bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The role of dietary protein in optimizing muscle mass, function and health outcomes in older individuals
Authors: Wolfe Robert R. 
Published: October 2012

The determination of whether increased dietary protein can positively affect health outcomes is hindered by the absence of prospective, randomized trials directly addressing this issue in which all pertinent variables are controlled. Consequently, we can only address the question deductively by considering the support for the rationale underlying the notion of a beneficial effect of increased dietary protein intake. With regard to health outcomes, we have focused on older individuals. Muscle mass and function are progressively lost with aging, so that by the age of 60 many individuals have reached a threshold where function begins to be affected. An association between reduced muscle mass and strength and unfavourable health outcomes is more likely to be revealed in individuals who have significant decrements in muscle mass and strength. In this article support for the rationale underlying the notion of a beneficial effect of increased dietary protein intake is considered. Dietary protein intake, and the resulting increased availability of plasma amino acids, stimulates muscle protein synthesis. If all other variables are controlled, increased muscle protein synthesis leads to improved muscle mass, strength and function over time. Increased muscle mass, strength and function are related to improved health outcomes in older individuals. Since adverse effects of reasonable increases in protein intake above the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of 0·8 g protein/kg/day have not been reported, it is reasonable to conclude that the optimal protein intake for an older individual is greater than the RDA.
Comparison of catechin profiles in human plasma and urine after single dosing and regular intake of green tea (Camellia sinensis)
Authors: Fung Shing-Tack , Ho Cyrus K. , Choi Siu-Wai , Chung Wai-Yuen , Benzie Iris F. F. 
Published: October 2012

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) catechin profiles in plasma and urine following single dosing and regular ingestion of green tea are not clear. We performed a placebo-controlled intervention study with sixteen healthy volunteers to determine changes in total and free catechins after a single dose and following 1 week of twice-daily green tea. Blood and urine samples were collected before (fasting) and after (60 and 120 min for blood; 90 and 180 min for urine) drinking 200 ml of 1·5 % (w/v) green tea or water (n 8 each), and fasting samples were again collected after 7 d of 150 ml of 1 % (w/v) supplemental green tea or water twice daily. After a 4-week washout, subjects were crossed onto the other treatment and procedures repeated. Plasma results at 1 h post-ingestion showed elevated (P< 0·05) mean epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG; 310 (sd 117) nmol/l; all in free form), epigallocatechin (EGC; 192 (sd 67) nmol/l; 30 % free) and epicatechin gallate (ECG; 134 (sd 51) nmol/l; 75 % free). Fasting plasma after 7 d of regular intake showed increased (P< 0·05) EGCG (80 v. 15 nmol/l at baseline) and ECG (120 v. 40 nmol/l), with ≥ 90 % of both in their conjugated forms. Total EGC was < 10 nmol/l. Post-ingestion conjugation and renal loss of EGC and epicatechin were rapid and high, but were negligible for EGCG and ECG. In the green tea consumed, the content was EGCG >EGC >ECG, and the acute plasma response mirrored this. However, after chronic consumption there was almost no EGC found in fasting plasma, some EGCG was present, but a rather high level of ECG was maintained.
The implications of a changing climate on agricultural land classification in England and Wales
Authors: KEAY C. A. , JONES R. J. A. , HANNAM J. A. , BARRIE I. A. 
Published: October 2012

SUMMARYThe agricultural land classification (ALC) of England and Wales is a formal method of assessing the quality of agricultural land and guiding future land use. It assesses several soil, site and climate criteria and classifies land according to whichever is the most limiting. A common approach is required for calculating the necessary agroclimatic parameters over time in order to determine the effects of changes in the climate on land grading. In the present paper, climatic parameters required by the ALC classification have been re-calculated from a range of primary climate data, available from the Meteorological Office's UKCP09 historical dataset, provided as 5 km rasters for every month from 1914 to 2000. Thirty-year averages of the various agroclimatic properties were created for 1921–50, 1931–60, 1941–70, 1951–80, 1961–90 and 1971–2000. Soil records from the National Soil Inventory on a 5 km grid across England and Wales were used to determine the required soil and site parameters for determining ALC grade. Over the 80-year period it was shown that the overall climate was coolest during 1951–80. However, the area of land estimated in retrospect as ‘best and most versatile (BMV) land’ (Grades 1, 2 and 3a) probably peaked in the 1951–80 period as the cooler climate resulted in fewer droughty soils, more than offsetting the land which was downgraded by the climate being too cold. Overall there has been little change in the proportions of ALC grades among the six periods once all 10 factors (climate, gradient, flooding, texture, depth, stoniness, chemical, soil wetness, droughtiness and erosion) are taken into account. This is because it is rare for changes in climate variables all to point in the same direction in terms of ALC. Thus, a reduction in rainfall could result in higher grades in wetter areas but lead to lower classification in drier areas.
Shukla–Eliasson attractive force: Revisited
Authors: AKBARI-MOGHANJOUGHI M. 
Published: October 2012

AbstractBy investigating the dielectric response of the Fermi–Dirac plasma in the linear limit and evaluating the electrostatic potential around the positive stationary test charge, we find that the Shukla–Eliasson attractive force is present for the plasma density range expected in the interiors of large planets for a wide range of plasma atomic number. This research, which is based on the generalized electron Fermi-momentum, further confirms the existence of the newly discovered Lennard-Jones-like attractive potential and its inevitable role in plasma crystallization in the cores of planets. Moreover, it is observed that the characteristics of the attractive potential are strongly sensitive to the variation of plasma density and composition. Current research can also have applications in the study of strong laser-matter interactions and inertially confined plasmas.
Why Didn't Colonial Indonesia Have a Competitive Cotton Textile Industry?
Authors: VAN DER ENG PIERRE 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThis paper quantifies the consumption and production of cotton textiles at different stages of processing in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era (1820–1941). It discusses the main factors that impeded the development of an internationally competitive cotton textile industry, and concludes that production in the industry increased significantly in Java during 1820–71, and again during 1874–1914 and 1934–41. However, most activity involved finishing of imported cotton cloth to suit local preferences. Spinning and weaving increased only marginally, as domestic production was precluded by the high-labour intensity of small-scale production, marginal local raw cotton production, and competitive international markets for yarn and cloth. Unfavourable and fluctuating real exchange rates discouraged investment in modern spinning and weaving ventures until trade protection and technological change in small-scale weaving caused rapid growth of domestic production after 1934.
Alternative NADH dehydrogenase (NDH2): intermembrane-space-facing counterpart of mitochondrial complex I in the procyclicTrypanosoma brucei
Authors: VERNER ZDENĚK , ŠKODOVÁ INGRID , POLÁKOVÁ SIMONA , ĎURIŠOVÁ-BENKOVIČOVÁ VLADISLAVA , HORVÁTH ANTON , LUKEŠ JULIUS 
Published: October 2012

SUMMARYThe respiratory chain of the procyclic stage ofTrypanosoma bruceicontains the standard complexes I through IV, as well as several alternative enzymes contributing to electron flow. In this work, we studied the function of an alternative NADH : ubiquinone oxidoreductase (NDH2). Depletion of target mRNA was achieved using RNA interference (RNAi). In the non-induced and RNAi-induced cell growth, membrane potential change, alteration in production of reactive oxygen species, overall respiration, enzymatic activities of complexes I, III and/or IV and distribution of NADH : ubiquinone oxidoreductase activities in glycerol gradient fractions were measured. Finally, respiration using different substrates was tested on digitonin-permeabilized cells. The induced RNAi cell line exhibited slower growth, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and lower sensitivity of respiration to inhibitors. Mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was the only enzymatic activity that has significantly changed in the interfered cells. This elevation as well as a decrease of respiration using NADH was confirmed on digitonin-permeabilized cells. The data presented here together with previously published findings on complex I led us to propose that NDH2 is the major NADH : ubiquinone oxidoreductase responsible for cytosolic and not for mitochondrial NAD+regeneration in the mitochondrion of procyclicT. brucei.
Trends in heavy ion interaction with plasma
Authors: Zhao Yongtao , Hu Zhanghu , Cheng Rui , Wang Yuyu , Peng Haibo , Golubev Alexander , Zhang Xiaoan , Lu Xia , Zhang Dacheng , Zhou Xianming , Wang Xing , Xu Ge , Ren Jieru , Li Yongfeng , Lei Yu , Sun Yuanbo , Zhao Jiangtao , Wang Tieshan , Wang Younian , Xiao Guoqing 
Published: October 2012

AbstractIn this work, we review current trends in China to investigate beam plasma interaction phenomena. Recent progresses in China on low energy heavy ions and plasma interaction, ion beam-plasma interactions under the influences of magnetic fields, high energy heavy ion radiography through marginal range method, energy deposition of highly charged ions on surfaces and Raman spectroscopy of surfaces after irradiation of highly charged ions are presented.
X-ray emission induced by 1.2–3.6 MeV Kr13+ions
Authors: Mei Cexiang , Zhao Yongtao , Zhang Xiaoan , Ren Jieru , Zhou Xianming , Wang Xing , Lie Yu , Liang Changhui , Li Yaozong , Xiao Guoqing 
Published: October 2012

AbstractX-ray emission from Kr13+ions in the energy range 1.2–3.6 MeV in steps of 0.6 MeV impacting on an Au target was investigated on electron cyclotron resonance ion source at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou. It was found that a shift of the X-ray lines to the higher energy side occurred. We measured the relationship between the characteristic of X-ray yield of Au M X-rays and Kr L X-rays as a function of incident energy. Furthermore, M-shell X-ray production cross-section of Au induced by Kr13+was measured. The measured cross-section of target is compared to the classical binary-encounter approximation and plane-wave-born approximation theoretical model, which is a significant different between experimental and theoretical model.
Classification of potassium and chlorine ionic currents in retinal ganglion cell line (RGC-5) by whole-cell patch clamp
Authors: WANG SHU-JIE , XIE LAI-HUA , HENG BIN , LIU YAN-QIANG 
Published: October 2012

AbstractRetinal ganglion cell line (RGC-5) has been widely used as a valuable model for studying pathophysiology and physiology of retinal ganglion cellsin vitro.However, the electrophysiological characteristics, especially a thorough classification of ionic currents in the cell line, remain to be elucidated in details. In the present study, we determined the resting membrane potential (RMP) in RGC-5 cell line and then identified different types of ionic currents by using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique. The RMP recorded in the cell line was between −30 and −6 mV (−17.6 ± 2.6 mV,n= 10). We observed the following voltage-gated ion channel currents: (1) inwardly rectifying Cl−current (ICl,ir), which could be blocked by Zn2+; (2) Ca2+-activated Cl−current (ICl,Ca), which was sensitive to extracellular Ca2+and could be inhibited by disodium 4,4’-diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2’-disulfonate; (3) inwardly rectifying K+currents (IK1), which could be blocked by Ba2+; (4) a small amount of delayed rectifier K+current (IK). On the other hand, the voltage-gated sodium channels current (INa) and transient outward potassium channels current (IA) were not observed in this cell line. These results further characterize the ionic currents in the RGC-5 cell line and are beneficial for future studies especially on ion channel (patho)physiology and pharmacology in the RGC-5 cell line.
Altered Wnt signalling in the teenage suicide brain: focus on glycogen synthase kinase-3β and β-catenin
Authors: Ren Xinguo , Rizavi Hooriyah S. , Khan Mansoor A. , Dwivedi Yogesh , Pandey Ghanshyam N. 
Published: October 2012

AbstractGlycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β and β-catenin are important components of the Wnt signalling pathway, which is involved in numerous physiological functions such as cognition, brain development and cell survival. Their abnormalities have been implicated in mood disorders and schizophrenia. Teenage suicide is a major public health concern; however, very little is known about its neurobiology. In order to examine if abnormalities of GSK-3β and β-catenin are associated with teenage suicide, we determined the gene and protein expression of GSK-3β and β-catenin in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus obtained from 24 teenage suicide victims and 24 normal control subjects. Protein expression was determined using Western blot with specific antibodies and gene expression (mRNA levels) was determined using the real-time polymerase chain reaction method. No significant change was observed in the GSK-3β protein levels either in the PFC or hippocampus of suicide victims compared to controls. However, protein levels of pGSK-3β-ser9 were significantly decreased in the PFC and hippocampus of suicide victims compared to normal controls. We also found that GSK-3β mRNA levels were significantly decreased in the PFC but not in the hippocampus of teenage suicide victims compared to controls. Mean protein and mRNA levels of β-catenin were significantly decreased in both the PFC and hippocampus of teenage suicide group compared to controls. The observation that there is a decrease in β-catenin and pGSK-3β-ser9 in the PFC and hippocampus of teenage suicide victims does indicate a disturbance in the Wnt signalling pathway in teenage suicide.
Transforming floundering into success
Authors: NAISH LEE 
Published: October 2012

AbstractWe show how logic programs with “delays” can be transformed to programs without delays in a way that preserves information concerning floundering (also known as deadlock). This allows a declarative (model-theoretic), bottom-up or goal-independent approach to be used for analysis and debugging of properties related to floundering. We rely on some previously introduced restrictions on delay primitives and a key observation which allows properties such as groundness to be analysed by approximating the (ground) success set.
Redundant Sudoku rules
Authors: DEMOEN BART , GARCIA DE LA BANDA MARIA 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThe rules of Sudoku are often specified using 27 all_different constraints, referred to as the big constraints. Using graphical proofs and exploratory logic programming, the following main and new result is obtained: Many subsets of six of these big constraints are redundant (i.e., they are entailed by the remaining 21 constraints), and six is maximal (i.e., removing more than six constraints is not possible while maintaining equivalence). The corresponding result for binary inequality constraints, referred to as the small constraints, is stated as a conjecture.
Rewriting and narrowing for constructor systems with call-time choice semantics
Authors: LÓPEZ-FRAGUAS FRANCISCO J. , MARTIN-MARTIN ENRIQUE , RODRÍGUEZ-HORTALÁ JUAN , SÁNCHEZ-HERNÁNDEZ JAIME 
Published: October 2012

AbstractNon-confluent and non-terminating {constructor-based term rewriting systems are useful for the purpose of specification and programming. In particular, existing functional logic languages use such kinds of rewrite systems to define possibly non-strict non-deterministic functions. The semantics adopted for non-determinism iscall-time choice, whose combination with non-strictness is a non-trivial issue, addressed years ago from a semantic point of view with the Constructor-based Rewriting Logic (CRWL), a well-known semantic framework commonly accepted as suitable semantic basis of modern functional logic languages. A drawback of CRWL is that it does not come with a proper notion of one-step reduction, which would be very useful to understand and reason about how computations proceed. In this paper, we develop thoroughly the theory for the first-order version of let-rewriting, a simple reduction notion close to that of classical term rewriting, but extended with a let-binding construction to adequately express the combination of call-time choice with non-strict semantics. Let-rewriting can be seen as a particular textual presentation of term graph rewriting. We investigate the properties of let-rewriting, most remarkably their equivalence with respect to a conservative extension of the CRWL-semantics coping with let-bindings, and we show by some case studies that having two interchangeable formal views (reduction/semantics) of the same language is a powerful reasoning tool. After that, we provide a notion of let-narrowing, which is adequate for call-time choice as proved by soundness and completeness results of let-narrowing with respect to let-rewriting. Moreover, we relate those let-rewriting and let-narrowing relations (and hence CRWL) with ordinary term rewriting and narrowing, providing in particular soundness and completeness of let-rewriting with respect to term rewriting for a class of programs which are deterministic in a semantic sense.
China's role in WTO dispute settlement
Authors: KENNEDY MATTHEW 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThis study describes and analyzes trends in China's participation in the WTO dispute settlement system during the first ten years of its membership. China has used the system to challenge differentiated treatment of its exports by its two largest trading partners, a theme related to sensitive aspects of its accession negotiations. The study reviews the record of China's conformity to WTO dispute settlement practices, and its contribution to their development, and finds that China is playing the role of a ‘system-maintainer’. The study concludes by considering a future challenge that the emergence of this large new player may pose for the system.
A scaling model for severity of operational losses using generalized additive models for location scale and shape (GAMLSS)
Authors: Ganegoda Amandha , Evans John 
Published: October 2012

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the problem of how to combine operational losses collected from various banks of different sizes and loss reporting thresholds in order to estimate the distribution of operational loss severities for a bank of a given size. We model the severity of operational losses by using the extreme value theory to account for the reporting bias of the external data, and a regression analysis based on the GAMLSS framework to model the scaling properties of operational losses. In contrast to previous studies on the scaling problem, our analysis gives particular emphasis to the scaling properties of the tail of the loss distribution. Contrary to existing knowledge, we find that the size of a bank is an important determinant of the severity of operational losses and that the tail index of the distribution is negatively correlated with the size of the bank. The results indicate that for very large banks, distribution of the operational loss severity can be extremely heavy tailed (i.e. tail index less than 1), a finding which have significant implications for capital calculation as well as for risk management. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that the capital estimates provided by our model is consistent with the industry standards and the model can be used by individual banks to simulate data to complement their internal data.
Vibrational mode frequencies of H4SiO4, D4SiO4, H6Si2O7, and H6Si3O9 in aqueous environment, obtained from ab initio molecular dynamics
Authors: Spiekermann Georg , Steele-MacInnis Matthew , Kowalski Piotr M. , Schmidt Christian , Jahn Sandro 
Published: October 2012

We report the vibrational properties of H4SiO4, D4SiO4, H6Si2O7, and H6Si3O9 in aqueous solution at 300 K and 1000 K, obtained from the combination of ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) and a mode-decomposition approach. This combination yields vibrational subspectra for selected vibrational modes at finite temperatures. We also performed normal-mode analysis (NMA) on numerous configurations from the same MD run to sample the effect of the variable molecular environment. We found good agreement between both approaches. The strongest effect of temperature is on the SiOH bending mode δSiOH, which is at about 1145 cm−1 in solution at 300 K, opposed to about 930 cm−1 in solution at 1000 K. The frequency of the δSiOH vibration also depends on environment, shifting from 1145 cm−1 in solution to about 845 cm−1 in the gas-phase. We found both in the mode-decomposition approach and in multiple-configuration NMA that the H6Si2O7 dimer shows a vibrational mode at about 790 cm−1, which we consider to be responsible for a hitherto unexplained shoulder of the monomer Raman band at 770 cm−1 in dilute silica solutions. Our results demonstrate the importance of temperature and solvation environment in calculations that aim to support the interpretation of experimental Raman spectra of dissolved silica.
A functional promoter polymorphism of SLC2A4 is associated with aerobic endurance in a Chinese population
Authors: Xia Xiaohui , Hu Yang , Xu Liang , Chen Ting 
Published: October 2012

AbstractThe G/A mutation in SLC2A4 promoter, rs5418, was investigated to assess the relationship between the SLC2A4 gene and aerobic endurance in the muscle uptake of glucose. Genotypic/allelic frequencies of rs5418 in SLC2A4 in 102 top‐level long‐distance runners (53 men and 49 women) were compared with those of 206 healthy controls (118 men and 88 women) from the same ethnic background (Han Chinese). The functional significance of rs5418 was analysed using the dual‐luciferase reporter assay system. The A allele of SLC2A4 rs5418 was overrepresented in athletes (61.8%) compared with that in the controls (45.6%; P<0.05, power = 0.989), and the AA genotype in athletes (74.5%) was higher than that in the controls (66.0%; P<0.05, power = 0.999). The luciferase reporter vector containing the SLC2A4 promoter with rs5418‐A alleles produced significantly greater relative luciferase activity (19.49±4.41) than that with rs5418‐G alleles (13.04±4.45; P<0.05, power = 0.867). Our findings suggest that the AA genotype and A allele of SLC2A4 rs5418 were associated with top‐level endurance performance in the northern Han Chinese population. The molecular mechanism was based on the functional mutation that changed the activity of the promoter, thereby affecting gene expression.