bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
G‐Protein‐Coupled Receptor Heteromers as Key Players in the Molecular Architecture of the Central Nervous System
Authors: Brugarolas Marc , Navarro Gemma , Martínez‐Pinilla Eva , Angelats Edgar , Casadó Vicent , Lanciego José L. , Franco Rafael 
Published: May 2014

SummaryThe overall architecture of the nervous system, especially the CNS, is remarkable. The anatomy of the nervous system is constituted not only by macroscopic and microscopy identifiable regions and neuronal cell types, but also by protein complexes whose identification and localization require sophisticated techniques. G‐protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute an example of proteins that are the key factors in the framework needed to sustain brain and nerve structure and function. The versatility underlying nervous system anatomy takes advantage of a recently discovered feature of GPCRs, the possibility to form heteromers that, placed at specific neuronal subsets and at specific locations (pre‐, post‐, or peri‐synaptic), contribute to attain unique neural functions.
Reliability of Contrast Echocardiography to Rule Out Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations and Avoid CT Irradiation in Pediatric Patients with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia
Authors: Karam Carma , Sellier Jacques , Mansencal Nicolas , Fagnou Carole , Blivet Sandra , Chinet Thierry , Lacombe Pascal , Dubourg Olivier 
Published: May 2014

BackgroundThe overall risk of cancer is higher in people exposed to computed tomography (CT) scans in childhood or adolescence compared to adults. Transthoracic contrast echocardiography (TTCE) has recently been used to screen for pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) in children with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), but the value of TTCE to rule out PAVMs and avoid chest CT radiation has yet to be discussed.MethodsBetween 2003 and 2013, 92 pediatric patients with ≥3 Curaçao criteria and/or genetic mutation underwent TTCE and chest CT on the same day. We used the classification proposed by Barzilai for TTCE quantification of shunting. We considered CT findings as negative when no PAVMs or only one microscopic PAVM was detected.ResultsMean age was 11.2 ± 4.1 years. The shunt was grade 0 on TTCE in 27.3%, grade 1 in 17%, grade 2 in 29.6%, grade 3 in 23.9%, and grade 4 in 2.2%. We found PAVMs on chest CT in 52.2%. All the patients with a grade 0 or 1 had a negative CT. The sensitivity and specificity of TTCE for the detection of PAVMs were 100% and 95.1%, respectively. The negative predictive value (NPV) was 100% and the positive predictive value (PPV) was 96%.ConclusionsA low‐grade classification (Barzilai 0 or 1) could presumably exclude the presence of PAVMs and allow CT irradiation to be avoided in children and adolescents. The screening algorithm using TTCE first would allow more than 40% of the pediatric patients screened for PAVMs to be spared the radiation dose of CT.
Developing clinical reasoning in the classroom – analysis of the 4C/ID‐model
Authors: Postma T. C. , White J. G. 
Published: May 2014

AbstractObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical rationale for the implementation of the four‐component instructional design model for complex learning (4C/ID‐model) at the University of Pretoria with the aim of systematically developing the clinical reasoning of undergraduate dental students in a classroom setting.MethodsRecent literature provides a rationale for the use of the 4C/ID‐model to teach clinical reasoning in terms of four strategic teaching and learning needs: (i) the need for authenticity in the learning process; (ii) the need to manage cognitive load during the learning process; (iii) the need for repeated practice; (iv) a need for valid assessment, feedback and reflection.Results and discussionThe literature review indicated that the 4C/ID‐model makes provision for teaching and learning in an authentic context and proposes systematically structured methods that could be practically applied to manage cognitive load during repetitive exercises. The model also makes provision for cognitive feedback following assessment in order to eliminate misconceptions about content and to develop the cognitive strategies of the learner.ConclusionsOn the basis of the literature review above, it is recommended that the 4C/ID‐model be considered as a basis for classroom teaching and learning to develop competence in clinical reasoning in undergraduate dental students, even at pre‐clinical level. The model may also have an application in medical education.
Ecosystem stability in space: α, β and γ variability
Authors: Wang Shaopeng , Loreau Michel 
Published: May 2014

AbstractThe past two decades have seen great progress in understanding the mechanisms of ecosystem stability in local ecological systems. There is, however, an urgent need to extend existing knowledge to larger spatial scales to match the scale of management and conservation. Here, we develop a general theoretical framework to study the stability and variability of ecosystems at multiple scales. Analogously to the partitioning of biodiversity, we propose the concepts of alpha, beta and gamma variability. Gamma variability at regional (metacommunity) scale can be partitioned into local alpha variability and spatial beta variability, either multiplicatively or additively. On average, variability decreases from local to regional scales, which creates a negative variability–area relationship. Our partitioning framework suggests that mechanisms of regional ecosystem stability can be understood by investigating the influence of ecological factors on alpha and beta variability. Diversity can provide insurance effects at the various levels of variability, thus generating alpha, beta and gamma diversity–stability relationships. As a consequence, the loss of biodiversity and habitat impairs ecosystem stability at the regional scale. Overall, our framework enables a synthetic understanding of ecosystem stability at multiple scales and has practical implications for landscape management.
Long‐term mark‐and‐recapture study of a freshwater mussel reveals patterns of habitat use and an association between survival and river discharge
Authors: Inoue Kentaro , Levine Todd D. , Lang Brian K. , Berg David J. 
Published: May 2014

Summary

Climate change and human population growth threaten the supply of fresh water for human use and freshwater biodiversity. Long‐term studies are necessary to identify the effects of such temporal trends on biological and ecological phenomena; however, the collection of long‐term data can be costly and time‐consuming.

We investigated the effect of hydrological variation over time on population dynamics in a perennial river of the northern Chihuahuan Desert, using an imperilled freshwater mussel (Popenaias popeii) as a model. We conducted a 15‐year mark‐and‐recapture study, and distance sampling, to estimate demographic parameters while accounting for habitat heterogeneity and changes in river discharge.

Recapture probability varied between microhabitats, and survival was positively correlated with river discharge. Survival and the finite rate of population growth were relatively stable over time. Over 60% of individuals were found at relatively high density in riffle habitats, which compose c. 16% of the total study area.

Mean monthly temperature in the region increased over the past 100 years, and mean monthly discharge of the Black River declined over the past 65 years. With no significant trends in total monthly precipitation, declines in discharge suggest that reduction of stream flow is likely due to lowering of the water table and decreased groundwater recharge.

Significant changes in climate and hydrological regimes, and increases in anthropogenic threats (increased water demand, degraded water quality) in the region, may induce significant declines in population size of this imperilled mussel. We demonstrated the importance of considering habitat heterogeneity and hydrological cycles over time to examine population dynamics. Survival of benthic invertebrates in desert streams is sensitive to hydrological cycles, which are expected to be altered via climate change and extensive water use. Species recovery plans need to incorporate knowledge of spatial distributions when designing strategies for habitat assessment and making conservation decisions.
Predicting smoking cessation and its relapse inHIV‐infected patients: theSwissHIV CohortStudy
Authors: Schäfer J , Young J , Bernasconi E , Ledergerber B , Nicca D , Calmy A , Cavassini M , Furrer H , Battegay M , Bucher HC ,   Swiss HIV Cohort Study
Published: May 2014

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to assess whether prospective follow‐up data within theSwissHIV CohortStudy can be used to predict patients who stop smoking; or among smokers who stop, those who start smoking again.MethodsWe built prediction models first using clinical reasoning (‘clinical models’) and then by selecting from numerous candidate predictors using advanced statistical methods (‘statistical models’). Our clinical models were based on literature that suggests that motivation drives smoking cessation, while dependence drives relapse in those attempting to stop. Our statistical models were based on automatic variable selection using additive logistic regression with component‐wise gradient boosting.ResultsOf 4833 smokers, 26% stopped smoking, at least temporarily; because among those who stopped, 48% started smoking again. The predictive performance of our clinical and statistical models was modest. A basic clinical model for cessation, with patients classified into three motivational groups, was nearly as discriminatory as a constrained statistical model with just the most important predictors (the ratio of nonsmoking visits to total visits, alcohol or drug dependence, psychiatric comorbidities, recent hospitalization and age). A basic clinical model for relapse, based on the maximum number of cigarettes per day prior to stopping, was not as discriminatory as a constrained statistical model with just the ratio of nonsmoking visits to total visits.ConclusionsPredicting smoking cessation and relapse is difficult, so that simple models are nearly as discriminatory as complex ones. Patients with a history of attempting to stop and those known to have stopped recently are the best candidates for an intervention.
Connecting Cultures: Balinese Character and the Computer
Authors: Hagaman Dianne DiPaola 
Published: May 2014

Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead intended to use a combination of text, still photographs, and motion picture film in the report of their study of character development in Bali, but found this technically impossible. Multimedia computational devices have now made it possible to do what they could not do, making the three media (in Latour's terms) ‘combinable on a flat surface.’ We were compelled to economize on motion-picture film, and disregarding the future difficulties of exposition, we assumed that the still photography and the motion-picture film together would constitute our record of behavior. (Notes to the Photographs, in Bateson and Mead, 1942 (italics Bateson's)) If inventions are made that transform numbers, images and texts from all over the world into the same binary code inside computers, then indeed the handling, the combination, the mobility, the conservation and the display of the traces will all be fantastically facilitated. When you hear someone say that he or she ‘masters’ a question better, meaning that his or her mind had enlarged, look first for inventions bearing on the mobility, immutability or versatility of the traces; and it is only later, if by some extraordinary chance, something is still unaccounted for, that you may turn towards the mind. (Latour, 1986 (italics Latour's)).
Information Systems Strategy, a Cultural Borderland, Some Monstrous Behaviour
Authors: Hales Mike 
Published: May 2014

Does it help to think ‘culture’ when addressing multinational practices of information systems strategy? This paper says it depends on where you stand yourself, what you're attempting to articulate, and whether you can address topographies and systematic violations as well as meanings and situated actions. Discussing an actual case of organization-development consultancy, and seriously mixing its metaphors, the argument uses: a (materialist) distinction between meanings and powers, to suggest that the culture disciplines may not give sufficient help in producing actual change; ‘terrain’, to voice the possibility that computer systems strategy work may be done monstrously; and ‘theatre’, to invoke the construction of research-and-development borderlands which have as their harvest not only meanings but also (unacademic) powers. Antoine Artaud wrote tracts describing … another theatre … working like the plague, by intoxication, by infection, by analogy, by magic; a theatre in which the play, the event itself, stands in place of a text. (Brook, 1990:54). [Artaud] was always speaking of a complete way of life, of a theatre in which the activity of the actor and the activity of the spectator were driven by the same desperate need… . [I]t is easier to apply the rules to the work of a handful of dedicated actors than to the lives of the unknown spectators who happen by chance to come through the theatre door. (Brook, 1990:60–61).
Potential Impacts of Climate Change on the Reliability of Water and Hydropower Supply from a Multipurpose Dam in South Korea
Authors: Park Jong Y. , Kim Seong J. 
Published: May 2014

AbstractFuture climate change is a source of growing concerns for the supply of energy and resources, and it may have significant impacts on industry and the economy. Major effects are likely to arise from changes to the freshwater resources system, due to the connection of energy generation to these water systems. Using future climate data downscaled by a stochastic weather generator, this study investigates the potential impacts of climate change on long‐term reservoir operations at the Chungju multipurpose dam in South Korea, specifically considering the reliability of the supply of water and hydropower. A reservoir model, Hydrologic Engineering Center‐Reservoir System Simulation (HEC‐ResSim), was used to simulate the ability of the dam to supply water and hydropower under different conditions. The hydrologic model Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to determine the HEC‐ResSim boundary conditions, including daily dam inflow from the 6,642 km2 watershed into the 2.75 Gm3 capacity reservoir. Projections of the future climate indicate that temperature and precipitation during 2070‐2099 (2080s) show an increase of +4.1°C and 19.4%, respectively, based on the baseline (1990‐2009). The results from the models suggest that, in the 2080s, the average annual water supply and hydropower production would change by +19.8 to +56.5% and by +33.9 to 92.3%, respectively. Model simulations suggest that under the new climatic conditions, the reliability of water and hydropower supply would be generally improved, as a consequence of increased dam inflow.
Daily Bank Erosion Rates in the Lower Yellow River Before and After Dam Construction
Authors: Xia Junqiang , Li Tao , Li Xiaojuan , Zhang Xiaolei , Zong Quanli 
Published: May 2014

AbstractDuring the period of water impoundment and sediment detention of the Sanmenxia Reservoir, riverbank erosion processes played a key role in the channel evolution of the Lower Yellow River (LYR). However, research into bank erosion rates of the LYR has been neglected due to the lack of direct field monitoring. In this study, an indirect method is proposed to determine bank erosion rates at daily time scales by outlining a detailed calculation procedure using measured hydrological data. A total of 810 data points of daily bank erosion rates before and after the construction of Sanmenxia Dam was calculated at seven hydrometric sections along the LYR, with the corresponding values of the bank stability coefficient and the width‐to‐depth ratio also being calculated. Empirical relations were then developed to estimate the daily bank erosion rates, using these parameters at the sections. Temporal and spatial variability in daily bank erosion rates in the LYR before and after dam construction were also investigated, revealing that: (1) the bank erosion rates had a mean value of 16.7‐29.1 m/day in the braided reach, with a maximum value of 290.0 m/day, while they were relatively low in the meandering reach, with a mean value of 2.5 m/day; (2) the erosion rates before dam construction were slightly greater than those after dam construction, with the difference reaching 5‐10 m/day in the braided reach, decreasing in the transitional reach gradually, and being slight in the meandering reach.
The effect of interventions to prevent and treat malnutrition in patients admitted for rehabilitation: a systematic review with meta‐analysis
Authors: Collins J. , Porter J. 
Published: May 2014

AbstractBackgroundMalnutrition occurs frequently among patients in rehabilitation, leading to poorer outcomes. Evidence of the effects of interventions to prevent or treat malnutrition is required to guide clinical practice in this setting. This systematic review aimed to determine the effect of oral nutrition interventions implemented in rehabilitation on nutritional and functional outcomes.MethodsFive databases were searched to identify relevant publications; intervention trials of oral nutrition interventions (such as oral nutrition supplements, foodservice interventions, clinical care processes, enhanced eating environments) conducted with patients admitted for rehabilitation, reporting dietary intake, anthropometric, biochemical or functional outcomes. The reviewers determined study eligibility and assessed the included studies for risk of bias. Outcome data were combined narratively and by meta‐analyses.ResultsFrom 1765 publications, 10 studies trialling oral nutrition supplements, foodservice interventions and clinical care processes (of neutral or positive quality) were identified. Compared to meals alone, oral nutritional supplements significantly improved energy and protein intake, with some evidence for improvements in anthropometry and length of stay. There was little evidence that speciality supplements were beneficial compared to standard versions. Meta‐analyses demonstrated significantly greater energy [weighted mean difference (WMD) = 324 kcal, 212–436 kcal 95% confidence interval (CI)] and protein (WMD = 9.1 g, 0.2–17.9 g 95% CI) intake with energy dense meals. Opposing results were reported in studies investigating enhanced clinical care processes.ConclusionsThe provision of oral nutrition supplements and energy dense meals improved energy and protein intake and therefore may comprise effective strategies for addressing malnutrition in rehabilitation. The effect of these strategies on other nutritional and functional outcomes should be explored further.
Neuronal influences are necessary to produce mitochondrial co‐localization with glutamate transporters in astrocytes
Authors: Ugbode Christopher I. , Hirst Warren D. , Rattray Marcus 
Published: May 2014

AbstractRecent evidence suggests that the predominant astrocyte glutamate transporter, GLT‐1/ Excitatory Amino Acid Transporter 2 (EAAT2) is associated with mitochondria. We used primary cultures of mouse astrocytes to assess co‐localization of GLT‐1 with mitochondria, and tested whether the interaction was dependent on neurons, actin polymerization or the kinesin adaptor, TRAK2. Mouse primary astrocytes were transfected with constructs expressing V5‐tagged GLT‐1, pDsRed1‐Mito with and without dominant negative TRAK2. Astrocytes were visualized using confocal microscopy and co‐localization was quantified using Volocity software. Image analysis of confocal z‐stacks revealed no co‐localization between mitochondria and GLT‐1 in pure astrocyte cultures. Co‐culture of astrocytes with primary mouse cortical neurons revealed more mitochondria in processes and a positive correlation between mitochondria and GLT‐1. This co‐localization was not further enhanced after neuronal depolarization induced by 1 h treatment with 15 mM K+. In pure astrocytes, a rho kinase inhibitor, Y27632 caused the distribution of mitochondria to astrocyte processes without enhancing GLT‐1/mitochondrial co‐localization, however, in co‐cultures, Y27632 abolished mitochondrial:GLT‐1 co‐localization. Disrupting potential mitochondrial: kinesin interactions using dominant negative TRAK2 did not alter GLT‐1 distribution or GLT‐1: mitochondrial co‐localization. We conclude that the association between GLT‐1 and mitochondria is modest, is driven by synaptic activity and dependent on polymerized actin filaments.
image
Mitochondria have limited co‐localization with the glutamate transporter GLT‐1 in primary astrocytes in culture. Few mitochondria are in the fine processes where GLT‐1 is abundant. It is necessary to culture astrocytes with neurones to drive a significant level of co‐localization, but co‐localization is not further altered by depolarization, manipulating sodium ion gradients or Na/K ATPase activity.
Impacts of UVB provision and dietary calcium content on serum vitamin D3, growth rates, skeletal structure and coloration in captive oriental fire‐bellied toads (Bombina orientalis)
Authors: Michaels C. J. , Antwis R. E. , Preziosi R. F. 
Published: May 2014

SummaryMany amphibian species are dependent on ex situ conservation interventions for their long‐term persistence. However, projects have been jeopardised by husbandry issues involving poor calcium metabolism and nutritional metabolic bone disease (NMBD). Healthy calcium metabolism requires appropriate dietary calcium content and access to vitamin D3. In many animals, vitamin D3 can be photobiosynthesised in skin exposed to UVB radiation, as well as extracted from the diet, but the extent of vitamin D3 photobiosynthesis in amphibians is poorly known. Additionally, prey insects for captive amphibians are deficient in calcium and calcium content must be artificially increased, but the effects of different levels of augmentation and their interaction with UVB exposure are also little understood. We fed captive fire‐bellied toads (Bombina orientalis) with crickets augmented to contain 5% and 10% calcium and housed them with and without UVB exposure. Despite additional dietary vitamin D3 supplementation, we found that toads exposed to UVB radiation exhibited significantly higher serum vitamin D3 levels, indicating that this species may partly rely on photobiosynthesis sources of vitamin D3. These data are the first to show a direct link between UVB exposure and serum vitamin D3 in an amphibian. We found significant positive effects of UVB exposure and 10% dietary calcium content on skeletal structure, as well as complex interactions between treatments. We also found UVB radiation exposure resulted in more rapid natural coloration acquisition. Together, this indicates that standard calcium plus vitamin D3 supplementation methods may not fully substitute for UVB exposure and for increased feeder insect calcium content. This may have implications for the success of ex situ amphibian conservation, as well as for the welfare of captive amphibians in general. Our data lend support for the provision of UVB radiation for captive, basking amphibians.