bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The role of microRNAs in islet β‐cell development
Authors: Kaviani Maryam , Azarpira Negar , Karimi Mohammad Hossein , Al‐Abdullah Ismail 
Published: October 2016

AbstractCell‐based therapies suggest novel treatments to overcome the complication of the current therapeutic approaches in diabetes mellitus type 1. Replacement of the destroyed pancreatic islet β‐cells by appropriate alternative cells needs an efficient approach to differentiate the cells into viable and functional insulin producing cells. Small non‐coding RNA molecules, microRNAs (miRNA), have critical roles in post‐transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Therefore, they can direct the cells toward β‐cell like cells and control islet β‐cell development. Previous reports showed the manipulation of the miRNA expression on islet β‐cell differentiation and regeneration. Likewise, the regulation of epithelial to mesenchymal transi­tion by the miR‐30 family and the miR‐200 family may be a useful approach to conduct islet β‐cell development. Investigation of stem cells differentiation showed that the dynamic expression patterns of miR‐375 and miR‐7 are similar to developing human fetal pancreas while dynamic expression of miR‐146a and miR‐34a occurred during the differentiation. Moreover, miR‐342 and its both targets, FOXA2 and MAFB, are found in β‐cell differentiation and maturation. Because miRNAs can target specific transcription factors during islet β‐cell development and differentiation, they could be offerred as alternative regenerative treatment for diabetes mellitus. Considering that the application of these non‐coding RNAs remains limited in the literature, in this review article, we present an overview of the roles of miRNAs in the islet β‐cell development, focusing on the application of different miRNAs in the experimental protocols.
Alkannin inhibits CCL3 and CCL5 production in human periodontal ligament cells
Authors: Hosokawa Yoshitaka , Hosokawa Ikuko , Shindo Satoru , Ohta Yoshihiro , Ozaki Kazumi , Matsuo Takashi 
Published: October 2016

AbstractAlkannin, which is found in Alkanna tinctoria, a member of the borage family, is used as a food coloring. Alkannin has recently been reported to have certain biological functions, such as anti‐microbial and anti‐oxidant effects. It is known that CC chemokine receptor (CCR) 5‐positive leukocytes contribute to alveolar bone resorption in periodontal lesions. The aim of this study was to examine whether alkannin inhibits the production of CC chemokine ligand (CCL) 3 and CCL5, which are CCR5 ligands, in human periodontal ligament cells (HPDLC). Interleukin (IL)‐1β induced CCL3 and CCL5 production in HPDLC. Alkannin inhibited IL‐1β‐mediated CCL3 and CCL5 production in HPDLC in a dose‐dependent manner. Moreover, we revealed that alkannin suppressed inhibitor of kappa B‐α degradation in IL‐1β‐stimulated HPDLC. In addition, a nuclear factor (NF)‐κB inhibitor significantly inhibited CCL3 and CCL5 production in IL‐1β‐stimulated HPDLC. These results demonstrate that alkannin inhibits CCR5 ligand production in IL‐1β‐stimulated HPDLC by attenuating the NF‐κB signaling pathway.
Generation of improved human cerebral organoids from single copy DYRK1A knockout induced pluripotent stem cells in trisomy 21: hypothetical solutions for neurodevelopmental models and therapeutic alternatives in down syndrome
Authors: Çağlayan E. Sacide 
Published: October 2016

AbstractDual‐specificity thyrosine phosphorylation‐regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) is a strong therapeutic target to ameliorate cognitive functions of Down Syndrome (DS). Genetic normalization of Dyrk1a is sufficient to normalize early cortical developmental phenotypes in DS mouse models. Gyrencephalic human neocortical development is more complex than that in lissencephalic mice; hence, cerebral organoids (COs) can be used to model early neurodevelopmental defects of DS. Single copy DYRK1A knockout COs (scDYRK1AKO‐COs) can be generated from manipulated DS derived (DS‐) induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and genetic normalization of DYRK1A is expected to result in corrected neurodevelopmental phenotypes that can be reminiscent of normal COs. DYRK1A knock‐in (DYRK1AKI) COs can be derived after genetic manipulations of normal iPSCs and would be valuable to evaluate impaired neocortical development as can be seen in DS‐COs. DYRK1A mutations cause severe human primary microcephaly; hence, dose optimization studies of DYRK1A inhibitors will be critical for prenatal therapeutic applications in DS. Several doses of DYRK1A inhibitors can be tested in the neurodevelopment process of DS‐COs and DS‐scDYRK1AKO‐COs would be used as optimum models for evaluating phenotypic ameliorations. Overdose drug exposure in DS‐COs can be explained by similar defects present in DS‐baDYRK1AKO‐COs and DYRK1AKO‐COs. There are several limitations in the current CO technology, which can be reduced by the generation of vascularized brain‐like organoids giving opportunities to mimic late‐stage corticogenesis and complete hippocampal development. In the future, improved DS‐DYRK1AKO‐COs can be efficient in studies that aim to generate efficiently transplantable and implantable neurons for tissue regeneration alternatives in DS individuals.
Coupling Synergetic Effect between Ruthenium and Ruthenium Oxide with Size Effect of Ruthenium Particles on Ketone Catalytic Hydrogenation
Authors: Yang Zhao , Li Dan , Zhang Lei , Zheng Jinbao , Zhang Nuowei , Chen Bing H. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractCarbon black‐supported ruthenium catalysts (Ru/C) with different Ru particle sizes and varying fractions of surficial RuO2 are prepared and studied for acetone hydrogenation. The size of Ru particles and the surficial RuO2 species on the Ru particles are found to affect the acetone conversion. Ru particles with larger size provide a higher catalytic activity suggesting an important role of particle size. Moreover, for Ru particles with larger sizes, the conversion decreases along with the increase of surficial RuO2 species fraction; however, an opposite trend is observed for cases with smaller Ru particles. Such distinguished catalytic acetone hydrogenation conversions for Ru/C with different particle sizes and varying surface RuO2 content suggest a size‐dependent synergetic effect, which, so far as we are concerned, is a new synergetic behavior between Ru and RuO2 in hydrogenation catalysis that has never been reported before. CO chemisorption, XRD, temperature‐programmed reduction, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and high‐resolution TEM are used to characterize the Ru particle sizes and the surficial RuO2 species.
Mesitylene‐Cored Glucoside Amphiphiles (MGAs) for Membrane Protein Studies: Importance of Alkyl Chain Density in Detergent Efficacy
Authors: Cho Kyung Ho , Ribeiro Orquidea , Du Yang , Tikhonova Elena , Mortensen Jonas S. , Markham Kelsey , Hariharan Parameswaran , Loland Claus J. , Guan Lan , Kobilka Brian K. , Byrne Bernadette , Chae Pil Seok 
Published: October 2016

AbstractDetergents serve as useful tools for membrane protein structural and functional studies. Their amphipathic nature allows detergents to associate with the hydrophobic regions of membrane proteins whilst maintaining the proteins in aqueous solution. However, widely used conventional detergents are limited in their ability to maintain the structural integrity of membrane proteins and thus there are major efforts underway to develop novel agents with improved properties. We prepared mesitylene‐cored glucoside amphiphiles (MGAs) with three alkyl chains and compared these agents with previously developed xylene‐linked maltoside agents (XMAs) with two alkyl chains and a conventional detergent (DDM). When these agents were evaluated for four membrane proteins including a G protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR), some agents such as MGA‐C13 and MGA‐C14 resulted in markedly enhanced stability of membrane proteins compared to both DDM and the XMAs. This favourable behaviour is due likely to the increased hydrophobic density provided by the extra alkyl chain. Thus, this study not only describes new glucoside agents with potential for membrane protein research, but also introduces a new detergent design principle for future development.
Enhancing network I/o performance for a virtualized Hadoop cluster
Authors: Jeong Jinkyu , Choi Dong Hoon , Jo Heeseung 
Published: October 2016

SummaryA MapReduce programming model is proposed to process big data using Hadoop, one of the major cloud computing frameworks. With the increasing adoption of cloud computing, running a Hadoop framework on a virtualized cluster is a compelling approach to reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In this paper, we measure the performance of a virtualized network and analyze the impact of network performance on Hadoop workloads running on a virtualized cluster. Then, we propose a virtualized network I/O architecture as a novel optimization for a virtualized Hadoop cluster for a public/private cloud provider. The proposed network architecture combines traditional network configurations and achieves better performance for Hadoop workloads. We also show a better way to utilize the rack awareness feature of the Hadoop framework in the proposed computing environment. The evaluation demonstrates that the proposed network architecture and mechanisms improve performance by up to 4.1 times compared with a bridge network architecture. This novel architecture can even virtually match the performance of the expensive, hardware‐based single root I/O virtualization network architecture.
PAWN: a payload‐based mutual authentication scheme for wireless sensor networks
Authors: Jan Mian , Nanda Priyadarsi , Usman Muhammad , He Xiangjian 
Published: October 2016

SummaryWireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of resource‐starving miniature sensor nodes deployed in a remote and hostile environment. These networks operate on small batteries for days, months, and even years depending on the requirements of monitored applications. The battery‐powered operation and inaccessible human terrains make it practically infeasible to recharge the nodes unless some energy‐scavenging techniques are used. These networks experience threats at various layers and, as such, are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks. The resource‐constrained nature of sensor nodes, inaccessible human terrains, and error‐prone communication links make it obligatory to design lightweight but robust and secured schemes for these networks. In view of these limitations, we aim to design an extremely lightweight payload‐based mutual authentication scheme for a cluster‐based hierarchical WSN. The proposed scheme, also known as payload‐based mutual authentication for WSNs, operates in 2 steps. First, an optimal percentage of cluster heads is elected, authenticated, and allowed to communicate with neighboring nodes. Second, each cluster head, in a role of server, authenticates the nearby nodes for cluster formation. We validate our proposed scheme using various simulation metrics that outperform the existing schemes.
Astroturfing detection in social media: a binary n‐gram–based approach
Authors: Peng Jian , Detchon Sam , Choo Kim‐Kwang Raymond , Ashman Helen 
Published: October 2016

SummaryAstroturfing is appearing in numerous contexts in social media, with individuals posting product reviews or political commentary under a number of different names, and is of concern because of the intended deception. An astroturfer works with the aim of making it seem that a large number of people hold the same opinion, promoting a consensus based on the astroturfer's intentions. It is generally done for commercial or political advantage, often by paid writers or ideologically motivated writers. This paper brings the notion of authorship attribution to bear on the astroturfing problem, collecting quantities of data from public social media sites and analyzing the putative individual authors to see if they appear to be the same person. The analysis comprises a binary n‐gram method, which was previously shown to be effective at accurately identifying authors on a training set from the same authors, while this paper shows how authors on different social media turn out to be the same author. The method has identified numerous instances where multiple accounts are apparently being operated by a single individual.
Enhanced similarity measure for personalized cloud services recommendation
Authors: Afify Y.M. , Moawad I.F. , Badr N.L. , Tolba M.F. 
Published: October 2016

SummaryCloud users are overwhelmed with great numbers of cloud services. Service recommender systems evaluate the services that provide same functionalities according to the user requirements. A key enabler to accurate recommendation in recommender systems is the appropriate determination of similar users. This paper contributes to the personalized cloud services recommendation area. In specific, we introduce a user‐based similarity measure that integrates relevant similarity aspects: user demographic information, service ratings, and user interest. The proposed similarity measure is used in a hybrid collaborative filtering (CF) approach that leverages the advantages of both model‐ and memory‐based approaches to improve the recommendation process. Experimental evaluation on real‐world services data set shows that the proposed approach outperforms other CF approaches in respect of the prediction accuracy and recommendation time while maintaining better or same coverage.
Phylogeography of the antilopine wallaroo (Macropus antilopinus) across tropical northern Australia
Authors: Wadley Jessica J. , Fordham Damien A. , Thomson Vicki A. , Ritchie Euan G. , Austin Jeremy J. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe distribution of antilopine wallaroo, Macropus antilopinus, is marked by a break in the species’ range between Queensland and the Northern Territory, coinciding with the Carpentarian barrier. Previous work on M. antilopinus revealed limited genetic differentiation between the Northern Territory and Queensland M. antilopinus populations across this barrier. The study also identified a number of divergent lineages in the Northern Territory, but was unable to elucidate any geographic structure. Here, we re‐examine these results to (1) determine phylogeographic patterns across the range of M. antilopinus and (2) infer the biogeographic barriers associated with these patterns. The tropical savannahs of northern Australia: from the Cape York Peninsula in the east, to the Kimberley in the west. We examined phylogeographic patterns in M. antilopinus using a larger number of samples and three mtDNA genes: NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2, cytochrome b, and the control region. Two datasets were generated and analyzed: (1) a subset of samples with all three mtDNA regions concatenated together and (2) all samples for just control region sequences that included samples from the previous study. Analysis included generating phylogenetic trees based on Bayesian analysis and intraspecific median‐joining networks. The contemporary spatial structure of M. antilopinus mtDNA lineages revealed five shallow clades and a sixth, divergent lineage. The genetic differences that we found between Queensland and Northern Territory M. antilopinus samples confirmed the split in the geographic distribution of the species. We also found weak genetic differentiation between Northern Territory samples and those from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, possibly due to the Kimberley Plateau–Arnhem Land barrier. Within the Northern Territory, two clades appear to be parapatric in the west, while another two clades are broadly sympatric across the Northern Territory. MtDNA diversity of M. antilopinus revealed an unexpectedly complex evolutionary history involving multiple sympatric and parapatric mtDNA clades across northern Australia. These phylogeographic patterns highlight the importance of investigating genetic variation across distributions of species and integrating this information into biodiversity conservation.
Temperature effects on mass‐scaling exponents in colonial animals: a manipulative test
Authors: Barneche Diego R. , White Craig R. , Marshall Dustin J. 
Published: October 2016

AbstractBody size and temperature are fundamental drivers of ecological processes because they determine metabolic rates at the individual level. Whether these drivers act independently on individual‐level metabolic rates remains uncertain. Most studies of intraspecific scaling of unitary organisms must rely on preexisting differences in size to examine its relationship with metabolic rate, thereby potentially confounding size‐correlated traits (e.g., age, nutrition) with size, which can affect metabolic rate. Here, we use a size manipulation approach to test whether metabolic mass scaling and temperature dependence interact in four species (two phyla) of colonial marine invertebrates. Size manipulation in colonial organisms allows tests of how ecological processes (e.g., predation) affect individual physiology and consequently population‐ and community‐level energy flux. Body mass and temperature interacted in two species, with one species exhibiting decreased and the other increased mass‐scaling exponents with increasing temperature. The allometric scaling of metabolic rate that we observe in three species contrasts with the isometric scaling of ingestion rates observed in some colonial marine invertebrates. Thus, we suggest that the often observed competitive superiority of colonial over unitary organisms may arise because the difference between energy intake and expenditure increases more strongly with size in colonial organisms.
Geolithological and anthropogenic controls on the hydrochemistry of the Volturno river (Southern Italy)
Authors: Cuoco Emilio , Colombani Nicolò , Darrah Thomas H. , Mastrocicco Micòl , Tedesco Dario 
Published: October 2016

AbstractThe present work aims to study the main chemical and physical water parameters in the upper and middle Volturno river catchment (southern Italy), between the Capo Volturno springs and the confluence with the Calore river. This study makes use of morphology, geolithology, tectonic, land use, and physico‐chemical (pH, electrical conductivity, redox potential, temperature, major ions, and 222Rn) data for the identification of the main sources of surface and groundwaters in the Volturno catchment and of their evolution and mixing both in base flow and peak flow conditions. The study was also performed to assess whether the alteration due to potential anthropogenic contamination may hamper the identification of natural “primitive” sources of surface waters, especially in the populated and farmed plains far from the river headwaters. Our data suggest that water chemistry of this stretch of the Volturno river is dominated mainly by lithology and, only marginally, by the intense exogenous activities and that this trend is appreciable in both base flow and peak flow conditions. The proposed simple geochemical approach based on easy‐to‐sample matrices and on cost‐effective standard methods is a valuable tool to address catchment functionality especially in upland areas, where complex geologic and structural settings, heterogeneous groundwater flow, and logistical issues are the rule rather than the exception. Because the upper and middle Volturno catchment is comparable with numerous valleys of the Mediterranean area, this study could be a reference for analogous applications.
Hydraulic modeling of flood pulses in the Middle Bussento Karst System (MBSKS), UNESCO Cilento Global Geopark, southern Italy
Authors: Bovolin Vittorio , Cuomo Albina , Guida Domenico 
Published: October 2016

AbstractKarst systems provide water for domestic and industrial uses and for generating hydropower, but they can also create fluvial hazards, such as upstream back‐flooding and downstream karst flash‐flood events. However, these hazards are difficult to foresee due to the complex recharge‐discharge processes as well as the lack of information on the inside of the system, which has often not been completely surveyed by speleologists or explored by boreholes. To overcome these difficulties, hydro‐chemical data from the monitoring system in the Middle Bussento Karst System (MBSKS), one of the first Experimental Karst Systems in southern Italy, were recorded and previously discussed. Based on shared background in flood karst hydraulic modeling, this paper describes the conceptual premises and rationale of a general‐purpose hydraulic model that is suitable both for the MBSKS and for other Mediterranean, multi‐recharge, mature, conduit‐dominated karst systems. To test the reliability of the model, simulations of time–space behavior and response are performed using natural and artificial flood pulses “as tracers”, considering a “pulse” as a significant variation in water quantity and/or quality. The results of the model explain the interactions between allogenic, autogenic, and anthropogenic recharges from differentiated sources and phreatic conduit systems. These results also clarify the overall response of karst springs at typical time scales of flood pulses.Table acronym name
An improved method for calculating toxicity-based pollutant loads: Part 1. Method development
Authors: Smith Rachael A , Warne Michael St J , Mengersen Kerrie , Turner Ryan DR 
Published: October 2016

Abstract

Pollutant loads are a means for assessing regulatory compliance and setting targets to reduce pollution entering receiving waterbodies. However, a pollutant load is often comprised of multiple chemicals, which may exert joint toxicity on biota. When the ultimate goal for assessing pollutant loads is to protect ecosystems from adverse effects of toxicants, then the total pollutant load needs to be calculated based on the principles of mixture toxicology. In this article, an improved method is proposed to convert a pollutant load to a toxicity-based load (toxic load) using a modified toxic equivalency factor (TEF) derivation method. The method uses the relative potencies (RePs) of multiple species to represent the response of the ecological community. The TEF is calculated from a percentile of a cumulative distribution function (CDF) fitted to the RePs. The improvements permit the determination of which percentile of the CDF generates the most environmentally relevant and robust toxic loads. That is, environmental relevance ensures that a reduction in the toxic load is likely to result in a corresponding improvement in ecosystem health and robustness ensures that the calculation of the toxic loads is not biased by the reference chemical used. The improved methodology will therefore ensure that correct management decisions will be made and ultimately, a reduction in the toxic load will lead to a commensurate improvement in water quality. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2017;13:746–753. © 2016 SETAC

Key Points
We present an improved method for converting pollutant loads of chemical mixtures to a total pollutant load based on the toxicities of the constituents (i.e., the “toxic load”), aiding water quality managers to assess and regulate the whole pollutant load rather than each chemical load separately. The method is a modified toxic equivalency factor (TEF) approach that uses the relative potencies of multiple species to calculate a TEF to weight each pollutant load based on its relative toxicity to a reference chemical. The modified TEF approach presents 2 novel tests, for environmental relevance and robustness, to determine which percentile of the cumulative distribution of relative potencies should be used to calculate the TEF to generate the most environmentally relevant and robust toxic loads. Calculating toxic loads makes ecotoxicological sense when dealing with mixtures of toxicants and will inform water quality managers on which chemicals and regions they should focus their actions, leading to better allocation of resources.