bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prediction of treatment efficacy for prostate cancer using a mathematical model
Authors: Peng Huiming , Zhao Weiling , Tan Hua , Ji Zhiwei , Li Jingsong , Li King , Zhou Xiaobo 
Published: February 2016

AbstractProstate immune system plays a critical role in the regulation of prostate cancer development regarding androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and/or immunotherapy (vaccination). In this study, we developed a mathematical model to explore the interactions between prostate tumor and immune microenvironment. This model was used to predict treatment outcomes for prostate cancer with ADT, vaccination, Treg depletion and/or IL-2 neutralization. Animal data were used to guide construction, parameter selection, and validation of our model. Our analysis shows that Treg depletion and/or IL-2 neutralization can effectively improve the treatment efficacy of combined therapy with ADT and vaccination. Treg depletion has a higher synergetic effect than that from IL-2 neutralization. This study highlights a potential therapeutic strategy in effectively managing prostate tumor growth and provides a framework of systems biology approach in studying tumor-related immune mechanism and consequent selection of therapeutic regimens.
Single Molecule Microscopy Reveals an Increased Hyaluronan Diffusion Rate in Synovial Fluid from Knees Affected by Osteoarthritis
Authors: Kohlhof Hendrik , Gravius Sascha , Kohl Sandro , Ahmad Sufian S. , Randau Thomas , Schmolders Jan , Rommelspacher Yorck , Friedrich Max , Kaminski Tim P. 
Published: February 2016

AbstractOsteoarthritis is a common and progressive joint disorder. Despite its widespread, in clinical practice only late phases of osteoarthritis that are characterized by severe joint damage are routinely detected. Since osteoarthritis cannot be cured but relatively well managed, an early diagnosis and thereby early onset of disease management would lower the burden of osteoarthritis. Here we evaluated if biophysical parameters of small synovial fluid samples extracted by single molecule microscopy can be linked to joint damage. In healthy synovial fluid (ICRS-score < 1) hyaluronan showed a slower diffusion (2.2 μm2/s, N = 5) than in samples from patients with joint damage (ICRS-score > 2) (4.5 μm2/s, N = 16). More strikingly, the diffusion coefficient of hyaluronan in healthy synovial fluid was on average 30% slower than expected by sample viscosity. This effect was diminished or missing in samples from patients with joint damage. Since single molecule microscopy needs only microliters of synovial fluid to extract the viscosity and the specific diffusion coefficient of hyaluronan this method could be of use as diagnostic tool for osteoarthritis.
Combined Effect of Free Nitrous Acid Pretreatment and Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate on Short-Chain Fatty Acid Production from Waste Activated Sludge
Authors: Zhao Jianwei , Liu Yiwen , Ni Bingjie , Wang Qilin , Wang Dongbo , Yang Qi , Sun Yingjie , Zeng Guangming , Li Xiaoming 
Published: February 2016

AbstractFree nitrous acid (FNA) serving as a pretreatment is an effective approach to accelerate sludge disintegration. Also, sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS), a type of surfactants, has been determined at significant levels in sewage sludge, which thereby affects the characteristics of sludge. Both FNA pretreatment and sludge SDBS levels can affect short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) generation from sludge anaerobic fermentation. To date, however, the combined effect of FNA pretreatment and SDBS presence on SCFA production as well as the corresponding mechanisms have never been documented. This work therefore aims to provide such support. Experimental results showed that the combination of FNA and SDBS treatment not only improved SCFA accumulation but also shortened the fermentation time. The maximal SCFA accumulation of 334.5 mg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/g volatile suspended solids (VSS) was achieved at 1.54 mg FNA/L treatment and 0.02 g/g dry sludge, which was respectively 1.79-fold and 1.41-fold of that from FNA treatment and sludge containing SDBS alone. Mechanism investigations revealed that the combined FNA pretreatment and SDBS accelerated solubilization, hydrolysis, and acidification steps but inhibited the methanogenesis. All those observations were in agreement with SCFA enhancement.
Fibroblast Growth Factor-10 (FGF-10) Mobilizes Lung-resident Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Protects Against Acute Lung Injury
Authors: Tong Lin , Zhou Jian , Rong Linyi , Seeley Eric J. , Pan Jue , Zhu Xiaodan , Liu Jie , Wang Qin , Tang Xinjun , Qu Jieming , Bai Chunxue , Song Yuanlin 
Published: February 2016

AbstractFGF-10 can prevent or reduce lung specific inflammation due to traumatic or infectious lung injury. However, the exact mechanisms are poorly characterized. Additionally, the effect of FGF-10 on lung-resident mesenchymal stem cells (LR-MSCs) has not been studied. To better characterize the effect of FGF-10 on LR-MSCs, FGF-10 was intratracheally delivered into the lungs of rats. Three days after instillation, bronchoalveolar lavage was performed and plastic-adherent cells were cultured, characterized and then delivered therapeutically to rats after LPS intratracheal instillation. Immunophenotyping analysis of FGF-10 mobilized and cultured cells revealed expression of the MSC markers CD29, CD73, CD90, and CD105, and the absence of the hematopoietic lineage markers CD34 and CD45. Multipotency of these cells was demonstrated by their capacity to differentiate into osteocytes, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. Delivery of LR-MSCs into the lungs after LPS injury reduced the inflammatory response as evidenced by decreased wet-to-dry ratio, reduced neutrophil and leukocyte recruitment and decreased inflammatory cytokines compared to control rats. Lastly, direct delivery of FGF-10 in the lungs of rats led to an increase of LR-MSCs in the treated lungs, suggesting that the protective effect of FGF-10 might be mediated, in part, by the mobilization of LR-MSCs in lungs.
Hardness and compression resistance of natural rubber and synthetic rubber mixtures
Authors: Arguello J M , Santos A 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
This project aims to mechanically characterize through compression resistance and shore hardness tests, the mixture of hevea brasiliensis natural rubber with butadiene synthetic rubber (BR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and ethylene-propylene-diene monomer rubber (EPDM). For each of the studied mixtures were performed 10 tests, each of which increased by 10% the content of synthetic rubber in the mixture; each test consisted of carrying out five tests of compression resistance and five tests of shore hardness. The specimens were vulcanized on a temperature of 160°C, during an approximate time of 15 minutes, and the equipment used in the performance of the mechanical tests were a Shimadzu universal machine and a digital durometer. The results show that the A shore hardness increases directly proportional, with a linear trend, with the content of synthetic BR, SBR or EPDM rubber present in the mixture, being the EPDM the most influential. With respect to the compression resistance is observed that the content of BR or SBR increase this property directly proportional through a linear trend; while the EPDM content also increases but with a polynomial trend.
Associations of Apelin, Visfatin, and Urinary 8-Isoprostane With Severe Hypertension in African Americans: The MH-GRID Study
Authors: Horbal Steven R. , Seffens William , Davis Adam R. , Silvestrov Natalia , Gibbons Gary H. , Quarells Rakale C. , Bidulescu Aurelian 
Published: February 2016

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Apelin is an adipokine directly associated with adiposity, insulin resistance, and decreased blood pressure. Urinary 8-isoprostane is a marker of chronic oxidative endothelial stress. Visfatin, an adipokine that acts by binding and activating the insulin receptor, has been associated with hypertension. As severe hypertension (SH) is highly prevalent among African Americans (AA), we aimed to assess the association of these biomarkers with SH status.

METHODS
A sample of 250 AA participants (134 normotensive controls and 116 with SH (including 98 treatment controlled, SCH: severe controlled hypertension, and 18 treatment resistant, SRH: severe resistant hypertension)) from the Minority Health Genomics and Translational Research Bio-Repository Database (MH-GRID) in metro Atlanta had blood analyzed for apelin and visfatin and urine for 8-isoprostane. T -tests, sex-specific age-adjusted correlation coefficients, and multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the association of biomarkers with hypertensive status.

RESULTS
Levels of apelin and 8-isoprostane were not statistically different between controls and SCH or SRH. Statistically significant differences were present in levels of visfatin between controls (1.03±0.84 pg/ml), SCH (1.34±1.14 pg/ml), and SRH (1.59±0.85 pg/ml). After multivariable adjustment, categorization in the middle 2 quartiles of urinary 8-isoprostane were associated with SH. In similar models, categorization into the highest quartile of visfatin was associated with SH (odds ratio = 2.80; 95% confidence interval: 1.02–7.02). A continuous association of visfatin with SH was present.

CONCLUSION
In our community sample of AA, there were increased odds of SH with increased levels of urinary 8-isoprostane and visfatin, but not with apelin.
Exploring equivalence domain in nonlinear inverse problems using Covariance Matrix Adaption Evolution Strategy (CMAES) and random sampling
Authors: Grayver Alexander V. , Kuvshinov Alexey V. 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
This paper presents a methodology to sample equivalence domain (ED) in nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE)-constrained inverse problems. For this purpose, we first applied state-of-the-art stochastic optimization algorithm called Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMAES) to identify low-misfit regions of the model space. These regions were then randomly sampled to create an ensemble of equivalent models and quantify uncertainty. CMAES is aimed at exploring model space globally and is robust on very ill-conditioned problems. We show that the number of iterations required to converge grows at a moderate rate with respect to number of unknowns and the algorithm is embarrassingly parallel. We formulated the problem by using the generalized Gaussian distribution. This enabled us to seamlessly use arbitrary norms for residual and regularization terms. We show that various regularization norms facilitate studying different classes of equivalent solutions. We further show how performance of the standard Metropolis–Hastings Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm can be substantially improved by using information CMAES provides. This methodology was tested by using individual and joint inversions of magneotelluric, controlled-source electromagnetic (EM) and global EM induction data.
Is This Treatment Right for You?
Authors: Chrestman Kelly R. , Gilboa-Schechtman Eva , Foa Edna B. 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Chapter 2 encourages the client to consider if this treatment is right for them, make a list of their life domains that have been disrupted as a result of the trauma, to think about potential benefits and costs of participating in the therapy, and areas that they might find difficult.
Strongyloides stercoralis, Eosinophilia, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: The Predictive Value of Eosinophilia in the Diagnosis of S stercoralis Infection in an Endemic Community
Authors: Hays Russell , Thompson Fintan , Esterman Adrian , McDermott Robyn 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Background.  This study examines the predictive value of eosinophilia for Strongyloides stercoralis infection, as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing, in an endemic community. In remote communities, eosinophilia is frequently used as a proxy test for the presence of helminth infections. Past studies of eosinophilia and Strongyloides infection have been conducted in specific groups such as immigrants and refugees, or in subpopulations of nonendemic communities, rather than in endemic communities.
Methods.  We conducted a cross-sectional study of the relationship between eosinophilia and Strongyloides ELISA serology, as part of a study into the relationship between S stercoralis infection and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in an Indigenous community in northern Australia.
Results.  Two hundred thirty-nine adults had their eosinophil count and S stercoralis ELISA serology measured in 2012 and 2013, along with other biometric and metabolic data. Eosinophilia was found to have a relatively poor sensitivity (60.9%), specificity (71.1%), positive predictive value (54.6%), and negative predictive value (76.1%) for S stercoralis ELISA positivity in this group. However, there was a more constant relationship between eosinophilia and S Stercoralis ELISA positivity in patients with T2DM (negative predictive value 87.5%).
Conclusion.  This study suggests that the presence or absence of eosinophilia is not an adequate proxy test for S stercoralis infection in a community where the infection is prevalent, and that the association between eosinophilia and S stercoralis ELISA positivity is more constant in patients with T2DM.
Montaigne on Reading
Authors: Mack Peter 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Montaigne’s wide and critical reading contributed enormously to his writing. that we know more about Montaigne’s reading than any other Renaissance author. This chapter begins by discussing the books Montaigne read and the comments he made on his reading. It argues that we should take seriously his advice to read in order to become wise, by discovering one’s own views, rather than to become learned, by summarizing the views of others. It describes Montaigne’s method of writing in reaction to his reading (especially the re-reading of his own text) by building fragments, such as axioms, proverbs, narratives and comparisons into logical sequences, using seven basic types of logical connection and the ways in which Montaigne uses quotations taken from history and poetry in the Essays, concluding with a discussion of the use of quotations in “Of vanity” (III, 9).
Montaigne on Free-Thinking
Authors: Scholar Richard 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
This essay suggests that free-thinking is an important and often misunderstood context for the venture—and adventure—of Montaigne’s Essays. Where free-thinking is now generally understood to indicate a principled independence from the dogmas of any church or creed, it is argued here that Montaigne belongs to a different age, in which free-thinking was a much wider anti-authoritarian and experimental cast of mind that he and his contemporaries could bring to bear on all kinds of questions. That kind of free-thinking was both a Renaissance inheritance of the libertas philosophandi of the ancients and a contemporary trend among certain French humanist-statesmen admired by Montaigne. Montaigne’s response to his precursors and contemporaries, in “Of the education of children” (I, 26) and elsewhere, nonetheless, confirms that his thinking floats free from any determinations of context and remains irreducible to the expression of an “-ism.”
Montaigne on Faith and Religion
Authors: Legros Alain 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
What Montaigne’s biography tells us about his religion is confirmed partly in his Essays. He was without doubt a loyal Catholic but did not want to tell his entire life. Instead of displaying his beliefs, Montaigne chose to exercise his free judgment on all things. He did so with an assumed and conscious boldness. Concerned to preserve the unity of the kingdom by maintaining the old religion, he became equally hostile to the Protestant innovations and the reactionary measures of the Catholic League. Montaigne asserts the true faith: a pure gift from God that cannot be reduced to cultural contingencies. He had a good knowledge of current theological debates but chose not to discuss the Church dogmas. Like an anthropologist, he studied the human side of Christianity. He preferred to use a secular discourse, however “very religious,” to broach the question of faith in profane terms but without challenging its religious foundation.
Montaigne on Gender
Authors: Reeser Todd W. 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
What would it mean to consider Montaigne as a gender theorist? Not surprisingly, the essayist imagines sex, gender, and sexuality as movement-based, nonontological phenomena, even as stasis remains implicated in that very movement. Above all, gender is a textual process of relations between “forms,” or stable-seeming constructs, and the dismantling or taking apart of those forms. This article places Montaigne into productive dialogue with modern gender, queer, and transgender theory in considering how concepts such as habit, skepticism, form, and imagination relate to movement-centered gender construction. The sexed body, gendered behavior, masculinity, and same-sex male sexuality are the key elements of subjectivity formation discussed in this framework. The article concludes with a consideration of how “queer” can be taken as a possible concept in the Essays.
Montaigne on Empathy
Authors: Bakewell Sarah 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Montaigne’s essay “Of cruelty” explores a phenomenon we would now call empathy, or the ability to “feel into” or share another’s sufferings or pleasures: an experience Montaigne tells us he frequently has himself, even with nonhuman animals. He raises the question of how sympathetic tendencies of this kind can be considered morally virtuous when they spring from natural inclination rather than reason. His treatment of the topic anticipates eighteenth-century texts on sympathy by David Hume and Adam Smith, as well as modern research in psychology and neuroscience. This article examines these connections, and also sets Montaigne’s remarks on empathy into the context of other aspects of his work, suggesting that his approach may offer a foundation for a more subtle understanding of empathy’s role in ethical behavior.
Montaigne on Memory
Authors: Frisch Andrea 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Montaigne’s Essays are, in part, a reflection on the ongoing negotiation between the objects, aims, and uses of modern monumental memory, on the one hand, and postmodern plural memory, on the other. Written in the throes of the French Wars of Religion, the Essays grapple with proliferating and inevitably conflicting contributions to the collective memory bank. Montaigne unequivocally refuses to monumentalize memory, ultimately providing a model of a deep, and deeply dialogical, engagement with plural memories. The kind of memory that digital networks facilitate in the global age is unstable, dynamic, and polyvalent in a way that Montaigne’s Essays both perform and endorse. This is why, in their commitment to probing both the depth and the range of human experience, Montaigne’s Essays remain a record of and a template for productive ways to imagine the dignity of memory in our own age of variety and vicissitude.
Montaigne on Monsters and Monstrosity
Authors: Long Kathleen 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
Monsters take on many roles in Montaigne’s Essays, almost always in novel ways. They do not take on their usual roles as markers of other races, genders, or bodies, as threats or objects of repulsion. Rather, the authorial self and his work are seen as monstrous; Europeans and their culture are seen as monstrous; the knowledge systems that create monsters are themselves monstrous; man’s vanity is monstrous. But most of all, the monster is the provocation to meditation on man’s presumption, and on the limitations of human knowledge and power in the face of the world and the divine. As the sign of the diversity and mutability of the natural world and thus of divine omnipotence, the monstrous and unusual is valued by Montaigne over the normal or usual. It is also the mark of human creativity, dependent as it is on the vagaries of the imagination, new and radically different from the rhetorical, literary, and artistic norms. This is why the Essays themselves can be considered a monstrous work.
Montaigne on Style
Authors: Eden Kathy 
Published: February 2016

Abstract
This article explores Montaigne’s assumptions, expectations, and judgments regarding style, especially as they demonstrate an Erasmian pedigree. This pedigree is predicated on a broad definition of style that takes into account word choice, phrasing, rhythm, and figures as elements of elocution (the third branch of rhetoric) and extends itself to disposition (the second branch, which attends to the arrangement of the parts of the discourse). It also includes a number of key metaphors for style that Montaigne applies in unique combinations; and it features the stylistic virtues of variety and self-expression, according to which Montaigne takes the measure of his most and least favorite ancient stylists as well as himself.
Robert Paul Wolff,In Defense of Anarchism
Authors: Stilz Anna 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis chapter examines Robert Paul Wolff’s arguments in In Defense of Anarchism about state authority and individual autonomy, and how plausible they are for philosophical anarchism. According to Wolff, the authority of the modern state cannot be justified because it conflicts with the autonomy of the individual. The presumptive clash between state authority and individual autonomy that Wolff highlights remains central to the philosophical anarchist critique of the state, a position that has gained prominence—and widespread acceptance—in contemporary political philosophy. The rest of this chapter comments on Wolff’s views in more detail, including those concerning compliance with the state, a state’s right to rule, unanimous direct democracy, and majority rule. It also discusses Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s assertion that persons must remain free in obeying the state.
Plays 1616–1637
Authors: Rockwood Catherine 
Published: February 2016

AbstractThis chapter summarizes the historical reputation of Ben Jonson’s final works for the public stage during the late Jacobean era and the beginning of the Caroline period, c.1616–37. It incorporates current lines of research and discussion into a reading of each text, and argues for their particular value as examples of acute, sometimes critical, always entertaining dramatic commentary on early modern mores and topical subjects. It suggests, with specific reference to The Staple of News (1626) and A Tale of A Tub (1633), that Jonson paid continued and visible attention to his role and responsibilities as an author positioned at the intersection of the public sphere and the republic of letters.
Information Structure in Japanese
Authors: Tomioka Satoshi 
Published: February 2016

AbstractJapanese is known to have rich encoding of information structure in its grammar. Focus and givenness can be prosodically marked, and there are syntactic structures that are sensitive to information structure, such as cleft sentences, right dislocation, and a variety of phonologically silent structures. This chapter introduces core empirical facts surrounding Japanese information structure, which form the basis of numerous theoretical endeavours. Special attention is paid to the properties of wa-marked phrases. While the particle wa is closely tied to the notion of ‘aboutness’ topic, it has other uses that are not obviously connected to aboutness. The grammar of wa-marking also figures prominently in the discussion of a few additional issues that the chapter addresses, namely contrastiveness and its possible link to scalar implicature, and the recursively/embeddability of topicality in the context of ‘embedded root phenomena’.