bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of Female Sexual Dysfunction in Urban Chinese Women Based on Cutoff Scores of the Chinese Version of the Female Sexual Function Index: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Ma Jiehua , Pan Lianjun , Lei Yu , Zhang Aixia , Kan Yanjing 
Published: February 2014

Abstract

Introduction
The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) remains the most widely used scale for screening female sexual dysfunction (FSD), and the Chinese Version of the FSFI (CVFSFI) has been validated, but cutoff scores for the CVFSFI to distinguish between cases and noncases have not been developed, so the real prevalence of FSD in China is unknown.

Aim
To establish clinical cutoff scores for the CVFSFI and to evaluate the prevalence of FSD in urban Chinese women.

Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and December 2011. A total of 586 (age range of 22–60 years) women participated in the study. Receiving operating characteristic curve and classification and regression trees methodology were combined to establish clinical cutoff scores for the CVFSFI. The cutoff scores we developed were used to determine the prevalence of FSD in urban Chinese women.

Main Outcome Measures
The prevalence of FSD based on cutoff scores developed herein.

Results
The optimal CVFSFI cutoff score for the FSFI total score was 23.45 (sensitivity = 66.9%; specificity = 72.7%; area under curve [AUC] = 0.75). The cutoff score for each domain was also established as follows: ≤2.7 low desire (sensitivity = 55.2%; specificity = 78.3%; AUC = 0.73); ≤3.15 arousal disorder (sensitivity = 62.1%; specificity = 76.9%; AUC = 0.74); ≤4.05 lubrication disorder (sensitivity = 86.4%; specificity = 69.8%; AUC = 0.85); ≤3.8 orgasm disorder (sensitivity = 83.3%; specificity = 74.2%; AUC = 0.85); and ≤3.8 sexual pain (sensitivity = 65.4%; specificity = 80.6%; AUC = 0.79). Using these cutoff scores, we determined the prevalence for FSD, low desire, arousal disorder, lubrication disorder, orgasm disorder, and sexual pain to be 37.6%, 23.6%, 25.4%, 36.8%, 30.6%, and 21.8% in urban Chinese women, respectively.

Conclusions
The present data may suggest that urban Chinese women might have a lower FSD prevalence than women from some other countries; however, further study to achieve a better understanding of its epidemiology in China is a high necessity.
Nebivolol Potentiates the Efficacy of PDE5 Inhibitors to Relax Corpus Cavernosum and Penile Arteries from Diabetic Patients by Enhancing the NO/cGMP Pathway
Authors: Martínez-Salamanca Juan I. , La Fuente José M. , Cardoso José , Fernández Argentina , Cuevas Pedro , Wright Harold M. , Angulo Javier 
Published: February 2014

Abstract

Introduction
The efficacy of oral pharmacotherapy for erectile dysfunction (ED) (i.e., type 5 phosphodiesterase [PDE5] inhibitors) is significantly reduced in diabetic patients. Nebivolol is a selective β1-blocker used for treating hypertension that has been shown to increase the efficacy of sildenafil to reverse ED in diabetic rats.

Aim
To evaluate the effects of nebivolol on the efficacy of the PDE5 inhibitors, sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil to relax human corpus cavernosum (HCC) and vasodilate human penile resistance arteries (HPRA) from diabetic patients with ED (DMED). The influence of nebivolol on the capacity of these three PDE5 inhibitors to stimulate cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) production in HCC was also evaluated.

Methods
HCC and HPRA were obtained from organ donors without ED (NEND; n = 18) or patients with diabetes undergoing penile prosthesis implantation (DMED; n = 19). Relaxations of HCC strips and HPRA to sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil were evaluated in organ chambers and wire myographs. cGMP content in HCC was determined by ether extraction and quantification by ELISA.

Main Outcome Measures
Effects of nebivolol on PDE5 inhibitor-induced relaxation of HCC, vasodilation of HPRA and cGMP accumulation in HCC.

Results
Treatment with nebivolol (1 μM) significantly potentiated sildenafil-, tadalafil- and vardenafil-induced relaxations of HCC and vasodilations of HPRA from both NEND and DMED. Enhancement of relaxant capacity by nebivolol resulted in reversion of the impairment of PDE5 inhibition-induced responses in DMED and it was accompanied by enhancing the ability of PDE5 inhibitors to increase cGMP in HCC restoring reduced cGMP levels in HCC from DMED.

Conclusions
Nebivolol potentiated the capacity of PDE5 inhibitors to relax vascular structures of erectile tissue from diabetic patients by enhancing the nitric oxide (NO)/cGMP pathway in these tissues. These effects suggest a potential therapeutic utility of nebivolol as an adjunct to PDE5 inhibitors for the treatment of ED associated with diabetes.
CSF beta‐amyloid levels are altered in narcolepsy: a link with the inflammatory hypothesis?
Authors: Liguori Claudio , Placidi Fabio , Albanese Maria , Nuccetelli Marzia , Izzi Francesca , Marciani Maria Grazia , Mercuri Nicola Biagio , Bernardini Sergio , Romigi Andrea 
Published: February 2014

SummaryNarcolepsy is characterized by hypocretin deficiency due to the loss of hypothalamic orexinergic neurons, and is associated with both the human leucocyte antigen DQB1*06:02 and the T cell receptor polymorphism. The above relationship suggests autoimmune/inflammatory processes underlying the loss of orexinergic neurons in narcolepsy. To test the autoimmune/inflammatory hypothesis by means of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of beta‐amyloid1–42 and/or total tau proteins in a sample of narcoleptic patients, we analysed 16 narcoleptic patients and 16 healthy controls. Beta‐amyloid1–42 CSF levels were significantly lower in narcoleptic patients compared with healthy controls. We also documented pathologically low levels of CSF beta‐amyloid1–42 (<500 pg mL−1) in six of 16 narcoleptic patients (37.5%). We hypothesize that the significant decrease of the CSF beta‐amyloid1–42 levels in narcoleptic patients may support both the inflammatory/autoimmune hypothesis as the basis of the pathogenesis of narcolepsy and the prevalence of an ‘amyloidogenic’ pathway caused by the deficiency of the alpha‐secretases enzymes.
Sleep respiratory disturbances and arousals at moderate altitude have overlapping electroencephalogram spectral signatures
Authors: Stadelmann Katrin , Latshang Tsogyal D. , Tarokh Leila , Lo Cascio Christian M. , Tesler Noemi , Stoewhas Anne‐Christin , Kohler Malcolm , Bloch Konrad E. , Huber Reto , Achermann Peter 
Published: February 2014

SummaryAn ascent to altitude has been shown to result in more central apneas and a shift towards lighter sleep in healthy individuals. This study employs spectral analysis to investigate the impact of respiratory disturbances (central/obstructive apnea and hypopnea or periodic breathing) at moderate altitude on the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) and to compare EEG changes resulting from respiratory disturbances and arousals. Data were collected from 51 healthy male subjects who spent 1 night at moderate altitude (2590 m). Power density spectra of Stage 2 sleep were calculated in a subset (20) of these participants with sufficient artefact‐free data for (a) epochs with respiratory events without an accompanying arousal, (b) epochs containing an arousal and (c) epochs of undisturbed Stage 2 sleep containing neither arousal nor respiratory events. Both arousals and respiratory disturbances resulted in reduced power in the delta, theta and spindle frequency range and increased beta power compared to undisturbed sleep. The similarity of the EEG changes resulting from altitude‐induced respiratory disturbances and arousals indicates that central apneas are associated with micro‐arousals, not apparent by visual inspection of the EEG. Our findings may have implications for sleep in patients and mountain tourists with central apneas and suggest that respiratory disturbances not accompanied by an arousal may, none the less, impact sleep quality and impair recuperative processes associated with sleep more than previously believed.
Memory sources of dreams: the incorporation of autobiographical rather than episodic experiences
Authors: Malinowski Josie E. , Horton Caroline L. 
Published: February 2014

SummaryThe present study aimed to explore autobiographical memories (long‐lasting memories about the self) and episodic memories (memories about discrete episodes or events) within dream content. We adapted earlier episodic memory study paradigms and reinvestigated the incorporation of episodic memory sources into dreams, operationalizing episodic memory as featuring autonoetic consciousness, which is the feeling of truly re‐experiencing or reliving a past event. Participants (n = 32) recorded daily diaries and dream diaries, and reported on wake–dream relations for 2 weeks. Using a new scale, dreams were rated for their episodic richness, which categorized memory sources of dreams as being truly episodic (featuring autonoetic consciousness), autobiographical (containing segregated features of experiences that pertained to waking life) or otherwise. Only one dream (0.5%) was found to contain an episodic memory. However, the majority of dreams (>80%) were found to contain low to moderate incorporations of autobiographical memory features. These findings demonstrate the inactivity of intact episodic memories, and emphasize the activity of autobiographical memory and processing within dreams. Taken together, this suggests that memories for personal experiences are experienced fragmentarily and selectively during dreaming, perhaps in order to assimilate these memories into the autobiographical memory schema.
What drives plant species diversity? A global distributed test of the unimodal relationship between herbaceous species richness and plant biomass
Authors: Fraser Lauchlan H. , Jentsch Anke , Sternberg Marcelo 
Published: February 2014

AbstractQuestionFor over a century, ecologists have grappled with the question “what drives species diversity?” Urgent global issues such as loss of biodiversity and the relative importance of species richness for ecosystem function and services has heightened the relative importance of understanding processes that control species diversity. Here we present the plans for a global coordinated distributed experiment for herbaceous communities, theHerbDivNet, to test the hump‐backed model, a unimodal relationship between species richness and aboveground plant biomass plus dead plant litterHBM, to determine whether scale may influence theHBM, and to explore drivers of plant diversity.LocationGlobally distributed experiment.MethodsWe propose a nested, standardized sampling design 8 × 8 m, with 1 m2plots, taken from multiple site locations along a range of sites varying in primary productivity.Results and ConclusionsWe welcome others with an interest in using global, standardized, coordinated distributed experiments to explore patterns and processes in herbaceous plant communities to joinHerbDivNet in the search of new insights to drivers of plant species diversity.
Community ecology of absent species: hidden and dark diversity
Authors: Pärtel Meelis 
Published: February 2014

AbstractCommunity ecologists have so far focused mainly on species identified at a site. I suggest that we can understand better patterns and their underlying processes in ecological communities if we also examine those species absent from the sampled community. However, there are various types of absences, which all harbour different information. Hidden diversity comprises species that are absent from our sight: dormant or locally very rare species overlooked by traditional sampling. Fortunately, modern DNA‐based techniques can help us to find hidden species when analysing environmental samples. Depending on habitat type and sampling scale, a large number of co‐existing species might be hidden. Dark diversity comprises absent species that constitute the habitat‐specific species pool. Dark diversity can be determined based on data on species distribution, dispersal potential and ecological requirements. If we know both observed and dark diversity, we can estimate community completeness and infer those processes that determine which species in the species pool actually co‐exist locally. In addition, most species in the world do not actually belong to the habitat‐specific species pool of the community: their ecological requirements differ or their distribution area is elsewhere. Such other absent species are usually not directly relevant to a particular community. However, knowing ecologically suitable species from other regions can give early warning of possible future invasion of alien species (alien dark diversity). To conclude, species presences have meaning only if there are absences (and vice versa). Methods to detect absent species are rapidly developing and will soon form a standard toolbox for community ecology.
Overexpression of angiopoietin‐2 in rats and patients with liver fibrosis. Therapeutic consequences of its inhibition
Authors: Pauta Montse , Ribera Jordi , Melgar‐Lesmes Pedro , Casals Gregori , Rodríguez‐Vita Juan , Reichenbach Vedrana , Fernandez‐Varo Guillermo , Morales‐Romero Blai , Bataller Ramon , Michelena Javier , Altamirano Jose , Jiménez Wladimiro , Morales‐Ruiz Manuel 
Published: February 2014

AbstractBackground & AimsStudies in experimental models of cirrhosis showed that anti‐angiogenic treatments may be effective for the treatment of liver fibrosis. In this context, angiopoietins are potential therapeutic targets as they are involved in the maintenance and stabilization of newly formed blood vessels. In addition, angiopoietin‐2 is expressed in fibrotic livers and its inhibition in tumours results in vessel stability. Therefore, our study was aimed to assess the therapeutic utility of inhibiting angiopoietin‐2.MethodsCirculating levels of angiopoietin‐1 and angiopoietin‐2 were quantified by ELISA in CCl4‐treated rats and in patients with cirrhosis. In vivo blockade of angiopoietin‐2 in rats with liver fibrosis was performed with a chemically programmed antibody, CVX‐060.ResultsHigh levels of angiopoietin‐2 were found in the systemic and suprahepatic circulation of cirrhotic patients and the ratio angiopoietin‐1/angiopoietin‐2 inversely correlated with prognostic models for alcoholic liver disease. Chronic treatment of CCl4‐treated rats with CVX‐060 was associated with a significant decrease in inflammatory infiltrate, normalization of the hepatic microvasculature and reduction in VCAM‐1 vascular expression. The anti‐angiopoietin‐2 treatment was also associated with less liver fibrosis and with lower levels of circulating transaminases. CVX‐060 treatment was not associated with either vascular pruning in healthy tissue or compensatory overexpression of VEGF.ConclusionsInhibition of angiopoietin‐2 is an effective and safe treatment for liver fibrosis in CCl4‐treated rats, acting mainly through the induction of vessel normalization and the attenuation of hepatic inflammatory infiltrate. Therefore, inhibition of angiopoietin‐2 offers a therapeutic alternative for liver fibrosis.
Structure of bacteriophage SPN1S endolysin reveals an unusual two‐module fold for the peptidoglycan lytic and binding activity
Authors: Park Yangshin , Lim Jeong‐A. , Kong Minsuk , Ryu Sangryeol , Rhee Sangkee 
Published: February 2014

SummaryBacteriophage SPN1S infects the pathogenic Gram‐negative bacterium Salmonella typhimurium and expresses endolysin for the release of phage progeny by degrading peptidoglycan of the host cell walls. Bacteriophage SPN1S endolysin exhibits high glycosidase activity against peptidoglycans, resulting in antimicrobial activity against a broad range of outer membrane‐permeabilized Gram‐negative bacteria. Here, we report a crystal structure of SPN1S endolysin, indicating that unlike most endolysins from Gram‐negative bacteria background, the α‐helical protein consists of two modular domains, a large and a small domain, with a concave groove between them. Comparison with other structurally homologous glycoside hydrolases indicated a possible peptidoglycan binding site in the groove, and the presence of a catalytic dyad in the vicinity of the groove, one residue in a large domain and the other in a junction between the two domains. The catalytic dyad was further validated by antimicrobial activity assay against outer membrane‐permeabilized Escherichia coli. The three‐helix bundle in the small domain containing a novel class of sequence motif exhibited binding affinity against outer membrane‐permeabilized E. coli and was therefore proposed as the peptidoglycan‐binding domain. These structural and functional features suggest that endolysin from a Gram‐negative bacterial background has peptidoglycan‐binding activity and performs glycoside hydrolase activity through the catalytic dyad.
A new pathway of exogenous fatty acid incorporation proceeds by a classical phosphoryl transfer reaction
Authors: Cronan John E. 
Published: February 2014

SummaryThe Firmicute bacteria readily incorporate exogenous fatty acids into their phospholipids. In some (but not all) family members incorporation of the fatty acids present in human serum precludes the use of fatty acid synthesis inhibitors to treat infections. However, the pathway(s) of exogenous fatty acid incorporation in these bacteria remained unknown, although it was thought to differ from known pathways. Parsons and co‐workers show that in Staphylococcus aureus exogenous fatty acids are activated by phosphoryl transfer from ATP to form acyl‐phosphates, a mixed anhydride suggested as a potential intermediate 70 years ago. This finding has important ramifications for the efficacy of treatment of S. aureus infections using inhibitors of fatty acid synthesis.
X‐ray structure of a novel endolysin encoded by episomal phage phiSM101 of Clostridium perfringens
Authors: Tamai Eiji , Yoshida Hiromi , Sekiya Hiroshi , Nariya Hirofumi , Miyata Shigeru , Okabe Akinobu , Kuwahara Tomomi , Maki Jun , Kamitori Shigehiro 
Published: February 2014

SummaryGram‐positive bacteria possess a thick cell wall composed of a mesh polymer of peptidoglycans, which provides physical protection. Endolysins encoded by phages infecting bacteria can hydrolyse peptidoglycans in the bacterial cell wall, killing the host bacteria immediately. The endolysin (Psm) encoded by episomal phage phiSM101 of enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens type A strain SM101 exhibits potent lytic activity towards most strains of Clostridium perfringens. Psm has an N‐terminal catalytic domain highly homologous to N‐acetylmuramidases belonging to the glycoside hydrolase 25 family, and C‐terminal tandem repeated bacterial Src homology 3 (SH3_3) domains as the cell wall‐binding domain. The X‐ray structure of full‐length Psm and a catalytic domain of Psm in complex with N‐acetylglucosamine were determined to elucidate the catalytic reaction and cell wall recognition mechanisms of Psm. The results showed that Psm may have adopted a neighbouring‐group mechanism for the catalytic hydrolysing reaction in which the N‐acetyl carbonyl group of the substrate was involved in the formation of an oxazolinium ion intermediate. Based on structural comparisons with other endolysins and a modelling study, we proposed that tandem repeated SH3_3 domains of Psm recognized the peptide side‐chains of peptidoglycans to assist the catalytic domain hydrolysing the glycan backbone.
Population fluctuations affect inference in ecological networks of multi‐species interactions
Authors: Wells Konstans , Feldhaar Heike , O’Hara Robert B. 
Published: February 2014

Local abundance and population fluctuations are key factors affecting the realized interaction frequencies in biotic interactions, but they are commonly ignored when network metrics are calculated over aggregated sets of observations. Here we studied how abundance fluctuations (i.e. demographic and stochastic population dynamics in one of the trophic levels) may affect derived network‐level inferences in bipartite ecological networks. Variation at both the species and network level in network indices (d’, Dependence, Fisher's alpha diversity for both levels, H2’, weighted NODF) were strongly correlated with the extent of abundance fluctuations, with a strong effect of environmental stochasticity on all indices except NODF; this was the only index for which considerable variation was caused by varying carrying capacities among species. Binary connectance, in turn, does not take interaction frequency (and thus abundance) into account and was only influenced by abundance fluctuations at low population sizes if this led to non‐occurrence of ‘true’ interactions.Overall, abundance and population dynamics are likely to play an important role in determining what is commonly observed and summarized into ecological networks. We suggest that ecological network inference should account for underlying population dynamics and uncertainty in what is observed as interaction frequencies, modelling mechanisms at operative organisational levels below the network rather than using aggregated data of observations. Modelling population dynamics may be a valuable tool in this field to conceptualize and tease apart different sources of variation and express uncertainty in our inference from small samples.
IgY Technology in aquaculture – a review
Authors: Baloch Abdul Rasheed , Zhang Xiao‐Ying , Schade Rüdiger 
Published: February 2014

AbstractSince the discovery of IgY in egg yolk in late 1800s, many applications of this antibody in diagnostics and therapeutics have been reported in human and veterinary medicine. The mass use of antimicrobial agents in aquaculture has caused the resistance in certain bacteria, and these fish pathogens cause tremendous economic losses in aquaculture industry coupled with antibiotic resistance, consequently causing barriers in international trades. IgY antibodies have been developed for the treatment and prevention of certain fish diseases such as white spot syndrome in shrimp, vibriosis, enteric redmouth disease and edwardsiellosis. These antibodies are also developed for the recognition of developing and mature stages of Loma salmonae (microsporidia) in the farmed pacific salmon. Other uses of IgY in aquaculture include the development of sandwich ELISA for the detection of ciguatoxin (a poisonous organic compound) in the tissues of fish, and recently, potential sea food persevering properties of IgY have been revealed. Our review presents an analysis of the characteristics, extraction methods, therapeutic, detection, and seafood‐persevering applications of IgY antibodies in aquaculture.
Statistical Inference for High‐Dimensional Global Minimum Variance Portfolios
Authors: Glombek Konstantin 
Published: February 2014

ABSTRACTMany studies demonstrate that inference for the parameters arising in portfolio optimization often fails. The recent literature shows that this phenomenon is mainly due to a high‐dimensional asset universe. Typically, such a universe refers to the asymptotics that the sample size n + 1 and the sample dimension d both go to infinity while d ∕ n → c ∈ (0,1). In this paper, we analyze the estimators for the excess returns’ mean and variance, the weights and the Sharpe ratio of the global minimum variance portfolio under these asymptotics concerning consistency and asymptotic distribution. Problems for stating hypotheses in high dimension are also discussed. The applicability of the results is demonstrated by an empirical study. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.