bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Thalidomide for tocilizumab‐resistant ascites with TAFRO syndrome
Authors: Tatekawa Shotaro , Umemura Koji , Fukuyama Ryuichi , Kohno Akio , Taniwaki Masafumi , Kuroda Junya , Morishita Yoshihisa 
Published: April 2015

Key Clinical MessageTAFRO syndrome have been proposed as a rare variant of Castleman's disease. This article reports a case of a 56‐year‐old man with TAFRO syndrome who was successfully treated with thalidomide in spite of the refractoriness to prednisolone and tocilizumab. Thalidomide may be one of the treatment options for TAFRO syndrome.
The impact of electric vehicles on the power market
Authors: Albanese Lorenzo , Ciriminna Rosaria , Meneguzzo Francesco , Pagliaro Mario 
Published: April 2015

AbstractWe investigate the impact of massive electric vehicle (EV) adoption onto the power market, both in the presence and in the absence of significant photovoltaic (PV) generation. Although results are derived taking into consideration Italy's power market, results are of relevance also to other industrialized countries. One of the most important outcomes of the analysis, that is, the synergistic and beneficial effect on the overall energy bill of the concomitant expansion of EVs utilization and the growth of the renewable energy generation, particularly solar photovoltaics. The Conclusions provide arguments for policymakers for further support to sustainable mobility in their regions.
Schmidt‐hammer exposure‐age dating (SHD) of snow‐avalanche impact ramparts in southern Norway: approaches, results and implications for landform age, dynamics and development
Authors: Matthews John A. , McEwen Lindsey J. , Owen Geraint 
Published: April 2015

AbstractSchmidt‐hammer exposure‐age dating (SHD) was applied to the problem of dating the diachronous surfaces of five distal river‐bank boulder ramparts deposited by snow avalanches plunging into the Jostedøla and Sprongdøla rivers in the Jostedalsbreen region of southern Norway. Approaches to local high‐precision linear age calibration, which controlled in different ways for boulder roundness, were developed. The mean age (SHDmean) and the maximum age (SHDmax) of surface boulders were estimated for whole ramparts, crests and distal fringes. Interpretation was further assisted by reference to R‐value distributions. SHDmean ages (with 95% confidence intervals) ranged from 520 ± 270 years to 5375 ± 965 years, whereas SHDmax ages (expected to be exceeded by <5% of surface boulders) ranged from 675 to 9065 years. SHD ages from the Jostedøla ramparts tended to be older than those associated with the Sprongdøla, rampart crests were younger than the respective distal fringes, and use of relatively rounded boulders yielded more consistent SHD ages than angular boulders. The SHDmean ages indicate differences in recent levels of snow‐avalanche activity between ramparts and provide insights into rampart dynamics as boulders are deposited on rampart crests and, in smaller numbers, on the distal fringes. SHDmax ages provide minimum age estimates of rampart age (i.e. the time elapsed since the ramparts began to form) and suggest that at least some of the ramparts have been developing since the early Holocene. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nanotopographical control of human embryonic stem cell differentiation into definitive endoderm
Authors: Ghanian Mohammad Hossein , Farzaneh Zahra , Barzin Jalal , Zandi Mojgan , Kazemi‐Ashtiani Mohammad , Alikhani Mehdi , Ehsani Morteza , Baharvand Hossein 
Published: April 2015

AbstractDerivation of definitive endoderm (DE) from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can address the needs of regenerative medicine for endoderm‐derived organs such as the pancreas and liver. Fibrous substrates which topographically recapitulate native extracellular matrix have been known to promote the stem cell differentiation. However, the optimal fiber diameter remains to be determined for the desired differentiation. Here, we have developed a simple method to precisely fabricate electrospun poly(ε‐caprolactone) fibers with four distinct average diameters at nano‐ and microscale levels (200, 500, 800, and 1300 nm). Human ESCs were cultured as clumps or single cells and induced into DE differentiation to determine the optimal topography leading to the promoted differentiation compared with planar culture plates. Gene expression analysis of the DE‐induced cells showed significant upregulation of DE‐specific genes exclusively on the 200‐nm fibers. By Western blot analysis, significant expression of DE‐specific proteins was found when hESCs were cultured on the 200 nm substrate as single cells rather than clumps, probably due to more efficient cell–matrix interaction realized by morphological observations of the cell colonies. The results indicated that nanofibrillar substrates, only at ultrathin fiber diameters, provided a better environment for DE differentiation of hESC, which holds great promise in prospective tissue engineering applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 103A: 3539–3553, 2015.
Improved regeneration potential of fibroblasts using ascorbic acid‐blended nanofibrous scaffolds
Authors: Sridhar Sreepathy , Venugopal Jayarama Reddy , Ramakrishna Seeram 
Published: April 2015

AbstractTwo‐dimensional scaffolds, three‐dimensional scaffolds, and dermal substitutes are extensively used for biomedical applications in skin tissue regeneration. Not much explored synthetic polymers, like poly(l‐lactic acid)‐co‐poly‐(ε‐caprolactone) (PLACL), natural polymers, like silk fibroin (SF), and active inducing agents, such as ascorbic acid (AA) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH), represent a favorable matrix for fabricating dermal substitutes to engineer artificial skin for wound repair. The profligate nature of residing skin cells near the wound site is a paramount to survival and also regulating stem cells and other cellular networks and mechanical forces. PLACL/SF/TCH/AA nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated by electrospinning and characterized for fiber morphology, membrane porosity, wettability, and significant subchains using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for culturing human‐derived dermal fibroblasts. The PLACL, PLACL/SF, PLACL/SF/TCH, and PLACL/SF/TCH/AA scaffolds obtained diameters between 250 and 340 nm. The secretion of collagen by the laboratory‐grown fibroblasts over the AA‐blended scaffolds was found to be significantly higher compared with that of other scaffolds. The obtained results positively prove that introduction of naturally secreting compounds (AA) by the cells into the nanofibrous scaffolds will favor cell's microenvironment and eventually leads to complete tissue regeneration. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 103A: 3431–3440, 2015.
Predicting neonatal pharmacokinetics from prior data using population pharmacokinetic modeling
Authors: Wang Jian , Edginton Andrea N. , Avant Debbie , Burckart Gilbert J. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractSelection of the first dose for neonates in clinical trials is very challenging. The objective of this analysis was to assess if a population pharmacokinetic (PK) model developed with data from infants to adults is predictive of neonatal clearance and to evaluate what age range of prior PK data is needed for informative modeling to predict neonate exposure. Two sources of pharmacokinetic data from 8 drugs were used to develop population models: (1) data from all patients > 2 years of age, and (2) data from all nonneonatal patients aged > 28 days. The prediction error based on the models using data from subjects > 2 years of age showed bias toward overprediction, with median average fold error (AFE) for CL predicted/CLobserved greater than 1.5. The bias for predicting neonatal PK was improved when using all prior PK data including infants as opposed to an assessment without infant PK data, with the median AFE 0.91. As an increased number of pediatric trials are conducted in neonates under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, dose selection should be based on the best estimates of neonatal pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics prior to conducting efficacy and safety studies in neonates.
Effects of H2S annealing on Cu‐Sn‐S thin films prepared from vacuum‐evaporated Cu‐Sn precursor
Authors: Miyata Yuji , Nakamura Shigeyuki , Akaki Yoji 
Published: April 2015

AbstractIn this work, Cu‐Sn‐S thin films were prepared from a vacuum‐evaporated Cu‐Sn precursor via annealing in H2S from 200 to 500 °C for 1 h. Cu2SnS3 thin films with monoclinic and tetragonal structures were observed by X‐ray diffraction when the annealing temperature exceeded 325 °C. In addition, the SnS phase was observed when the annealing temperature exceeded 275 °C. The surface of the Cu‐Sn‐S thin film annealed at 500 °C was uneven due to the re‐evaporation of SnS. The absorption coefficient of the Cu‐Sn‐S thin films was above 104 cm‐1 with energies above 1.0 eV. The band gap of these films was estimated from transmission and reflection apectra using UV‐visible‐NIR spectrophotometry to be between 0.88‐1.0 eV when the annealing temperature exceeded 450 °C. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Performance evaluation of twisted Edwards‐form elliptic curve cryptography for wireless sensor nodes
Authors: Liu Zhe , Seo Hwajeong , Xu Qiuliang 
Published: April 2015

AbstractWireless sensor networks (WSNs) pose a number of unique security challenges that demand innovation in several areas including the design of cryptographic primitives and protocols. Despite recent progress, the efficient implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) for WSNs is still a very active research topic, and techniques to further reduce the time and energy cost of ECC are eagerly sought. This paper presents an optimized ECC implementation that we developed from scratch to comply with the severe resource constraints of 8‐bit sensor nodes such as the MICAz and IRIS motes. Our ECC software uses Optimal Prime Fields as underlying algebraic structure and supports two different families of elliptic curves, namely, Weierstraß‐form and twisted Edwards‐form curves. Due to the combination of efficient field arithmetic and fast group operations, we achieve an execution time of 5.3·106 clock cycles for a full 160‐bit scalar multiplication on an 8‐bit ATmega128 microcontroller, which is more than three times faster than the widely used TinyECC library. Our implementation also shows that the energy cost of scalar multiplication on a MICAz (or IRIS) mote amounts to just 17.34mJ when using a twisted Edwards curve over a 160‐bit Optimal Prime Field. This result further demonstrates the advantage of special family of elliptic curves for resource‐constrained environments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A case of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with a non‐pulmonary vein trigger identified by intravenous adenosine triphosphate infusion
Authors: Esato Masahiro , Nishina Naoto , Kida Yoshitomi , Chun YeongHwa 
Published: April 2015

AbstractA 54‐year‐old woman was referred to our institution with frequent chest discomfort and was diagnosed with drug‐refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) was performed using a three‐dimensional electroanatomic mapping system. After completion of left and right circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (CPVI), an intravenous bolus of adenosine triphosphate (ATP, 20 mg) was administered to evaluate the electric reconduction between the pulmonary vein (PV) and left atrium (LA). Although no PV–LA reconduction was observed, atrial fibrillation (AF) was reproducibly induced. As the duration of AF was very short (<20 s), no further RFCA to the LA was performed. One month later, the patient presented with frequent atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATs), and RFCA was repeated. Although no electric reconduction was observed in the left‐ or right‐sided PVs, incessant ATs and AF were induced after an intravenous bolus administration of ATP. The earliest atrial activation site initiating ATs was consistently identified from electrodes positioned in the superior vena cava (SVC), and both ATs and AF were no longer inducible after electric isolation of the SVC. ATP‐induced PV/non‐PV ectopy may be a marker of increased susceptibility to autonomic triggers of AF and could potentially predict recurrent AF after CPVI.
Space–time pressure–velocity correlations in a turbulent boundary layer
Authors: Naka Yoshitsugu , Stanislas Michel , Foucaut Jean-Marc , Coudert Sebastien , Laval Jean-Philippe , Obi Shinnosuke 
Published: April 2015

The spatio-temporal pressure–velocity correlation in a turbulent boundary layer is investigated so as to understand the link between pressure fluctuations and turbulent coherent structures. A new experimental set-up is developed to measure the pressure fluctuations at the wall and in the field and, simultaneously, the velocity field by stereoscopic particle image velocimetry. The present measurement area covers the whole boundary layer thickness, and the spatial resolution of the measurement is good enough to assess the representative length scales of the flow. The Reynolds number effect is quantified from the data at $\mathit{Re}_{{\it\theta}}=7300$, 10 000, 18 000. The spatio-temporal three-dimensional structures of the pressure–velocity correlations, $\boldsymbol{R}_{pu}$, $\boldsymbol{R}_{pv}$ and $\boldsymbol{R}_{pw}$, are evaluated. The wall pressure fluctuations are closely coupled with coherent structures which occupy a large region of the boundary layer in the wall-normal and spanwise directions and up to $10{\it\delta}/U_{e}$ in time, where ${\it\delta}$ and $U_{e}$ denote the boundary layer thickness and the free stream velocity. Reynolds number effects are mainly observed on the size and intensity of the pressure–velocity correlations. Conditioning the correlations on the pressure signal sign shows different types of flow phenomena linked to the positive and negative pressure events. For the wall pressure, positive pressure fluctuations appear to be correlated with the leading edge of a large sweeping motion of splatting type followed by a large ejection. The negative pressure fluctuations are linked to a localized ejection upstream, followed by a large sweeping motion downstream. For the pressure fluctuations in the field, in addition to the structures observed with the wall pressure, the pressure–velocity correlations exhibit a significant correlation in a region very extended in time. Such long structures appear to be independent of the one observed at the wall and to grow significantly in time with the Reynolds number when scaling with external variables. When conditioned by the pressure sign, clear ejection and sweeping motions are observed with associated streamwise vortical structures at a scale of the order of $0.2{\it\delta}$. These structures can be linked to the large-scale motion and very-large-scale motion previously observed by different authors and seem to organize in a scheme analogous to the near-wall cycle, but at a much larger scale.
Genomic composition and yield heterosis of the partial inter-specific hybrid rice between Oryza sativa L. and Oryza glaberrima Steud.
Authors: ADEDZE Y. M. N. , HE W. C. , SAMOURA A. D. , HUANG F. , TONDI Y. N. , EFISUE A. , ZHANG S. S. , XIE G. S. , JIN D. M. 
Published: April 2015

SUMMARYDevelopment of partial inter-specific hybrid (PIH) rice is a promising approach for exploiting inter-specific heterosis between Oryza glaberrima and Oryza sativa. In the present study, the relationship between genetic distance (GD) of parental lines and yield performance of the PIHs was assessed using partial diallel crosses between three indica male sterile lines and 14 introgression lines (ILs) with different fragments of O. glaberrima genes. Twenty two out of the 42 PIHs expressed positive heterobeltiosis (i.e., the Fl hybrid showed superiority over the better parent in the target trait) for panicle number, spikelet number, thousand grain weight and grain yield/plant. The proportion of O. glaberrima genome in the ILs ranged from 0·03 to 0·41, as revealed by 16 informative simple sequence repeat markers. Significant positive correlations were found between the proportion of O. glaberrima genome of the ILs and the GD between the ILs and the three different female parents. Heterosis of spikelet number per panicle in the hybrids was positively proportional with the O. glaberrima genome content of the parental ILs, while that of fertile grain percentage was negatively proportional to the O. glaberrima genome proportion. On average, the PIHs with higher grain yield and highest heterobeltiosis were obtained from the ILs carrying between 0·15 and 0·30 of O. glaberrima genome. The results indicated that a small proportion (<0·15) of the O. glaberrima genome in the ILs might limit heterosis expression of spikelet number per panicle, while a very large proportion (>0·30) of the O. glaberrima genome decreased the grain filling percentage in the PIHs, thus an intermediate range of O. glaberrima genome proportion should be more suitable for breeding heterotic PIHs. The exploitation of inter-specific heterosis between O. glaberrima and O. sativa has potential value for heterotic breeding in rice.
Geochemistry of recent lacustrine sediments from Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, maritime Antarctica
Authors: Alfonso Juan A. , Vasquez Yaneth , Hernandez Ana C. , Mora Abrahan , Handt Helga , Sira Eloy 
Published: April 2015

AbstractComprehensive geochemical analyses (bulk parameters, major and trace elements, organic matter, mineralogy and particle analysis) were carried out on sediments from seven lakes on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. The resulting compositional dataset was subjected to principal component analysis and cluster analysis. The results showed that four different lacustrine sedimentary environments can be distinguished: i) lakes 1 and 2 with relatively high values of secondary aluminous clay minerals, ii) lake 4 with anthropogenic enrichment of Co, Cu and Zn, iii) lake 7 with relatively high values of Ba and P and a high zeolite content, and iv) all the other studied lakes. Our results indicate moderate chemical weathering in all lacustrine sediments and that the distance to the glacial ice margin is one of the most important factors influencing the chemical weathering in the area. Furthermore, depositional processes have little influence on the geochemistry of the investigated elements and that local bedrock is the main source of sediments in the lakes on Fildes Peninsula.
Chlorophyta, Xanthophyceae and Cyanobacteria in Wright Valley, Antarctica
Authors: Novis Phil M. , Aislabie Jackie , Turner Susan , McLeod Malcolm 
Published: April 2015

AbstractWright Valley, Victoria Land contains numerous aquatic habitats suitable for the growth of algae in summer. Excepting diatoms and lichen phycobionts, algal diversity and distribution in the valley was documented. Using cultures and environmental cloning eight cyanobacterial and 14 eukaryotic species were revealed. The cyanobacterium Microcoleus vaginatus and the chlorophycean Chlorococcum sp. 1 were the most common, both occurring in more than one habitat (ponds, soils or streams). Ponds harboured the most diverse communities. Habitat specialization was rare. Chlamydomonads were not found outside ponds, but species capable of zoospore production were able to colonize ponds and soils. Nostocalean cyanobacteria were not detected. Results suggest dispersal within and between valleys, with little evidence of Antarctic endemism. All but one cyanobacterium with similar internally transcribed spacer (ITS) length to clones from Miers Valley proved to be different species when 16S rRNA gene sequences were also considered; thus, ITS length is unreliable for assessing identity and biogeography of these cyanobacteria. Comparison with a 454 16S rRNA gene soil dataset from Wright Valley indicated the occurrence of only one of the cyanobacterial species, the distribution of which may be limited by salinity.
Real-time observation of domain fluctuations in a two-dimensional magnetic model system
Authors: Kronseder M. , Meier T. N. G. , Zimmermann M. , Buchner M. , Vogel M. , Back C. H. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractDomain patterns of perpendicularly magnetized ultra-thin ferromagnetic films are often determined by the competition of the short range but strong exchange interaction favouring ferromagnetic alignment of magnetic moments and the long range but weak antiferromagnetic dipolar interaction. Detailed phase diagrams of the resulting stripe domain patterns have been evaluated in recent years; however, the domain fluctuations in these pattern forming systems have not been studied in great detail so far. Here we show that domain fluctuations can be observed in ultra-thin two-dimensional ferromagnetic Fe/Ni/Cu(001) films with perpendicular magnetization in the stripe domain phase. Non-stroboscopic time-resolved threshold photoemission electron microscopy with high temporal resolution allows analysing the dynamic fingerprint of the topological excitations in the nematic domain phase. Furthermore, proliferation of domain ending defects in the vicinity of the spin reorientation transition is witnessed.
Three-terminal heterojunction bipolar transistor solar cell for high-efficiency photovoltaic conversion
Authors: Martí A. , Luque A. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractHere we propose, for the first time, a solar cell characterized by a semiconductor transistor structure (n/p/n or p/n/p) where the base–emitter junction is made of a high-bandgap semiconductor and the collector is made of a low-bandgap semiconductor. We calculate its detailed-balance efficiency limit and prove that it is the same one than that of a double-junction solar cell. The practical importance of this result relies on the simplicity of the structure that reduces the number of layers that are required to match the limiting efficiency of dual-junction solar cells without using tunnel junctions. The device naturally emerges as a three-terminal solar cell and can also be used as building block of multijunction solar cells with an increased number of junctions.
Functional Optical Coherence Tomography Enables In Vivo Physiological Assessment of Retinal Rod and Cone Photoreceptors
Authors: Zhang Qiuxiang , Lu Rongwen , Wang Benquan , Messinger Jeffrey D. , Curcio Christine A. , Yao Xincheng 
Published: April 2015

AbstractTransient intrinsic optical signal (IOS) changes have been observed in retinal photoreceptors, suggesting a unique biomarker for eye disease detection. However, clinical deployment of IOS imaging is challenging due to unclear IOS sources and limited signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Here, by developing high spatiotemporal resolution optical coherence tomography (OCT) and applying an adaptive algorithm for IOS processing, we were able to record robust IOSs from single-pass measurements. Transient IOSs, which might reflect an early stage of light phototransduction, are consistently observed in the photoreceptor outer segment almost immediately (<4 ms) after retinal stimulation. Comparative studies of dark- and light-adapted retinas have demonstrated the feasibility of functional OCT mapping of rod and cone photoreceptors, promising a new method for early disease detection and improved treatment of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other eye diseases that can cause photoreceptor damage.