bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
TNF-α regulates the proteolytic degradation of ST6Gal-1 and endothelial cell-cell junctions through upregulating expression of BACE1
Authors: Deng Xiao , Zhang Jun , Liu Yan , Chen Linmu , Yu Chao 
Published: January 2017

AbstractEndothelial dysfunction and monocyte adhesion to vascular endothelial cells are two critical steps in atherosclerosis development, and emerging evidence suggests that protein sialylation is involved in these processes. However, the mechanism underlying this phenomenon remains incompletely elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that treatment with the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α disrupted vascular endothelial cell-cell tight junctions and promoted monocyte endothelial cell adhesion. Western blotting and Sambucus nigra lectin (SNA) blotting analyses revealed that TNF-α treatment decreased α-2, 6-sialic acid transferase 1 (ST6Gal-I) levels and downregulated VE-Cadherin α-2, 6 sialylation. Further analysis demonstrated that TNF-α treatment upregulated β-site amyloid precursor protein enzyme 1 (BACE1) expression, thus resulting in sequential ST6Gal-I proteolytic degradation. Furthermore, our results revealed that PKC signaling cascades were involved in TNF-α-induced BACE1 upregulation. Together, these results indicated that the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α impairs endothelial tight junctions and promotes monocyte-endothelial cell adhesion by upregulating BACE1 expression through activating PKC signaling and sequentially cleaving ST6Gal-I. Thus, inhibition of BACE1 expression may be a new approach for treating atherosclerosis.
Adjuvant and carrier protein-dependent T-cell priming promotes a robust antibody response against the Plasmodium falciparum Pfs25 vaccine candidate
Authors: Radtke Andrea J. , Anderson Charles F. , Riteau Nicolas , Rausch Kelly , Scaria Puthupparampil , Kelnhofer Emily R. , Howard Randall F. , Sher Alan , Germain Ronald N. , Duffy Patrick 
Published: January 2017

AbstractHumoral immune responses have the potential to maintain protective antibody levels for years due to the immunoglobulin-secreting activity of long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs). However, many subunit vaccines under development fail to generate robust LLPC responses, and therefore a variety of strategies are being employed to overcome this limitation, including conjugation to carrier proteins and/or formulation with potent adjuvants. Pfs25, an antigen expressed on malaria zygotes and ookinetes, is a leading transmission blocking vaccine (TBV) candidate for Plasmodium falciparum. Currently, the conjugate vaccine Pfs25-EPA/Alhydrogel is in Phase 1 clinical trials in the USA and Africa. Thus far, it has proven to be safe and immunogenic, but it is expected that a more potent formulation will be required to establish antibody titers that persist for several malaria transmission seasons. We sought to determine the contribution of carrier determinants and adjuvants in promoting high-titer, long-lived antibody responses against Pfs25. We found that both adjuvants and carrier proteins influence the magnitude and capacity of Pfs25-specific humoral responses to remain above a protective level. Furthermore, a liposomal adjuvant with QS21 and a TLR4 agonist (GLA-LSQ) was especially effective at inducing T follicular helper (Tfh) and LLPC responses to Pfs25 when coupled to immunogenic carrier proteins.
Advances and Environmental Conditions of Spring Migration Phenology of American White Pelicans
Authors: King D. Tommy , Wang Guiming , Yang Zhiqiang , Fischer Justin W. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractSpring migration phenology of birds has advanced under warming climate. Migration timing of short-distance migrants is believed to be responsive to environmental changes primarily under exogenous control. However, understanding the ecological causes of the advancement in avian spring migration phenology is still a challenge due to the lack of long-term precise location data. We used 11 years of Global Positioning System relocation data to determine four different migration dates of the annual migration cycle of the American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), a short-distance migrant. We also tested the hypothesis that increases in winter temperature and precipitation on the wintering grounds would advance pelican spring migration. Pelican spring departures and arrivals advanced steadily from 2002 to 2011. Spring departure timing exhibited high repeatability at the upper end of migration timing repeatability reported in literature. However, individual spring departure and arrival dates were not related to winter daily temperature, total winter precipitation, and detrended vegetation green-up dates indexed by the normalized difference vegetation index. Despite high repeatability, the observed between-year variation of spring departure dates was still sufficient for the advancement of spring departure timing.
Evaluation of hyperspectral LiDAR for monitoring rice leaf nitrogen by comparison with multispectral LiDAR and passive spectrometer
Authors: Sun Jia , Shi Shuo , Gong Wei , Yang Jian , Du Lin , Song Shalei , Chen Biwu , Zhang Zhenbing 
Published: January 2017

AbstractFast and nondestructive assessment of leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC) is critical for crop growth diagnosis and nitrogen management guidance. In the last decade, multispectral LiDAR (MSL) systems have promoted developments in the earth and ecological sciences with the additional spectral information. With more wavelengths than MSL, the hyperspectral LiDAR (HSL) system provides greater possibilities for remote sensing crop physiological conditions. This study compared the performance of ASD FieldSpec Pro FR, MSL, and HSL for estimating rice (Oryza sativa) LNC. Spectral reflectance and biochemical composition were determined in rice leaves of different cultivars (Yongyou 4949 and Yangliangyou 6) throughout two growing seasons (2014–2015). Results demonstrated that HSL provided the best indicator for predicting rice LNC, yielding a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.74 and a root mean square error of 2.80 mg/g with a support vector machine, similar to the performance of ASD (R2 = 0.73). Estimation of rice LNC could be significantly improved with the finer spectral resolution of HSL compared with MSL (R2 = 0.56).
Chemical Isotope Labeling LC-MS for Monitoring Disease Progression and Treatment in Animal Models: Plasma Metabolomics Study of Osteoarthritis Rat Model
Authors: Chen Deying , Su Xiaoling , Wang Nan , Li Yunong , Yin Hua , Li Liang , Li Lanjuan 
Published: January 2017

AbstractWe report a chemical isotope labeling (CIL) liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method generally applicable for tracking metabolomic changes from samples collected in an animal model for studying disease development and treatment. A rat model of surgically induced osteoarthritis (OA) was used as an example to illustrate the workflow and technical performance. Experimental duplicate analyses of 234 plasma samples were carried out using dansylation labeling LC-MS targeting the amine/phenol submetabolome. These samples composed of 39 groups (6 rats per group) were collected at multiple time points with sham operation, OA control group, and OA rats with treatment, separately, using glucosamine/Celecoxib and three traditional Chinese medicines (Epimedii folium, Chuanxiong Rhizoma and Bushen-Huoxue). In total, 3893 metabolites could be detected and 2923 of them were consistently detected in more than 50% of the runs. This high-coverage submetabolome dataset could be used to track OA progression and treatment. Many differentiating metabolites were found and 11 metabolites including 2-aminoadipic acid, saccharopine and GABA were selected as potential biomarkers of OA progression and OA treatment. This study illustrates that CIL LC-MS is a very useful technique for monitoring incremental metabolomic changes with high coverage and accuracy for studying disease progression and treatment in animal models.
Coulomb excitations of monolayer germanene
Authors: Shih Po-Hsin , Chiu Yu-Huang , Wu Jhao-Ying , Shyu Feng-Lin , Lin Ming-Fa 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe feature-rich electronic excitations of monolayer germanene lie in the significant spin-orbit coupling and the buckled structure. The collective and single-particle excitations are diversified by the magnitude and direction of transferred momentum, the Fermi energy and the gate voltage. There are four kinds of plasmon modes, according to the unique frequency- and momentum-dependent phase diagrams. They behave as two-dimensional acoustic modes at long wavelength. However, for the larger momenta, they might change into another kind of undamped plasmons, become the seriously suppressed modes in the heavy intraband e–h excitations, keep the same undamped plasmons, or decline and then vanish in the strong interband e–h excitations. Germanene, silicene and graphene are quite different from one another in the main features of the diverse plasmon modes.
Economic Development and Forest Cover: Evidence from Satellite Data
Authors: Crespo Cuaresma Jesús , Danylo Olha , Fritz Steffen , McCallum Ian , Obersteiner Michael , See Linda , Walsh Brian 
Published: January 2017

AbstractOngoing deforestation is a pressing, global environmental issue with direct impacts on climate change, carbon emissions, and biodiversity. There is an intuitive link between economic development and overexploitation of natural resources including forests, but this relationship has proven difficult to establish empirically due to both inadequate data and convoluting geo-climactic factors. In this analysis, we use satellite data on forest cover along national borders in order to study the determinants of deforestation differences across countries. Controlling for trans-border geo-climactic differences, we find that income per capita is the most robust determinant of differences in cross-border forest cover. We show that the marginal effect of per capita income growth on forest cover is strongest at the earliest stages of economic development, and weakens in more advanced economies, presenting some of the strongest evidence to date for the existence of at least half of an environmental Kuznets curve for deforestation.
Non-invasive optical estimate of tissue composition to differentiate malignant from benign breast lesions: A pilot study
Authors: Taroni Paola , Paganoni Anna Maria , Ieva Francesca , Pifferi Antonio , Quarto Giovanna , Abbate Francesca , Cassano Enrico , Cubeddu Rinaldo 
Published: January 2017

AbstractSeveral techniques are being investigated as a complement to screening mammography, to reduce its false-positive rate, but results are still insufficient to draw conclusions. This initial study explores time domain diffuse optical imaging as an adjunct method to classify non-invasively malignant vs benign breast lesions. We estimated differences in tissue composition (oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin, lipid, water, collagen) and absorption properties between lesion and average healthy tissue in the same breast applying a perturbative approach to optical images collected at 7 red-near infrared wavelengths (635–1060 nm) from subjects bearing breast lesions. The Discrete AdaBoost procedure, a machine-learning algorithm, was then exploited to classify lesions based on optically derived information (either tissue composition or absorption) and risk factors obtained from patient’s anamnesis (age, body mass index, familiarity, parity, use of oral contraceptives, and use of Tamoxifen). Collagen content, in particular, turned out to be the most important parameter for discrimination. Based on the initial results of this study the proposed method deserves further investigation.
Clinical variations in Parkinson’s disease patients with or without REM sleep behaviour disorder: a meta-analysis
Authors: Zhu Ruo-lin , Xie Cheng-juan , Hu Pan-pan , Wang Kai 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThis study aimed to evaluate the clinical variations in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) with (PDRBD) or without REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) (Non-RBD), and PDRBD patients were classified into Confirmed-RBD (definite diagnosis with polysomnography, PSG) and Probable-RBD (without PSG re-confirmation). The clinical difference between the groups of patients was measured as an odds ratio (OR) or standardized mean difference (SMD, Cohen d). A total of 31 articles with data from 5,785 participants were obtained for our analysis. Overall, the occurrence of Confirmed-RBD was more frequent in male patients (OR = 1.25; p = 0.038), elderly patients (SMD = 0.25; p = 0.000), and patients with longer disease duration (SMD = 0.30; p = 0.000), increased Hoehn-Yahr scale (SMD = 0.30; p = 0.000), and higher UPDRS-III score (SMD = 0.38; p = 0.002). On the other hand, the frequency of Probable-RBD was increased with disease duration (SMD = 0.29; p = 0.000), Hoehn-Yahr scale (SMD = 0.30; p = 0.000), and UPDRS-III score (SMD = 0.26; p = 0.001). Our study indicate that PDRBD patients may have different clinical features compared to patients with Non-RBD.
Comparative genomics of canine-isolated Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis from an endemic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Governador Valadares, southeastern Brazil
Authors: Valdivia Hugo O. , Almeida Laila V. , Roatt Bruno M. , Reis-Cunha João Luís , Pereira Agnes Antônia Sampaio , Gontijo Celia , Fujiwara Ricardo Toshio , Reis Alexandre B. , Sanders Mandy J. , Cotton James A. , Bartholomeu Daniella C. 
Published: January 2017

AbstractLeishmaniasis is a highly diverse group of diseases caused by kinetoplastid of the genus Leishmania. These parasites are taxonomically diverse, with human pathogenic species separated into two subgenera according to their development site inside the alimentary tract of the sand fly insect vector. The disease encompasses a variable spectrum of clinical manifestations with tegumentary or visceral symptoms. Among the causative species in Brazil, Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis is an important etiological agent of human cutaneous leishmaniasis that accounts for more than 8% of all cases in endemic regions. L. (L.) amazonensis is generally found in the north and northeast regions of Brazil. Here, we report the first isolation of L. (L.) amazonensis from dogs with clinical manifestations of visceral leishmaniasis in Governador Valadares, an endemic focus in the southeastern Brazilian State of Minas Gerais where L. (L.) infantum is also endemic. These isolates were characterized in terms of SNPs, chromosome and gene copy number variations, confirming that they are closely related to a previously sequenced isolate obtained in 1973 from the typical Northern range of this species. The results presented in this article will increase our knowledge of L. (L.) amazonensis-specific adaptations to infection, parasite survival and the transmission of this Amazonian species in a new endemic area of Brazil.
Dip-coated PbS/PVP nanocomposite films with tunable band gap
Authors: Patel Mitesh H. , Chaudhuri Tapas K. , Patel Vaibhav K. , Shripathi T. , Deshpande U. , Lalla N. P. 
Published: January 2017

PbS/PVP nanocomposite films with tunable band gap from 0.8 to 1.92 eV.
Is it syntactic or pragmatic?
Authors: Kobayashi Ryoichiro 
Published: January 2017

AbstractThe main aim of this study is to reconsiderTomioka’s (2007)pragmatic account of thelf-intervention effects (IE), and to claim that Polarity Sensitive Items (psis) are genuine syntactic interveners. I will examine the parallelism amongpsis in IE configurations, which is distinct from other interveners, and further claim that the study of IE should not be monolithic, but hybrid: Syntacticlf-interveners (psis), blocking scopal interactions/Pragmatic interveners, causing illegal information structures. The predictions will be borne out thatpsis actually cause IE in other contexts as well, which pragmatic accounts cannot explain (Funakoshi & Takahashi 2014). Such hybrid perspectives bring back enormous findings on IE (e.g.lfwh-movement) to the field of syntax, without relegating all of them to pragmatics.
Some notes on animals and plants for Proto-Austronesian speakers
Authors: Li Paul Jen-kuei 
Published: January 2017

Abstract
Man’s life has always depended on animals and plants, a dependency most directly relevant to primitive societies. What animals and plants were available to the Proto-Austronesian (PAN) people of Taiwan 5,000 BP and earlier? What animals and plants had been domesticated at that stage? What animals and plants were endemic, with other alien species introduced to the island at later stages? In this paper I shall address myself to such problems, drawing upon various disciplines, including linguistics and archaeology, as well as zoology and botany. Lists of PAN cognates for animals, plants, and a few related cognates are given in the appendices.
Development of ‘say’-derived constructions
Authors: Tamaji Mizuho 
Published: January 2017

Abstract

Totemo in contemporary Japanese is a degree adverb (intensifier). Previous studies have reported that totemo derived from the adverb totemo kakutemo, which means ‘either way’ (and hence is a bipolar item) in classical Japanese. These studies also reported that totemo became a negative polarity item (an adverb modifying words for negative evaluation), but then shifted to a positive polarity item (an adverb modifying words for positive evaluation), and that counter-expectation factors played an important role in this shift. It is reported that the ‘say’-derived complementizer develops into a hearsay evidential marker, counter-expectation marker, and in some cases an intensifier (e.g. Wang et al. 2003) in some languages. Tote in classical Japanese is known as a ‘say’-derived complementizer, but it does not grammaticalize into an intensifier. This study maintains that the intensifier totemo also derived from the verb ‘say’ and the entire process of grammaticalization of totemo may be chronologized as follows: concessive use of quotative > concessive use of hearsay evidential > counter-expectation marker > intensifier. Thus, this study reveals the language-specific development of grammaticalization of the intensifier totemo. We also reveal that a reanalysis of the concessive subordinator and the elision of the complement clause preceding totemo as a sentence initial counter-expectation marker further gave rise to the sentence-medial parenthetical phrase (intensifier) totemo.
Vertical structure of the transition zone from infalling rotating envelope to disc in the Class 0 protostar, IRAS 04368+2557
Authors: Sakai Nami , Oya Yoko , Higuchi Aya E. , Aikawa Yuri , Hanawa Tomoyuki , Ceccarelli Cecilia , Lefloch Bertrand , López-Sepulcre Ana , Watanabe Yoshimasa , Sakai Takeshi , Hirota Tomoya , Caux Emmanuel , Vastel Charlotte , Kahane Claudine , Yamamoto Satoshi 
Published: January 2017

Abstract
We have resolved for the first time the radial and vertical structures of the almost edge-on envelope/disc system of the low-mass Class 0 protostar L1527. For that, we have used Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) observations with a spatial resolution of 0.25 × 0.13 arcsec2 and 0.37 × 0.23 arcsec2 at 0.8 and 1.2 mm, respectively. The L1527 dust continuum emission has a deconvolved size of 78 × 21 au2, and shows a flared disc-like structure. A thin infalling-rotating envelope is seen in the CCH emission outward of about 150 au, and its thickness is increased by a factor of 2 inward of it. This radius lies between the centrifugal radius (200 au) and the centrifugal barrier of the infalling-rotating envelope (100 au). The gas stagnates in front of the centrifugal barrier and moves towards vertical directions. SO emission is concentrated around and inside the centrifugal barrier. The rotation speed of the SO emitting gas is found to be decelerated around the centrifugal barrier. A part of the angular momentum could be extracted by the gas that moves away from the mid-plane around the centrifugal barrier. If this is the case, the centrifugal barrier would be related to the launching mechanism of low-velocity outflows, such as disc winds.
Risk Factors for Influenza-Associated Severe Acute Respiratory Illness Hospitalization in South Africa, 2012–2015
Authors: Tempia Stefano , Walaza Sibongile , Moyes Jocelyn , Cohen Adam L. , von Mollendorf Claire , Treurnicht Florette K. , Venter Marietjie , Pretorius Marthi , Hellferscee Orienka , Mtshali Senzo , Seleka Mpho , Tshangela Akhona , Nguweneza Athermon , McAnerney Johanna M. , Wolter Nicole , von Gottberg Anne , Dawood Halima , Variava Ebrahim , Madhi Shabir A. , Cohen Cheryl 
Published: January 2017

Abstract

Background
Data on risk factors for influenza-associated hospitalizations in low- and middle-income countries are limited.

Methods
We conducted active syndromic surveillance for hospitalized severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and outpatient influenza-like illness (ILI) in 2 provinces of South Africa during 2012–2015. We compared the characteristics of influenza-positive patients with SARI to those with ILI to identify factors associated with severe disease requiring hospitalization, using unconditional logistic regression.

Results
During the study period, influenza virus was detected in 5.9% (110 of 1861) and 15.8% (577 of 3652) of SARI and ILI cases, respectively. On multivariable analysis factors significantly associated with increased risk of influenza-associated SARI hospitalization were as follows: younger and older age (&lt;6 months [adjusted odds ratio {aOR}, 37.6], 6–11 months [aOR, 31.9], 12–23 months [aOR, 22.1], 24–59 months [aOR, 7.1], and ≥65 years [aOR, 40.7] compared with 5–24 years of age), underlying medical conditions (aOR, 4.5), human immunodeficiency virus infection (aOR, 4.3), and Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization density ≥1000 deoxyribonucleic acid copies/mL (aOR, 4.8). Underlying medical conditions in children aged &lt;5 years included asthma (aOR, 22.7), malnutrition (aOR, 2.4), and prematurity (aOR, 4.8); in persons aged ≥5 years, conditions included asthma (aOR, 3.6), diabetes (aOR, 7.1), chronic lung diseases (aOR, 10.7), chronic heart diseases (aOR, 9.6), and obesity (aOR, 21.3). Mine workers (aOR, 13.8) and pregnant women (aOR, 12.5) were also at increased risk for influenza-associated hospitalization.

Conclusions
The risk groups identified in this study may benefit most from annual influenza immunization, and children &lt;6 months of age may be protected through vaccination of their mothers during pregnancy.
Psoriasis Management
Authors: Nicpon Jennifer 
Published: January 2017

ABSTRACT
Psoriasis is a complex inflammatory disorder of the skin that affects up to 3.2% of the people in the United States. It is associated with psoriatic arthritis, a potentially debilitating inflammatory joint condition. Psoriatic patients also have an increased risk of lymphoma, heart disease, Type II diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. The degree to which each patient is affected with and by psoriasis can vary greatly. The treatment available for these patients includes topical products, phototherapy, traditional systemic medications, and biologics. With the high cost of healthcare in the United States, as healthcare providers, we must consider the direct and indirect costs of psoriasis. The annual cost of psoriasis in the United States for the year 2013 was approximately $112 billion. Current guidelines, which utilize evidence-based practice recommendations, help to provide patients with the most cost-effective treatment to yield the best results.