettes or edits are accepted. The process and conventions largely follow a common, distributed version control‐based contribution workflow, which is used to provide and manage open peer review by designated website editors. The online resources include detailed documentation of this process, including video tutorials. We invite the community of population geneticists working in r to contribute to this resource, whether for a new use case of their own, or as one of the vignettes from the ‘wish list’ we maintain, or by improving existing vignettes.
Analysis of the porcine APOA2 gene expression in liver, polymorphism identification and association with fatty acid composition traits
Authors: Ballester M. , Revilla M. , Puig‐Oliveras A. , Marchesi J. A. P. , Castelló A. , Corominas J. , Fernández A. I. , Folch J. M. 
Published: June 2016

SummaryAPOA2 is a protein implicated in triglyceride, fatty acid and glucose metabolism. In pigs, the APOA2 gene is located on pig chromosome 4 (SSC4) in a QTL region affecting fatty acid composition, fatness and growth traits. In this study, we evaluated APOA2 as a candidate gene for meat quality traits in an Iberian × Landrace backcross population. The APOA2:c.131T>A polymorphism, located in exon 3 of APOA2 and determining a missense mutation, was associated with the percentage of hexadecenoic acid [C16:1(n–9)], linoleic acid [C18:2(n–6)], α‐linolenic acid [C18:3(n–3)], dihomo‐gamma‐linolenic acid [C20:3(n–6)] and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in backfat. Furthermore, this SNP was associated with the global mRNA expression levels of APOA2 in liver and was used as a marker to determine allelic expression imbalance by pyrosequencing. We determined an overexpression of the T allele in heterozygous samples with a mean ratio of 2.8 (T/A), observing a high variability in the allelic expression among individuals. This result suggests that complex regulatory mechanisms, beyond a single polymorphism (e.g. epigenetic effects or multiple cis‐acting polymorphisms), may be regulating APOA2 gene expression.
Foreign body reaction from anti‐adhesion material during follow‐up of gynaecological malignancies: Mimicking local recurrence
Authors: Kwon Yong‐Soon , Gwack Jae‐Young , Im Kyong S. , Choi Dong‐Il 
Published: June 2016

BackgroundGynaecological surgery techniques and instruments have advanced and there is increasing effort to reduce operative complications by preventing adhesion complications after surgery.AimsThe purpose of this study was to evaluate a possible limitation of the Surgi‐Wrap® anti‐adhesion material during clinical follow‐up of surgically managed gynaecological malignancies.MethodsWe retrospectively analysed the medical records and imaging findings of 92 patients who received the Surgi‐Wrap® anti‐adhesion material.ResultsNine of the 92 patients had local recurrence based on the imaging findings. The positive imaging findings showed focal, isolated and small pelvic lesions without other distant metastasis or recurrence and normal tumour marker levels. Laparoscopic exploration and biopsy were performed in six patients and close clinical follow‐up was performed for the other three patients, who had a strong diagnostic impression of a foreign body reaction mimicking a focal recurrence of the tumour. The histological findings of the six laparoscopically‐explored patients revealed a foreign body reaction without malignancy in five and recurrence in one case. The rate of foreign body reaction, mimicking a local recurrence, was 5/92 (5.4% of histologically confirmed cases) and 8/92 cases had ambiguous findings between a foreign reaction and local recurrence (8.7% of clinically suspected cases).ConclusionsIt is important to avoid confusion between benign and recurrent conditions during follow‐up for gynaecological malignancies. We suggest avoiding use of Surgi‐wrap® during cancer surgeries and a need for further studies on the safety of Surgi‐wrap® in patients with cancer.
Medium to long‐term gastrointestinal outcomes following disc resection of the rectum for treatment of endometriosis using a validated scoring questionnaire
Authors: Ng Ada , Yang Phillip , Wong Shing , Vancaillie Thierry , Krishnan Surya 
Published: June 2016

ObjectiveTo assess the gastrointestinal functional outcomes and symptoms of low anterior resection syndrome after disc resection for deeply infiltrative endometriosis (DIE) using a validated scoring system.DesignRetrospective study to assess the gastrointestinal functional outcomes after rectal disc resection for DIE using a validated scoring system.SettingUniversity tertiary referral centre.PatientsWomen who underwent disc resection for endometriosis at Royal Hospital for Women and Prince of Wales Private Hospital between January 2012 and December 2013 were included.Main outcome measureLow anterior resection syndrome (LARS) score using a validated questionnaire.ResultsForty‐one women met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was 40 ± 10 years (range 22–75 years). All procedures were performed laparoscopically. Eleven women (27%) underwent a hysterectomy in addition to rectal disc resection and endometriosis surgery. Mean operative time for the entire cohort was 158 ± 64 minutes, and mean length of hospital stay was 5 ± 2 days. Completed questionnaires were received from 31 women, a response rate of 76%. The mean length of follow‐up was 17 ± 10 months (range 3–34 months). The LARS scores ranged from 0 to 34 (median 15, interquartile range 0–24). Eight women (26%) had a LARS score of 0. Nineteen women (61%) had a LARS score less than 21 (the threshold for LARS).ConclusionConservative treatment of DIE with rectal disc resection is safe and feasible and is associated with mild gastrointestinal dysfunction in the medium to long term.
NEGATIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN STOCK AND FUTURES RETURNS: AN UNEXPLOITED HEDGING OPPORTUNITY?
Authors: Basu Parantap , Gavin William T. 
Published: June 2016

ABSTRACTThe negative correlation between equity and commodity futures returns is widely perceived by investors as an unexploited hedging opportunity. A Lucas (1982) asset‐pricing model is adapted to analyse the fundamentals driving equity and commodity futures returns. Using the model we argue that such a negative correlation could arise as an equilibrium relationship which reflects traders' perceptions about the shocks driving the fundamentals such as energy and consumables, and does not necessarily indicate any hedging opportunity.