bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
In Vitro
Activity of Retapamulin against Staphylococcus aureus Resistant to Various Antimicrobial Agents
Authors: Saravolatz Louis D. , Pawlak Joan , Saravolatz Stephanie N. , Johnson Leonard B. 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACT

Retapamulin and six other antimicrobial agents were evaluated against 155 methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) isolates, including strains resistant to vancomycin, linezolid, daptomycin, and mupirocin by microdilution tests. Time-kill assays were performed against representative MRSA, vancomycin-intermediate
S. aureus
(VISA), and vancomycin-resistant
S. aureus
(VRSA) isolates. Retapamulin and mupirocin demonstrated MIC
90
s of 0.12 μg/ml and 8 μg/ml, respectively, with resistance seen in 2.6% and 10% of isolates, respectively. Retapamulin maintained good activity against 94% (15/16) of mupirocin-resistant isolates.
Efficacy of Amphotericin B at Suboptimal Dose Combined with Voriconazole in a Murine Model of Aspergillus fumigatus Infection with Poor
In Vivo
Response to the Azole
Authors: Sandoval-Denis Marcelo , Pastor F. Javier , Capilla Javier , Guarro Josep 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACT

The combination of amphotericin B at a suboptimal dose (0.3 mg/kg) with voriconazole has shown efficacy in prolonging survival and reducing tissue burden in a murine model of disseminated infection by an isolate of
Aspergillus fumigatus
that had showed a poor
in vivo
response to the azole. The efficacy of the combined treatment was higher than that obtained with amphotericin B at 0.8 mg/kg.
Antifungal Activity of the Noncytotoxic Human Peptide Hepcidin 20 against Fluconazole-Resistant Candida glabrata in Human Vaginal Fluid
Authors: Del Gaudio Gaetano , Lombardi Lisa , Maisetta Giuseppantonio , Esin Semih , Batoni Giovanna , Sanguinetti Maurizio , Senesi Sonia , Tavanti Arianna 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACT

Vaginal infections caused by
Candida glabrata
are difficult to eradicate due to this species' scarce susceptibility to azoles. Previous studies have shown that the human cationic peptide hepcidin 20 (Hep-20) exerts fungicidal activity in sodium phosphate buffer against a panel of
C. glabrata
clinical isolates with different levels of susceptibility to fluconazole. In addition, the activity of the peptide was potentiated under acidic conditions, suggesting an application in the topical treatment of vaginal infections. To investigate whether the peptide activity could be maintained in biological fluids, in this study the antifungal activity of Hep-20 was evaluated by a killing assay in (i) a vaginal fluid simulant (VFS) and in (ii) human vaginal fluid (HVF) collected from three healthy donors. The results obtained indicated that the activity of the peptide was maintained in VFS and HVF supplemented with EDTA. Interestingly, the fungicidal activity of Hep-20 was enhanced in HVF compared to that observed in VFS, with a minimal fungicidal concentration of 25 μM for all donors. No cytotoxic effect on human cells was exerted by Hep-20 at concentrations ranging from 6.25 to 100 μM, as shown by 2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide tetrazolium salt (XTT) reduction assay and propidium iodide staining. A piece of indirect evidence of Hep-20 stability was also obtained from coincubation experiments of the peptide with HVF at 37°C for 90 min and for 24 h. Collectively, these results indicate that this peptide should be further studied as a novel therapeutic agent for the topical treatment of vaginal
C. glabrata
infections.
Probiotic Lactobacillus reuteri Attenuates the Stressor-Enhanced Severity of Citrobacter rodentium Infection
Authors: Mackos Amy R. , Eubank Tim D. , Parry Nicola M. A. , Bailey Michael T. 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACT

Stressor exposure has been shown to enhance host susceptibility and the severity of a plethora of illnesses, including gastrointestinal disease. In mice, susceptibility to
Citrobacter rodentium
has been shown to be dependent on host genetics as well as the composition of the intestinal microbiota, but the effects of stressor exposure on this gastrointestinal pathogen have not been elucidated fully. Previously, our lab showed that exposure to the prolonged-restraint stressor prior to a challenge with
C. rodentium
alters the intestinal microbiota community structure, including a reduction of beneficial genera such as
Lactobacillus
, which may contribute to stressor-enhanced
C. rodentium
-induced infectious colitis. To test the effects of stressor exposure on
C. rodentium
infection, we exposed resistant mice to a prolonged-restraint stressor concurrent with pathogen challenge. Exposure to prolonged restraint significantly enhanced
C. rodentium
-induced infectious colitis in resistant mice, as measured by increases in colonic histopathology, colonic inflammatory mediator gene production, and pathogen translocation from the colon to the spleen. It was further tested if the beneficial bacterium
Lactobacillus reuteri
could reduce the stressor-enhanced susceptibility to
C. rodentium
-enhanced infectious colitis. While
L. reuteri
treatment did not reduce all aspects of stressor-enhanced infectious colitis, it did significantly reduce pathogen translocation from the colon to the spleen. Taken together, these data demonstrate the deleterious effects that prolonged stressor exposure can have at the onset of a gastrointestinal infection by its ability to render a resistant mouse highly susceptible to
C. rodentium
. Probiotic treatment ameliorated the systemic manifestations of stress on colonic infection.
Vesicle-Associated Membrane Protein 4 and Syntaxin 6 Interactions at the Chlamydial Inclusion
Authors: Kabeiseman Emily J. , Cichos Kyle , Hackstadt Ted , Lucas Andrea , Moore Elizabeth R. 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACT

The predominant players in membrane fusion events are the
s
oluble

N

-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor
a
ttachment protein
re
ceptor (SNARE) family of proteins. We hypothesize that SNARE proteins mediate fusion events at the chlamydial inclusion and are important for chlamydial lipid acquisition. We have previously demonstrated that
trans
-Golgi SNARE syntaxin 6 localizes to the chlamydial inclusion. To investigate the role of syntaxin 6 at the chlamydial inclusion, we examined the localization and function of another
trans
-Golgi SNARE and syntaxin 6-binding partner, vesicle-associated membrane protein 4 (VAMP4), at the chlamydial inclusion. In this study, we demonstrate that syntaxin 6 and VAMP4 colocalize to the chlamydial inclusion and interact at the chlamydial inclusion. Furthermore, in the absence of VAMP4, syntaxin 6 is not retained at the chlamydial inclusion. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown of VAMP4 inhibited chlamydial sphingomyelin acquisition, correlating with a log decrease in infectious progeny. VAMP4 retention at the inclusion was shown to be dependent on
de novo
chlamydial protein synthesis, but unlike syntaxin 6, VAMP4 recruitment is observed in a species-dependent manner. Notably, VAMP4 knockdown inhibits sphingomyelin trafficking only to inclusions in which it localizes. These data support the hypothesis that VAMP proteins play a central role in mediating eukaryotic vesicular interactions at the chlamydial inclusion and, thus, support chlamydial lipid acquisition and chlamydial development.
Optimal Bounds for Johnson-Lindenstrauss Transforms and Streaming Problems with Subconstant Error
Authors: Jayram T. S. , Woodruff David P. 
Published: June 2013

The Johnson-Lindenstrauss transform is a dimensionality reduction technique with a wide range of applications to theoretical computer science. It is specified by a distribution over projection matrices from R
n
→ R
k
where
k n
and states that
k
=
O
(
ε
−2
log 1/
δ
) dimensions suffice to approximate the norm of any fixed vector in R
n
to within a factor of 1 ±
ε
with probability at least 1 −
δ
. In this article, we show that this bound on
k
is optimal up to a constant factor, improving upon a previous
Ω
((
ε
−2
log
1/
δ
)/log(1/
ε
)) dimension bound of Alon. Our techniques are based on lower bounding the information cost of a novel one-way communication game and yield the first space lower bounds in a data stream model that depend on the error probability
δ
.

For many streaming problems, the most naïve way of achieving error probability
δ
is to first achieve constant probability, then take the median of
O
(log 1/
δ
) independent repetitions. Our techniques show that for a wide range of problems, this is in fact optimal! As an example, we show that estimating the ℓ
p
-distance for any
p
∈ [0,2] requires
Ω
(
ε
−2
log
n
log 1/
δ
) space, even for vectors in {0,1}
n
. This is optimal in all parameters and closes a long line of work on this problem. We also show the number of distinct elements requires
Ω
(
ε
−2
log 1/
δ
+ log
n
) space, which is optimal if
ε
−2
=
Ω
(log
n
). We also improve previous lower bounds for entropy in the strict turnstile and general turnstile models by a multiplicative factor of
Ω
(log 1/
δ
). Finally, we give an application to one-way communication complexity under product distributions, showing that, unlike the case of constant
δ
, the VC-dimension does not characterize the complexity when
δ
=
o
(1).
Root cause detection in a service-oriented architecture
Authors: Kim Myunghwan , Sumbaly Roshan , Shah Sam 
Published: June 2013

Large-scale websites are predominantly built as a service-oriented architecture. Here, services are specialized for a certain task, run on multiple machines, and communicate with each other to serve a user's request. An anomalous change in a metric of one service can propagate to other services during this communication, resulting in overall degradation of the request. As any such degradation is revenue impacting, maintaining correct functionality is of paramount concern: it is important to find the root cause of any anomaly as quickly as possible. This is challenging because there are numerous metrics or sensors for a given service, and a modern website is usually composed of hundreds of services running on thousands of machines in multiple data centers.
This paper introduces MonitorRank, an algorithm that can reduce the time, domain knowledge, and human effort required to find the root causes of anomalies in such service-oriented architectures. In the event of an anomaly, MonitorRank provides a ranked order list of possible root causes for monitoring teams to investigate. MonitorRank uses the historical and current time-series metrics of each sensor as its input, along with the call graph generated between sensors to build an unsupervised model for ranking. Experiments on real production outage data from LinkedIn, one of the largest online social networks, shows a 26% to 51% improvement in mean average precision in finding root causes compared to baseline and current state-of-the-art methods.
Intratumoral Modeling of Gefitinib Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics in an Orthotopic Mouse Model of Glioblastoma
Authors: Sharma Jyoti , Lv Hua , Gallo James M. 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
Like many solid tumors, glioblastomas are characterized by intratumoral biologic heterogeneity that may contribute to a variable distribution of drugs and their associated pharmacodynamic responses, such that the standard pharmacokinetic approaches based on analysis of whole-tumor homogenates may be inaccurate. To address this aspect of tumor pharmacology, we analyzed intratumoral pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic characteristics of the EGFR inhibitor gefitinib in mice with intracerebral tumors and developed corresponding mathematical models. Following a single oral dose of gefitinib (50 or 150 mg/kg), tumors were processed at selected times according to a novel brain tumor sectioning protocol that generated serial samples to measure gefitinib concentrations, phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK), and immunohistochemistry in 4 different regions of tumors. Notably, we observed up to 3-fold variations in intratumoral concentrations of gefitinib, but only up to half this variability in pERK levels. As we observed a similar degree of variation in the immunohistochemical index termed the microvessel pericyte index (MPI), a measure of permeability in the blood–brain barrier, we used MPI in a hybrid physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model to account for regional changes in drug distribution that were observed. Subsequently, the PBPK models were linked to a pharmacodynamic model that could account for the variability observed in pERK levels. Together, our tumor sectioning protocol enabled integration of the intratumoral pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic variability of gefitinib and immunohistochemical indices followed by the construction of a predictive PBPK/pharmacodynamic model. These types of models offer a mechanistic basis to understand tumor heterogeneity as it impacts the activity of anticancer drugs. Cancer Res; 73(16); 5242–52. ©2013 AACR.
In vitro human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells osteogenesis in akermanite:poly-ɛ-caprolactone scaffolds
Authors: Zanetti Andrea S , McCandless Gregory T , Chan Julia Y , Gimble Jeffrey M , Hayes Daniel J 
Published: June 2013

This study compared the metabolic activity, cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells cultured on four different scaffolds (poly-ɛ-caprolactone, akermanite:poly-ɛ-caprolactone composites, akermanite and β-tricalcium phosophate) with or without osteogenic media supplementation for up to 21 days. The hypothesis was that human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells osteogenesis in akermanite-containing scaffolds would be greater than the other scaffold types independent of the media supplementation. According to the results, human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells loaded on different scaffolds and cultured in both media conditions displayed significant changes in the metabolic activity and cell proliferation. After 21 days of culture in osteogenic medium, the human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells loaded onto akermanite-based scaffolds had greater calcium deposition and osteocalcin expression relative to human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells loaded onto β-tricalcium phosophate and poly-ɛ-caprolactone. In vivo investigations are needed to further assess the bone tissue engineering potential of human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells loaded to akermanite:poly-ɛ-caprolactone composites.
Mapping IS6110 in high-copy number Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains shows specific insertion points in the Beijing genotype
Authors: Alonso Henar , Samper Sofía , Martín Carlos , Otal Isabel 
Published: June 2013

Abstract

Background

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Beijing strains are characterized by a large number of IS6110 copies, suggesting the potential implication of this element in the virulence and capacity for rapid dissemination characteristic of this family. This work studies the insetion points of IS6110 in high-copy clinical isolates specifically focusing on the Beijing genotype.

Results
In the present work we mapped the insertion points of IS6110 in all the Beijing strains available in the literature and in the DNA sequence databases. We generated a representative primer collection of the IS6110 locations, which was used to analyse 61 high-copy clinical isolates. A total of 440 points of insertion were identified and analysis of their flanking regions determined the exact location, the direct repeats (DRs), the orientation and the distance to neighboring genes of each copy of IS6110. We identified specific points of insertion in Beijing strains that enabled us to obtain a dendrogram that groups the Beijing genotype.

Conclusions
This work presents a detailed analysis of locations of IS6110 in high-copy clinical isolates, showing points of insertion present with high frequency in the Beijing family and absent in other strains.
Best proximity point results for generalized contractions in metric spaces
Authors: Amini-Harandi Alireza , Hussain Nawab , Akbar Farhana 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
In this paper, we first introduce a cyclic generalized contraction map in metric spaces and give an existence result for a best proximity point of such mappings in the setting of a uniformly convex Banach space. Then we give an existence and uniqueness best proximity point theorem for non-self proximal generalized contractions. Moreover, an algorithm is exhibited to determine such a unique best proximity point. Some examples are also given to support our main results. Our results extend and improve certain recent results in the literature.

MSC: 46N40, 47H10, 54H25, 46T99.
Intracellular fate of carbon nanotubes inside murine macrophages: pH-dependent detachment of iron catalyst nanoparticles
Authors: Bussy Cyrill , Paineau Erwan , Cambedouzou Julien , Brun Nathalie , Mory Claudie , Fayard Barbara , Salomé Murielle , Pinault Mathieu , Huard Mickaël , Belade Esther , Armand Lucie , Boczkowski Jorge , Launois Pascale , Lanone Sophie 
Published: June 2013

AbstractBackgroundCarbon nanotubes (CNT) are a family of materials featuring a large range of length, diameter, numbers of walls and, quite often metallic impurities coming from the catalyst used for their synthesis. They exhibit unique physical properties, which have already led to an extensive development of CNT for numerous applications. Because of this development and the resulting potential increase of human exposure, an important body of literature has been published with the aim to evaluate the health impact of CNT. However, despite evidences of uptake and long-term persistence of CNT within macrophages and the central role of those cells in the CNT-induced pulmonary inflammatory response, a limited amount of data is available so far on the CNT fate inside macrophages. Therefore, the overall aim of our study was to investigate the fate of pristine single walled CNT (SWCNT) after their internalization by macrophages.MethodsTo achieve our aim, we used a broad range of techniques that aimed at getting a comprehensive characterization of the SWCNT and their catalyst residues before and after exposure of murine macrophages: X-ray diffraction (XRD), High Resolution (HR) Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), High Angle Annular Dark Field-Scanning TEM (HAADF-STEM) coupled to Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), as well as micro-X-ray fluorescence mapping (μXRF), using synchrotron radiation.ResultsWe showed 1) the rapid detachment of part of the iron nanoparticles initially attached to SWCNT which appeared as free iron nanoparticles in the cytoplasm and nucleus of CNT-exposed murine macrophages, and 2) that blockade of intracellular lysosomal acidification prevented iron nanoparticles detachment from CNT bundles and protected cells from CNT downstream toxicity.ConclusionsThe present results, while obtained with pristine SWCNT, could likely be extended to other catalyst-containing nanomaterials and surely open new ways in the interpretation and understanding of CNT toxicity.
Estimation of pKa of Selenic Acid by the Correlation of Experimental pKa Values with Those Estimated by DFT Calculation for Inorganic Oxoacids
Authors: Tanaka Masato , Ariga Daisuke , Takahashi Yoshio 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
The acid dissociation constant (pKa) of inorganic oxoacids was calculated using density functional theory (DFT) with the hybrid cluster-continuum approach. The results showed that calculated pKa values had a good correlation with the experimental values. Based on the correlation of the experimental values with the calculated ones, the pKa1 value estimated for selenic acid, which has not been determined experimentally, agreed well with the value estimated by thermodynamic calculations.
Differenzialdiagnostische Abklärung von Beinödemen aus phlebologischlymphologischer Sicht
Authors: Mendoza E. 
Published: June 2013

ZusammenfassungIn der phlebologischen Praxis kommt es oft zur differenzialdiagnostischen Abklärung des Ödems. Akute Ödeme können Hinweis auf Thrombosen, internistische Erkrankungen oder orthopädische Probleme sein, wie rupturierte Baker-Zysten oder Hämatome. Häufiger wird der Phlebologe jedoch mit chronischen Ödemen konfrontiert und soll eine differenzialdiagnostische Abklärung mit Therapieempfehlungen liefern.In der Regel ist das klinische Erscheinungsbild prägend für die verschiedenen Formen des Ödems. Der Ultraschall bietet jedoch Unterscheidungshilfe in Bezug auf die Vertei-lung des Ödems (epifaszial, interfaszial), auf die Verteilung der Flüssigkeit im Gewebe (diffus imbibierend oder als sichtbare Flüssigkeitsspalten), sowie auf die Beteiligung des Venensystems an der Entstehung. Die Sono -elastographie hilft zudem, zwischen einem Lipödem und einem Ödem anderer Genese zu unterscheiden.
Drying of Apple Slices in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Dryer: Comparison of Mathematical Models and Neural Networks
Authors: Samadi Seyed Hashem , Ghobadian Barat , Najafi GholamHassan , Motevali Ali , Faal Saeid 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
Consuming a high amount of energy in industrial dryer makes the drying as an important and highly energy-intensive industrial process. In this study, the required energy for drying of apple slice was supplied from the outlet heat of an engine generation set exhaust. The drying behavior of apple slice was studied in a combined heat and power (CHP) dryer system at four engine load levels (25, 50, 75, and 100%) in order to provide different temperatures (50, 65, 80, and 95°C), and at three levels of drying product thickness (3, 5, and 7 mm) with the constant air flow velocity of 1 m/s. The empirical data from experiments with variants of semi-theoretical and empirical models were evaluated and finally, a suitable model proposed by Midilli et al. was selected to be the best model, as for as the RMSE, R2, and χ2 criterion is concerned. Comparing the results from implementing artificial neural network (ANN) and mathematical models, it was found that the dynamic ANNs is more powerful for modeling the drying process of apple slice in a CHP dryer system than static ANNs and mathematical models.
A Fast and Reliable Corner Detector for Non-Uniform Illumination Mineshaft Images
Authors: Xing Yuanxiu , Zhang Dengyi , Zhao Jianhui , Xu Aiping 
Published: June 2013

AbstractWe propose a fast and reliable corner detector that can detect corners under non-uniform illumination and fuzzy mineshaft images effectively. First, we presented an inner mask that used only four pixels to determine the flat and corner regions of an image, which could eliminate unnecessary computation of flat regions, thus reducing computing cost. Second, we separated the corner regions into background and foreground and computed the separate corner threshold to settle non-uniform illumination. Third, we proposed a fast corner-detection algorithm to compute the nucleus continuous contributive segment based on the corner state. Finally, we proposed two effective methods to remove the false corners. Experimental results showed that our approach has a better detection quality and is less time consuming than three other algorithms on an artificial image, a noisy image, and non-uniform images and could meet the real-time requirement of mineshaft applications.
Perforation and Carbon Ablation Experiments on Nano-Ceria by Electron Irradiation
Authors: Bhatta Umananda M. , Karounis Faris , Stringfellow Andrew , Möbus Günter 
Published: June 2013

ABSTRACTThe well-known high irradiation resistance of fluorite-structured oxides is examined on the nanoscale by focused electron beam irradiation of ceria nanoparticles. It is found that ceria is amongst the nanomaterials most resistant to electron beam perforation with mainly swelling and amorphisation damage observed, along with grain reorientation effects. A comparison to reference nano-materials, shows that cubic zirconia behaves similarly resistant but that ultra-fine holes can be drilled, unlike for ceria, while SiC on the other hand can be perforated easily. Ablation of carbon films around electron beam impact zones is found accelerated in ceria, as compared to SiC, and discussed as a potential catalytic effect.