bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Atrial Electromechanical Conduction Delay in Patients with Neurocardiogenic Syncope
Authors: SUCU MURAT , ERCAN SULEYMAN , UKU OKKES , DAVUTOGLU VEDAT , ALTUNBAS GOKHAN 
Published: November 2013

AimWe aimed to investigate the presence of atrial electromechanical conduction delay in patients with neurocardiogenic syncope, which was diagnosed with head‐up tilt table test (HUTT).Materials and MethodsA total of 29 patients (mean age: 30.6 ± 15.9 years) with vasovagal syncope, as diagnosed by HUTT, and 23 healthy control subjects (mean age: 34.7 ± 16.3 years) with a negative HUTT were enrolled to the study. Atrial electromechanical conduction delay was defined as the time elapsed from the beginning of the P wave in the electrogardiogram to the beginning of the Am wave in tissue Doppler.ResultsThere was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of interatrial conduction delay, whereas the difference was significant with regard to the right intraatrial electromechanical conduction delay (P < 0.01) and the left intraatrial electromechanical conduction delay (P < 0.0001). There was a negative correlation between the left intraatrial electromechanical conduction delay and the right intraatrial electromechanical conduction delay (r = –0.486, P = 0.001), whereas a positive correlation was present with the interatrial electromechanical conduction delay (r = 0.507, P = 0.001).ConclusionIn this study, the tissue Doppler method revealed that there is left and right intraatrial electromechanical conduction delay in patients with vasovagal syncope. The impact and role of atrial conduction delay as a pathophysiological determinant should be confirmed in further studies.
Validation of Conventional Fluoroscopic and ECG Criteria for Right Ventricular Pacemaker Lead Position Using Cardiac Computed Tomography
Authors: PANG BENJAMIN J. , JOSHI SUBODH B. , LUI ELAINE H. , TACEY MARK A. , LING LIANG‐HAN , ALISON JEFF , SENEVIRATNE SUJITH K. , CAMERON JAMES D. , MOND HARRY G. 
Published: November 2013

IntroductionIt is hypothesized that pacing the right ventricular (RV) septum is associated with less deleterious outcomes than RV apical pacing. Our aim was to validate fluoroscopic and electrocardiography (ECG) criteria for describing pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator RV “septal” lead position against the proposed gold standard: cardiac computed tomography (CT).MethodsUsing the conventional fluoroscopic criteria, we intended to place RV nonapical leads on the interventricular septum. Lead positions were later retrospectively analyzed with CT and correlated with ECGs and fluoroscopic projections: posterior‐anterior, 40° left anterior oblique (LAO), 40° right anterior oblique (RAO), and left lateral.ResultsOnly 21% (nine of 35) of presumed “septal” RV nonapical leads using the conventional fluoroscopic criteria were on the true septum. A schema developed to define septal position in the RAO fluoroscopic view had high agreement with CT images. ECG criteria had only fair to moderate agreement with CT. The paced QRS duration was significantly longer (P < 0.001) with RV apical pacing (176 ± 10.7 ms), compared to RV nonapical pacing (144.5 ± 14.3 ms).ConclusionUsing the conventional fluoroscopic criteria, only a minority of RV leads were implanted on the true RV septum. Instead, aiming for the middle of the cardiac silhouette in the RAO fluoroscopic view, confirming rightward orientation in the LAO view, and having a paced QRS duration <140 ms may allow the implanting cardiologist a simple, more accurate method to achieve true RV septal lead positioning.
Hydrogel‐Forming and Dissolving Microneedles for Enhanced Delivery of Photosensitizers and Precursors
Authors: Donnelly Ryan F. , Morrow Desmond I. J. , McCrudden Maelíosa T. C. , Alkilani Ahlam Zaid , Vicente‐Pérez Eva M. , O'Mahony Conor , González‐Vázquez Patricia , McCarron Paul A. , Woolfson A. David 
Published: November 2013

AbstractWe present “one‐step application” dissolving and hydrogel‐forming microneedle arrays (MN) for enhanced delivery of photosensitizers/precursors. MN (280 μm) prepared from 20% w/w poly(methylvinylether/maelic acid) and cross‐linked with glycerol by esterification to form hydrogels upon skin insertion, or allowed to dissolve rapidly in skin, were combined with patches containing 19 mg cm−2 of 5‐aminolevulinic acid (ALA) or meso‐tetra (N‐methyl‐4‐pyridyl) porphine tetra tosylate (TMP) for drug delivery. Both MN types were mechanically robust, with compression forces of 20.0 N only causing height reductions of 14%. Application forces as low as 8.0 N per array allowed >95% of the MN in each array type to penetrate excised porcine skin, with the MN penetrating to approximately 220 μm. MN significantly enhanced transdermal delivery of ALA and TMP in vitro, with the hydrogel‐forming system comparable with the dissolving system for ALA delivery (approximately 3000 nmol cm−2 over 6 h), but superior for delivery of the much larger TMP molecule (approximately 14 nmol cm−2 over 24 h, compared to 0.15 nmol cm−2). As this technology clearly has potential in enhanced photodynamic therapy of neoplastic skin lesions, we are currently planning animal studies, to be followed by preliminary human evaluations. GMP manufacturing scale‐up is ongoing.
Collaborative Ontology Development for the Geosciences
Authors: Kalbasi Reza , Janowicz Krzysztof , Reitsma Femke , Boerboom Luc , Alesheikh Ali 
Published: November 2013

AbstractOntology‐based information publishing, retrieval, reuse, and integration have become popular research topics to address the challenges involved in exchanging data between heterogeneous sources. However, in most cases ontologies are still developed in a centralized top‐down manner by a few knowledge engineers. Consequently, the role that developers play in conceptualizing a domain such as the geosciences is disproportional compared with the role of domain experts and especially potential end‐users. These and other drawbacks have stimulated the creation of new methodologies focusing around collaboration. Based on a review of existing approaches, this article presents a two‐step methodology and implementation to foster collaborative ontology engineering in the geosciences. Our approach consists of the development of a minimalistic core ontology acting as a catalyst and the creation of a virtual collaborative development cycle. Both methodology and prototypical implementation have been tested in the context of the EU‐funded ForeStClim project which addresses environmental protection with respect to forests and climate change.
Low Copy Numbers of DC‐SIGN in Cell Membrane Microdomains: Implications for Structure and Function
Authors: Liu Ping , Wang Xiang , Itano Michelle S. , Neumann Aaron K. , de Silva Aravinda M. , Jacobson Ken , Thompson Nancy L. 
Published: November 2013

AbstractPresently, there are few estimates of the number of molecules occupying membrane domains. Using a total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) imaging approach, based on comparing the intensities of fluorescently labeled microdomains with those of single fluorophores, we measured the occupancy of DC‐SIGN, a C‐type lectin, in membrane microdomains. DC‐SIGN or its mutants were labeled with primary monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in either dendritic cells (DCs) or NIH3T3 cells, or expressed as GFP fusions in NIH3T3 cells. The number of DC‐SIGN molecules per microdomain ranges from only a few to over 20, while microdomain dimensions range from the diffraction limit to > 1 µm. The largest fraction of microdomains, appearing at the diffraction limit, in either immature DCs or 3 T3 cells contains only 4–8 molecules of DC‐SIGN, consistent with our preliminary super‐resolution Blink microscopy estimates. We further show that these small assemblies are sufficient to bind and efficiently internalize a small (∼50 nm) pathogen, dengue virus, leading to infection of host cells.
A quantification strategy for missing bone mass in case of osteolytic bone lesions
Authors: Fränzle Andrea , Bretschi Maren , Bäuerle Tobias , Giske Kristina , Hillengass Jens , Bendl Rolf 
Published: November 2013

Purpose:Most of the patients who died of breast cancer have developed bone metastases. To understand the pathogenesis of bone metastases and to analyze treatment response of different bone remodeling therapies, preclinical animal models are examined. In breast cancer, bone metastases are often bone destructive. To assess treatment response of bone remodeling therapies, the volumes of these lesions have to be determined during the therapy process. The manual delineation of missing structures, especially if large parts are missing, is very time‐consuming and not reproducible. Reproducibility is highly important to have comparable results during the therapy process. Therefore, a computerized approach is needed. Also for the preclinical research, a reproducible measurement of the lesions is essential. Here, the authors present an automated segmentation method for the measurement of missing bone mass in a preclinical rat model with bone metastases in the hind leg bones based on 3D CT scans.Methods:The affected bone structure is compared to a healthy model. Since in this preclinical rat trial the metastasis only occurs on the right hind legs, which is assured by using vessel clips, the authors use the left body side as a healthy model. The left femur is segmented with a statistical shape model which is initialised using the automatically segmented medullary cavity. The left tibia and fibula are segmented using volume growing starting at the tibia medullary cavity and stopping at the femur boundary. Masked images of both segmentations are mirrored along the median plane and transferred manually to the position of the affected bone by rigid registration. Affected bone and healthy model are compared based on their gray values. If the gray value of a voxel indicates bone mass in the healthy model and no bone in the affected bone, this voxel is considered to be osteolytic.Results:The lesion segmentations complete the missing bone structures in a reasonable way. The mean ratiovr/vm of the reconstructed bone volume vr and the healthy model bone volume vm is 1.07, which indicates a good reconstruction of the modified bone.Conclusions:The qualitative and quantitative comparison of manual and semi‐automated segmentation results have shown that comparing a modified bone structure with a healthy model can be used to identify and measure missing bone mass in a reproducible way.
Map compilations and synthesis of Africa’s petroleum basins and systems
Authors: Purdy E. G. , MacGregor D. S. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
The purpose of this short contribution is to provide an overview of our current state of knowledge of Africa’s petroleum systems as an introduction to the detailed volume accounts that follow. Toward that end we introduce a set of maps on a supplementary CD compiled by Purdy as part of a confidential report provided to industry subscribers some ten years ago. The maps include subsurface as well as surface structural information but, because of their vintage, have not taken account of more recent information. Nonetheless, the regional geological framework apparent on the maps has not changed and, in that sense, the maps are as relevant today as when they were first compiled. Moreover the maps serve as a useful building block on which more recently acquired exploration data can be readily added by others using facilitating computer programs.
Aptian source rocks in some South African Cretaceous basins
Authors: Van Der Spuy D. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
Source rocks of the Aptian play an important role in petroleum systems operating off the west coast of Africa. Further south, Aptian source rocks are a proven component of a petroleum system described in the Bredasdorp Basin, a sub-basin of the greater Outeniqua Basin. It has been shown that these Aptian source rocks have supplied oil to the Cretaceous sands of the producing Oribi oilfield and its satellite fields. Aptian source rocks have also been intersected by numerous exploration and scientific boreholes in other sub-basins of the greater Outeniqua Basin, and off the west coast of South Africa in the Orange Basin. Data from these wells suggest the regional development of good-quality Aptian source rocks in the deeper parts of the Orange and Southern Outeniqua basins, possibly on a basin-wide scale.
In the Orange Basin, no Aptian source rocks were intersected in the boreholes drilled in the northern part of the South African sector. However, further north, in the Namibian sector of the basin, over 100 m of good-quality Aptian source rock was intersected in the Kudu wells. To the south, at about 31°S, organic carbon rich intervals a few tens of metres thick have been intersected in a number of boreholes. Here, the kerogen is largely gas-prone, with some thin intervals of shale capable of producing oil. Intersections of the Aptian in boreholes south of 32°S demonstrate how the source quality can be expected to improve from a proximal to more distal position. A thin, high total organic carbon (TOC), gas-prone interval in the most proximal position improves in quality and thickness to become up to 140 m thick, capable of generating wet gas and small amounts of oil. The Deep Sea Drilling Project (DPDS) 361 borehole, located to the southwest in the Cape Basin, intersected layered dark grey and black anoxic Aptian shales with very high TOC, with alternating marine and terrigenous influence. The hydrogen indices of over 500 mg HC/g TOC from some layers are clearly indicative of oil potential. There is thus a strong case for the regional development of a good-quality source rock within the Early Aptian succession in the deeper parts of the Orange Basin. Burial history studies show that Aptian sediments should be in the oil window in large areas to the west of the basin depocentre.
The Early Aptian source rock in the Bredasdorp Basin has been well described. Here it can be over 200 m thick and occurs over a large areal extent. The organic material is largely Type II with a Type I component. Early Aptian source rocks have also been intersected in the Pletmos Basin further to the east, where the organic-rich interval is over 80 m thick in places. There is strong seismic evidence that this source interval should be well developed in the greater Southern Outeniqua Basin to the south of these two inboard basins. Burial history studies in this large basin show that the Early Aptian interval is sufficiently mature over large areas to have generated and expelled oil.
Second and third millennium reserves development in African basins
Authors: Hemsted T. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
This paper discusses the development of hydrocarbon reserves discovered onshore and offshore of the continent of Africa up to the start of the year 2000 and the future potential for new discoveries. Over 2400 hydrocarbon discoveries have been made in Africa, of which 700 were producing in significant quantities at the start of 2000. Initial recoverable reserves on these accumulations stood at 160 billion barrels of oil, 500 trillion cubic feet (TCF) gas and 12 billion barrels of condensate, with estimated cumulative production being 59 billion barrels of oil and condensate and up to 50 TCF gas. A similar proportion of the total discovered oil reserves as gas reserves have been found in cratonic basins while passive/rift basins contain more of the oil reserves than the gas reserves. Despite this mix, considerably more gas has been produced from cratonic basins than from the passive/rift basins. In the last decade, deeper-water exploration using 3-D seismic data has resulted in the discovery of significant reserves in deeper waters off West Africa and the Nile Delta. Future reserves growth is expected to be concentrated in the known petroliferous basins.
Examples of salt tectonics from West Africa: a comparative approach
Authors: Tari G. , Molnar J. , Ashton P. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
Exploration experience gained in specific salt basins of West Africa may not be directly applicable to other salt basins along the entire passive margin. To conduct a comparative structural analysis, regional reflection seismic transects were constructed across the salt basins of Morocco, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola.
Regional-scale similarities of the salt basins include the progressive complication of salt-related structures basinward, the change from an extensional domain on the shelf to a compressional domain on the slope and the presence of a toe-thrust front at the oceanward edge of the basins. Regional-scale differences are partly attributed to the relative stratigraphic position of the salt in relation to the rift history.
In the better-known post-rift salt basins of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and Angola updip extension is represented by a broad rafted domain balanced by downdip contraction in the form of salt tongues, canopies and a toe-thrust zone. The efficiency of this gravity sliding/spreading across the whole margin is due to the more or less uniform original distribution of Aptian salt in the post-rift succession forming a continuous detachment level.
In contrast, the typically uneven original distribution of the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic syn-rift salt in Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau is due to basement highs separating rift half-grabens and creating a different structural pattern. Individual salt structures, such as pillows and diapirs, originated from isolated patches of the autochthonous salt. In the case of syn-rift salt, updip extension may not always be the ultimate driving force for the contractional salt-deformation downdip.
Play fairways of the Gulf of Guinea transform margin
Authors: MacGregor D. S. , Robinson J. , Spear G. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
The margin between Côte d’Ivoire and the Niger Delta is a region with a common structural history, this being reflected in similarities in the stratigraphic response and play fairways identified across the region. There has been significant exploration on the narrow shelf characterizing the margin, resulting in a series of modest oil and gas discoveries. It is shown in this paper that many of the aspects of the plays in the unexplored deep-water regions of the margin are considerably more favourable to the development of giant fields than those on the shelf. This play-fairway review is based on the integration of existing publications with focused studies of multiclient 3-D seismic data over a number of areas.
Play fairways are classified by seismic sequence and trap type, with an analysis of each undertaken. The most attractive deep-water play types are: (1) anticlinal traps involving late syn-transform (Apto-Albian) and early post-transform (Late Cretaceous) reservoirs, (2) combination traps involving ponded turbidites on the shoreward flanks of these highs, and (3) stratigraphic traps associated with large Late Cretaceous submarine fan complexes. The anticlinal play is associated with the terminations of the St Paul and Romanche fracture zones, with the more recent structuring generally associated with the latter. 3-D imaging and amplitude mapping is critical to prospect delineation, particularly for the combination and stratigraphic plays. Active kitchens are evidenced involving Early and Late Cretaceous source rocks in the Côte d’Ivoire and western Ghana to Nigeria segments of the region, which are consequently upgraded. Considerable volumetric potential is indicated that promises to make the region one of significant new exploration activity in coming years.
Frasnian organic-rich shales in North Africa: regional distribution and depositional model
Authors: Lüning S. , Adamson K. , Craig J. 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
During the Frasnian, organic-rich shales were deposited across much of North African, most notably in parts of Morocco, Algeria, southern Tunisia, western Libya and the Western Desert of Egypt. They are estimated to be the origin of about 10% of all Palaeozoic-sourced hydrocarbons in North Africa. The depositional, palaeoecological and geochemical characteristics of this black shale unit can be best studied in the eastern Algerian Berkine (i.e. western Ghadames) Basin where the thickest and organically richest ‘hot shales’ occur. In wireline logs, the Frasnian hot shales are marked by high gamma-ray values, often in excess of 300–400 API, which, according to gamma-ray spectrometry, almost exclusively originate from an elevated uranium content. Comparison with total organic carbon (TOC) data shows that the gamma-ray curve can be used as a proxy for the TOC content of the Frasnian shales, with 150 API correlating approximately with TOCs of about 3% in eastern Algeria.
The hot shale unit usually consists of high-frequency, high-amplitude, metre-scale gammaray cycles; however, especially in the thicker hot shale units, the lower frequency envelope curve of the high-frequency gamma-ray cycles has a gradual, bell-shaped form. The gradual increase and subsequent decrease in organic richness over time may be interpreted as evidence for a gradual rise and subsequent fall of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), with invasion of oxygen-depleted waters onto the North African shelf. The rise of the OMZ may have been triggered by the Early Frasnian transgression, which has been described in detail from Morocco, where it is now well-dated by conodonts and is associated with characteristic black shales and carbonates. Additional high-resolution biostratigraphic data are still needed in order to better correlate the Frasnian hot shales of Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya with other Late Devonian dysaerobic/anaerobic facies in Morocco, western Egypt, Europe, South and North America.
Latitudinal patterns in the diversity of two subgenera of the genus Daphnia O.F. Müller (Crustacea: Cladocera: Daphniidae)
Authors: POPOVA EKATERINA Y. , KOTOV ALEXEY A. 
Published: November 2013

Daphnia O.F. Müller (Crustacea: Cladocera: Daphniidae) is an important model in biology. It was concluded earlier that subgenus Daphnia s.str. occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere, subgenus Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia) in the southern hemisphere, which could suggest that: (1) the subgeneric differentiation is correlated with the Laurasia-Gondwanaland subdivision and (2) D. (Ctenodaphnia) is a taxon of Gondwanian origin. Some authors even discussed mechanisms of maintaince of the “ancient subgeneric north-south split”, regarding such a pattern as paradoxical. But both molecular clock calculations and fossils of both subgenera from the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary of Mongolia compromise such ideas and suggest an earlier, Pangaean, differentiation of the subgenera. We discuss the distribution of Daphnia worldwide based on recent literature. Our analysis covers literature data on all described and on undescribed taxa revealed by genetical methods. Distributional data were associated with five main zones: southern cold (I), southern temperate (II), tropical (III), northern temperate (IV), and northern cold (V) zone. We found no “subgeneric north-south split”: the distribution of Daphnia s.str. is dissymmetric between the hemispheres (antipolar), while that of Ctenodaphnia is sub-symmetric (bipolar). We suggest that both patterns are not of Mesozoic, but of Cenozoic origin. Mesozoic differentiation of the subgenera does not contradict a recent origin of the extant species, as found in e.g. Notostraca. A superficially attractive hypothesis about a Gondwanian origin of a taxon (Daphnia (Ctenodaphnia)) therefore did not pass the test of the fossil records. In addition, we agree with the opinion that an antipolar is only a variant of a bipolar pattern, as a result of an extinction in the southern hemisphere, and that these patterns are mid-late Cenozoic instead of Mesozoic.