bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Adherence of antidepressants during pregnancy: MEMS compared with three other methods
Authors: Bosman Judith , ter Horst Peter G.J. , Smit Jan Pieter , Dijkstra Jeroen R. , Beekhuis Hans R. , Slingersland Robbert J. , Hospes Wobbe 
Published: November 2013

Background: Data about adherence of antidepressants during pregnancy are lacking. However, it is important to gain insight into adherence in this population to reduce perinatal risks for relapse of depression. Objective: The objective of this study was to search for an inexpensive and easy method to implement daily for assessing medication adherence during pregnancy. Methods: An observational study was conducted to measure adherence by comparing pill count, Beliefs about Medicine questionnaire (BMQ) and blood level monitoring against the standard, the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS). We used a logistic regression model to determine potential predictors for poor adherence (age, marital class, highest level of education, monthly net income, employment, smoking, alcohol use and type of antidepressant). Results: From January 2010 until January 2012, 41 women were included within the first trimester of pregnancy; data could be evaluated in 29 women. Using MEMS, 86% of the women took in more than 80% of all prescribed doses on time and could be classified as adherent. Pill counts showed good agreement with MEMS. We did not find predictors for poor adherence in our study population. Conclusion: Adherence of antidepressants during pregnancy using MEMS is 86%. There was a good agreement between MEMS and pill counts. This method may serve as a good alternative that can be easily implemented into daily practice.
Global discovery of erythroid long noncoding RNAs reveals novel regulators of red cell maturation
Authors: Alvarez-Dominguez Juan R. , Hu Wenqian , Yuan Bingbing , Shi Jiahai , Park Staphany S. , Gromatzky Austin A. , Oudenaarden Alexander van , Lodish Harvey F. 
Published: November 2013

Key Points
Global lncRNA discovery reveals novel erythroid-specific lncRNAs that are dynamically expressed and targeted by GATA1, TAL1, and KLF1. Multiple types of lncRNAs promote red cell maturation by regulating neighboring loci, including DLEU2 and a novel Band 3 enhancer lncRNA.
Some normality criteria for families of meromorphic functions
Authors: Yuan Wenjun , Xiong Weiling , Lin Jianming 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
In the note, we study the normality of families of meromorphic functions. We consider whether a family of meromorphic functions ℱ is normal in D if, for a normal family

G

and for each function

f
∈
F

, there exists

g
∈
G

such that

f
n

f
′

=

a
i

implies

g
n

g
′

=

a
i

for two distinct nonzero points

a
i

,

i
=
1
,
2

and an integer n. An example shows that the condition in our results is best possible.

MSC:30D45, 30D35.
A note on rough singular integrals in Triebel-Lizorkin spaces and Besov spaces
Authors: Liu Feng , Wu Huoxiong , Zhang Daiqing 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
This paper is concerned with the singular integral operators along polynomial curves. The boundedness for such operators on Triebel-Lizorkin spaces and Besov spaces is established, provided the kernels satisfy rather weak size conditions both on the unit sphere and in the radial direction. Moreover, the corresponding results for the singular integrals associated to the compound curves formed by polynomial with certain smooth functions are also given.

MSC:42B20, 42B25.
C. albicansgrowth, transition, biofilm formation, and gene expression modulation by antimicrobial decapeptide KSL-W
Authors: Theberge Simon , Semlali Abdelhabib , Alamri Abdullah , Leung Kai P , Rouabhia Mahmoud 
Published: November 2013

Abstract

Background
Antimicrobial peptides have been the focus of much research over the last decade because of their effectiveness and broad-spectrum activity against microbial pathogens. These peptides also participate in inflammation and the innate host defense system by modulating the immune function that promotes immune cell adhesion and migration as well as the respiratory burst, which makes them even more attractive as therapeutic agents. This has led to the synthesis of various antimicrobial peptides, including KSL-W (KKVVFWVKFK-NH2), for potential clinical use. Because this peptide displays antimicrobial activity against bacteria, we sought to determine its antifungal effect on C. albicans. Growth, hyphal form, biofilm formation, and degradation were thus examined along with EFG1, NRG1, EAP1, HWP1, and SAP 2-4-5-6 gene expression by quantitative RT-PCR.

Results
This study demonstrates that KSL-W markedly reduced C. albicans growth at both early and late incubation times. The significant effect of KSL-W on C. albicans growth was observed beginning at 10 μg/ml after 5 h of contact by reducing C. albicans transition and at 25 μg/ml by completely inhibiting C. albicans transition. Cultured C. albicans under biofilm-inducing conditions revealed that both KSL-W and amphotericin B significantly decreased biofilm formation at 2, 4, and 6 days of culture. KSL-W also disrupted mature C. albicans biofilms. The effect of KSL-W on C. albicans growth, transition, and biofilm formation/disruption may thus occur through gene modulation, as the expression of various genes involved in C. albicans growth, transition and biofilm formation were all downregulated when C. albicans was treated with KSL-W. The effect was greater when C. albicans was cultured under hyphae-inducing conditions.

Conclusions
These data provide new insight into the efficacy of KSL-W against C. albicans and its potential use as an antifungal therapy.
Eye exercises of acupoints: their impact on refractive error and visual symptoms in Chinese urban children
Authors: Lin Zhong , Vasudevan Balamurali , Jhanji Vishal , Gao Tie Ying , Wang Ning Li , Wang Qi , Wang Ji , Ciuffreda Kenneth J , Liang Yuan Bo 
Published: November 2013

AbstractBackgroundTraditional Chinese eye exercises of acupoints involve acupoint self-massage. These have been advocated as a compulsory measure to reduce ocular fatigue, as well as to retard the development of myopia, among Chinese school children. This study evaluated the impact of these eye exercises among Chinese urban children.Methods409 children (195 males, 47.7%), aged 11.1 ± 3.2 (range 6–17) years, from the Beijing Myopia Progression Study (BMPS) were recruited. All had completed the eye exercise questionnaire, the convergence insufficiency symptom survey (CISS), and a cycloplegic autorefraction. Among these, 395 (96.6%) performed the eye exercises of acupoints. Multiple logistic regressions for myopia and multiple linear regressions for the CISS score (after adjusting for age, gender, average parental refractive error, and time spent doing near work and outdoor activity) for the different items of the eye exercises questionnaire were performed.ResultsOnly the univariate odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for “seriousness of attitude” towards performing the eye exercises of acupoints (0.51, 0.33-0.78) showed a protective effect towards myopia. However, none of the odds ratios were significant after adjusting for the confounding factors. The univariate and multipleβcoefficients for the CISS score were -2.47 (p = 0.002) and -1.65 (p = 0.039), -3.57 (p = 0.002) and -2.35 (p = 0.042), and -2.40 (p = 0.003) and -2.29 (p = 0.004), for attitude, speed of exercise, and acquaintance with acupoints, respectively, which were all significant.ConclusionsThe traditional Chinese eye exercises of acupoints appeared to have a modest effect on relieving near vision symptoms among Chinese urban children aged 6 to 17 years. However, no remarkable effect on reducing myopia was observed.
A practical approach to Sasang constitutional diagnosis using vocal features
Authors: Jang Jun-Su , Ku Boncho , Kim Young-Su , Nam Jiho , Kim Keun Ho , Kim Jong Yeol 
Published: November 2013

AbstractBackgroundSasang constitutional medicine (SCM) is a type of tailored medicine that divides human beings into four Sasang constitutional (SC) types. Diagnosis of SC types is crucial to proper treatment in SCM. Voice characteristics have been used as an essential clue for diagnosing SC types. In the past, many studies tried to extract quantitative vocal features to make diagnosis models; however, these studies were flawed by limited data collected from one or a few sites, long recording time, and low accuracy. We propose a practical diagnosis model having only a few variables, which decreases model complexity. This in turn, makes our model appropriate for clinical applications.MethodsA total of 2,341 participants’ voice recordings were used in making a SC classification model and to test the generalization ability of the model. Although the voice data consisted of five vowels and two repeated sentences per participant, we used only the sentence part for our study. A total of 21 features were extracted, and an advanced feature selection method—the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)—was applied to reduce the number of variables for classifier learning. A SC classification model was developed using multinomial logistic regression via LASSO.ResultsWe compared the proposed classification model to the previous study, which used both sentences and five vowels from the same patient’s group. The classification accuracies for the test set were 47.9% and 40.4% for male and female, respectively. Our result showed that the proposed method was superior to the previous study in that it required shorter voice recordings, is more applicable to practical use, and had better generalization performance.ConclusionsWe proposed a practical SC classification method and showed that our model having fewer variables outperformed the model having many variables in the generalization test. We attempted to reduce the number of variables in two ways: 1) the initial number of candidate features was decreased by considering shorter voice recording, and 2) LASSO was introduced for reducing model complexity. The proposed method is suitable for an actual clinical environment. Moreover, we expect it to yield more stable results because of the model’s simplicity.
Dietary protein and plasma total homocysteine, cysteine concentrations in coronary angiographic subjects
Authors: Xiao Yunjun , Zhang Yuan , Wang Min , Li Xinrui , Xia Min , Ling Wenhua 
Published: November 2013

Abstract

Background
Dietary patterns are associated with plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations in healthy populations, but the associations between dietary protein and tHcy, total cysteine (tCys) in high risk populations are unclear. We therefore examined the association between dietary protein and tHcy and tCys concentrations in coronary angiographic subjects.

Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study of 1015 Chinese patients who underwent coronary angiography (40–85 y old). With the use of food-frequency questionnaires, we divided the total protein intakes into high animal-protein and high plant-protein diets. Circulating concentrations of tHcy and tCys were simultaneously measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

Results
We found that high animal-protein diet was positively associated with hyperhomocysteinemia after adjustment for potential confounders, with the subjects in the highest quartile of intake having the greatest increase in risk (OR: 4.14, 95% CI: 2.67-6.43), whereas high plant-protein diet was inversely related to hyperhomocysteinemia, with a higher intake being protective. Compared with the first quartile of intake, the adjusted OR was 0.59 (95% CI: 0.38-0.91) for the fourth quartile. The total protein intake was positively associated with the risk of hypercysteinemia and the participants in highest quartile had significant OR of 1.69 (95% CI: 1.02-2.87) compared with those in lowest quartile. In multivariate linear regression analyses, high animal-protein and total-protein intakes were positively associated with plasma tHcy and tCys concentrations. The plant-protein intake was a negative determinant of plasma tHcy concentrations.

Conclusions
High animal-protein diet was positively associated with high tHcy concentrations, whereas high plant-protein diet was inversely associated with tHcy concentrations. Furthermore the total protein intake was strongly related to tCys concentrations.
Best proximity points and extension of Mizoguchi-Takahashi’s fixed point theorems
Authors: Kumam Poom , Aydi Hassen , Karapınar Erdal , Sintunavarat Wutiphol 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
In this paper, we introduce a multi-valued cyclic generalized contraction by extending the Mizoguchi and Takahashi’s contraction for non-self mappings. We also establish a best proximity point for such type contraction mappings in the context of metric spaces. Later, we characterize this result to investigate the existence of best proximity point theorems in uniformly convex Banach spaces. We state some illustrative examples to support our main theorems. Our results extend, improve and enrich some celebrated results in the literature, such as Nadler’s fixed point theorem, Mizoguchi and Takahashi’s fixed point theorem.

MSC:41A65, 46B20, 47H09, 47H10.
Coupled fixed point results on quasi-Banach spaces with application to a system of integral equations
Authors: Hussain Nawab , Salimi Peyman , Al-Mezel Saleh 
Published: November 2013

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to obtain coupled fixed point theorems for self-mappings defined on an ordered closed and convex subset of a quasi-Banach space. Our method of proof is different and constructive in nature. As an application of our coupled fixed point results, we establish corresponding coupled coincidence point results without any type of commutativity of underlying maps. Moreover, an application to integral equations is given to illustrate the usability of the obtained results.MSC:47H10, 54H25, 55M20.
Some new results on fixed and best proximity points in preordered metric spaces
Authors: Amini-Harandi Alireza , Fakhar Majid , Hajisharifi Hamid Reza , Hussain Nawab 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
In this paper, we first introduce two new classes of

(
ω
,
δ
)

-contractions of the first and second kinds and establish some related new fixed point and best proximity point theorems in preordered metric spaces. Our theorems subsume the corresponding recent results of Samet (J. Optim. Theory Appl. (2013), doi:10.1007/s10957-013-0269-9) and extend and generalize many of the well-known results in the literature. An example is also provided to support our main results.

MSC: 47H10, 41A65.
Existence of three solutions for a Navier boundary value problem involving the "Equation missing" -biharmonic
Authors: Huang Feng-Li , Chen Guang-Sheng , Niu Yu-Qi , Song Ti 
Published: November 2013

Abstract
In this paper, we study

(
p
(
x
)
,
q
(
x
)
)

-biharmonic systems with Navier boundary condition on a bounded domain and obtain three solutions under appropriate hypotheses. The technical approach is mainly based on the general three critical points theorem obtained by Ricceri.
Figure-ground discrimination behavior in Drosophila. II. Visual influences on head movement
Authors: Fox Jessica L. , Frye Mark A. 
Published: November 2013

Summary
Visual identification of small moving targets is a challenge for all moving animals. Their own motion generates displacement of the visual surroundings, inducing wide-field optic flow across the retina. Wide-field optic flow is used to sense perturbations in flight course. Both ego-motion and corrective optomotor responses confound any attempt to track a salient target moving independently from the visual surroundings. What are the strategies that flying animals use to discriminate small-field figure motion from superimposed wide-field background motion? We examined how fruit flies adjust their gaze in response to a compound visual stimulus comprising a small moving figure against an independently moving wide-field ground, which they do either by re-orienting their head or by re-orienting their flight trajectory. We found that fixing the head in place impairs object fixation in the presence of ground motion, and that head movements are necessary for stabilizing wing steering responses to wide-field ground motion when a figure is present. When a figure is moving relative to a moving ground, wing steering responses follow components of both the figure and ground trajectories, but head movements follow only the ground motion. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that wing responses can be uncoupled from head responses and that the two follow distinct trajectories in the case of simultaneous figure and ground motion. These results suggest that whereas figure tracking by wing kinematics is independent of head movements, head movements are important for stabilizing ground motion during active figure tracking.
Mechanics and energetics of load carriage during human walking
Authors: Huang Tzu-wei P. , Kuo Arthur D. 
Published: November 2013

SummaryAlthough humans clearly expend more energy to walk with an extra load, it is unclear what biomechanical mechanism explains contribute to that increase. One possible contribution is the mechanical work performed on the body center of mass (COM), which simple models predict should increase linearly with added mass. The work should be performed primarily by the lower extremity joints, although in unknown distribution, and cost a proportionate amount of metabolic energy. We therefore tested normal adults (N=8) walking at constant speed (1.25 m/s) with varying backpack loads up to about 40% of body weight. We measured mechanical work (both performed on the COM and joint work from inverse dynamics), as well as metabolic energy expenditure through respirometry. Both measures of work were found to increase approximately linearly with carried load, with COM work rate increasing by about 1.40 W for each 1 kg of additional load. The joints all contributed work, but the greatest increase in positive work was attributable to the ankle during push-off (about 45 - 60% of stride time), and the knee in the rebound after collision (12 - 30% stride). The hip performed increasing amounts of negative work, near the end of stance. Rate of metabolic energy expenditure also increased approximately linearly with load, by about 7.6 W for each 1 kg of additional load. The ratio of the increases in work and metabolic cost yielded a relatively constant efficiency of about 16%. The metabolic cost not explained by work appeared to be relatively constant with load and did not exhibit a particular trend. Most of the increasing cost for carrying a load appears to be explained by positive mechanical work, especially about ankle and knee, with both work and metabolic cost increasing nearly linearly with added mass.
Three floral volatiles contribute to differential pollinator attraction in monkeyflowers (Mimulus)
Authors: Byers Kelsey J.R.P. , Bradshaw H.D. , Riffell Jeffrey A. 
Published: November 2013

SummaryFlowering plants employ a wide variety of signals, including scent, to attract the attention of pollinators. In this study we investigate the role of floral scent in mediating differential attraction between two species of monkeyflowers (Mimulus) reproductively isolated by pollinator preference. The emission rate and chemical identity of floral volatiles differ between the bumblebee-pollinated Mimulus lewisii and the hummingbird-pollinated M. cardinalis. M. lewisii flowers produce an array of volatiles dominated by D-limonene, β-myrcene, and E-β-ocimene. Of these three monoterpenes, M. cardinalis flowers produce only D-limonene, released at just 0.9% the rate of M. lewisii flowers. Using the Bombus vosnesenskii bumblebee, an important pollinator of M. lewisii, we conducted simultaneous gas chromatography with extracellular recordings in the bumblebee antennal lobe. Results from these experiments revealed that these three monoterpenes evoke significant neural responses, and that a synthetic mixture of the three volatiles evokes the same responses as the natural scent. Furthermore, the neural population shows enhanced responses to the M. lewisii scent over the scent of M. cardinalis. This neural response is reflected in behavior; in two-choice assays, bumblebees investigate artificial flowers scented with M. lewisii more frequently than ones scented with M. cardinalis, and in synthetic mixtures the three monoterpenes are necessary and sufficient to recapitulate responses to the natural scent of M. lewisii. In this system, floral scent alone is sufficient to elicit differential visitation by bumblebees, implying a strong role of scent in the maintenance of reproductive isolation between M. lewisii and M. cardinalis.
Jumping mechanisms in dictyopharid planthoppers (Hemiptera, Dicytyopharidae)
Authors: Burrows Malcolm 
Published: November 2013

SummaryThe jumping performance of four species of hemipteran bugs belonging to the family Dictyopharidae, from Europe, South Africa and Australia were analysed from high speed images. The body shape in all was characterised by an elongated and tapering head that gave a streamlined appearance. The body size ranged from 6-9 mm in length and 6-23 mg in mass. The hind legs were 80-90 % of body length and 30-50% longer than the front legs, except in one species in which the front legs were particularly large so that all the legs were of similar lengths. Jumping was propelled by rapid and simultaneous depression of the trochantera of both hind legs, powered by large muscles in the thorax and was accompanied by extension of the tibiae. In the best jumps, defined as those with the fastest take-off velocity, Engela accelerated in 1.2 ms to a take-off velocity of 5.8 m s-1 which is the fastest achieved by any insect so far described. During such a jump, Engela experienced an acceleration of 4830 m s-2 or 490 g while other species in the same family experienced 225 - 375 g. The best jumps in all species required an energy expenditure of 76 - 225 μJ, a power output of 12 - 80 mW and exerted a force of 12 - 29 mN. The required power output per mass of jumping muscle ranged from 28000 - 140200 W kg-1 muscle and thus greatly exceeded the maximum active contractile limit of normal muscle. To achieve such a jumping performance, these insects must be using a power amplification mechanism in a catapult-like action. It is suggested that their streamlined body shape improves jumping performance by reducing drag, which for a small insect, can substantially affect forward momentum.
Oxygen delivery does not limit thermal tolerance in a tropical eurythermal crustacean
Authors: Ern Rasmus , Huong Do Thi Thanh , Phuong Nguyen Thanh , Wang Tobias , Bayley Mark 
Published: November 2013

SummaryIn aquatic environments, rising water temperatures reduce water oxygen content while increasing oxygen demand, leading several authors to propose cardiorespiratory oxygen transport capacity as the main determinant of aquatic animal fitness. It has also been argued that tropical species, compared to temperate species, live very close to their upper thermal limit and hence are vulnerable to even small elevations in temperature. Little, however, is known about physiological responses to high temperatures in tropical species. Here we report that the tropical Giant freshwater shrimp (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) maintains normal growth when challenged by a temperature rise of 6°C above the present day average (27°C to 33°C). Further, by measuring heart rate, gill ventilation rate, resting and maximum oxygen uptake, and hemolymph lactate, we show that oxygen transport capacity is maintained up to the critical maximum temperature around 41°C. In M. rosenbergii heart rate and gill ventilation rate increases exponentially until immediately below critical temperatures and at 38°C animals still retained more than 76% of aerobic scope measured at 30°C, and there was no indication of anaerobic metabolism at the high temperatures. Our study shows that the oxygen transport capacity is maintained at high temperatures, and that other mechanisms such as protein dysfunction, are responsible for the loss of ecological performance at elevated temperatures.